The cornerstones of competitive advantage

[yafet]

The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based
Peteraf, Margaret A. Strategic Management Journal. Chichester: Mar 1993. Vol. 14, Iss. 3; pg. 179, 13 pgs


Abstract (Summary) A resource-based model of the theoretical conditions which underlie competitive advantage is presented.
The essence of this model is that the following 4 conditions underlie sustained competitive advantage: 1. superior resources (heterogeneity within an industry), 2. ex post limits to competition, 3. imperfect resource mobility, and 4. ex ante limits to competition. A major contribution of the resource-based model is that it explains long-lived differences in firm profitability that cannot be attributed to differences in industry conditions. At the single business level, the model may help managers differentiate between resources which might support a competitive advantage from other less valuable resources.
The resource-based model is fundamentally concerned with the internal accumulation of assets, with asset specificity, and with transaction costs. Thus it lends itself naturally to the consideration of questions regarding boundaries of the firm. The emerging theory may prove to be a pardigm capable of elucidating and integrating research in all areas of strategy.