Criticisms of Porter's Diamond

Hill (2008) describes Michael Porter’s “Competitive Advantage of Nations Theory of posits that within specific industries, clusters of expertise result from highly competitive national environments” (p. 616). Michael Porter created the theory of competitive advantage when he began to realize the economic reality could no longer be explained based on the comparative advantage theory only (Laurentiu, n.d.). The competitive advantage theory is based on several determinants:

Every country differs in culture which has been there for centuries. The international market is growing rapidly, with more and more multinational organisations entering new markets each day. In this assignment I will evaluate how the difference in cultures affects the performance of international businesses.

Halsall, R., 2008. From ‘business culture’ to ‘brand state’: conceptions of nation and culture in business literature on cultural difference. Culture and Organization, volume 14 (1), page 15-30.

The term competitiveness defines the ability of a region to export more than its imports while including all “terms of trade” to reflect government legislation and import barriers. In other words, according to the world competitiveness report, competitiveness is “… the ability to design, produce, and market goods and services, the price and non- price characteristics of which form a more attractive package than those of competitors.” (Pg3.) Each nation has different competitiveness level, which relies on multitude factors such as; raw materials, innovative technologies, energy prices, the type of economy, legislations, and the exchange rate fluctuations. Nevertheless, the prosperity of countries depends on the nation’s competitiveness status.

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.

Given this, the main target of this essay is to analyse the main approaches to understanding national culture and how relevant is such an understanding to an internationalising firm.

Analysing it in depth, several theories exist but this essay is going to concentrate in two main frameworks that suppose a point of inflexion in the study of the culture in the business: Hall’s Model, which is focus in the meaning of context for the culture and time orientations and Hofstede 's Model, which develop a five dimensional scheme to establish cultural comparisons between nations.

Rugman’s analysis resulted in the “double diamond being creative which is a better tool to analyze the international competitiveness. Rugman’s criticism of Porters diamond appears have to be successful as Porter himself later on admitted that firms can have multiple home bases. For instance, Mexico’s economic future is closely linked to its neighbor the United States of America and also through North America. Hence the double diamond proposed by Rugman proves to be more effective in determining Mexico’s success/ resurgence in various economic sectors.

Cultural differences between countries have strong effects on individual personality and behavior, as well as on organizational culture (Hofstede 2001). These differences can be a significant barrier for an international business leader. Failure to understand and adapt to these differences may

Comparative advantage is affected by the interplay between the resources available to a country (the relative abundance of factors of production) and the production technology (which affects the intensity through which the factors of production are used in the production process). What we understand from the Heckscher-Ohlin model is that international trade is by and large directed by the differences in resources or in other words, the existence of differences in economies’ resources is the cornerstone of trade.

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

For the international business, the connection between culture and competitive advantage is important for two reasons. First, the connection suggests which countries are likely to produce the most viable competitors. Second, the connection between culture and competitive advantage has important implications for the choice of countries in which to locate production facilities and do business.

The country has an interesting competitive advantage to analyze, and it can be related to Porter’s articles. Indeed, there are different theories shown in Porter’s articles

The principle of comparative advantage provides a simplified theory explaining why free trade is possible, even when one country has an economic disadvantage. Both the Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin theories rely on fixed economic assumptions of constant return and perfect competition. However, intuitively the basic principle of business is to increase returns through innovation, improving processes and technology or increasing economies of scale. Organizations understand they control pricing and are price setters, rather than price takers as suggested by perfect competition (Krugman & Obstfeld, 2003). The idea of increasing returns and imperfect competition challenge the foundations of comparative advantage.

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