Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8kt4b Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T21:41:30.901Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 2 - Causes of firm success

From resources to organization and management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Nicolai J. Foss
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Business School
Torben Pedersen
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Business School
Jacob Pyndt
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Consulting Company
Majken Schultz
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Business School
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Given our concern with the ways in which organization and management contribute to corporate success, we find ourselves squarely in the universe of strategic management. Fundamentally, strategic management is about coordinating activities related to the delivery of value to customers in a way that is not only supportive of success but also different from the competition – perhaps even unique. In fact, the former (success) is largely derived from the latter (differentiation). While strategists and strategic management academics may agree on this basic view, there are numerous paths to differentiation and success may be assessed in a variety of ways. In this chapter, therefore, we briefly survey some of the key ideas on superior firm performance, heterogeneity, and strategic management that have emerged in recent decades.

Specifically, we discuss a range of perspectives on how resources and capabilities contribute to competitive advantage, and argue that such ideas need to focus more on understanding the interplay between resources and capabilities on the one hand and organization and management on the other. We show that: (1) The organizational design and management processes of a firm may be a distinct resource for that firm; and that (2) improvements and changes in these factors may contribute to sustaining competitive advantages; not least because (3) they may assist in the process of building new strategic resources and capabilities.

Type
Chapter
Information
Innovating Organization and Management
New Sources of Competitive Advantage
, pp. 15 - 40
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dierickx, I. Cool, K. “Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage,” Management Science 35 1989 Google Scholar
Teece, D. Pisano, G. Shuen, A. “Dynamic capabilities and strategic management,” Strategic Management Journal 18 1997 509 3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintzberg, Henry “Structure in 5’S: A synthesis of the research on organization design,” Management Science 26 1980 322 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1999

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×