Comparative Advantage and Competitive Advantage: An Economics Perspective and a Synthesis

Comparative Advantage and Competitive Advantage: An Economics Perspective and a Synthesis

There is a considerable amount of controversy about the model(s) of comparative advantage and its applicability to international business, in particular as a guide to the success of nations and/or firms in international markets. This perception (or understanding) of inapplicability of the model(s) of comparative advantage has lead international business experts to develop new models, or what ma...

Comparative Advantage and Competitive Advantage:

There is a considerable amount of controversy about the model(s) of comparative advantage and its applicability to international business, in particular as a guide to the success of nations and/or firms in international markets. This perception (or understanding) of inapplicability of the model(s) of comparative advantage has lead international business experts to develop new models, or what ma...

Competitive versus Comparative Advantage*

I explore the interactions between comparative, competitive and absolute advantage in a two-country model of oligopoly in general equilibrium. Comparative advantage always determines the direction of trade, but both competitive and absolute advantage affect resource allocation, trade patterns and trade volumes. Competitive advantage in the sense of more home firms drives foreign firms out of ma...

Competitive Advantage and the Complexity Perspective

This paper is interested in exploring the competitive advantage of businesses. Current understanding of competitive advantage arises from the strategic management paradigm, but with the recognition that business environments are quite complex, this theory is not proving itself to be adequate. The early theory that underpins this comes from optimising economic theory, the inadequacy of which led...

Brokers and Competitive Advantage