Evaluation of Operative Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Small and Medium Sized Pharmaceutical Companies in Southern Vietnam

Abstract

Due to the competitive nature of the dynamic and turbulent business environment, it is crucial for businesses to establish their operations strategy in order to preserve their market position and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The goal of this research is to evaluate the sustainable competitive advantage of small and medium-sized pharmaceutical enterprises in Southern Vietnam in terms of their current orientation, the direction of development, and sustainability. The research is based on an interview-based investigation of six case companies. The core method used in this research is Sense and Respond, which is implemented in practice with the combination of different tools and methods. The data is collected using two different sets of questionnaires: one for the Manufacturing Strategy Index (MSI) and the other for the Sense and Respond (S&R) method. When results are obtained, the second interview is implemented to validate how much the analyzed results fit the real situations of the case companies.

The findings of this paper show that the Sense and Respond method works quite well in evaluating the sustainable competitive advantage of small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies in Southern Vietnam. The results indicate that all case companies act as an analyzer when implementing operations strategies. Besides, the research shows that spearhead technology brings the most uncertainty for all six companies.

Data collection was based on the answers of only two respondents from each company; therefore, it is difficult to say whether the trustworthiness of the results is good or not. Besides, the case companies wish to remain anonymous, thus, it is also hard to provide a more detailed conclusion and analysis of the results.