Key Factors of Sustainable Firm Performance: A Strategic Approach

The development of information technologies and their increased significance for business environments have forced businesses to rethink traditional methods of generating value and surviving the hyper-competitive conditions of our time. The uncertainty, dynamism, volatility, and impermanence of modern commercial environments have shifted the foundations of business success and survival. Key factors that now affect firm performance and determine sustainability include knowledge creation, knowledge management, uncertainty management, organizational intelligence, and supply chain administration. The authors propose an analytical approach to identifying and enhancing these critical factors, and they describe ways for firms to exploit their strengths and minimize or compensate for their disadvantages. Sustaining business success requires competitive strategies that are rational and analytical. Firms that isolate their overall goals have an advantage over their rivals; those that can innovate and incorporate the knowledge and intelligence they develop will prosper, even in the most competitive situations. Managers and business practitioners should learn from this book how to identify the key factors that make their firms effective and successful, and how to ensure they remain sustainable over time.