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Publication type:	Conference paper
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	Conceptualization and measurement of international competitiveness : the case of Swiss companies
Authors:	Gurova, Siyana
et. al:	No
Conference details:	23rd EURAM Annual Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 14-16 June 2023
Issue Date:	2023
Language:	English
Subject (DDC):	338: Production 658: General Management
Abstract:	Competitiveness is one of the most controversial concepts in management studies spawning sheer disagreement among scholars as to what the term encompasses and how to measure it empirically. At the same time, the competitiveness of companies is widely considered crucial for their survival and thriving, and as such is a key metric managers, employees and pundits alike are attentive to. This paper proposes a new conceptualization and direct measurement of international competitiveness and applies it to the case of Swiss companies. The main theoretical argument we advance is that there is a difference between firm and product competitiveness and that these concepts capture two different dimensions of overall international competitiveness. While the existing literature focuses on national-, industry- or firm-level measures of competitiveness, often relying on secondary data or on single performance-driven competitiveness measures, we take a subjective approach by surveying Swiss managers’ perceptions of international competitiveness. Results from exploratory factor analysis lend support to the theoretical expectations confirming the existence of two separate notions of competitiveness: firm and product competitiveness. In an extension of the empirical analysis, we further solidify the usefulness of the new concepts by employing them to predict the expectations for the future business situation and the export status of companies. We find that our measure of product-level competitiveness is a better predictor of indicators commonly associated with short-run international competitiveness than our measure of firm-level competitiveness. We argue that Swiss managers attribute long-run competitiveness to firm-level factors, while short-run competitiveness is driven by product-level factors. Our findings point to the need for a more fine-grained understanding of competitiveness and its proper measurement. Moreover, the results have implications for managers as the different types of competitiveness often require distinct managerial approaches.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/28438
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	School of Management and Law
Organisational Unit:	International Management Institute (IMI)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen School of Management and Law

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