Navigating in a hypercompetitive environment: the roles of action aggressiveness and TMT integration

Recognizing that both the hypercompetition and competitive dynamics research streams rely on Austrian economics and its idea of temporary advantage as an intellectual cornerstone, the present study merges these related, but thus far, disparate perspectives. It develops hypotheses that relate the intensity of the hypercompetitive environment and a firm's TMT dynamics to its action aggressiveness, or the volume and speed with which a firm engages its rivals. Using a survey‐based sample of 104 Taiwanese firms, this study's findings show that the hypercompetitive environment and TMT sociobehavioral integration have direct and interacting effects on firms' action aggressiveness. Moreover, action aggressiveness is an important mediator between TMT integration and firm performance, particularly under hypercompetitive conditions. As such, the study contributes to our understanding of temporary advantage by revealing TMT integration and action aggressiveness as two essential organizational mechanisms for navigating in the hypercompetitive context. Finally, reflective of temporary advantage as a defining feature of hypercompetition, our findings show that performance variation is greater within this context. The article contributes to hypercompetition and competitive dynamics research by providing an integrated perspective of competitive behavior within the broad context of hypercompetitive environment, TMT dynamics, and firm performance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.