Individual Literature Review on Competitive Advantage Strategies

This individual literature review explores the concept of competitive advantage in business, focusing on the influence of non-market strategies. It examines the interplay between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate political activity (CPA) as key drivers of a firm's competitive edge. The review synthesizes the perspectives of prominent scholars, including Liedong et al. (2015), Mellahi et al. (2016), and Scherer (2018), to analyze how CSR and CPA can complement each other, fostering trust, influencing governmental policies, and ultimately enhancing a company's position in the market. The analysis highlights the importance of aligning CSR and CPA to effectively navigate market and non-market environments, recognizing businesses as both economic, social and political entities. The review emphasizes the complementary nature of CSR and CPA in building a trustworthy bond between the polity and the business organization and influencing the governmental policies within a given political boundary.

Running head: INDIVIDUAL LITERATURE REVIEW
INDIVIDUAL LITERATURE REVIEW
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1INDIVIDUAL LITERATURE REVIEW
The competitive advantage of a certain business organization refers to the leverage
that a certain business has over the competitors of the concerned organization in discussion.
The competitive advantage of the business organization generally faces an enhancement
during the conditions wherein the concerned firm has been performing better than the
competitors of the firm in the given market. The literature review that follows tends to deal
with the two non-market strategies that might influence the competitive advantage of the
business organizations. The literature review attempts a discussion on the opinions that have
been shared by the eminent scholars and experts in the field.
Liedong et al. (2015) in the article entitled “Toward a View of Complementarity Trust
and Policy Influence Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Political
Activity” attempts a discussion on the various matters that pertain to the effectiveness of the
non-market strategies in the matters that pertain to influencing the competitive advantage of
the concerned company. The authors of the article in discussion, tends to discuss the various
factors that involve the matters that pertain to the examination of the two major building
blocks of the concerned non-market strategies that might be affecting the competitive
advantage that is gained by the concerned organizations with respect to the matters that are
related to the corporate social responsibility or the CSR as well as the corporate political
activity or the CPA (Mellahi et al. 2016). The authors of the concerned article tend to opine
the fact that the concepts of the corporate social responsibility as well as the corporate
political activity might be complementary to each other in order to develop the competitive
advantage of the concerned organization in discussion.
The authors tend to discuss the fact that the complementary nature of the CSR and the
CPA might help in the matters that pertain to the creation of a trustworthy bond among the
polity and the concerned business organization (Liedong, Rajwani and Mellahi 2017). The
CSR and the CPA might also influence the various governmental policies within a given

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political boundary. The article tends to argue on the fact that the CSR and the CPA must be
aligned in order to deal with the various factors that are related to the success in the
influences on the various governmental policies that are generally imposed on the concerned
business organizations (Scherer 2018). The article argues that one of the major factors that
have been affecting the concerned organizations is the factor of the trust that needs to be
existent within the given sector of industries. The managers of the organization might be
advised to identify the major differences that exist within the market as well as the non-
market environments of the concerned firm. The findings of the article state that the various
business organizations have been recognized as both political and social entities besides
being known as the economic identities within the concerned social structure.
Thus, from the above discussion, it might be pointed out that the complementary
nature of the CSR and the CPA play an important role in the enhancement of the competitive
advantage of the concerned business organization.

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References
Liedong, T.A., Ghobadian, A., Rajwani, T. and O’Regan, N., 2015. Toward a view of
complementarity: trust and policy influence effects of corporate social responsibility and
corporate political activity. Group & Organization Management, 40(3), pp.405-427.
Liedong, T.A., Rajwani, T. and Mellahi, K., 2017. Reality or Illusion? The Efficacy of Non‐
market Strategy in Institutional Risk Reduction. British Journal of Management, 28(4),
pp.609-628.
Mellahi, K., Frynas, J.G., Sun, P. and Siegel, D., 2016. A review of the nonmarket strategy
literature: Toward a multi-theoretical integration. Journal of Management, 42(1), pp.143-173.
Scherer, A.G., 2018. Theory assessment and agenda setting in political CSR: A critical theory
perspective. International journal of management reviews, 20(2), pp.387-410.