Service Competence and Firm Performance : Towards a Concept for Strategic Differentiation for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
ISBN
3-906541-26-6
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2008-09-01
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Even though small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role in world economies, strategic management research provides only limited insight into SME strategies. Scholars to date have mainly emphasized size-related disadvantages which small firms have to face in comparison to large corporations. In this paper we therefore argue that SMEs can gain competitive advantage through providing high quality services to their customers. Based on their service competence, long-term service relationships enable small business firms adapt to their services to changing business environments and to offer customized services and hence to outperform large corporations. To stay ahead of competitors, providers must have a bundle of dynamic capabilities to constantly reshape their activities and the way they operate. In this paper, we introduce service competence as a construct to describe these capabilities and develop a set of propositions on how organizational antecedents influence the service competence of an organization.
Funding(s)
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Book title
Innovation, Competitiveness, Growth and Tradition in SMEs : Papers presented to the Rencontres de St-Gall 2008
Publisher
KMU-Verlag HSG
Publisher place
St. Gallen
Start page
8
Event Title
Rencontres de St-Gall 2008
Event Location
St.Gallen
Event Date
01.-03.09.2008
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
46897