Sergey Boltramovich, Grigory Dudarev, and Vladimir Gorelov ... - Etla

5
sale service systems. It creates a unique local system of industrial cooperation
that exceeds and surpasses similar competitors’ systems by
their possibilities and degree of development.
• Company’s Structure, Strategy and Rivalry: The industry structure is an important
determinant of the possibility to gaining competitive advantage
if the industries are competitive and the competition motivates
leading companies to invest in the product and market offering, management
and marketing as well as process development. In this case
the larger markets for essential supplies and components are created,
infrastructure could be better targeted to meet specific requirements
of the particular industries, the competitive pressures also motivate
higher organizational efficiency and training as well as spin-offs.
Porter offers for consideration two additional areas from which companies
are able to draw sources of competitive advantage in his model:
• Chance: The role of chance or “luck” reflects rapid changes on world
financial markets; changes in currency quotations, an unexpected
growth in local/international demand and the event of war. All
these sudden and unexpected events create situations on the market
when unforeseen opportunities are created. In some cases these opportunities
could become a source of competitive advantage.
• Government: The influence of government, through its current policy
(liberal, deterrent, etc.), is only considered as an attribute in analysis.
However, this policy determines the performance of all actors in the
regional and/or national economy. A rational governmental policy
provides for the growth of potential investor confidence and attracts
capital, experience and technology to the economy.
As a result of studies of globalization, another potential source of
competitive advantage was later added to Porter’s “Diamond” model of
national competitiveness: this is international business activity.
International business activity became a source of competitive advantage
for companies from particular regions as a result of their internationalization,
i.e. their ability to locate production facilities in regions that could
offer the best advantages for the particular activity, and thus gain from
access to several “diamonds” of the national advantage simultaneously.
2.2 Concept of the Cluster
As we discussed earlier in this Chapter the regional competitiveness is based
on the ability of the particular location to offer the firms opportunities to
gain competitive advantage owing to the specific factor and demand condi-