A FUZZY ANALYTIC NETWORK PROCESS APPROACH TO DETERMINING PROSPECTIVE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY IN CHINA: A CASE STUDY FOR MULTINATIONAL BIOTECH PHARMACEUTICAL ENTERPRISES

This study explores efforts to identify the most appropriate competitive strategy relative to multinational biotech pharmaceutical enterprises' strategy selection. The research uses the analytic network process (ANP) technique combining both qualitative and quantitative information to construct a hierarchical model involving interactions among various criteria for competitive strategy selection, and also introduces fuzzy logic to eliminate vagueness, subjectivity, and imprecision stemming from human judgment. The most important finding shows that the most suitable competitive strategy for multinational enterprises (MNEs) is innovative-focus strategy. Also, the weighted calculations present the three most important criteria affecting the competitive strategy of foreign direct investment (FDI): collaboration with local partners, governmental rules and regulations and high-quality research personnel with R & D capability.