Competitive priorities for regional operations: a Delphi study

Abstract

Perceptions and principles of competitiveness in the context of production and operations management (POM) have evolved over time towards trends in which firms compete at supply chain level. This evolution underscores the need for competitive priorities to be re-evaluated from time to time. The purpose of this article is to explore how POM experts perceive and rate competitive priorities for regional operations. The article presents a Delphi-based study with a panel of seventy POM experts from the Sultanate of Oman in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. It applies a constructivist epistemology in a three-round Delphi Exercise to identify, select and prioritise the key competitive priorities perceived by panel experts. Nonparametric statistics test the dichotomous responses and levels of concordance and discordance of ranked outcome variables among the Delphi panellists. The analysis identifies nineteen competitive priorities thematically clustered into five orientations for productivity-efficiency, relationship-building, technology-enabled, environmentally-conscious and conformance-improvement. Polled results show heterogeneity during both selection (Cochran's Q: p < 0.05) and prioritisation (Friedman’s Q: p < 0.05) rounds. The conformance-improvement orientation consistently produced the top ranked priorities in the Delphi rounds. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed and potential future research areas on examining coordinate systems for POM strategy and modelling ecological and field views of POM are also elaborated.

Keywords:

• Operations strategy
• competitive priorities
• competitive orientations
• regional operations
• GCC
• Oman

Acknowledgements

Open Access funding provided by the Qatar National Library.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Competitiveness is used here as an attribute to mean possessing capabilities in operations that are superior or at least comparable to competitors

2 Regional operations are activities for creating value conducted within geographically proximate nations i.e., countries located close to the home country.

3 Similar government-commissioned long-term vision documents that typically detail national development plans are found in other GCC countries e.g. the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 in 2008, Kuwait's Vision 2035 "New Kuwait" in 2017, Qatar National Vision 2030 in 2008, Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016, and UAE Vision 2021 in 2010.

4 The optimal “consensus threshold” with the Delphi technique remains a subject for debate as it is not specified by the literature. Based on their systematic review, Diamond et al. (2014) noted that the most common definition for consensus was percent agreement, with 75% being the median threshold to define consensus and range of 50–97%. Other consensus measures used in POM literature are threshold values of the interquartile range (IQR) of less than ≤25 (e.g. (Warth et al. 2013, Roßmann et al. 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher M. Durugbo

Dr Christopher M. Durugbo is an Associate Professor at the Arabian Gulf University in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. He is a supply chain and services innovation expert with an interest in system thinking for innovative services and policies, network analysis for supply chain innovation, and managing collaboration for innovation through informatics and ergonomics. Dr Durugbo has published findings from his research in several journals such as International Journal of Operations and Production Management, European Journal of Operational Research, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, International Journal of Production Research, Production Planning and Control, Annals of Operations Research, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Expert Systems with Applications, Ergonomics and Information Sciences

Abdel Latef Anouze

Dr Abdel Latef Anouze is an Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at Qatar University. He received his PhD from Aston University, MBA from University of East London, and MSc from Yarmouk University, Jordan. His research interests span a wide variety of topics including supply chain management, performance management and measurement, data envelopment analysis, data management and mining, service management, and e-Governance service. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Organisation Theory Review journal. He has published his work in journals of repute such as European Journal of Operational Research, Expert Systems with Applications, Expert Systems, and Government Information Quarterly.

Omar Amoudi

Dr Omar Amoudi is Associate Professor in Construction Management and Programme Director of the MSc in Construction Management at the College of Engineering, National University of Science and Technology (NUST). He completed his PhD from the University of Nottingham, UK and developed the NUST MSc in International Operations and Supply Chain Management with Glasgow Caledonian University. Previously he was Associate Professor at Damascus University and taught at the Philadelphia University in Jordan. He was involved in several EU Funded Projects through collaboration with Leeds Beckett University and Northumbria University in UK, and University of Lyon 1 in France.

Zainab Al-Balushi

Dr Zainab Al-Balushi is Assistant Professor of Operations Management at College of Economcs and Political Science, Sultan Qaboos University. Currently she is the Head of Quality Assurance and Academic Accreditation Unit. She is also a Faculty Fellow in the Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning. She is a founding member of Oman Logistics Association and a member in formulating the Sultanate of Oman Logistics Strategy 2040. She is a reviewer for various journals and has published in international journals such as Supply Chain Management: An International Journal and International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management. Her research interests include Inter-Firm Relationships, Supply Chain Uncertainty and Risk Management, CSR & Sustainability, logistics Digitalisation, and Logistics Education.