observation may explain why an organization adopts one of the control-based
HR strategies.
Barney argues that four characteristics of resources and capabilities - value,
rarity, inimitability and non-substitutability - are important in sustaining
competitive advantage. From this perspective, collective learning in the
workplace on the part of managers and non-managers, especially on how to
coordinate workers' diverse knowledge and skills and integrate diverse
information technology, is a strategic asset that rivals find difficult to replicate.
In other words, leadership capabilities are critical to harnessing the firm's
human assets. Amit and Shoemaker (1993, p. 37)^45 make a similar point
when they emphasize the strategic importance of managers identifying, ex
ante, and marshalling 'a set of complementary and specialized resources and
capabilities which are scarce, durable, not easily traded, and difficult to
imitate' in order to enable the company to earn 'economic rent' (profits). Figure
2.1 0 summarizes the relationship between resources and capabilities,
strategies, and sustained competitive advantage.
Figure 2.1 0 The relationship between resource endowments, strategies
and sustained competitive advantage
Shape
Firm’s resources and
capabilities
Value
Rarity
Inimitability
Non – substitutability
StrategiesSustained
competitive
advantageDevelopSource: Hill, C Jones G (2001), Strategic Management: An integrated
approach, Boston: Houghton Mifflin