Competitive Advantage Dashboard - How Companies Can Gain And Sustain Competitive Advantage In A Dynamic Business Environment – Case of Zimbabwe Companies

Abstract

Purpose:  All strategies eventually seek to create a competitive edge which is translated into value creation. This comes with a conscious controlling of the external and internal business environments - making the most of the opportunities and minimizing threats. However, the business environment in Zimbabwe is under constant change and is constantly shaken by the changing forces in the environment that destroy competitiveness and devalue value. The expectations of customers are ever-changing, and modern customers want to find more integrated solutions, not a single product. At the same time, the competitive rivalry has become more unpredictable than ever before being no longer tied to the categories of identifiable products or services but bursting out of the blue, which is also enhanced by globalization. With the intense competition that is yet to be witnessed in the history of business, Zimbabwean companies have no option other than to embark on shrewd strategic stance either defensive or offensive to hold off competitors and respond to customer needs in an endeavour to achieve their organizational goals. Methodology: The research design used in this study was mixed-methods research design with a concurrent variant approach that allowed finding triangulation and complementary findings. Findings: The findings indicate that competitive advantage is dynamic in nature due to the rate of disruption, as such its co-creation should be seen as a continuous and not a one-off process. The analysis found the most crucial indicators that can be used to signal the present status of competitive advantage of a firm to the point where an economic dashboard has been developed that provides organizations with quantifiable reference points to monitor their competitive status. Implications: The practical implication is that companies will be in a position to see the early warning signs of environment shifts and evaluate their effects so that they can reconfigure their competitive strategy timely or even develop new benefits to exceed customer expectations, compete in global markets and increase their contribution to GDP. Originality: The paper provides an operational model that can guide strategy practitioners to navigate and maintain their competitive edge and proactively create new ones long before they become an effective way to compete in the global arena and experience uninterrupted organizational growth.