Research Note: How Valuable are Organizational Capabilities?

Organizational capabilities, appropriately defined, can meet the conditions, articulated by the resource-based view of the firm, for being a source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, this paper observes that there are limits to the extent of the importance of such capabilities. They are...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Strategic management journal 1994, Vol.15 (S1), p.143-152
Main Author: Collis, David J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Business structures
Competitive advantage
Corporate strategies
Economic resources
Industrial efficiency
Organizational behavior
Organizational behaviour
Organizational capabilities
Product development
Product innovation
resources
Soft drink industry
Strategic planning
Sustainable economies
Sustainable markets
Sustainable products
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Organizational capabilities, appropriately defined, can meet the conditions, articulated by the resource-based view of the firm, for being a source of sustainable competitive advantage. However, this paper observes that there are limits to the extent of the importance of such capabilities. They are vulnerable to threats of erosion, substitution, and above all to being superseded by a higher-order capability of the `learning to learn' variety. This suggests that there can be an infinite regress in the explanation for, and prediction of, sustainable competitive advantage. The problem is resolved by arguing that the value of organizational capabilities is context dependent, and by recognizing that the strategy field will never find the ultimate source of sustainable competitive advantage.
ISSN:0143-2095
1097-0266
DOI:10.1002/smj.4250150910