Competitive Advantage of Qatari Firms Based on Michael Porter’s Diamond
In his book The Competitive Advantage of Nations Michael Porter examines modern global economy and explains the theory of competitive advantage through a reflection of a “diamond” which maintains its growth and prosperity. Porter who is considered the father of modern businesses and promoter of notions of competitiveness produced a number of books on strategic management in which he bridged the gap between national and international economics. His latest book is specifically the broadest in scope because it shifts the focus of attention from the performance of the firm to the performance of the nation whole. However, the focus of this paper discusses how a developing nation like Qatar is growing its firms’ foundations and bettering its environmental conditions
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This paper further discussed Porter’s framework at a nation’s level, choosing Qatar as its pick of a developing country that has crossed the borderline to global markets among other internationalized nations via its massive production of natural gasses, oils and fuels. Through Porter’s diamond framework, the gap was bridged between economic sciences and having insights to the system of a country like Qatar and understanding the how the 4 determinants work as a well-functioning cycle, despite it being more dynamic and complex than it seems. Finally, Porter’s book serves as a portal for theorists to analyze countries that are not usually written about such as ones in the Arabian region like Qatar, Oman, etc. However, at the empirical level this paper proved that such complex framework can be applied to selective countries that has high competitive tendencies and what qualifies it to fit with the modern global
In 1997 the sales of natural gas surged in 1997 as one of Qatar’s North Field came on line (Beard, p. 18). This specific event contributed to a total GDP of approximately 30% (Beard, p. 18). Further development in 04’ can be directly attributed to transportation, storage, hotels, bank and finance and government. Again, Qatar’s reinvestment in their community enables them to function and thrive even with any imbalances in the gas and oil industry that many other countries base their entire GDP to. Further growth was seen through Qatar’s history though. Specifically, in 2008, Qatar’s capital was believed to have peaked. Further contributing factors are the positive traits that coincided not only with the factors that enabled them to grow not only in the hydrocarbon sector nonetheless the non-hydrocarbon sector as well. The labor growth within Qatar has indefinitely increase. Specifically, many workers have migrated from one sector of growth to the other. The IMF stated that, “Qatar’s population rose from approximately 650 000 in 2001 to 1.9 million in 2013. The employment-to-population ratio rose from 48 percent in 2001 to 68 percent in 2007 and more than 85 percent in 2013. As a result, growth in GDP per worker has been slower than growth in GDP per population (Table 1). This is illustrated in the case of the non-hydrocarbon sector, which appears to be growing fast in per-capita terms but not in per-worker terms” (Beard, p. 20). However, with this population increase occurring, production by these workers lacked. IMF found that this production was in decline from 01’ through 09’, but then elevated in 12’ with a slight decline yet again in 2013. This may only be explained by the shift of labor to the construction sector of the
This oil rich country is vibrant and economically strong. According to Roy Sudip of Euromoney, Qatar has the world’s third biggest gas reserves, equivalent to more than 300 years-worth of stock at both current and forecast production rates, as well as significant oil reserves (https: web-b-ebscohost.com). Furthermore, its GDP is $212 billion and GDP per capita ranked 5th in the world. Qatar has one of the highest standard of living and economic productivity. Its annual growth rate has averaged just over 19 percent in 2006 – 11, driven by the country’s growing liquefied natural gas
Michael Porter investigated why nations have a competitive advantage in specific industries his findings saw two basic types of competitive advantage that firms could pose low cost or differentiation. If you combine the two types of competitive advantage and allow room for a way in which firm wish to achieve them this will lead to three generic strategies which will achieve higher average performances in industries: cost leadership, differentiation and focus.
Qatar is a small country with a steadily increase in the population rate, from 676,000 thousand in 2000 to 1.5 million in 2010, which shows an escalation by more than one million over a period of ten years (QSA , 2011). The cause of change in the population percentage lies on the elevated standard of living, which includes average wages Hukoomi (2014), health care and world class education system. Their wealth led to driving infrastructure investments and nation-building projects, which require workers support from around the globe (Harkness & Khaled, 2014). However, despite this rapid socioeconomic development within a short period of time, Qatar is trying to preserve and maintain their cultural essence and inherited position.
This section provides a brief economic, political, and social background of both Qatar and Yemen. These factors are essential in the differing discussions of global and regional trade in both countries. Current levels of openness to international trade reflect the history and development of each country. This information is analyzed in the context of global and regional trade after the creation of the WTO. This section examines the countries’ participation in the GATT as well as WTO accession and participation. Participation in bilateral and regional agreements and export and import trends are also discussed to evaluate the impact of trade in both Qatar and Yemen.
Michael Porter is a renowned economist and professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, author of 18 books and more than 125 articles with topics that range from industry competition to economic development. Porter was born in Michigan and went on to study aerospace and mechanical engineering in Princeton from where he graduated first in his class and with high honors from both the prestigious societies Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi, which he was also elected into. He is known as the “c” and is recognized worldwide for his take on competition and company strategy, many say that his work has redefined the thought process related to competition and economic development. Some of his most influential books include Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance and Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition On Results.
“Porter’s five forces”: Introduction. “Porter’s five forces” is widely applied in today’s business world. Harvard Professor Michael E. Porter’s first HBR article “How competitive forces shape strategy” was published in 1979. It became revolutionary in the field of strategy. Porter’s subsequent work has brought big changes to the study of competitive strategy for corporations, regions, and nations. With assistance from his colleagues from Harvard Business School, Porter continues to update and extend his classic work, providing practical guidance for
Qatar, a country located in the Middle East by Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf, has a thriving economy due to the vast amount of oil and gas reserves located along its vast coastline. Although there are actually only 250,000 native Qataris living in the country, they have an average income of $400,000 each. Gross domestic product, which is considered the total amount of goods and services produced in a country over the course of a year, is measured at one hundred and ninety-eight billion in Qatar (Economy overview: Qatar). Qatar essentially constructed urban and industrial projects around major oil refineries and seaports. Surprisingly, this country, which has a total population of 2,123,160, is uniquely prospering due to revenue from
In the article “The Competitive Advantage of Nations” Michael Porter describes a diamond shaped relationship of forces that define a country’s potential for being competitive in a specified industry. The four points on the diamond representing the different forces are: factor conditions; demand conditions; firm strategy, structure and rivalry; and related and supporting industries. According to Porter, the four points apply pressure to each other resulting in a national
Although reputable academics like Dunning and Rugman has developed an extended version of Porter’s Diamond model, it is evident that their work has not fully disproved his framework and simply highlighted the incompleteness of his work as there remains many benefits as to how his Diamond model justifies national
Each nation operates and establishes four main attributes which constitute the diamond of national advantage; these attributes are factor conditions, demand condition, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry. When identifying these attributes, it may helps companies to learn how to compete; and each point of the whole system can affect directly for achieving international competitive advantage in the company. We can cite the pressures to invest and innovate, the goals of the managers and owners, the information available that shapes the opportunities, the direction in which they deploy their skills and the availability of skills and resources. First factor conditions according to an economic view that the factors of production are labor, natural resources, land… all these determine the flow of trade. But in the sophisticated companies it creates the most important factor of production such as skilled human resources and performance. Considering and involving heavy and specialized investment which constitutes an advantage in knowledge intensive industries. Sometimes nations succeed
Saudi Arabia is the largest free market economy in the Middle East and North Africa, with a 25% share of GDP, and its geographical location provides easy access to export market in Europe, Asia and Africa. It is know that the main income of the Saudi economy is oil, which makes Saudi Arabia rank to be first in the world in oil precaution, oil production and oil exportation to reach 25% of the total wold oil precaution and other natural resources including a large range of industrial raw materials and mineral such as bauxite, limestone, gypsum, phosphate and iron ore. This allow to Saudi Arabia to be a one of the top 20 economic stability in the world.
The financial system of Qatar depends heavily “on gas and oil, which accounts for half of the gross domestic product, eighty-five percent of export earnings and seventy percent of government revenue” (“Economic Overview,” n.d.). Because of oil, the gross domestic product per capita of Qatar is ranked thirty-four in the world. The proven oil reserves of the country have far surpassed twenty-five million casks aiding in the
Any country should use porter diamond theory of national advantage. It's designed to help understand the competitive advantage nations. It suggests that the national home base of any organizations are playing a supportive role in shaping the size or scoop to which it is likely to achieve advantage on a global scale. This home base provides basic factors, which support organizations from building advantages in international competition. Porter classifies four determinants: Factor Condition, Diamond Condition, Relatives & supporting and Structure, strategy & Rivalry. Egypt government acts to catalysts to improve Egypt position in a globally competitive economic environment. They found that they can create new factors such as skilled labor and high technology (Porter M., 1990). Porter's diamond model suggests threat there are inherent reasons why some nations are more competitive than others on an international market. Another factor that influence in competitive advantages such as the policies that put by government. One of the most influencer policies is (FDI) Foreign direct investment
To better understand why some nations are more competitive than others, Porter conducted the research in order to ‘look for determinants in the national business environment that can explain why in some countries firms in particular industries are more successful than those in other nations’. (Ard-Pieter de Man, 1997, p. 48) The research culminated in framework known as diamond which describes the determinants of competitive advantage. Porter ‘ identified four attributes that promote or impede the creation of competitive advantage: (1) factor conditions, (2) demand conditions, (3) related and supporting industries, and (4) firm strategy, structure, and rivalry’. (Dirk Morschett, 2015, p. 176)