Abstract:
This study sought to ascertain if there is correlation between differential advantage
and organizational competitiveness. A cross sectional survey research design was
adopted in the study to determine the nature of the situation under investigation. All
small-scale enteiprises operating in Aba, Abia State of Nigeria formed the area of this
study. However, because there are too many of them and the difficulty in accessing all,
the researcher purposely selected the four dominant types for investigation. They are:
Tailoring, shoe making, Leather bag and Hat producers. For the fact that the
population is known, a proportional and systematic random sampling technique was
employed to select representatives from each group and this gave a sample frame of
260. Questionnaire served as the instrument for data collection. The questionnaire was
validated and tested for reliability before administration to respondents. Out of the
260 copies of questionnaire distributed to respondents, only 240 were properly
completed and retrieved. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in
this study. Data were presented in frequency and simple percentage tables, which
formed the basis for the analysis. The three null formulated hypotheses were tested
with Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation statistical tool aided by the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results from test of the three hypotheses shows
that competitiveness of selected small-scale enterprises correlates significantly with
low cost of production (R = 0.517), high skilled labor (R = 0.665) and new technology
(R = 0.634) at 0.01 level (2-tailed). The results informed the rejection of the null
Hypotheses 1, 2 and 3 in favor of the alternatives. This result shows that differential
advantage correlates significantly with competitiveness of small-scale enterprises. The
study recommends that business organizations should take advantage of high skilled
labour, low cost of production and new technology to rise above competition. They
should as well understand that differential advantage as a strategy should be durable,
neither imitable or transferable nor transparent or easily replicable. It should be
flexible to accommodate changes and sustained over time for it to be effective.
