Impact of Strategic Diagnosis on Achieving Sustainable Competitive
Downloads
This study aims to analyze the impact of strategic diagnosis on achieving sustainable competitive advantage in a sample of Iraqi commercial banks, by examining the dimensions of strategic diagnosis—namely, internal environment analysis, external environment analysis, and benchmarking—and their relationship to sustainable competitive advantage as defined by its dimensions of value, scarcity, non-imitation, and non-substitution. The study was based on theoretical foundations derived from Porter’s model for analyzing the competitive environment, the resources and capabilities perspective, and Barney’s VRIN/VRIO model for explaining the sources of sustainable competitive advantage.
The study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach, and a questionnaire was used as the primary tool for collecting data from senior and middle management in a number of commercial banks operating in Diwaniya Governorate; a total of 120 questionnaires were deemed valid for statistical analysis. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software, relying on a set of descriptive and inferential statistical methods, including the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression analysis.
The results showed that the level of strategic diagnosis and sustainable competitive advantage was generally high, with the analysis of the internal environment ranking highest among the dimensions of strategic diagnosis, while the value dimension achieved the highest levels of sustainable competitive advantage. The results also revealed a positive and statistically significant correlation between strategic diagnosis and sustainable competitive advantage (r = 0.71, Sig. = 0.000), as well as a significant effect of strategic diagnosis on enhancing sustainable competitive advantage, as its dimensions collectively explained 61.2% of the variance in the dependent variable (R² = 0.612). The analysis of the internal environment was found to be the most influential dimension, followed by the analysis of the external environment, while the benchmarking dimension did not achieve a statistically significant effect.
The study concluded that strengthening strategic diagnosis practices is a key approach to building a sustainable competitive advantage in Iraqi commercial banks, and recommends adopting a periodic strategic diagnosis methodology, strengthening benchmarking, and investing in resources and capabilities that are difficult for competitors to imitate, thereby supporting the sustainability of the banks’ performance and competitiveness.
Central Bank of Iraq, National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025–2029. Baghdad, Iraq: Central Bank of Iraq, 2025.
M. E. Porter, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York, NY, USA: Free Press, 1980.
B. Wernerfelt, “A resource-based view of the firm,” Strategic Management Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 171–180, 1984.
J. B. Barney, “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage,” Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 99–120, 1991, doi: 10.1177/014920639101700108.
M. A. Peteraf, “The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view,” Strategic Management Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 179–191, 1993.
R. M. Grant, “The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: Implications for strategy formulation,” California Management Review, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 114–135, 1991.
G. Johnson, K. Scholes, and R. Whittington, Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases, 8th ed. Harlow, U.K.: Pearson Education, 2008.
F. R. David, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 13th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA: Pearson Education, 2011.
University of Baghdad, Higher Institute of Accounting and Financial Studies, “The role of banking marketing strategies in achieving competitive advantage: An applied study in a sample of Iraqi private banks,” Baghdad, Iraq, 2013.
A. Al-Yasiri, A. Al-Khalidi, and B. A. Al-Humairi, “The reflection of core capabilities on banking performance in light of the balanced scorecard: An applied study in a sample of Iraqi private commercial banks,” Ahl Al-Bayt University Journal, no. 16, 2017.
W. A. Hussein, “Strategic thinking and its reflection on core capabilities for achieving sustainable competitive advantage,” published research, Aug. 2020.
F. I. Hussein and H. A. Abdul-Mahdi, “The impact of digital transformation on enhancing sustainable competitive advantage in organizations: An applied study on a sample of Iraqi telecommunications companies,” Bilad Al-Rafidain Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 172–186, 2026, doi: 10.54720/bajhss/2026.080216.
“The impact of banking competitiveness on the financial sustainability of Iraqi banks for the period 2015–2020,” 2020.
M. E. Porter, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance. New York, NY, USA: Free Press, 1985.
R. C. Camp, Benchmarking: The Search for Industry Best Practices That Lead to Superior Performance. Milwaukee, WI, USA: ASQC Quality Press, 1989.
E. T. Penrose, The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. Oxford, U.K.: Basil Blackwell, 1959.
D. J. Teece, G. Pisano, and A. Shuen, “Dynamic capabilities and strategic management,” Strategic Management Journal, vol. 18, no. 7, pp. 509–533, 1997, doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199708)18:7<509::AID-SMJ882>3.0.CO;2-Z.
J. B. Barney and D. N. Clark, Resource-Based Theory: Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2007.
R. Harlow and K. Raxdale, “Strategic diagnosis and the sustainability of competitive advantage,” Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 45–52, 2006.
2.png)