CAC-Redes: a new and quali-quantitative model to increase the competitiveness of companies operating in business networks

Abstract

PurposeThis paper proposes the “fields and weapons of the competition model applied to business networks” – CAC-Redes (in Portuguese, Campos e Armas da Competição – Redes de negócio), an extension of the fields and weapons of the competition model (CAC) – to study the competition and competitiveness of companies operating in business networks in a competitive environment while integrating organizational competencies, interorganizational ties and company positioning to provide competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachCAC-Redes is born from the cross-fertilization process of various theoretical perspectives, namely, industrial organization, traditional view of operational activities and resources, relational view, strategic alignment, transaction cost theory and social perspectives in networks, structured according to systems theory and under the mantle of competitive advantage theory. To discover the structure of existing models of competitiveness in networks, a bibliographic search was conducted in the Scopus database. Quali-quantitative empirical research was undertaken in companies from six different economic sectors through structured questionnaires and personal interviews to understand how companies competed and discover the determining factors of their competitive advantage.FindingsOnly seven models of competitiveness in network were found, and their structures and characteristics are quite different from those of CAC-Redes. Empirical research confirms all the hypotheses that support CAC-Redes, which, combined with those of CAC, indicate the CAC-Redes corroboration.Research limitations/implicationsCAC-Redes does not apply to networks without intercompany competition, studies on network governance and corporate strategy formulation.Practical implicationsCAC-Redes is effective in studying complex competitiveness phenomena because it considers multiple influences; provides a process based on qualitative and quantitative variables that increase the probability of formulating successful competitive strategies; simplifies the differentiation of skills from core competencies and determines them; proposes a competitive advantage criterion to select suppliers; creates a unifying language to represent the different strategic specificities of companies, competitors, suppliers, customers and the company environment and provides a library containing 181 weapons (resources) and dozens of interorganizational ties that can be used in empirical studies with other methodologies.Social implicationsCAC-Redes, due to its originality and peculiarities, theoretically contributes to theory of resources because it dispenses with the assumption, “unique resource, source of competitive advantage”; to relational view because it considers interorganizational relationships as a competence and treats it quali-quantitatively and to core competencies because if the strategy changes, different core competencies will be needed. Furthermore, it is an alternative to the dynamic capabilities perspective, and it transforms the five manufacturing performance objectives into nine for the entire company.Originality/valueCAC-Redes is an original model because its structure and characteristics comparatively differ from those of existing models, and 14 singularities are detected.

Compound of ties between companies that operate in a business network

“…Regarding social ties in networks, Contador et al (2023) corroborate the existence of trust, commitment and cooperation and clarify that there is a convergence on the importance of these elements as they are a source of competitive advantage (Gulati et al, 2000). Trust influences commitment, which together favor the reduction of transaction costs (Granovetter, 1985) and create value, including through learning and improving complementary assets, despite conflicts, contingencies, and moral risks (Wang & Rajagopalan, 2015).…”

“…The company established in business networks needs to develop an intense and cooperative communication with other firms to guarantee the efficiency of the entire system, creating strong ties between technologically similar companies (Grandori & Soda, 1995), because cooperation occurs more intensely in firms with more symmetrical technologies (Zanfei, 1994). Contador et al (2023), in designing the fields and weapons of the competition model (CAC) applied to business networks (CAC-Redes), an extension of the fields and weapons of CAC (Contador, 2008), classify ties into three types: economic, social, and locational, and prove that the first two are a source of competitive advantage.…”

“…For Britto (2013), ties are relationships between companies in their qualitative aspects, while Contador et al (2023) attribute intensity to them, therefore also treating them quantitatively. For Hong and Smith (2016), the relationship between transaction cost and firm performance varies according to the level of tie strength.…”

“…Identify the nature, ways and conditions of effecting the intimate relationship between trust, commitment and cooperation, as "Trust and commitment are related and together enable cooperation between organizations" (Hunt & Morgan, 1994), '[…] favor transaction cost reduction" (Granovetter, 1985) and "[…] can be competitive advantage sources […]" (Contador et al, 2023;Gulati et al, 2000).…”

“…For Contador, Contador and Satyro (2023), in a business network there are three types of ties: economic ties, referring to economic transactions, social ties, referring to interpersonal relationships, and locational ties, referring to the company's relationship with its physical territory. This article will focus on the first two types, considering the interaction of economic ties with social ties, such as trust, commitment and cooperation, as observed by Granovetter (2007).…”