Edith Penrose's (1959) Contributions to the Resource-based View of Strategic Management

ABSTRACT We argue that Rugman and Verbeke (2002 ) underestimate the importance of Penrose's (1959 ) contributions to the modern resource‐based view of the firm. In particular, we take issue with Rugman and Verbeke's (2002 ) arguments concerning Penrose's (1959 ) contributions to our knowledge of: (1) the creation of competitive advantage, (2) sustaining competitive advantage, (3) isolating mechanisms, and (4) competitive advantage and economic rents. In our response, we show that Penrose (1959 ) has both directly and indirectly influenced the modern resource‐based view of strategic management.     

The Inside Track: On the Important (But Neglected) Role of Customers in the Resource‐Based View of Strategy and Firm Growth*

abstract This paper argues for the important role of customers as a source of competitive advantage and firm growth, an issue which has been largely neglected in the resource‐based view of the firm. It conceptualizes Penrose's (1959 ) notion of an ‘inside track’ and illustrates how in‐depth knowledge about established customers combines with joint problem‐solving activities and the rapid assimilation of new and previously unexploited skills and resources. It is suggested that the inside track represents a distinct and perhaps underestimated way of generating rents and securing long‐term growth. This also implies that the sources of sustainable competitive advantage in important respects can be sought in idiosyncratic interfirm relationships rather than within the firm itself.     

服务业成本的资源消耗会计核算方法及其应用

为满足现代服务业竞争优势提升的需要,相对准确、合理地计量其成本,提供服务业企业经营决策的有用成本信息是十分必要的。服务业成本对象的特殊性对常规的成本核算方法提出了挑战,引入资源消耗会计,将其与作业成本法和弹性边际成本法有机结合,能够更客观地描述服务业企业资源与成本对象之间的关系,达到准确、合理地计量服务成本,为服务业企业提供有用的经营决策信息的目的。     

创造企业竞争优势:内部资源,外部网络及其整合

随着环境与技术的变化，组织网络已经成为企业生存环境的重要组成部分。尽管资源学派强调组织内部的资源能力是竞争优势的主要来源，企业外部网络对竞争优势的贡献也已经被越来越多的学者所认识。本文在进一步归纳两种不同竞争优势来源观的基础上，重点讨论了内部资源能力与外部网络在创造竞争优势时的互动关系，最后通过理性期望模型分析了内部资源能力与外部网络及其整合对建立企业竞争优势的作用。     

基于灰色综合评价的资源型城市主导产业选择研究

资源型城市如何选择主导产业关系到产业结构的调整和未来的可持续发展。本文从区域比较优势、资源优势、竞争优势、产业优势、可持续发展五个方面构建资源型城市主导产业的评价指标体系,利用层次分析法确定各指标权重,并使用基于关联度的灰色综合评价法对典型资源型城市大庆市主导产业进行实例分析,为其主导产业选择提供依据。     

Entry‐Timing Advantages in Renewable Natural Resources Industries

In this paper, we explore the conditions of entry‐timing advantages in renewable natural resource industries. Drawing from behavioural theory of the firm, we classify firms in two groups depending on the different heuristics used to make entry decisions when facing the cyclical endogenous nature of these industries: crowd firms are procyclical, making decisions based on the current phase of the industry cycle, whereas anti‐crowd firms follow a countercyclical strategy, making uncertain, and risky decisions by estimation of the next phase of the cycle. Therefore, anti‐crowd firms anticipate the deployment of resources each cycle, potentially gaining entry‐timing advantages beyond those provided by traditional competitive isolating mechanisms. Through a mathematical simulation of a performance feedback model, we reveal that the entry‐timing advantage of the anti‐crowd group becomes possible when the rivalry in the industry and the price sensitivity of competitors are high, and when the time required to deploy the resources is short.     

Strategic human resource management,human capital and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has been consistently used as a backdrop in strategic human resource management (SHRM) research and has the potential to bridge the ‘micro–macro’ divide. The tension between the SHRM and the strategic human capital literature, however, signifies that RBV has not reached its potential. In this paper, we begin with a brief review of the conceptual logic linking human resource management (HRM) practices and firm outcomes that aim at highlighting the different treatment of RBV in the SHRM and strategic human capital literatures. We then propose a conceptual model that suggests that HRM practices are not simple levers that enable firms to create sustainable competitive advantage, as most of the strategic human capital research postulates. On the contrary, we argue that HRM practices can contribute to a firm's sustainable competitive advantage not only by enhancing employees' ability, and offering motivation and opportunities, but also by shaping supply‐side and demand‐side mobility constraints.     

家庭资本：家族企业竞争优势的一个重要源泉

在资源优势理论与企业核心能力理论的基础上，本文着重探讨了，资金、技术、管理等都处于劣势的家族企业获得竞争优势的一个重要源泉是家庭资本(社会资本的一个子集)，家庭资本是家族企业潜在资产，不能直接产生竞争优势，但能创造与企业持续竞争优势更直接有关的资产。本文认为对于这些资产，或者仅仅只有家族企业能获得，或者家族企业比非家族企业更容易获得，因此这些家庭资本成为家族企业的独特资源优势，最终导致家族企业竞争优势的形成。     

基于优势资源观的企业持续竞争优势研究

从优势资源观的角度来探讨企业的持续竞争优势。企业的竞争优势的源泉来自于企业拥有的优势资源,优势资源也是核心竞争力的来源;核心竞争力是形成竞争优势的关键,最后通过扩展竞争优势并获得持续的竞争优势。文中提出了基于优势资源观的企业持续竞争优势模型,并讨论了如何构建企业的持续竞争优势。     

A General Dynamic Capability: Does it Propagate Business and Social Competencies in the Retail Food Industry?*

abstract Given that firms have both business and social goals, an important unanswered question is whether a general dynamic capability breeds competencies in both these areas. In studies of the US retail food industry, we find that while a general dynamic capability affects firms’ competence in supply chain management (a business competency), it does not affect their competence in environmental management (a social competency). Firm mission and the extent to which firms obtain technical assistance are found to affect the acquisition of this latter competency. These findings offer insights into the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm and provide lessons for corporate social responsibility. They reveal more precisely what a general dynamic capability yields and how far its reach extends, suggesting that the factors that drive competitive advantage are not the same as those that drive social responsibility.     

从资源依附到创新驱动——广西资源型产业的竞争力分析与思考

资源型产业是广西的支柱产业和优势产业,分析和研究广西资源型产业的竞争力,对广西经济发展具有重要意义。本文从竞争优势理论视角分析了广西资源型产业的竞争力,针对竞争优势与劣势,指出了广西资源型产业从资源依附到创新驱动的必要性,提出从培育产业创新平台、创建创新配套机制、培养企业创新意识和创新能力、培养和引进创新人才四个方面创建广西资源型产业的创新体系。     

The ambiguities and tensions in creating and capturing value: Views from HRM consultants in a leading consultancy firm

Creating and capturing value in knowledge‐intensive organizations is often marked by a high degree of ambiguity. The resource‐ and knowledge‐based views of the firm assume that this ambiguity enhances an organization's competitive advantage, but do not acknowledge or address the problems and tensions it creates for employees. This study contributes to developing these views by providing new insights based on analyzing how HRM consultants perceive their contribution and standing in the context of this ambiguity. These findings shed light on the importance of addressing consultants' perceptions of this ambiguity in seeking to manage and motivate them to maximize the creation and appropriation of value for consultancy practices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

资源型城市产业竞争优势分析及测度

产业转型是资源型城市转型的关键与核心。本文据比较优势、竞争优势相关理论与国内外资源型城市产业转型实践经验,提出了立足于资源型城市自身比较优势基础之上的竞争优势的构建是资源型城市产业转型的关键与理性选择。并以此提出了资源型城市产业竞争优势的培育措施与测度体系,为资源型城市产业优化与提升提供了指导与决策依据。     

Pollution Prevention and Service Stewardship Strategies in the Third‐Party Logistics Industry: Effects on Firm Differentiation and the Moderating Role of Environmental Communication

A growing number of firms are considering the incorporation of environmental thinking into their business strategies, hoping to improve their competitiveness. In this paper, we analyze the effects of pollution prevention and service stewardship capabilities on firm differentiation advantage in the third‐party logistics industry. Since prior research claims that complementary assets play an important role in fully understanding the environmental‐management‐competitiveness link, we furthermore examine the moderating role of environmental communication on the pollution‐prevention‐differentiation and the service‐stewardship‐differentiation linkages. We theoretically base our research in natural‐resource‐based thinking. Drawing on survey data, we apply multivariate regression and moderation analysis. The results highlight that pollution prevention and service stewardship capabilities can help third‐party logistics providers to achieve a differentiation advantage. Also, the results show that environmental communication moderates the effect of pollution prevention on differentiation advantage and can hence be considered a valuable complementary asset. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Globalfocusing: From Domestic Conglomerates to Global Specialists*

abstract Globalization is changing the competitive terrain on which companies develop their corporate strategy. On the global stage, key competitive advantages are gained through internationally fungible resources. Consequently, diversified conglomerates are converting to global specialists in narrower niche markets and competing with a small number of multinational enterprises operating worldwide. Their internationalization and their reduction of product diversification are opposite sides of the same coin: globalfocusing. I extend Penrosian resource‐based theory to analyse this change process, notably by distinguishing country and industry specificity of firms' core competences, and by integrating divestment as part of firm growth processes. Globalfocusing is driven by shifts in the relative importance of country‐specific and industry‐specific resources and capabilities due to changes in the internal and external environment, notably the globalization of markets and supply chains. The argument is developed using case studies of restructuring of two Danish manufacturing enterprises. On this basis, I analyse the forces driving globalfocusing processes and suggest propositions for empirical testing.     

基于因果模糊的持续竞争优势研究

从一个崭新的视角,阐明独特性资源、缄默知识和核心能力具有因果模糊,进一步解释持续竞争优势的内在机理。通过说明因果模糊与企业持续竞争优势的四个隐含关系,对基于因果模糊的持续竞争优势在企业管理实践中的应用提出理论支持。     

The RBV theory foundation of strategic HRM: critical flaws,problems for research and practice,and an alternative economics paradigm

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm is a guiding paradigm for strategic HRM research. This article explores the RBV–strategic HRM intersection, identifies and critiques RBV weaknesses and problem areas, develops new implications for RBV–strategic HRM theory and empirical work, and develops an alternative economics‐based decision model for making HRM choices. The article focuses on four RBV–strategic HRM dimensions: HRM performance and the ‘no rules for riches’ proposition; alternative definitions of value and competitive advantage and implications for strategic HRM's dependent variable; neglect of marginal decision rules and consequent misprediction of optimal HRM adoption; and the impact on employee relations of RBV‐guided rent‐capture practices. Numerous implications for theory and practice are developed; also suggested is a new paradigm approach for strategic HRM theory.     

How leveraging human resource capital with its competitive distinctiveness enhances the performance of commercial and public organizations

Although scholars agree that complex relationships between organizations' actual human resources (i.e., human capital stock) and means of leveraging these resources may influence performance, little empirical work has tested such propositions directly. We collected two primary data sets from privateand public‐sector organizations in Israel. The multiplicative interaction between perceived human resources capital and distinctive value derived from that HR capital was significantly related to various measures of perceived and objective organizational performance. Having higher levels of human resources capital was strongly associated with performance only when top managers perceived that these resources provided distinctive value in terms of being highly valuable, inimitable, rare, and nonsubstitutable. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on strategic human resource management and the resource‐based view of competitive advantage, as well as for practical efforts to develop firm‐specific human resource capital that is inherently distinctive. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.