Competitive advantage of India's exports: analytic case studies of four industries

Abstract

This paper examines the sources and sustainability of competitive advantage of India s exports on the basis of case studies of four labour intensive industries. By applying the conceptual framework of Ghemawat (1991), we show that the factors that provide competitive advantage in the present are not sticky, scarce and appropriable: which means the advantages are not sustainable in the long run. We bring out possible strategies and the underlying factors involved on the international marketing side for sustaining competitive advantage and increasing value-realization of exports.