Competitive Advantage in International Trade and Enterprises: A Comprehensive Analysis

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This report delves into the concept of competitive advantage within the context of international trade and enterprises. It explores the various factors that contribute to a firm's or country's ability to outperform its rivals in the global marketplace. The report examines the role of comparative advantage, opportunity cost, and key success factors in achieving competitive advantage. It also analyzes the impact of technology, digitalization, and globalization on the competitive landscape. Through real-world examples and insightful analysis, this report provides a comprehensive understanding of the importance of competitive advantage in international trade and its implications for businesses and economies.

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HI5016
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND

ENTERPRISES

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Executive Summary
International trade is being characterized as the trade which is being done in respects with the

administrations, products and capital crosswise over worldwide regions and also outskirts. In

different nations, this kind of exchange makes portrayal in respects with the best possible

offer of the (GDP). While the worldwide exchange has existence from the history, its

political, social and monetary significance is on increment in ongoing hundreds of years.

This report will have a clear description in regards with the competitive advantage with the

coordination of international trade and enterprise. For the purpose of having a global

presence, there is an essential need to have a competitive advantage with the support of

various factors like technology, the internet which will support in having profit and

development. Competitive advantage is considered as the use that a business is having over

the contenders. This can be gotten by better administrations and awesome qualities to the

clients. Commercial of the administrations and items with high calibre and low value offer

enthusiasm to the clients. Such interesting administrations and items are being perceived by

the objective market. It is essentially a component that backings a relationship to beat their

rivals. A noteworthy part is being played by worldwide exchange increasing upper hand.

Competitive advantage makes the age of incredible incentive for the company and

additionally for the investors because of specific conditions and qualities. Increasingly the

manageability of the upper hand, more troublesome it will be for the contenders to make the

balance of the favourable position. There are two various types of upper hand i.e. differential

preferred standpoint and similar favourable position. Each and every company must have

produced in such a manner that it will support to have proper development, growth as well as

competitive advantage in both national and international trade.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary
...................................................................................................................2
Introduction
................................................................................................................................ 4
Competitive Advantage
..............................................................................................................6
Conclusion
................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
International trade is being defined as the exchange which is being done in regards to the

services, goods and capital across international territories as well as borders. In various

countries, this sort of trade makes representation in regards to the proper share of the gross

domestic product (GDP). While international trade has existed from the history, its political,

social and economic importance is on increase in recent centuries. International trade

provides an opportunity to the countries and consumers to get exposed to new products and

markets. All sorts of products and services can be found in an international market like oil,

jewellery, food, wine, stocks, clothes, water, spare parts and currencies. There is also a trade

of services like transportation, consulting, tourism and banking. Sale of a product in an

international market is defined as an export and the product which is being purchased from

the international market is called import. Exports and imports are accounted for the current

account of a country in the balance of payments. Industrialisation, globalisation, competitive

advantage, transportation, outsourcing and multinational corporations all are having a crucial

impact on the international system of trade (
Marta Mackiewicz, et. al. 2015).
In this report of the international trade and enterprise, the selected topic is of
Competitive
Advantage.
It is being defined as the leverage that a business is having over the competitors.
This can be received withbetter services and great values to the customers. Advertisement of

the services and products with high quality and low price give interest to the customers. Such

unique services and products are being recognised by the target market. It is basically a

feature that supports an association to outperform their competitors. A major role is being

played by international trade in gaining competitive advantage. Whenever there is an

expansion of the business, it supports in increasing overall profit and growth and this in

return helps in gaining competitive advantage in the business and also among countries. In

this assignment, competitive advantage and its related theories will be discussed in an

appropriate by having a proper explanation of reasons and also by having a discussion in

regards to countries and industries (
Scarborough, 2016).
Competitive advantage is basically a strategic advantage that one business entity is having

over rival entities in the competitive industry. There are two terms in relation with the

competitive advantage and these are comparative advantage and opportunity cost.

Comparative advantage is basically a concept that there can be a production of certain goods

in an efficient manner than others because of various sorts of factors including availability of

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the natural resource, climate, productive skills and so forth. A country can have a
comparative advantage in the goods production if the goods can be produced by them at low

opportunity cost in comparison with another. Competitive advantage helps in addressing few

criticisms of comparative advantage. It occurs when an association develops or acquires a

combination of attributes or an attribute that helps to outperform its competitors. Apart from

this, the opportunity cost is another concept in the competitive advantage which is defined as

the cost of opportunity decline (the loss of the benefits which can be gained from an

opportunity); one of the valuable declined alternative (
Scarborough, 2016).
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Competitive Advantage
As described above competitive advantage is being described as the condition which supports

a country or a company to make the production of services and goods of the equal value in a

desirable fashion and at the low price. These types of conditions support the productive entity

to make the generation of superior margins or more sales in comparison to the rivals of the

market. Competitive advantage is being attributed for the different kinds of factors which will

make the inclusion of customer service, intellectual property, distribution network, quality of

product offering, branding and cost structure. Competitive advantage makes the generation of

great value for the firm as well as for the shareholders due to certain conditions and strengths.

More the sustainability of the competitive advantage, more difficult it will be for the

competitors to make neutralization of the advantage. There are two different kinds of

competitive advantage i.e. differential advantage and comparative advantage. The ability of

the firm to make the production of services and goods in a more efficient manner in

comparison to the competitors that support to have great margins of profit develops a

comparative advantage. Rational consumers will make choice in regards to the cheaper

product in comparison with the offered substitutes. For instance, a car owner will make a

purchase of gasoline from the gas station which is cheaper in comparison with the other

station in an area. For various imperfect substitutes such as Pepsi vs. Coke, high margins for

the producers of low cost may bring high returns (
Meihami&Meihami, 2014).
Geographic location, economies of scale and efficient internal systems can also make the

development of comparative advantage. A comparative advantage not just makes the

implication of better services and products, though. It only describes that the firm can make

an offering of services and products of similar value at the low cost. For instance, a firm that

makes manufacturing of the product in China may have low-cost labours in comparison with

the company that makes manufacturing in the U.S., so there will be an offering of equal

product at low price. In relation to the international trade economics, opportunity cost makes

a determination of the comparative advantage (
Reed, et. al. 2012).
There is the development of the competitive advantage with the support of different attributes

that supports to fight with the competitors. These kinds of attributes make the inclusion of the

natural resources like inexpensive power, high-grade ores and access to skilled and highly

trained personnel human resources. New technologies like information technology and

robotics, needs to be included as the product’s part or will assist in its making. Information

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technology is being considered as the major part of the world of modern business which will
make a contribution to the competitive advantage by outperforming competitors in regards to

the presence of internet. From the very starting, the central problem regarding the

transmission of the information leads to the rise of middlemen in a market is the important

factor in having a competitive advantage. By making use of the internet as a middleman, a

supplier of information to end consumer, competitive advantage can be gained by the

business by developing an effective website, which in the past will have requirement of the

effort to find a rightmiddleman (
Noussair, et. al., 2013).
Reason to have a competitive advantage

A competitive advantage in the marketplace is being considered as the distinguishing factor

that supports in driving profits of the company. Maintaining and building of competitive

advantage attracts many customers, generates loyalty and makes a contributionto the fair

prices. Competitive advantage must be gained by countries and industries for the various

reasons which can be defined as follows:

An industry or a country can have a competitive advantage through differentiation or
low price. While low prices support in attracting a high percentage of the target

market, only a single organisation in an industry will get success with the profitable

low price strategy. Associations must come up with the strategy of differentiation in

their services and products. These differentiation points cause discerning buyers to

make payment of money for the effective overall solution (
Shenkar, et. al. 2014).
Competitive advantage presents the business to get engaged in an expensive and
arbitrary battle for customers. If the clarification cannot be given to the customers

regarding the superiority of brand, revenue will be left by chance. A customer having

options of 10 brands will be having no reason to purchase yours. When an excellence

will be established in the quality of the product, business will support customer to

make recognition of superior value. Fans of the Apple technology will require cutting

edge and innovative solutions (
Dunning, 2013).
Competitive advantage will help in attracting customers again and again. Eventually,
repetition of customers makes the development of a loyal relationship when they will

be having continuous positive experience. This kind of loyalty will not just give

strength to the potentials of revenue with those customers but they will also give a

recommendation of the company to their friends who will require similar benefits.

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When there will be sustainable and clear competitive advantage, the company will
gain benefit with regards to the economies of scale. You do not have to make an

investment in the development of short-term advantages to attract customers. A

sustainable advantage will become the cash cow of the company (
Urbancova, 2013).
Competitive advantage supports in making the generation of the return on capital and will

link the strategy of the business with the capital market and finance for the long time period.

Without this kind of advantage, the firm will be having a limited economic reason for the

existence; their competitive advantage will be the reason for their existence. Without this,

there will be a declination of the firm. Development of the sustainable competitive advantage

will be a significant goal for any industry and will also be the significant single attribute

where each firm must have focus (
Neary, 2016).
In context with countries

Comparative advantage is the advantages which arise
is when the nation generates the
services or goods
for lower opportunity price as compared to the othernations. The
Opportunity cost is considered to be the measures of generating the trade-off. A country with

comparative advantage
creates the trade-off value it. The advantage of purchasing their
service or goods overshadows the drawbacks. The nation might not be the finest at

manufacturing something. But the service or good is having the low opportunity cost for

other nations to import. The comparative advantages are important to maintain international

trade and to generate economic advantages for the home-based nations. The prime
principle
or law of comparative advantage
embraces that in the circumstances of free trade, the agent
will create more of and consume not as much of a good for which they are having a

comparative benefit (Rugman&Verbeke, 2017)

For illustration, oil-producing countries are having the comparative benefits in
chemicals.
Their home based-produced
oil offers an inexpensive source of substance for chemicals when
compared with the nations who are not producing it. There are different raw materials which

are mainly manufactured in an oil distillery procedure.
As a consequence, Kuwait, Mexico
and Saudi Arabia are competitive
with the U.S. Chemical manufacturing businesses.
Their
chemicals are low-cost, constructing their opportunity cost to be low (Kirchmer, 2012).
Another specimen is of the
Indian call centres. U.S. businesses purchase this service as it is
inexpensive than localizing call centre
in America. The call centres which are in India are
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not superior to the call centres which are in the U.S. Their employees do not always
communicate in English in a very clear manner. But they offer the service reasonably

sufficient to create a worthy trade-off

In the previous years, the comparative benefits arise relatively more in the goods and almost

negligible in the services, this is because the products are easy to export. With the invention

and greater use of internet in the telecommunications, the services are also exported by the

nations. The services which are having comparative benefits mainly consist of banking, call

centre and entertainments (
Albrecht, et. al. 2015).
Another example is of America, One of the comparative benefits of America is its massive

land which is surrounded by 2 oceans. America is having lost of arable land, available oil

and fresh water. The businesses which are runner and managed in the US are benefited from

these inexpensive natural resources
and get a safety from land attack. Most significant, it is
having a varied population with domestic laws and a common language. The varied

population delivers a wide-ranging test marketplace for fresh products. It assisted the
United
States to outshine at creating purchaser products. Multiplicity in population also assisted the

United States to be an international leader in defence equipment, banking, technology and

aerospace.
Silicon Valley ties together the supremacy of diversity to turn out to be the leader
in pioneering thinking. Those collective benefits formed the
supremacy of the U.S. economy
(
Dodgson, 2018).
In context with Industries

Competitive advantage gives a high amount of benefit to different kinds of industries in the

context of global trade. In order to understand the advantage of the competitive advantage, an

example of two industries will be taken i.e. service industry and the insurance industry. These

are the most developing and profit-making industries having global trade and it is very

necessary for them to have a competitive advantage to maintain position in the market.

Service Industry
is being considered as the most dynamic factor in the developed and
advanced economy. There are many managers who acknowledge the significance of the

distinct service attributes in regards to the success of the business but many of them are vague

in relation with key competitive advantage and key success factors. By making a proper

identification of the major success factors, the industry will become more creative and

adaptive and can even be a leader in the market which will make stimulation in regards

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tochanges in the market. For the purpose of achieving this, it is important to talk in relation
with the innovation, integral solution and explicit service quality. Also management of

human resource, organisation and culture are some of the issues which must be discussed in

the process of delivery and also from the perspective of customers. The significance of

entrepreneurship, learning and motivation must not be ignored but the main factor in success

in the service industry is a client (
Rugman and Verbeke, 2017).
At the time of having a study of the competitive advantage, it will be beneficial to make a

choice of the company in an industry which is there in the middle of a shift. The pattern of

the market opportunities and competition is changing in the
insurance industry in Europe
forthe last many years. This is generally because of the deregulations which are forcing

companies of insurance to reposition them in the market and to make an adjustment of

internal structure. In addition to the deregulation, general economic and technological

changes from the several years are creating pressure in regards with the restructuring.

Because of these factors, the actual industry is in the middle of a shift. Before the

implementation of the deregulation, insurance firms were under the worst managed

organisations. There was limited competition arising from the high amount of regulation as

an important reason for it (
Albrecht, et. al. 2015).
Facts and figures

Figure 1: Factors supported in competitive advantage

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Source: Marta Mackiewicz and Richter, (2015).
The above-presented picture makes the description of various facts as well as figures that

supported countries and industries to have a competitive advantage. It shows that electronic

components and different forms of digitalisation support in gaining competitive advantage.

With the support of the digitalisation and internet, various benefits can be achieved by the

countries and companies in the modern world.

Figure 2: Support of competitive advantage in value creation

Source: Quora, 2016.

From the above-presented figure, it can be analysed that competitive advantage has given

highest benefit to the finance industry as it supported in the development of networking as

well as a business model that has given support to the finance companies to make a global

presence.

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Conclusion
From the above-presented report, it can be concluded that concept of competitive advantage

is very beneficial as it supported well to both countries as well as companies to make

international trade and operations in an effective and efficient manner. Competitive

advantage supports in addressing various criticism in regards to the comparative advantage. It

can be said that the country is having a comparative advantage if the production of a good for

example cloth can be produced at a low cost of opportunity in comparison with another

nation. The opportunity cost in relation to the production of cloth is being considered as the

amount of wine that must be provided in order to make the production of one more cloth unit.

The above-presented study clears the concept of the competitive advantage in the mind of

learner’s form which it can be said that it is very necessary for the industries and countries to

have a competitiveadvantage for the effective development and growth in the market full of

competition.

Competitive advantage is being discussed here in regards to the countries and companies so

as to have proper understanding. From the presented facts and figures, it can be said that the

main reason to have a competitive advantage is with the support of technology and

digitalisation. These things are giving good support to the companies in gaining development

and profit and also helping to have an international presence.

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References
Albrecht, S. L., Bakker, A. B., Gruman, J. A., Macey, W. H., & Saks, A. M. (2015).
Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive

advantage: An integrated approach.
Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and
Performance,
2(1), 7-35.
Dodgson, M. (2018). Technological collaboration in industry: strategy, policy and
internationalization in innovation
. Routledge.
Dunning, J. H. (2013). Multinationals, Technology & Competitiveness (RLE
International Business). Routledge.

Kirchmer, M. (2012). Business process oriented implementation of standard software:
how to achieve competitive advantage efficiently and effectively. Springer Science &

Business Media.

Marta Mackiewicz, W. E. R. I., & Richter, S. (2015). D6. 1| Literature Review and
Data Collection.

Meihami, B., &Meihami, H. (2014). Knowledge Management a way to gain a
competitive advantage in firms (evidence of manufacturing companies).
International
letters of social and humanistic sciences,
3, 80-91.
Neary, J. P. (2016). International trade in general oligopolistic equilibrium. Review of
International Economics,
24(4), 669-698.
Noussair, C. N., Plott, C. R., &Riezman, R. G. (2013). An experimental investigation
of the patterns of international trade. In
International Trade Agreements and Political
Economy
(pp. 299-328).
Quora, 2016. Value Creation. [Online]. Quora. Available at:
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-examples-of-competitive-advantage-that-

derives-from-factors-besides-product-features. [Accessed on 3 August 2018].

Reed, R., Storrud-Barnes, S., & Jessup, L. (2012). How open innovation affects the
drivers of competitive advantage: Trading the benefits of IP creation and ownership for

free invention.
Management Decision, 50(1), 58-73.
Rugman, A., &Verbeke, A. (2017). Global corporate strategy and trade policy.
Routledge.

Scarborough, N. M. (2016). Essentials of entrepreneurship and small business
management. Pearson.

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Shenkar, O., Luo, Y., & Chi, T. (2014). International business. Routledge.
Urbancova, H. (2013). Competitive advantage achievement through innovation and
knowledge.
Journal of Competitiveness, 5(1).
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