Guide to Business Planning

Resource-based view of sustainable competitive advantage

Management Strategic Choices - Resource Identification - Resource Development / Protection - Resource Deployment

Key Resources Tangible Assets Value Barriers to Duplication Appropriability Intangible Assets Capabilities

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Superior Performance

- Market Performance Value to Customers - Customer Performance

The objective of strategic planning is to achieve, sustain and enhance the competitive advantage. Within an industry some businesses are more successful than others because they have resources that are inherently different from those of their competitors, who furthermore cannot easily acquire these resources. Businesses should therefore try to acquire or develop such unique resources in order to attain competitive advantage. This framework looks rather conceptual, but it provides a useful structure to develop your thinking, even for a small business. For example, if a coffee shop occupies a particular space where many of people pass each day, no competing coffee shop can occupy exactly the same space.
Guide to Business Planning

Source: Fahy, J. and Smithee, A., Strategic Marketing and the Resource Based View of the Firm, Academy of Marketing Science Review, Vol. 1999, No. 10, 1999