Abstract: This paper investigates the competitive exclusion principle as it applies to organizations in competitive space. Borrowing naturalist niche arguments, this study seeks to provide theoretical clarification for fundamental niche-based competition. I argue that firms that compete on the basis of niches are successful when they efficiently apply the relevant resources in the pursuit of their strategies. Central to this proposition is the notion that high performance firms are able to enact strategies that integrate the spatial (survival) and temporal (growth) dimensions of their niche in their pursuit of competitive advantage. I also provide empirical evidence from the U.S. semiconductor industry that is in line with the theoretical arguments of this paper.

Abstract: This study extends feedback learning theory to the context of organizational capabilities and offers a motivational explanation for capability evolution. It suggests that capability enhancement is triggered by learning from performance feedback. When actual performance falls below aspiration level a firm would enhance its capabilities. When performance exceeds aspiration level, however, the rate of improvement may differ due to inertial forces and managers’ attitude toward risk. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty concerning resources availability will intensify the effect of performance gap on capability enhancement whereas munificence of resources in the environment will attenuate this effect. In turn, enhanced capabilities enable the firm to bridge performance gaps and improve its performance, which is facilitated by the richness of internal resources and the relatedness between the firm’s businesses.

Abstract: Research on competitive dynamics proposes that competitive action positively affects firm performance. Conversely, scholars investigating rivalry argue that high competitive action levels may negatively affect performance. Reconciling the two streams, we specify firm-specific boundaries for competitive action. Drawing on panel data from Fortune 500 companies, we observe a negative performance effect in respect of firms (1) whose competitive action is insufficient to defend their competitive position, and (2) whose competitive action exceeds their financial resource limits. Further, we find that specific types of organizational slack enable firms to curb the negative performance effects related to high competitive action levels.

Abstract: A frequent refrain among strategy researchers and practitioners is the increasing dynamism and unpredictability of environmental change. Previous attempts to measure the unpredictability of industry environments utilized archival industry measures of sales or profitability. Utilizing advances in complexity theory, we examine the unpredictability of 14 key industry sectors over a 12 year period. Our results indicate that industry environments evolve in a medium dimensional chaotic process with relatively short prediction horizons comensurate with characterizations of hypercompetition. We however find no evidence that the level of unpredictability or complexity of these environments increased over the time period studied.