Innovation and Competitive Advantage: Changing

The Role of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy in Achieving Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Innovative and entrepreneurial organizations develop a strategy that can effectively lead to the commercialization of the new and novel products or services in the marketplace with a sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic management and entrepreneurship are dynamic processes that are intended to enhance organizational performance (Kuratko & Audretsch, 2009).

Strategic management focuses on how competitive positioning can create advantages for organizations that, in turn, enhance performance (Porter, 1980, 1996) and achieve sustained competitive advantage. Strategic planning requires top management to focus beyond the current external environment and envisage the organization’s market position in the short, medium, and long term. It necessitates the ability to evaluate the resources and core competencies in terms of how they can be utilized to create new sources of value.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are the key to successfully developing competitive advantages. The challenge is to develop innovation and entrepreneurship as a core competence of the organization. In a global competitive economy, the most successful strategies are those that are integrated with innovative and entrepreneurial activities that offer superior value and create wealth. Strategy and strategic management define the direction of the organization and how well it is achieved. Management needs to develop a strategy that focuses on the best ways for the organization to create and sustain a competitive advantage while simultaneously identifying and developing new opportunities. Innovation and entrepreneurship are focused on searching for new opportunities that will create value for the organization, customers, and stakeholders. Strategy is focused on sustaining competitive advantage and achieving above-average returns. Simultaneously embracing entrepreneurial philosophies, an entrepreneurial climate, and entrepreneurial strategic behaviors increases the likelihood an organization will identify and use its unique capabilities as a pathway to increasing its performance (Ireland, Covin, & Kuratko, 2009). Therefore, the integration of innovation and entrepreneurship for opportunity identification and development and a strategy for sustaining competitive advantage are necessary for value and wealth creation. Organizations that can develop competitive advantages today, while using innovation and entrepreneurship to cultivate tomorrow’s advantages, increase the chance of survival and growth in the long term.

Integration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship With Strategy

The integration of innovation and entrepreneurship with strategy can be defined as a vision directed strategic analysis with a core focus on innovative and entrepreneurial behaviors that continuously develop the organization through the identification and development of innovative and entrepreneurial opportunities that result in value creation and sustained competitive advantage. For innovation and entrepreneurship to be ingrained into the very existence of the organization, it must be integrated into the organizational strategy. Organizations like Apple, Dell, and Southwest Airlines capture the essence of a strategy that is unique, innovative, and entrepreneurial in defining and creating market value.

The integration of innovation and entrepreneurship with strategy allows top management to develop strategies that concentrate on (1) competitive advantages that are a core part of strategic management and (2) the identification and development of opportunities for which future competitive advantages can be developed and sustained. It is the simultaneous use of existing advantages and the identification of future opportunities that sustains competitive advantage and the ability to continuously create value and wealth. The integration is beneficial to SMEs and large corporations as it helps SMEs develop their strategies toward competitive advantage and large corporations to become more innovative and entrepreneurial.

The model presented in Figure 4.1 identifies three core dimensions: (1) innovation and entrepreneurial strategic analysis, (2) strategic choice for value creation and competitiveness, and (3) strategic implementation for wealth creation and sustained competitive advantage. The first dimension specifies the key factors influencing the process at different levels, including environmental factors, organizational factors (behavior and climate), and customers and stakeholders. The second dimension focuses on options and choices available from the analysis, specifically focusing on the utilization of resources and the entrepreneurial actions from the first dimension that are used to develop current opportunities while simultaneously exploring new opportunities that will create value. These actions occur primarily at the organizational level. Finally, the implementation of selected opportunities will create advantages for the organization, customers and stakeholders and society through value creation, knowledge, opportunity, competitiveness, and societal developments.