The Relationship between HRM Strategies and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Strategic Agility as a Mediating Variable

¹ Faculty of Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), Malaysia
² University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

^* Corresponding author: magedbarahma@gmail.com

Abstract

Manufacturing companies face different challenges due to the continuous and rapid global changes and development in business. Manufacturing companies should review the adopted system and the applied strategies. Therefore, an efficient human capital is needed to survive and to achieve the strategic goals. The human capital management should be able to propose new methods to improve strategic agility under the environment that is rapidly changing, facing severe competition, capable to utilize resources, and following the market trends. Moreover, the human capital management should identify the right competitors, consumers, opportunities, and threats that enable Manufacturing companies to be efficient, rapid, flexible, and proactive. In turn, manufacturing companies’ competitive capabilities will be improved; the existing products will stay longer in the market, new products will be introduced, sustainable competitive advantage will be gained, and strategic sovereignty will be achieved in local and regional markets. Thus, this paper discusses the relationship between human resources management (HRM) strategies and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) where strategic agility is mediating variable. it provides some original insights into the interactions between these variables. This paper is also expected to provide some suggestions to manufacturing companies to success and to survive, especially in Yemen.