Analysis of relations of differentiation competence, internationalization and company's performance: Evidence from Russian and international manufacturing companies

Abstract

The research question is what is the influence of company’s differentiation competence and level of internationalization on company’s performance? The main aim of the master thesis is to examine empirically the relations among aspects of company’s differentiation competence, internationalization and performance of industrial companies operating in Russian market. In order to achieve the aim of master thesis there are set following objectives of analysis of influence of branding, innovations and quality on company’s performance, to reveal impact of company’s internationalization on its performance, to define relations among internationalization, differentiation competence and company’s performance and finally create set of recommendations for companies. For achieving the main aim of the thesis, on the basis of 875 companies’ survey, there were formed and tested following hypotheses: H1: Differentiation competence of the company associates positively with company’s performance; H2: Internationalization associates positively with company’s performance H3: The greater the internationalization, the stronger the relationship of differentiation competence with company’s performance. Results of the research and hypotheses testing with a help of regression analysis allowed receiving theoretical model, reflecting interrelations between company’s performance and differentiation competence variables including branding, innovations and quality of company’s products under the conditions of level of internationalization and size of the company. Results of the research showed that differentiation competence indeed associates positively with company’s performance, while H2 and H3 were not proved. Finally, there was made and created set of recommendations for companies operating in Russian institutional environment on both macro and micro levels.