This study offers new insights into the context-contingent origins of attainable
competitive advantage.We investigate how human capital pools and specialized
training enable firms to extract superior margins from adopted information
technology resources under different environmental contingencies. Using longitudinal
survey data from a large and representative sample of manufacturing firms, we find
that: first, specialized training for the users of adopted information technologies
consistently promotes above-average increases in firmlevel performance; second,
human capital endowments do not contribute to attained advantage directly, but
significantly enhance the performance gains derived from specialized training in low
munificence and technologically complex environments; and third, in munificent or
technologically simple settings, investments in specialized training are associated
with comparable performance gains for adopters with above-average and below-average
human capital endowments.
Adner, R.
and
Helfat, C.
(2003)
‘Corporate Effects and Dynamic Managerial Capabilities’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
1011–1025
.
2.
Afuah, A.
(2002)
‘Mapping Technological Capabilities into Product Markets and
Competitive Advantage: The Case of Cholesterol Drugs’
, Strategic Management Journal23:
171–179
.
3.
Aiken, L. S.
and
West, S. G.
(1991) Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting
Interactions.
London: Sage Publications
.
4.
Aiman-Smith, L.
and
Green, S. G.
(2002)
‘Implementing New Manufacturing Technology: The Related Effects
of Technology Characteristics and User Learning Activities’
, Academy of Management Journal45(2):
421–430
.
5.
Alavi, M.
and
Leidner, D. E.
(2001)
‘Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems:
Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues’
, MIS Quarterly25(1):
107–136
.
6.
Aldrich, H. E.
and
Auster, E.
(1986) ‘Even Dwarfs Started Small: Liabilities
of Size and Age and their Strategic Implications’, in
B. Staw
and
L. Cummings
(eds) Research in Organizational Behavior 8, pp.
165–198.
Greenwich, CT: JAI Press
.
7.
Amburgey, T. L.
and
Miner, A. S.
(1992)
‘Strategic Momentum: The Effects of Repetitive, Positional and
Contextual Momentum on Merger Activity’
, Strategic Management Journal13:
335–348
.
8.
Amit, R.
and
Schoemaker, P. J. H.
(1993)
‘Strategic Assets and Organizational Rent’
, Strategic Management Journal14(1):
33–46
.
9.
Aragon-Correa, J. A.
and
Sharma, S.
(2003)
‘A Contingent Resource-Based View of Proactive Corporate
Environmental Strategy’
, Academy of Management Review28:
71–88
.
10.
Argote, L.
(1999) Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and
Transferring Knowledge.
Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic
.
11.
Barney, J. B.
(1986a)
‘Organizational Culture: Can it be a Source of Sustained
Competitive Advantage?’
, Academy of Management Review11:
656–665
.
12.
Barney, J. B.
(1986b)
‘Strategic Factor Markets: Expectations, Luck, and Business Strategy’
, Management Science32:
1231–1241
.
13.
Barney, J. B.
(1989)
‘Asset Stocks and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Comment’
, Management Science35(12):
1511–1513
.
14.
Barney, J. B.
(1991)
‘Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage’
, Journal of Management17:
99–120
.
15.
Barney, J. B.
(1997) Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage.
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
.
16.
Barney, J. B.
(1999)
‘How a Firm's Capabilities Affect Boundary Decisions’
, Sloan Management Review40(3):
137–145
.
17.
Barney, J. B.
and
Wright, P. M.
(1998)
‘On Becoming a Strategic Partner: The Role of Human Resources in
Gaining Competitive Advantage’
, Human Resource Management37(1):
31–46
.
18.
Benjamin, R.
and
Levinson, E.
(1993)
‘A Framework for Managing IT-Enabled Change’
, Sloan Management Review(Summer):
23–33
.
19.
Bharadwaj, A. S.
(2000)
‘A Resource-Based Perspective on Information Technology
Capability and Firm Performance: An Empirical Investigation’
, MIS Quarterly24(1):
169–196
.
20.
Boxall, P.
(1996)
‘The Strategic HRM Debate and the Resource-Based View of the Firm’
, Human Resource Management Journal6:
59–75
.
21.
Boxall, P.
and
Steeneveld, M.
(1999)
‘Human Resource Strategy and Competitive Advantage: A
Longitudinal Study of Engineering Consultancies’
, Journal of Management Studies36(4):
443–463
.
22.
Boyd, K. B.
,
Dess, G. G.
and
Rasheed, A. M. A.
(1993)
‘Divergence Between Perceptual and Archival Measures of the
Environment: Causes and Consequences’
, Academy of Management Review18:
204–226
.
23.
Brush, T. H.
and
Artz, K. W.
(1999)
‘Toward a Contingent Resource-Based Theory: The Impact of
Information Asymmetry on the Value of Capabilities in Veterinary Medicine’
, Strategic Management Journal20:
223–250
.
24.
Capron, L.
and
Mitchell, W.
(1998)
‘Bilateral Resource Redeployments and Capabilities Improvement
Following Horizontal Acquisitions’
, Industrial and Corporate Change7(3):
453–484
.
25.
Carmeli, A.
and
Tishler, A.
(2004)
‘The Relationship Between Intangible Organizational Elements and
Organizational Performance’
, Strategic Management Journal25:
1257–1278
.
26.
Clemons, E. K.
and
Row, M. C.
(1991) ‘Sustaining IT Advantage: The Role of
Structural Differences’, MIS QuarterlySeptember: 275–292.
27.
Cockburn, I. M.
,
Henderson, R. M.
and
Stern, S.
(2000)
‘Untangling the Origins of Competitive Advantage’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
1123–1145
.
28.
Coff, R. W.
(1997)
‘Human Assets and Management Dilemmas: Coping with Hazards on the
Road to Resource-Based Theory’
, Academy of Management Review22(2):
374–402
.
29.
Coff, R. W.
(1999)
‘When Competitive Advantage Doesn’t Lead to
Performance: Resource-Based Theory and Stakeholder Bargaining Power’
, Organization Science10(2):
119–133
.
30.
Coff, R. W.
(2002)
‘Human Capital, Shared Expertise, and the Likelihood of Impasse
in Corporate Acquisitions’
, Journal of Management28(1):
107–128
.
31.
Coff, R. W.
,
Coff, D. C.
and
Eastvold, R.
(2006)
‘The Knowledge Leveraging Paradox: How to Achieve Scale Without
Making Knowledge Imitable’
, Academy of Management Review31(1):
1–13
.
32.
Cohen, W. M.
and
Levinthal, D. A.
(1990)
‘Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation’
, Administrative Science Quarterly35:
128–152
.
33.
Colbert, B. A.
(2004)
‘The Complex Resource-Based View: Implications for Theory and
Practice in Strategic Human Resource Management’
, Academy of Management Review29(3):
341–358
.
34.
Conner, K. R.
(1991)
‘A Historical Comparison of Resource-Based Theory and Five
Schools of Thought Within Industrial Organization Economics: Do We Have a
New Theory of the Firm?’
, Journal of Management17(1):
121–154
.
35.
DeCarolis, D. M.
and
Deeds, D. L.
(1999)
‘The Impact of Stocks and Flows of Organizational Knowledge on
Firms Performance: An Empirical Investigation of the Biotechnology Industry’
, Strategic Management Journal20(10):
953–968
.
36.
Dess, G. G.
and
Beard, D. W.
(1984)
‘Dimensions of Organizational Task Environments’
, Administrative Science Quarterly29:
52–73
.
37.
Dierickx, I.
and
Cool, K.
(1989)
‘Asset Stock Accumulation and Sustainability of Competitive Advantage’
, Management Science35(12):
1504–1511
.
38.
Doty, D. H.
,
Glick, W. H.
and
Huber, G. P.
(1993)
‘Fit, Equifinality, and Organizational Effectiveness: A Test of
Two Configurational Theories’
, Academy of Management Journal36:
1196–1250
.
39.
Edmonson, A. C.
,
Bohmer, R. M.
and
Pisano, G. P.
(2001)
‘Disrupted Routines: Team Learning and New Technology
Implementation in Hospitals’
, Administrative Science Quarterly46:
685–716
.
40.
Eisenhardt, K. M.
and
Martin, J. A.
(2000)
‘Dynamic Capabilities: What Are They?’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
1110–1121
.
41.
Eisenhardt, K. M.
and
Tabrizi, B. N.
(1995)
‘Accelerating Adaptive Processes: Product Innovation in the
Global Computer Industry’
, Administrative Science Quarterly40:
84–110
.
42.
Ethiraj, S. K.
,
Kale, P.
,
Krishnan, M. S.
and
Singh, J. V.
(2005)
‘Where Do Capabilities Come From and How Do They Matter? A Study
in the Software Services Industry’
, Strategic Management Journal26:
25–45
.
43.
Fabrizio, K.
(2005)
‘Absorptive Capacity and Innovation: Evidence from Pharmaceutical
and Biotechnology firms’
. Working paper presented at the Competitive Advantage
conference, Atlanta, GA.
44.
Fox, J.
(1991) Regression Diagnostics.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage
.
45.
Garg, V. K.
,
Walters, B. A.
and
Priem, R. L.
(2003)
‘Chief Executive Scanning Emphases, Environmental Dynamism, and
Manufacturing Firm Performance’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
725–744
.
46.
Ghemawat, P.
(1991) Commitment: The Dynamic of Strategy.
New York: Free Press
.
47.
Ghemawat, P.
and
Costa, J.
(1993)
‘The Organizational Tension Between Static and Dynamic Efficiency’
, Strategic Management Journal14:
59–73
.
48.
Hambrick, D. C.
and
Mason, P. A.
(1984)
‘Upper Echelons: The Organization as a Reflection of its Top Managers’
, Academy of Management Review9:
193–206
.
49.
Hatch, N.
and
Dyer, J. H.
(2004)
‘Human Capital and Learning as a Source of Sustainable
Competitive Advantage’
, Strategic Management Journal25:
1155–1178
.
50.
Heckman, J.
(1976)
‘The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample
Selection, and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models’
, The Annals of Economic and Social Measurement5:
475–492
.
51.
Helfat, C. E.
(1997)
‘Know-How and Asset Complementarity and Dynamic Capability
Accumulation: The Case of R&D’
, Strategic Management Journal18(5):
339–360
.
52.
Helfat, C. E.
(2000)
‘Guest Editor's Introduction to the Special Issue: The
Evolution of Firm Capabilities’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
955–959
.
53.
Helfat, C. E.
and
Peteraf, M. A.
(2003)
‘The Dynamic Resource-Based View: Capability Lifecycles’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
997–1010
.
54.
Hofer, C.
(1975)
‘Toward a Contingency Theory of Business Strategy’
, Academy of Management Journal18:
784–810
.
55.
Holbrook, D.
,
Cohen, W. M.
,
Hounshell, D. A.
and
Klepper, S.
(2000)
‘The Nature, Sources and Consequences of Firm Differences in the
Early History of the Semiconductor Industry’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
1017–1041
.
56.
Huselid, M. A.
(1995)
‘The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover,
Productivity and Corporate Financial Performance’
, Academy of Management Journal38(3):
635–672
.
57.
Jovanovic, B.
and
Nyarko, Y.
(1996)
‘Learning by Doing and the Choice of Technology’
, Econometrica64(6):
1299–1310
.
58.
Klepper, S.
and
Simons, K. L.
(2000)
‘Dominance by Birthright: Entry of Prior Radio Producers and
Competitive Ramifications in the U.S. Television Receiver Industry’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
997–1016
.
59.
Knott, A. M.
(2003)
‘The Organizational Routines Factor Market Paradox’
, Strategic Management Journal24(10):
929–943
.
60.
Knott, A. M.
,
Bryce, D. J.
and
Posen, H. E.
(2003)
‘On the Strategic Accumulation of Intangible Assets’
, Organization Science14(2):
192–207
.
61.
Lado, A. A.
and
Wilson, M. C.
(1994)
‘Human Resources Systems and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A
Competency-Based Perspective’
, Academy of Management Review19(4):
699–727
.
62.
Lampel, J.
and
Shamsie, J.
(2003)
‘Capabilities in Motion: New Organizational Forms and the
Reshaping of the Hollywood Movie Industry’
, Journal of Management Studies40(8):
2189–2210
.
63.
Langlois, R. N.
and
Steinmueller, W. E.
(2000)
‘Strategy and Circumstance: The Response of American Firms to
Japanese Competition in Semiconductors, 1980–1995’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
1163–1173
.
64.
Lant, T. K.
,
Milliken, F. J.
and
Batra, B.
(1992)
‘The Role of Managerial Learning and Interpretation in Strategic
Persistence and Reorientation’
, Organization Science3:
47–71
.
65.
Lengnick-Hall, C. A.
and
Wolff, J. A.
(1999)
‘Similarities and Contradictions in the Core Logic of Three
Strategy Research Streams’
, Strategic Management Journal20:
1109–1132
.
66.
Leonard-Barton, D.
(1992)
‘Core Capabilities and Core Rigidities: A Paradox in Managing New
Product Development’
, Strategic Management Journal13:
111–125
.
67.
McGahan, A. M.
and
Porter, M. E.
(1997)
‘What Do We Know About Variance in Accounting Profitability?’
, Management Science18(Summer Special Issue):
15–30
.
68.
Mahoney, J. T.
and
Pandian, J. R.
(1992)
‘The Resource-Based View Within the Conversation of Strategic Management’
, Strategic Management Journal13(5):
363–380
.
69.
Makadok, R.
(2001)
‘Toward a Synthesis of the Resource-Based and Dynamic-Capability
Views of Rent Creation’
, Strategic Management Journal22:
387–401
.
70.
Makadok, R.
(2002)
‘A Rational-Expectations Revision of Makadok's
Resource/Capability Synthesis’
, Strategic Management Journal23(11):
1051–1057
.
71.
Makadok, R.
(2005)
‘The Competence/Collusion Puzzle and the Four Theories of Profit:
Why Good Resources Go to Bad Industries’
. Working paper presented at Competitive Advantage
conference, Atlanta, GA.
72.
Makadok, R.
and
Barney, J. B.
(2001)
‘Strategic Factor Market Intelligence: An Application of
Information Economics to Strategy Formulation and Competitor Intelligence’
, Management Science47(12):
1621–1638
.
73.
March, J. G.1991‘Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning’
, Organization Science2(1)
71–87
.
74.
Maritan, C. A.
and
Brush, T. H.
(2003)
‘Heterogeneity and Transferring Practices: Implementing Flow
Manufacturing in Multiple Plants’
, Strategic Management Journal24(10):
945–959
.
75.
Mata, F. J.
,
Fuerst, W. L.
and
Barney, J. B.
(1995)
‘Information Technology and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A
Resource-Based Analysis’
, MIS Quarterly19(4):
487–505
.
76.
Miller, D.
(2003)
‘An Asymmetry-Based View of Advantage: Towards an Attainable Sustainability’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
961–976
.
77.
Miller, D.
and
Chen, M.-J.
(1994)
‘Sources and Consequences of Competitive Inertia: A Study of the
U.S. Airline Industry’
, Administrative Science Quarterly39(1):
1–23
.
78.
Miller, D.
and
Shamsie, J.
(1996)
‘The Resource-Based View of the Firm in Two Environments: The
Hollywood Film Studios from 1936 to 1965’
, Academy of Management Journal39(3):
519–543
.
79.
Miller, D.
and
Shamsie, J.
(1999)
‘Strategic Responses to Three Kinds of Uncertainty: Product Line
Simplicity at the Hollywood Film Studios’
, Journal of Management25(1):
97–116
.
80.
Mintzberg, H.
(1979) The Structuring of Organizations.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
.
81.
Mirvis, P. H.
,
Sales, A. L.
and
Hackett, E. J.
(1991)
‘The Implementation and Adoption of New Technology in
Organizations: The Impact on Work, People, and Culture’
, Human Resource Management (1986–1998)30(1):
113–139
.
82.
Mishina, Y.
,
Pollock, T. G.
and
Porac, J. F.
(2004)
‘Are More Resources Always Better For Growth? Resource Stickiness
in Market and Product Expansion’
, Strategic Management Journal25:
1179–1197
.
83.
Noda, T.
and
Collis, D.
(2001)
‘The Evolution of Intra-Industry Firm Heterogeneity: Insights
from a Process Study’
, Academy of Management Journal44:
897–925
.
84.
Orlikowski, W. J.
(1993)
‘Learning from Notes: Organizational Issues in Groupware Implementation’
, Information Society9:
237–250
.
85.
Orlikowski, W. J.
(2000)
‘Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens
for Studying Technology in Organizations’
, Organization Science11:
404–428
.
86.
Peteraf, M. A.
(1993)
‘The Cornerstones of Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based View’
, Strategic Management Journal14:
179–191
.
87.
Peteraf, M. A.
and
Barney, J. B.
(2003)
‘Unraveling the Resource-Based Tangle’
, Managerial and Decision Economics24:
309–323
.
88.
Peteraf, M. A.
and
Bergen, M. E.
(2003)
‘Scanning Dynamic Competitive Landscapes: A Market-Based and
Resource-Based Framework’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
1027–1041
.
89.
Podsakoff, P. M.
and
Organ, D. W.
(1986)
‘Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects’
, Journal of Management12:
531–544
.
90.
Porter, M. E.
(1985) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining
Superior Performance.
New York: Free Press
.
91.
Porter, M. E.
(1996)
‘What is Strategy?’
, Harvard Business Review74(6):
61–78
.
92.
Powell, T. C.
and
Dent-Micallef, A.
(1997)
‘Information Technology as Competitive Advantage: The Role of
Human, Business, and Technology Resources’
, Strategic Management Journal18(5):
375–405
.
93.
Priem, R. L.
and
Butler, J. E.
(2001)
‘Is the Resource-Based “View” a Useful
Perspective for Strategic Management Research?’
, Academy of Management Review26:
22–40
.
94.
Provan, K. G.
(1991)
‘Receipt of Information and Influence Over Decisions in Hospitals
by the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and Medical Staff’
, Journal of Management Studies28:
281–298
.
95.
Ranft, A. L.
and
Lord, M. D.
(2002)
‘Acquiring New Technologies and Capabilities: A Grounded Model of
Acquisition Implementation’
, Organization Science13(4):
420–441
.
96.
Ray, G.
,
Barney, J. B.
and
Muhanna, W. A.
(2004)
‘Capabilities, Business Processes, and Competitive Advantage:
Choosing the Dependent Variable in Empirical Tests of the Resource-Based View’
, Strategic Management Journal25:
23–37
.
97.
Rosenberg, N.
(1990)
‘Why Do Firms do Basic Research (With Their Own Money)?’
, Research Policy19:
165–174
.
98.
Rumelt, R.
(1984) ‘Toward a Strategic Theory of the
Firm’, in
R. Lamb
(ed.) Competitive Strategic Management, pp.
556–570.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall
.
99.
Rumelt, R.
(1991)
‘How Much Does Industry Matter?’
, Strategic Management Journal12(3):
167–185
.
100.
Sarndal, C. E.
,
Swensson, B.
and
Wretman, J. H.
(1992) Model Assisted Survey Sampling.
New York: Springer-Verlag
.
101.
Schmalensee, R.
(1985)
‘Do Markets Differ Much?’
, American Economic Review75(3):
341–351
.
102.
Sethi, V.
and
King, W. R.
(1994)
‘Development of Measures to Assess the Extent to which an
Information Technology Application Provides Competitive Advantage’
, Management Science40(12):
1601–1627
.
103.
Shamsie, J.
,
Phelps, C.
and
Kuperman, J.
(2004)
‘Better Late Than Never: A Study of Late Entrants in Household
Electrical Equipment’
, Strategic Management Journal25(1):
69–84
.
104.
Sharfman, M. P.
and
Dean, J. W.
(1991)
‘Conceptualizing and Measuring the Organizational Environment: A
Multidimensional Approach’
, Journal of Management17:
681–700
.
105.
Smith, K. G.
,
Collins, C. J.
and
Clark, K. D.
(2005)
‘Existing Knowledge, Knowledge Creation Capability, and the Rate
of New Product Introduction in High-Technology Firms’
, Academy of Management Journal48(2):
346–357
.
106.
Song, M.
,
Droge, C.
,
Hanvanich, S.
and
Calantone, R.
(2005)
‘Marketing and Technology Resource Complementarity: An Analysis
of Their Interaction Effect in Two Environmental Contexts’
, Strategic Management Journal26:
259–276
.
107.
Statistics Canada
(2002) Guide to the Analysis of the Workplace and Employee
Survey. Available online at: http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/downpub/listpub.cgi?catno=71–221-GIE2004001
108.
Steensma, H. K.
and
Corley, K. G.
(2000)
‘On the Performance of the Technology-Sourcing Partnerships: The
Interaction Between Partner Interdependence and Technology Attributes’
, Academy of Management Journal43(6):
1045–1067
.
109.
Sviokla, J. J.
(1996)
‘Knowledge Workers and Radically New Technology’
, MIT Sloan Management Review37(4):
25–40
.
110.
Thomke, S.
and
Kuemmerle, W.
(2002)
‘Asset Accumulation, Interdependence and Technological Change:
Evidence from Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery’
, Strategic Management Journal23:
619–635
.
111.
Wade, M.
and
Hulland, J.
(2004)
‘The Resource-Based View and Information Systems Research:
Review, Extension, and Suggestions for Future Research’
, MIS Quarterly28(1):
107–142
.
112.
Wernerfelt, B.
(1984)
‘A Resource-Based View of the Firm’
, Strategic Management Journal5:
171–180
.
113.
White, J. B.
,
Clark, D.
and
Ascarelli, S.
(1997).
‘Program of Pain: This German Software is Complex, Expensive
– and Wildly Popular’
, Wall Street Journal(14 March).
114.
Winter, S. G.
(2000)
‘The Satisficing Principle in Capability Learning’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
981–996
.
115.
Winter, S. G.
(2003)
‘Understanding Dynamic Capabilities’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
991–995
.
116.
Wiseman, R.
and
Bromiley, P.
(1996)
‘Toward a Model of Risk in Declining Organizations: An Empirical
Examination of Risk, Performance and Decline’
, Organization Science7:
524–543
.
117.
Wright, P. M.
,
Dunford, B. B.
and
Snell, S. A.
(2001)
‘Human Resources and the Resource-Based View of the Firm’
, Journal of Management27:
701–721
.
118.
Wright, P.
,
McMahan, G. C.
and
Williams, A.
(1994)
‘Human Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A
Resource-Based Perspective’
, International Journal of Human Resources Management5:
301–326
.
119.
Wright, P. M.
,
Smart, D.
and
McMahan, G. C.
(1995)
‘Matches Between Human Resources and Strategy Among NCAA
Basketball Teams’
, Academy of Management Journal38:
1052–1074
.
120.
Youndt, M. A.
,
Snell, S. A.
,
Dean, J. W.
and
Lepak, D. P.
(1996)
‘Human Resource Management, Manufacturing Strategy, and Firm Performance’
, Academy of Management Journal39(4):
836–866
.
121.
Zajac, E. J.
,
Kraatz, M. S.
and
Bresser, R. K. F.
(2000)
‘Modeling the Dynamics of Strategic Fit: A Normative Approach to
Strategic Change’
, Strategic Management Journal21:
429–453
.
122.
Zott, C.
(2003)
‘Dynamic Capabilities and the Emergence of Intra-Industry
Differential Firm Performance: Insights from a Simulation Study’
, Strategic Management Journal24:
97–125
.
