Title: Analysis of the effects of operations strategies on sustainable competitive advantage in manufacturing systems

Authors: Amir Samarrokhi; Kouroush Jenab; Veeri Chettiar Arumugam; Philip D. Weinsier

Addresses: Department of Management, Multi Media University, 63100 Cyberjaya, Malaysia ' Society of Reliability Engineering, 812-761 Bay St., Toronto, ON, Canada ' Department of Management, Multi Media University, 63100 Cyberjaya, Malaysia ' Department of Applied Sciences, Bowling Green State University Firelands, One University Drive, Huron, OH 44839, USA

Abstract: As researchers and practitioners alike have focused on the importance of sustainability of competitive advantage, this study examined whether or not various operations strategies - low-cost leadership, quality differentiation, innovation differentiation and service differentiation - have serious effects on sustainability of competitive advantage, and whether suitable resources can improve the effects as a moderator. This study was an exploratory descriptive project with primary data collected from 80 Malaysian manufacturing companies. Results were analysed using bivariate correlation and multiple regressions. The findings showed that suitable resources cannot be considered as a strong moderator for the effects of low-cost leadership, quality differentiation and innovation differentiation on sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). On the other hand, suitable resources leveraged the impact of service differentiation on SCA. Given that no studies on this point were found in the literature, the findings from this study should bring to light several valuable points for scholars and manufacturers.

Keywords: sustainable competitive advantage; operations strategies; low-cost leadership; quality differentiation; innovation differentiation; service differentiation; resources; reliability; validity; sustainability; manufacturing industry; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2015.065944

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2015 Vol.19 No.1, pp.34 - 49

Received: 05 Jul 2013
Accepted: 16 Jul 2013

Published online: 30 Nov 2014 *

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