Linking Intangible Resources and Competitive Advantage

Introduction

Penrose (1959) mentions that the Resourced-Based View (RBV) argues that the competitive advantage of any organization is based on the set of resources and the role they play in its strategy. It can then be said that competitive advantage is based not only on the final product or service placed on the market, but mostly on a clear identification of available resources (Wernerfelt, 1984), and on how they are optimized (Penrose, 1959).

The Industrial Revolution created a market where the success and value of a firm were established by its ability to obtain, use and sell physical resources (Tsai, Lu & Yen, 2012). However, the Information Society has brought with it a new reality in which physical goods give way to intangible values, such as knowledge, culture and technology (Fakhrutdinova et al., 2014), and in which the main source of value creation market is based on immaterial pillars (Tsai et al., 2012).

According to the Economic Theory, intangible resources are based on the relation between society and property, which in itself has neither a material form nor a recognizable value, but which has the capacity to generate profit and competitive advantage (Fakhrutdinova et al., 2014).

Exploring intangible resources among SMEs has inherent scholarly value, since these firms tend to be constrained in their tangible assets; possessing intangible resources take on particular strategic significance and can form the basis for competitive advantage (Anderson & Eshima, 2013).

Resource-based scholars argue that resources form the basis of firm strategies (Barney, 1991) and intangible resources are more likely than tangible resources to produce a competitive advantage, since they are often rare and socially complex, thereby making them difficult to imitate (Hitt, Bierman, Shimizu & Kochhar, 2001). Thus, intangible assets are considered strategic variables (Amit & Schoemaker, 1993) and can consequently create sustainable value. Firms with valuable, scarce, and nonsubstitutable resources can gain at least temporary advantages by using those resources to develop and implement product-market strategies (Hsu & Ziedonis, 2013).