Z. J. DONG
Open Access
People of different age, to the competitive advantage with the
enterprise also have different opinions. Before the 1950s, the
third industrial revolution in the past, a firm’s competitive ad-
vantage even more depends on enterprise resources, especially
natural resources; After World War II, with the petrochemical,
electronics, aviation and other industries and mass production
as a symbol of the coming of the fourth industrial revolution,
technology and management a re considered to be one of the
enterprise competition important weights; Since the 90s, along
with the United States of “information superhighway” construc-
tion as the sign, the world has entered the information age.
Entering the 21st century, information technology has become
an important part of enterprise competition ability (Liu, 2008).
According to the above analyses, t he enterprises competition
ability can be divided into three fundamental levels: the outer
layer is the carrier of enterprise competition ability, embodied
in the product or service competition, which is the most direct
power contrast for enterprise competition; The middle is the
enterprise competitiveness “processing workshop”, embodied
in the enterprise’s resources and its configuration ability; The
inne r layer is the core of enterprise competition ability, embod-
ied in comprehensive quality of entrepreneurs, such as deci-
sion-making ability, organization and coordination ability, in-
novation ability, interpersonal ability, etc. Entrepreneur’s qual-
ity, through the enterprise culture constructed, affects the en-
terprise competition ability to be cultivated and enhanced. An-
yhow, description of the enterprises competition ability must be
three-dimensional, dynamic, and must consider how to cultivate
and promote enterprise’s competitiveness from the lasting com-
petitiveness of enterprises.
Nurture and Grow of the Enterprises
Competition Ability
• Enterprises have to undergo from scratch, since the child-
hood of the change process. The enterprise competition
ability is not innate, but also to experience the process from
weak to strong. Revealing the forming process of enterprise
competition ability has important significance to cultivate
and promote enterprise competition ability.
• American strategists Porter argued that: “The competitive
advantage in the final analysis depends on it that the com-
pany can create value for customers (Kotter, 1999).” From
the perspective of economics, the value enterprises create
for customers is equal to the consumers’ benefits (satisfac-
tion) that acquire from company provided products deduct
paid by consumers for the product cost. The much higher
enterprise creating customer’s value is, the more obvious
competitive advantage becomes in the market. Then, we
must continuously improve product quality and reduce pro-
duct cost, in order to improve the cost performance of ex-
isting products and bring more value to consumers. How-
ever, consumer-related products or services competition is
only a form of enterprise competitiveness. There are many
competitive advantages of enterprises, such as technical
superiority, talent advantage, management advantage, in-
novation advantage, etc. To identify the enterprise competi-
tion ability we must take enterprise activity decomposition,
by looking at the activity itself and its relationship to de-
termine the enterprise competitive advantage. To reveal and
determine the enterprise competitive advantage, and find
out the ways to enhance enterprise competition ability, Por-
ter proposed the value chain analysis.
• Value activities are enterprises engaged in the material and
technical boundaries distinct activities. There are two broad
categories of value activities, namely main activities and
ancillary support activities. The main activities include re-
source inputs, production operations, product output, mar-
keting and after-sales service; the ancillary activities in-
clude research and development, procurement, logistics, hu-
man resources management and so on. From a competitive
perspective, company competitiveness in the value chain of
each link is affecting the overall enterprise competition
ability.
• In the process of the cultivation and development about the
enterprise competition ability, entrepreneurship plays a key
role. Entrepreneurs are the focus of enterprises and initially
chose the nature of the enterprise, investment direction, etc.,
and also ultimately decide the development direction and
development of the enterprise scale. Entrepreneurs are bred
the enterprise competition ability, who integrate all kinds of
resources in together to form a unique competitive ability.
Entrepreneur’s comprehensive quality is the most primitive
elements of the enterprise competition ability, and the en-
terprise’s core competitiveness. Entrepreneurial decision
determines the configuration of enterprise resources, and
once the decision is wrong, it will lead to a serious decline
in enterprise competition ability. But the enterprise’s core
competitiveness, after all, is the internal. Core competitive-
ness of the enterprise only through the enterprise value
chain, would be converted into enterprise’s concrete com-
petitiveness. The enterprise competition ability depends not
only on how well each department, and how the coordina-
tion between different departments, but also on the coordi-
nation between enterprise and the external market.
• On the basis of the theory of value chain, to a great extent,
we can reveal enterprise competition ability cultivati on and
growth process. Entrepreneur starting a business is like a
seed to be buried in the ground. The choice of seeds decides
enterprise future development condition. At the same time,
the quality of the land, climate, management and so on, are
also the important factors that affect seed development and
growth. In the long run, enterprise’s success or failure de-
pends on the strength of its own competitiveness, and the
most decisive factor in enterprise competitiveness is the en-
terprise core ability or core competitiveness, namely the en-
trepreneur’s comprehensive quality. Outstanding entrepre-
neur by building enterprise culture, carry out its manage-
ment concept into the enterprise management and develop-
ment of the whole process and infiltrate into various parts
of the enterprise value chain and link, which produce a
profound effect to the enterprise long-term survival and de-
velopment.
Corporate Culture and Its Determinants
Pula Bernhard and Hammer, Michigan Business School pro-
fessor, who will compare the enterprise to a tree, think that a
company is like a tree; the trunk and main branch are the core
product; branch is the business unit; leaves, flowers and fruit
are the final products; to provide nutrients, sustain life, and
solid tree root is the core competitive ability (Xu, 2002). So,
what provides the big tree’s nutrition? The author believes that,
the enterprise culture is the nutrient source for enterprise com-