The resource-based perspective: An assessment and diagnosis of problems

The resource-based approach to strategy has gradually become the dominant perspective in strategy (content) research, arguably because it combines realism with relative rigour. The present paper reviews the main themes of the contemporary version of the resource-based perspective (Wernerfelt, Rumelt, Barney....), and diagnoses a number of problems that beset the approach. The most profound problem probably concerns the lack of theorizing with respect to the creation of new resources, which tends to give the perspective a retrospective character and makes its application to managerial practice difficult. It is suggested that resource-based scholars could draw upon work relating to real options, innovation research, complementarities and organizational learning if they wish to remedy this deficiency and to promote their perspective.