The competitive advantage of nations : an exposition of the limitations of the Single Nation Diamond Theory in the case of Zimbabwe's exports to the OECD and South Africa markets

In searching for explanations to a Nation's export growth studies have been focused on identification of the determining conditions and analysing their relationship with the countries' export competitive advantage. One outstanding framework of such analysis has been the 'Single Diamond' (SD) conditions approach developed by Michael Porter, (1990). However, criticisms of this model range from its limitation in explaining the competitive advantage of small or developing countries, up to and including its exclusion, by definition, of factor conditions that are domiciled outside national borders. Furthermore this model's variables choice is too subjective such that their individual importance to the overall national competitive advantage are deemed country specific. Consequently alternative models that include causal factors that derive from cross- border networking of all kinds of commercial intercourse have been posited in the form of a 'Double' (DD) or 'Multiple' (MD) Diamond framework. This research's major objective was to test if Porter's Single Nation diamond framework could be used to fully identify and explain the source of 'determining' conditions that give Zimbabwe (an African Developing Country) its international competitive advantage in Developed Countries markets. Thus using local determining conditions alone (SD) and then a combination of local and foreign (DD or MD) conditions it was possible to identify the limitations of the SD framework. The results of this research are in line with experiences of other small countries and they suggest that the single diamond approach is limited in its explanation of the identity and sources of conditions that determine that country's competitive advantage. The Double-Diamond framework linking Zimbabwe to S. Africa's advanced economy was superior to both the SD and MD alternatives. The conclusion reached was that in the case of Zimbabwe the DD framework of analysis should be the basis for designing economic and trade development policies. However, in the context of this DD approach, further empirical research should focus on the influence of the DCs economic growth on the LDC's development pattern.