Abstract:

There are two mainstreams within the strategic management literature that discuss the concept of competitive advantage One is Industry based View that was presented by M E Porter The second one is Resource based View which underlines strategic resources and capabilities of a firm as main source of competitive advantage The objective of this study is to identify and evaluate the major factors that influence competitive advantage that operate within the manufacturing industry of Kayseri Concerning Industry based View the results obtained by this research identify several factors that influence firm’s understanding of competitive advantage: new firm entries into the business sector the intensity of competition within the sector and substitutable products of sector Considering the Resource based View that has an influence on firms’ performance however some other factors are identified: brand human resource corporate reputation and firms’ tangible resources Additionally the research showed that the competitive strategies that were included in the research model and were expected to have an influence on the performance of the firms did not affect firms’ understanding of competitive advantage

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