Firm specific competencies

Linking to, and collaborating with, other firms, which occupy different institutional niches, can help organizations overcome specific competency limitations (Mitchell Singh, 1996). Embedded within institutions are a series of social networks, where sets of actors know one another, are aware of the same kinds of opportunities, have access to the same kinds of resources, and share the same kinds of perceptions (Burt, 1983). Viewed in isolation, one would naturally expect suboptimal creativity, average returns, and limited organic growth to... 

In the US states in which electricity markets have been liberalized, there are a variety of electricity firms historical suppliers which have retained part of their generation assets, independent producers which sell their electricity on the power exchange and bilaterally, municipal utilities which retain their legal monopolies, and new suppliers which compete with historical suppliers in specific market segments. 

To compete on the basis of cost, a firm tries to be the lowest cost producer of a given product for a specific market. This gives the firm the ability to im-derprice its competitors if it needs to do this. For example, you work for a brewery that is able to produce and distribute beer cheaper than any other brewery in the market. You could sell it at the same price as the beer of the other breweries in the market and make more money than the other breweries. In addition, this low cost production allows you to win any price war that your competition may start because you can make money on your beer at lower prices than they can. 

Outsourcing. Firms focus on their core competencies to achieve a high level of competitiveness in specific areas while allocating supporting functions to partners. 

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