INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW The evaluation of competitiveness, based on economic performance indicators, has limited the concept to the dimension of operational efficiency. From this perspective, competitiveness would derive from business excellence in the performance of activities, which can be economically or financially measured. The first aspect to consider is to try to clarify what is meant by “value creation”. In line with Brandenburger and Stuart19, we will say that the value created by a given company will correspond to the difference between the supplier’s opportunity cost and the customer’s willingness to pay. The opportunity cost will be given by the minimum value for which the supplier is available to sell its products. This value cannot be determined in an absolute way, as it depends on several variables and on how these variables behave at a given moment in the market. The concept of willingness to pay, on the other hand, represents a monetary value that incorporates all the benefits that the customer receives from the use or consumption of a given product and is always subjective, as it depends on the customer’s perception of the benefits offered. This attribute determines that willingness to pay may vary from customer to customer, and between different competitive contexts. In addition, the customer will only value what is perceived by him, so the formulation of any strategy should always take into account this need to bring value to the customer. The creation of value is, therefore, influenced in real time by the context of the relationships between companies in the market and will be in constant mutation. It is this capacity for constant change that must be appropriated by the company, interpreting or creating the circumstances that may alter the perception of value. In the context of this work, and although there are multiple concepts and approaches to define Competitive Advantage, we follow Peteraf & Barney20 in their proposal that Competitive Advantage is not restricted to the best competitor in a given market, but rather to all those who, in this market, create more value than the competitor who operates just above the breakeven point. The aim of this paper is to identify the effects on competitiveness of the phenomenon of voluntary submission of companies to an institutionalized system of international arbitration, in order to verify how Competitive Advantage can be viewed and how it can influence the adoption of organizational strategies in the search for a competitive positioning. Companies with a competitive advantage will then be able to exploit the asymmetry between their customers’ maximum willingness to 19 Brandenburger and Stuart, 1996, pag. 5-24. 20 Peteraf & Barney, 2003, pag. 309-323.
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