Article review and understanding Management Essay Paper

Article Review and Understanding
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Michael Porter is renowned in the business sphere for his vast contributions in the industry and particularly for his development and advancement of the concept of the generic competitive strategy (GCS). The Methodology of GCS was primarily designed by Porter not only to provide companies with a strategic plan that allows them to compete but also gain and attain an advantage in the marketplace. From the article under review, the GCS has three distinct components: cost leadership, differentiation and focus. Porter’s descriptive scheme in the GCS has received widespread acceptance and it is present in a variety of industries including shipping, hospitality and international trade between countries. Despite the significance that the paradigm of competitive advantage has provided in the two decades that it has been in existence, critiques argue that it has proven inadequate as a descriptive system (Campbell-Hunt, 2000). These critiques support their claims and share that these inadequacies result from the inability of the GCS to compare and aggregate empirical work.
According to the article, in light of these criticisms, there have been several studies that are inclined on exploring the extent and level of the paradigm’s empirical validity. In this regard, Campbell-Hunt (2000) shares that “these techniques result in classifications that are specific to the sample of participating firms and cannot be cumulated with other findings”. Based on the above statement, it has not been possible to determine conclusively the accumulated weight of the evidence used in describing how the GCSs resemble in practice. Similarly, it has been proven a daunting task attempting to describe the GCSs descriptive and theoretical elements. Campbell-Hunt (2000) notes that the concerns about the GCS are compounded further by different interpretations that have been put forth describing it. As such, the descriptive and theoretical forms have over the years taken a variety of forms.
These consultative efforts from the article led to the development of three meta-analytical procedures. Considering the criticisms surrounding the GCSs, meta-analytical research was important. Polanin & Pigott (...