Section Twoprovide explanations for practices resulting from strategy
considerations. The first, the resources-based view, explains
practices that provide competitive advantage, such as the
unique allocation of the firm’s resources, organizational culture,
and distinctive competence. For example, a firm might allocate
its resources to produce superior selection procedures and
compensation systems in order to obtain distinctive
competence. The second influence, a behavioral view, based on
contingency theory, explains practices designed to control and
influence attitudes and behaviors. It stresses the
instrumentality of such practices in achieving strategic
objectives. The third draws on cybernetics systems. This view
explains the adoption or abandonment of practices resulting
from feedback on contributions to strategy. When viewed from
this perspective, training programs might be adopted to help
the organization pursue a strategy and would be updated
according to feedback. The fourth, an agency/transaction cost
view, explains why companies use control systems, such as
performance evaluation and reward systems. In the absence of
performance evaluation systems linked to reward systems,
strategies might not be pursued.^17