This article explores the competitive advantage of businesses. Current understanding of competitive advantage arises from the strategic management paradigm. However, the early theory that underpins this comes from optimising economic theory, the inadequacy of which led to the resource-based view. The next development came from knowledge management, which sees knowledge as a valuable strategic resource recognizing the need to look more inside the organization qualitatively. However, a new paradigm has arisen that couples knowledge processes with cybernetics. This recognizes that achieving competitive advantage requires that an organization's pathologies must be recognized and addressed.
Anderson, P. (1999) `Complexity Theory and Organizational Science' , Organization Science10(3): 216-32.
2.
Andrews, K.R. (1971) The Concept of Corporate Strategy. Homewood, IL: Dow-Jones Irwin.
3.
Argyris, C. and Schön, D. (1974) Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
4.
Ashby, W.R. (1956) An Introduction to Cybernetics. London: Variety, Methuen.
5.
Barney, J.B. (1991) `The Resource Based View of Strategy: Origins, Implications, and Prospects', Journal of Management17(1): 97-211.
6.
Beer, S. (1979) The Heart of the Enterprise. Chichester: Wiley.
7.
Berreby, D. (1998) Complexity Theory: Fact-free Science or Business Tool?: Strategy & Business. McLean, VA: Booz, Allen & Hamilton.
8.
Brandenburger, A. and Nalebuff, B. (1996) Coopetition. New York: Currency/Doubleday.
9.
Brodbeck, P.W. (2002) `Complexity Theory and Organization Procedure Design' , Business Process Management Journal8(4): 377-402.
10.
Brown, T.L. (2003) Making Truth: Metaphor in Science. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
11.
Connor, K. (1991) `A Historical Comparison of Resource Based Theory of Five Schools of Thought within Industrial Organization Economics: Do we have a New Theory of the Firm?', Journal of Management17(1): 121-54.
12.
Furlong, G. (2005) `Knowledge Management and the Competitive Edge, Doctoral dissertation, University of Greenwich Business School', www.gre.ac.uk/schools/business/Dissertation/TOC.html (no longer online)
13.
Habermas, J. (1971) Knowledge and Human Interests. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
14.
Habermas, J. (1987) The Theory of Communicative Action, Vol. 2. Cambridge: Polity Press.
15.
Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. (1989) `Strategic Intent', Harvard Business Review67(3): 63.
16.
Heidegger, M. (1927/1996) Sight and Time, trans. J. Stambaugh . New York: State University of New York Press.
17.
Ho, M. W. and Fox, S. W. (eds) (1988) Evolutionary Processes and Metaphors. London: Wiley.
18.
Howard, N. (1999) Confrontation Analysis: How to Win Operations other than War. Washington, DC: CCRP Publications , www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA458371&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf
19.
Husserl, E. (1950/1965) Husserl, trans. Q. Lauer. New York: Harper and Row.
20.
Johannessen, J.A., Olaisen, J. and Olaisen, B. (2001) `Mismanagement of Tacit Knowledge: Knowledge Management, the Danger of Information Technology, and What to do About it', International Journal of Information Management21(1): 3-20.
21.
Johnson, G. and Scholes, K. (1999) Exploring Corporate Strategy. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
22.
Kauffman, S.A. (1993) The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
23.
Kets de Vries, M.F.R. (1991) Organisations on the Couch: Clinical Perspectives on Organisational Behaviour and Change. New York: Jossey-Bass and Wiley.
24.
Lado, A.A., Boyd, N. and Wright, P. (1992) `A Competency-based Model of Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Toward a Conceptual Integration', Journal of Management18(1): 77-91.
25.
Leonard, A. (1999) `A Viable System Model: Consideration of Knowledge Management', Journal of Knowledge Management Practice1(August), www.tlainc.com/articl12.htm
26.
Lewin, A.Y. (1999) `Application of Complexity Theory to Organizational Science', Organization Science10(3): 215.
27.
Mahoney, J.T. and Pandian, J.R. (1992) `The Resource-based View within the Conversation of Strategic Management', Strategic Management Journal13(5): 363-80.
28.
Marshall, S.P. (1995) Schemes in Problem Solving. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29.
Maturan, H. and Varela, F.J. (1979) Autopoiesis and Cognition. Boston, MA: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science .
30.
Maturana, H.R. and Varela, F.J. (1987) The Tree of Knowledge. London : Shambhala.
31.
Nash, J.F., Jr (1950a) `The Bargaining Problem', Econometrica18: 155-62.
32.
Nash, J.F., Jr (1950b) `Equilibrium Points in n-Person Games', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A.36: 48-9.
33.
Nash, J.F., Jr (1951) `Noncooperative Games', Annals of Mathematics54: 289-95.
34.
Nash, J.F., Jr (1953) `Two-person Cooperative Games', Econometrica21: 128-40.
35.
Nash, J.F., Jr (1996) Essays on Game Theory. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.
36.
Nicolis, G. and Prigogine, I. (1989) Exploring Complexity: An Introduction. New York: W. H. Feeman and Co.
37.
Osborn, A. (1934) Edmund Husserl and his Logical Investigations. New York: International Press.
38.
Pascale, R.T. (1999) `Surfing the Edge of Chaos', Sloan Management Review (15 April): 83-94.
39.
Peters, T. (1987) Thriving on Chaos. New York : Alfred A. Knopf.
40.
Peters, T. and Waterman, R.H. (1982) In Search of Excellence. London : Harper & Row.
41.
Polanyi, M. (1962) Personal Knowledge. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
42.
Porter, M. (1980) Competitive Strategy. New York : The Free Press.
43.
Porter, M. (1985) Competitive Advantage. New York : The Free Press.
44.
Priem, R.L. and Butler, J.E. (2001) `Is the Resource-based `View' a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research?', Academy of Management Review26(1): 22-40.
45.
Prigogine, I. (1989) `The Philosophy of Instability', Futures (August): 396-400.
46.
Rosenblueth, A., Wierner, N. and Bigelow, J. (1943) `Behaviour, Purpose and Teology', Philosophy of Science10(S): 18-24.
47.
Rosenhead, J. (2001) `Complexity Theory and Management Practice', Science as Culture, http://human-nature.com/science-as-culture/rosenhead.html
48.
Santosus, M. (1998), Business management, CIO Enterprises Magazine (15 April), www.cio.com/archive/enterprise/041598_qanda.html?printversion=yes
49.
Schutz, A. and Luckmann, T. (1974) The Structures of the Lifeworld. London: Heinemann.
50.
Schwaninger, M. (2001) `Intelligent Organizations: An Integrative Framework' , Systems Research and Behavioural Science18: 137-58.
51.
Schwarz, E. (1997) `Towards a Holistic Cybernetics: From Science through Epistemology to Being', Cybernetics and Human Knowing4(1): 17-50.
52.
Sherman, H.J. and Schultz, R. (1998) Open Boundaries: Creating Business Innovation Through Complexity. Reading, MA: Perseus Books.
53.
Sheth, J.N. and Sisodia, R.S. (2002) `Competitive Markets and The Rule of Three', Business Journal (September-October), www.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=195
54.
Stewart, I. (1989) Does God Play Dice?: The Mathematics of Chaos. Oxford: Blackwell.
55.
Stonehouse, G.H. and Pemberton, J.D. (1999) `Leraning and Knowledge Management in the Intelligent Organisation', Participation and Empowerment7(5): 131-44.
56.
Von Neumann, J. and Morgenstern, O. (1947) The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, 2nd edn. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
57.
Wade, M. and Hulland, J. (2004) `The Resource-Based View and information Systems Research: Review, Extension, and Suggestions for Future Research', MIS Quarterly28(1): 107-42.
58.
Weed, L. (2002) `Kant's Noumenon and Sunyata', Asian Philosophy12(2): 77, 95 .
59.
Wikipedia (2006) `Sustainable Competitive Advantage', http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_competitive_advantage
60.
Wollheim, R. (1999) On The Emotions. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
61.
Yolles, M.I. (1999) Managment Systems: A Viable Approach. London: Financial Times Pitman.
62.
Yolles, M.I. (2003) `Viable Systems Theory, Anticipation, and Logical Levels of Management', paper presented at the International Conference on Creativity and Complexity, London School of Economics, 16-18 September, www.psych.lse.ac.uk/complexity/Conference/MauriceYollesPaper.pdf
Yolles, M.I. (2005) Knowledge Cybernetics, a new metaphor for social collectives. ANZSYS 2005 ANZSYS /Managing the Complex, Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand, 5-7 December, http://isce.edu/ISCE_Group_Site/web-content/ISCE%20Events/Christchurch_2005/Papers/Yolles.pdf (no longer online)
65.
Yolles, M.I. (2006) Organisations as Complex Systems: An Introduction to Knowledge Cybernetics. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, http://www.infoagepub.com/www./products/product5/1-59311-433-8.htm (no longer online)
66.
Yolles, M.I. and Dubois, D. (2001) `Anticipatory Viable Systems, International Journal of Computing, Anticipatory Systems', CHAOS9: 3-18.
67.
Yolles, M.I. and Guo, K. (2003) `Paradigmatic Metamorphosis and Organizational Development', Systems Research and Behavioural Science20: 177-99
68.
Zack, M.H. (1999) `Developing a Knowledge Strategy', California Management Review41(3): 125-45, http://web.cba.neu.edu/~mzack/articles/ kstrat/kstrat.htm
