Resources and Capabilities 45porate level, as in a firm’s global image. Although technological resources may be short-
lived because of innovations and inventions, reputational capital may be relatively long-
lived. Many organizations maintain high reputations over long periods of time. Fortune
magazine’s annual survey of corporate reputation indicates that 7 of the top 10 corpo-It’s in the Bag
When 23-year-old Amanda Knauer first
arrived in Buenos Aires in 2004, she wasn’t
sure what she was going to do. The former
documentary film assistant thought she want-
ed to do something involving fashion, but it
wasn’t until she discovered Argentine leather
that she envisioned “drawing luxury from raw
materials,” and expressing her “dream of
crafting a tangible product and creating my
own business.”
Argentina provides many of the animal
skins used to make fine Italian leather. The
cowhides that the country has at home are
tanned by a less-advanced process than the
cowhide it exports, producing more distinctive
and natural finished skins. Knauer thought
Argentine leather would be perfect for prod-
ucts geared to the 25-to-40-year-old urban
man, which she saw as an underserved mar-
ket. So she used $45,000 in savings to cre-
ate a company called Qara, using the word
for leather from the Quechua language, the
Incan dialect still spoken by some indigenous
residents of the Andes today.
Knauer credits the physical resource,
Argentine leather, as the inspiration for her
company, but in fact, she brought many other
resources to her new venture. Friends in the
United States helped her find a lawyer who
assisted her in incorporating her business in
America. That lawyer then helped her find an
“on-paper-only” Argentine partner to facilitate
incorporation in Argentina. The business used
established leather manufacturers in Buenos
Aires to produce Knauer’s designs until a
problem forced Knauer to use her analytical
skills to reassess the situation. “It didn’t
occur to them [the leather suppliers] that I
was expecting what I asked for,” she said.
“So I looked at the numbers and realized it
made more sense to open my own produc-
tion facility.”
Despite her limited Spanish-language
skills, Knauer was able to rent space, pur-
chase secondhand machinery, and hire
skilled leather workers. She now has seven
employees producing 3,000 items a year, and
hopes to buy more sewing machines and hire
more workers shortly. Qara currently pro-
duces travel bags, messenger bags, totes,
wallets, and handbags for both men and
women made from leather, calfskin, and
horsehair. The items are sold through the
company’s Web site (http://www.qara.com),
as well as in two stores, one in Argentina and
one in New York City.
Knauer believes the company will be prof-
itable by the end of its second year, but she
is running out of money. She is now using
her networking skills to attract new investors,
and to help her business expand to U. S.
department stores.
“It hasn’t been easy recruiting Argentina’s
best craftsmen, building a workshop, and
negotiating in a language not my own,” says
Knauer. “But it’s been worth it.” While the
physical resource of Argentine leather may
make her products distinctive, it is obviously
Knauer’s own entrepreneurial resources that
are making her business a success.
SOURCE:Adapted from Tara Siegel Bernard,
“Entrepreneur Heads Far South to Launch Firm,” The Wall
Street Journal, February 21, 2006. Retrieved from the
Web February 21, 2006, http://www.online.wsj.com/arti-
cle_print/SB114048480322778606.html, and
http://www.qara.com.STREET STORY 2.2