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Impact of Enterprise Flexibility on Firm’s Competitiveness: An Empirical Study of Select Pharmaceutical Firms in India

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Abstract

Progressive firms strive to incorporate flexibility into their processes to survive and achieve competitiveness in a complex uncertain business environment. The complexity faced by organizations dealing with rapid change prompted us to investigate the inter-relationship between flexibility and competitiveness. The domain of pharmaceutical industry is undoubtedly the most demanding one owing to rapid change and intense R&D requirements. This study deals with projecting the significance of enterprise flexibility on firm competitiveness at macro and micro levels using the statistical tool—Multiple Regression—on data collected in the form of a structured questionnaire from 324 higher-level managers from pharmaceutical firms in India. Seven hypotheses were proposed and tested against one dependent variable. According to regression analysis, enterprise flexibility was found to be a strong predictor of competitiveness. The study also demonstrates that 'enterprise flexibility' significantly impacts firm competitiveness not only at the macro level but also at the micro level. The findings are expected to fill a knowledge gap among top executives as only a few researchers have investigated the relationship between enterprise flexibility and competitiveness, thus allowing a more effective strategy formulation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the reviewers and the Editor-in-Chief for their comments which have helped in improving the quality of the paper.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. All the authors declare that there are neither any financial nor non-financial interests associated with this research. No funding from any source has been received for this research work.

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Contributions

MA: literature, research instrument development; data analysis and interpretation; drafted the paper. SN: concept development, guidance and revision. ZN: data collection; material preparation; revisions and suggestions. All authors have read and approved on the revised version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Asim.

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The paper is original and not published elsewhere. The respondent’s detail is confidential and is used for research purpose only.

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Asim, M., Nasim, S. & Naz, Z. Impact of Enterprise Flexibility on Firm’s Competitiveness: An Empirical Study of Select Pharmaceutical Firms in India. JGBC 18, 35–42 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42943-023-00079-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42943-023-00079-x

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