Sustainable competitive advantage resources have become an important research topic in the field of strategic management. This paper assumes that the distribution of strategic resources among enterprises is unbalanced, and this distribution will not change for a long time. Under this assumption, we analyze the relationship between enterprise resources and sustainable competitive advantage. This paper discusses four potential empirical factors of creating sustainable competitive advantage, such as value, scarcity, unrepeatability and substitutability, and analyzes the potential of these enterprise resources to create sustainable competitive advantage by using the model. Finally, through the analysis of sustainable competitive advantage resource model and other business disciplines, the conclusion is drawn.
2. Definition of key concepts
? Enterprise resources
Enterprise resources are things controlled by enterprises that are beneficial to the formulation and implementation of enterprise strategies (beneficial to the improvement of enterprise efficiency), such as assets, capabilities, organizational procedures, enterprise signs, information and knowledge. Enterprise resources can be divided into three categories: tangible capital resources, human capital resources and organizational capital resources.
? Competitive advantage and sustainable competitive advantage
When an enterprise is implementing the value creation strategy, but other enterprises are unable to implement this strategy, we say that this enterprise has a competitive advantage. When an enterprise is implementing the value creation strategy, and at the same time, existing and potential competitors can't implement this strategy and can't copy the benefits of this strategy, we say that this enterprise has a sustainable competitive advantage.
? There are three explanations about these two concepts:
? 1. The competitors of enterprises are not only existing enterprises in the industry, but also potential competitors who are interested in entering the industry.
? 2. The sustainable competitive advantage of an enterprise does not mean that it will last for a long time. Of course, long-term is very important, but what we call sustainable competitive advantage is a value creation strategy that an enterprise cannot replicate with other competitors.
? 3. Sustained competitive advantage does not mean that enterprises must always have advantages. If the competitive structure of the industry changes and the resources that produce competitive advantage change, then the competitive advantage of enterprises will disappear. In other words, enterprises will always have this competitive advantage only if the resources that produce competitive advantage in this industry remain unchanged forever.
Competition under the conditions of homogenization and complete flow of resources
? Homogeneity and liquidity of resources and sustainable competition
In this case, all enterprises in the industry have the same kind and the same amount of tangible capital, human capital and organizational capital. Is there a strategy that only one enterprise can form and implement, and other enterprises can't? Obviously, the answer is no, the homogeneity and fluidity of enterprise resources make it impossible for enterprises to form a sustainable competitive advantage.
? Homogeneity, liquidity and first-Mover advantage of resources
Can the first enterprise in an industry to formulate and implement a strategy achieve a sustainable competitive advantage? He can establish his own sales channels, establish a good customer relationship or form a good reputation in the industry before the later strategic executors, and perhaps these pioneer enterprises can gain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, if the enterprises in the industry have the same resources, then it is impossible for any enterprise to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. Only when the resources occupied by enterprises are different can enterprises gain the first-Mover advantage.
? Homogenization and mobility of resources and obstacles to entry or mobility
If an industry has strong barriers to entry and liquidity, do enterprises in this industry have sustainable competitive advantages over potential entrants? Entry barriers and mobility barriers only exist when the resources occupied by existing competitors and potential competitors are not the same in quality and these resources are not fully mobile. In order to protect this barrier, enterprises in the industry must implement an extraordinary strategy, and the resources needed to implement this strategy can only be owned by enterprises in the industry. Potential competitors can't enter the industry, so they can't implement this strategy. This is the so-called strategic groups. Barriers only exist in the case of incomplete resource flow and uneven distribution.
Through the above analysis, we realize that in order to better understand the resources with sustainable competitive advantage, it is very necessary to establish a model that assumes the heterogeneity and illiquidity of enterprise resources. Not all enterprise resources have the potential of continuous competition. To obtain this potential, we must have four attributes: it must be valuable; Must be scarce; There must be incomplete imitation; There are no relevant strategic alternative resources (such alternative resources are valuable but not scarce and not completely imitatable).
? Valuable resources
Only when a resource has value can we say that it is a resource with competitive advantage or sustainable competitive advantage. As previously analyzed? Only when resources enable enterprises to formulate and implement strategies to improve enterprise efficiency can we say that such resources are valuable.
? scarce resources
The precious resources occupied by a large number of competitors or potential competitors obviously have neither the potential of competitive advantage nor the potential of sustainable competitive advantage. So to what extent are valuable resources scarce to have the potential of competitive advantage? This is a difficult question to answer, but if only one enterprise has this valuable resource, it is obvious that it can create a sustainable competitive advantage, and it may also have the potential for sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, as long as there are fewer enterprises in the industry that have this precious resource than those that need it, this resource has the potential of sustainable competitive advantage.
? Incomplete imitation resources
Only when valuable and scarce resources cannot be obtained by other enterprises, such resources are resources with sustainable competitive advantages, which requires that resources have incomplete imitation. There are three reasons why resources are not completely imitated: the special historical conditions for enterprises to obtain resources; Fuzzy causality between resources and sustainable competitive advantage: social complexity caused by advantage.
Special historical conditions and incomplete imitation resources? Enterprises are not only historical and social groups, but also their ability to acquire and explore resources depends on their time and space environment. Once the special historical moment is missed, the enterprise will lose the opportunity to obtain this kind of resource, so this kind of resource is not completely imitatable.
The causal relationship is vague and the imitation resources are incomplete? Enterprises need a variety of resources when formulating and implementing special strategies, and enterprises themselves do not know which resources play a key role in improving enterprise efficiency, that is to say, the relationship between enterprise performance and resources is not clear. Other enterprises want to copy this strategy, but they don't know where to start, so there is an incomplete imitation of resources.
The complexity of society? Many enterprise resources have social complexity, such as the personal relationship between managers, corporate culture and the reputation of enterprises between suppliers and customers. Many social affairs are beyond the capacity of enterprises, and resources with social complexity are difficult to manage to some extent, so these resources are not completely imitative.