Advanced niche market positioning for companies operating in upstream segments of industrial networks

Advanced niche market positioning for companies operating in upstream segments of industrial networks

Bart Kamp

Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness

Background in business sciences, industrial marketing, service sciences, information sciences Experience in research in the realm of service business development on behalf of industrial firms, international business, and market/competitive intelligence Affinity with techniques in support of big data analysis, particularly for the sake of market research

• Social Sciences and Humanities (SOC)
• Economic Sciences (ECO)
• Information Sciences and Engineering (ENG)

Companies that act as industrial niche players (like: hidden champions) typically compete based on being a specialist in a narrow field. Since the market segments that they operate in tend to be of a limited size (not mass markets moving billions of euros annually) they can often shield off these markets from big firms. Similarly, these niche players tend to be focused on manufacturing and product excellence, with traditionally less activity in service business. While such a focus strategy can be very profitable for niche operators, it can also have drawbacks. 1: focusing on a niche market implies that not a lot of information may be available on the international markets that these niche players target. 2: in the age of servitization, a focus on product quality alone may mean these firms lose out on additional business opportunities. 3: a specialist position vis-à-vis client’s value creation activities may imply that when such clients consider digitalizing their operations, these specialists may come under siege by versatile generalists that branch out and try to set overarching standards and invade outside of their (mainstream) territories. Against this backdrop, we propose to investigate how niche players can deploy business intelligence and development strategies -and the use they can make in this regard of big data analytics and smart service design- to decide upon international market positioning strategies, and thus safeguard or improve their competitiveness.

Kamp, B. (2017), Competitive strategies on behalf of international niche market leaders: evidence from the Basque Country. BOLETIN DE ESTUDIOS ECONOMICOS, Vol. 72 – N.º 221 – August, pp. 333-359. Journal Scholar Metrics 2010-2014: Cuartil 4 en la categoría Business, Economics and Management, posición 1.521/1.730. Revista indizada en ABI/Inform, EconLit, Periodicals Index Online, Dialnet. B. Kamp & G. Parry, Servitization and advanced business services as levers for competitiveness, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 60 (January) 2017, pp. 11-16. La revista está indizada en SSCI de WoS> JCR 2017: 3.678 Q1 en categoría Business (30/140) y Q1 en categoría Management (37/210). La revista indizada en Scopus> Scimago SJR 2017: 1.663, Q1 en categoría Marketing (20/173) Índice CiteScore de Scopus: 3.76, Q1 en categoría Marketing (13/157), percentil 92 Journal Scholar Metrics 2010-2014: Cuartil 1 en la categoría Business, Economics and Management, posición 41/1.730 Revista indizada en ABI/Inform, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Communication & Mass Media Index, INSPEC, Psycinfo, Public Affairs Index, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Periodicals Index Online. Chr. Kowalkowski, H. Gebauer, B. Kamp & G. Parry, Servitization and Deservitization: Overview, Concepts, and Definitions, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 60 (January) 2017, pp. 4-10. Impact indicators: same as previous publication. B. Kamp, A. Ochoa & J. Diaz, Smart servitization within the context of industrial user–supplier relationships: contingencies according to a machine tool Manufacturer, International Journal of Interactive Design and Manufacturing, 2017,DOI 10.1007/s12008-016-0345-0 La revista está indizada en Scopus> Scimago SJR 2017: 0.426, Q2 en categoría Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (105/590) y Q3 en categoría Modeling and Simulation (134/614) Índice CiteScore de Scopus: 1.31, Q2 en categoría Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (102/316), percentil 67, y Q3 en categoría Modeling and Simulation (100/238) percentil 57 B. Kamp & I. Ruiz de Apodaca, Are KIBS beneficial to international business performance: Evidence from the Basque Country, Competitiveness Review, 27(1) 2017, pp. 80–95. La revista está indizada en la colección principal de WoS dentro de ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index). La revista está también indizada en Scopus> Scimago SJR 2017: 0.274, Q2 en categoría Business and International Management (176/386) y Q2 en categoría Business, Management and Accounting (149/313). Índice CiteScore de Scopus: 1.22, Q2 en categoría Business and International Management (105/340), percentil 69, y Q2 en categoría General Business, Management and Accounting (63/195) percentil 67. Journal Scholar Metrics 2010-2014: Cuartil 2 en la categoría Business, Economics and Management, posición 837/1.730 Revista indizada en ABI/Inform, Aerospace Database, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Civil Engineering Abstracts, Communication Abstracs, EconLit, Educational Research Abstracts, INSPEC, Metadex, Public Affairs Index, Academic Search Premier.

Project: Advanced Services Factory (AS-Fabrik) – Client: Bilbao City / Urban Innovative Actions: https://www.uia-initiative.eu/en (2017-2020) Project: Segment-Servitize-Scaling – Client: Diputation of Gipuzkoa (2018-2019) Project: International Niche Market Leaders and their relevance for international competitiveness and foreign trade – Client: Basque Government (2016-2017) Project: Analysis of Industry 4.0 and smart servitization as a policy priority for industrial reactivation in Gipuzkoa – Client: Diputation of Gipuzkoa (2016) Project: Smartization and servitization of the industrial texture of Biscay – Client: Department of Economic Promotion of the Biscay Deputy (2015)

Digital economy Enterprise Competitiveness Servitization Internationalization Clusters Policies see for mor information: https://www.orkestra.deusto.es/en/about-orkestra/research-labs-territorial-competitiveness

Through supervision of the candidate by representatives of several labs inside Orkestra and through creating possibilities for the candidate to participate in research activities under the responsibility of members from these different labs. Moreover, Orkestra as a host organization is a multidisplicary research hub in itself employing scholars with highly diverse background. Similarly, Orkestra forms part of diverse international networks that create additional opportunities for multidisciplinary exposure.

We are highly active with regard to smart specialization, related diversification, interregional and cluster cooperation, and industry 4.0 policies and constantly pursue project opportunities in this regard. Similarly, we interact with both regional and supranational organizations in view of policy design, analysis and evaluation.

Business associations in the realm of machine tools, information and communication technologies, and foreign trade-oriented business collectives in general.

We have strong relationships with local businesses and the research to be undertaken will benefit from close interactions with this business community (input to research). Similarly, our links with businesses and government will ensure that findings will find their way beyond the academic world and can be put to use by private and public actors.

The proposal is situated at the intersection of information science, business science and service science, and puts a unique focus on industrial niche players and the challenges they face as a consequence of blurring borders between sectors/markets and the traditional segmentation of market areas for specialists and generalists

Orkestra has a long tradition of striving for (and reaching) gender equality and also has a vast track record in hosting researchers from both the Southern and Eastern hemisphere of the globe. This is a signature mark of our Institute, now and in the future.