Resource-Based Theory: Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

The 'Resource-Based View of the Firm' has emerged over the last fifteen years as one of the dominant perspectives used in strategic management. It addresses the fundamental research question of strategic management: Why it is that some firms persistently outperform others?

Resource-Based Theory provides a considered overview of this theory, including the latest developments, from one of the key thinkers in its development. In broad terms it offers an alternative to Michael Porter's approach, focusing more on the competences and capabilities of the firm, rather than its positioning in its chosen markets.

Jay B. Barney has long been recognised as one of the leading contributor to the resource-based theory literature. In this book he has collaborated with Delwyn N. Clark to produce the first book to examine the theory in a holistic and in-depth manner. The authors explore not only the applications of the theory in research, teaching, and practice, but also its early roots in traditional economic theory, development and proliferation in the 1990s, and later influence on management thinking.

Jay B. Barney is a Professor of Management and holds the Chase Chair in Strategic Management at the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Best known for his work on resource-based theory, he has published over 75 articles in the field of strategic management, along with four books. Professor Barney has also served in a variety of editorial positions (at The Journal of Management, Organization Science, and other journals), received an honorary Ph.D. from Lund University, was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management, and received the Irwin Outstanding Educator Award from the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management. Professor Barney also consults with a wide variety of private and public sector organizations, including, most recently, American Electric Power, Nationwide Insurance, and Columbus Public Schools.
Delwyn N. Clark is the Executive Director Research and a Professor of Strategic Management at Waikato Management School. Professor Clark's research interests provide intellectual contributions to strategy theory, practice and teaching. She is developing new theory on innovation, entrepreneurial processes and the resource based view of the firm. In addition to studying strategy models and processes, she has recently examined e-Business practices in New Zealand organizations (as part of a FRST-funded programme). Several of her in-depth, Harvard-style, strategy case studies have been published in the Case Research Journal and in a book, Strategic Management Cases (Pearson, 2001). In 2002, Delwyn was the recipient of one of the inaugural New Zealand Tertiary Teaching Excellence Awards for Sustained Excellence.