Presenting a Conceptual Model Delineating the Effect of Production and Operations Strategies on Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Iranian Automotive Industry: The Case of Tehran Automobile Manufacturing Companies

The aim of the current quantitative applied research was to design a model for the investigation of the extent to which automobile production strategies may impact domestic manufacturers’ sustainable competitive advantage. The research data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire whose construct and content validity had been confirmed and its reliability had been verified through Cronbach alpha. The research population comprised senior managers of automobile manufacturing companies located in Tehran, Iran from whom a random sample was selected. The data obtained from 384 completed questionnaires were analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling to find out the relationship among various factors of the model and the Variance-Covariance analysis. The findings emerging from the study revealed that the latent variable of sustainable competitive advantage was delineated by cost, quality, diversity, and flexibility; and that the latent variable of domestic automobile manufacturers’ production and operations strategies were delineated by Kaizen strategies, enterprise resource planning, punctuality, and supply chain management models. Research findings bore on the significant positive effects of production and operations strategies on Iranian automotive industries sustainable competitive advantage.