Resourced-Based View of Strategy and Competitive Positioning-Based View of Strategy - Coursework Example

Differences and similarities between resourced based view of strategy and competitive positioning based view of strategy. Name: Institution: Date: Differences and similarities between resourced based view of strategy and competitive positioning based view of strategy. Introduction       Strategies are sets of plans or approach used by administrations and organizations to meet certain demands. The strategies can be viewed in various ways depending on the firm being employed. There are various firms that views the strategies, the common ones include the competitive based view of strategy, institution-based view of strategy, and the resource based view of strategy. Several articles outline the differences between these strategies. The ultimate aim of this paper is to outline the competitive positioning based view of strategies, the articles that explains this firm and its strengths and weaknesses (Lehmann & Winer, 1997). It also looks at the resource-based view of strategy, the articles that outline its firm as well as its strengths and weaknesses. Competitive strategy refers to how a company competes in a particular business. The major articles that explain clearly these weaknesses and strengths in competitive positioning based strategy include the Harvard Business journal, take time for competitive positioning article and business strategy, the Harvard business review, strategic management journal, competitive intelligence journal among others. The Harvard Business Journal talks about how a company can gain competitive advantage through discrete ways of competing. The take time for competitive positioning article gives the importance of competition in business field. The Harvard business review outlines the five competitive forces that shape the business (Snow, 1989). Destroy competition with positioning strategy article urges the business planners to focus on strategic development and competitive advantage as well as recognizing the internet for what it is. It terms this as an enabling technology. There are several strengths portrayed by these journal articles. The major strength that is brought out clearly by all the five journals is that they are all focused in giving hope and different tactics to the business planners and companies. They all provide principles for strategic positioning which are very effective in making a business planner or company to be competitive. They all provide structural solutions that lead to competitiveness of an industry or a company. The strengths have a relatively increasing effectiveness in business where many businesses that adapt the competitive principles and measures perform well. Weaknesses       The main weakness of competitive positioning firms is that they are easily counterfeited. The competitors are able to examine what you are doing to be unique and excel in the business field. They then go ahead to copy and do exactly what you does and therefore your firm will not be unique anymore. This reduces the competence of the firm and makes it to be dormant as it looses the ability to compete in the market (Noel, 1983). When all the tactics you were using are copied and being used somewhere, your strength and morale goes down. Therefore, it is easy to give up and surrender the competition. It should be clear that the competitive firms provide the tactics, plans and strategies that help the firm be in a position to compete in the market field. The disadvantage comes in when all these strategies, tactics, and plans are implemented by someone else. Resource based view of strategy       This refers to business management tool that determines the strategic resources available in the company. Some of the resource-based articles include the resource-based view of firm strategy, top ten management on resource based-strategy article, Psmith’s resource based view articles, the RBV Berney article, the knowledge based strategy article among others. These articles talks about the tactful and the techniques for the companies’ endeavor in achieving competitive advantage. They stick to the fact that the company should be able to use the resources it has to compete in business firms. Their main strength is that they give all the possible measures that can ensure business prosperity of a company using the available resources. They also provide all the possible ways that can be used by the companies to attain competitive advantage over the competitors through capitalizing on internal resources (Pascale, 1990). Their main weakness of the resource-based strategies is that most of the strategists are very open and show off their big plans in the business field which are then used by to other competitors to counterfeit them. Their strengths become their weakness and since they do not know how to hide the strengths before implementation and therefore they end up receiving strong completion that they cannot withstand.        There are several common themes between the competitive positioning based strategy and resource based strategy (Donald & Winer, 1997). To begin with, both strategies have the theme of competence in the business field. The two strategies outline the possible tactics that need to be applied in the business field by the companies in order to be competitive enough and to gain popularity. Secondly, both strategies lead to distinctive market performance. They give all the available unique techniques that can be used in the market field in order for the companies to improve market performance. The theme of growing is also common in both schools because they provide the solutions to all problems that may hinder the progress of a company’s competitiveness in the business field. They both have the theme of making profit. In fact, the main objectives of these firms are to make profit in the business they carry out. They are focused in making profits than any other thing because this is the basic aim of running business. Differences        However, there are several differences in theme portrayed by the two firms. The main theme for resource-based view of strategies is that each firm has specific resources and capabilities that are importance in defining the performance of the firm (Kelley, 1968). This gives the different firms distinct performances. On the other hand, the competitive positioning based strategy focuses on the productiveness and the ability of a firm to compete in the business field. Thus, the main difference between these two schools is that the competitive positioning focuses on stabilizing economy to be in a better position while the resource based view focuses on the aspect of resources, which give them the ability to compete in the market. Resources lead to improvement of economy. The competitive firms ask the question; do managers compare their firms to competitors? While the resource-based firm asks the question; do the firm has enough resources to enhance its capabilities of competing? Resource based firms depends on how the available resources are applied, the competitive positioning firm depends on the stability of the economy to be competitive enough in business field.        The best school for a for-profit organization that has a well-developed economy is the resource-based strategy. There are various reasons to support this argument. First, it should be clear that most organizations lay down the competitive planning strategies mainly to ensure that the economy of that particular organization stabilizes and eventually develops (Jerry, 2000). In this case, the economy has already grown and the organization is already stable and making profit. Therefore, the best thing to do is to employ the resource-based strategy that will effectively translate the developed economy into valuable resources that are neither impeccably imitable nor substitutable (Hsinchun, 2002). An organization may have a stable and well-developed economy but still fail to be competitive enough in the business field. This is because the resources are also very important in boosting the endeavors of a company’s competences in the market field. Thus having the developed economies requires for the company or the organization to work on its resource strategies in order to be competitive enough. To understand this point clearly, it is important to view the meaning of resources. These refer to the inputs into a firm’s production process, which includes the skills of individuals working into the firm, capital, finance, patent, and equipment. Therefore having a stable economy may lead to acquiring of all these resources especially the skilled personnel who plays a major role in ensuring competence of the organization.        A good example is the competitive intelligence division of special libraries association (SLA). It was formed in 2004 in cooperating libraries and information professionals. The association cooperate these professionals who have gone beyond colleting and managing information, to provide the organizations with helpful data examinations for their success (Burwell & Helen, 1999). This intelligence division has incorporated all aspects of competitive intelligence including planning, collecting, and analyzing information, identifying the needs of decision maker intelligence, evaluating the activities of intelligence among other aspects. The division members have set their minds in improving their competitive skills, which is greatly assisting them in functioning more effectively as intelligence professionals. The organization is very successful as it has combined the aspects of competitive firms with the resource based strategy. The organization is economically stable and it is now employing the resource based strategies like working on the skills of the professionals who apply them in improving its performance (Benjamin & Tamar, 1988). Competitive positioning strategy       Competitive positioning strategy refers to how a company competes in a particular business. There are several competitive positioning based journal articles, which gives the critical explanation of this firm (Michael, 1985). For example we have the Harvard Business journal, the Stamford competitive advantage and business strategy, the Harvard business review, destroy competition with positioning strategy article, competitive intelligence journal among others. All these articles give the techniques and tactics that are helpful to organizations for competences in the market field. They contain all the aspects of competitive positioning such as planning, collecting, and analyzing information, identifying the needs of decision maker intelligence and evaluating the activities of intelligence (Boncella & Robert, 2003). They all provide principles for strategic positioning which are very effective in making a business planner or company to be competitive. They all provide structural solutions that lead to competitiveness of an industry or a company.        The resource-based view of strategy refers to a company that uses its own competitive capabilities and valuable, rare resource strength to deliver to customers in very different and unique ways that are difficult to be adapted by rivals. Some of the journal articles that view the strengths and weaknesses of resource-based view of strategy include resource-based view of firm strategy, top ten management on resource based-strategy article, Psmith’s resource based view articles, the RBV Berney article and the international Business Review strategy article. The major strength of the resource-based firms is that they provide all the possible ways that can be used by the companies to attain competitive advantage over the competitors through capitalizing on internal resources (Leonard, 1985). However, they also have their major weakness that is, it is hard to hide the resources that you have from your competitors and therefore most of the competitors uses the weaknesses of their rivals to beat them in business. The best school for the for-profit organization with developed economy in the 21 century is the resource-based school. In this case, the economy is already stable thus; the organization needs to invest on the resources in order to be competitive enough in the market field. A good example of an organization with stable economy and has employed the economy in resource establishment is the competitive intelligence division of special libraries association (SLA). The establishment of resources has made it very successful. Conclusion Strategies can be viewed in a number of ways. The way these strategies are viewed depends on the type of firm being employed. The competitive positioning based strategy focus on the financial issues that can make a firm competence enough in the market. The resource-based view on the other hand depends on the size of resources available and the way the resources are applied. All these firms are important when it comes to the market field. They can as well work together in one company and bear brilliant results. Both firms show some common themes. They both have the theme of competition, as their aim is to ensure that they are competitive enough in the business field. They also have the theme of profit. The fundamental objective of all businesses is making profit. The profit is the main objective of running business. However, these firms portray some different themes. For example, the competitive positioning firm focuses on the productiveness and the ability of a firm to compete in the business field while the resource-based firm focuses on the facet of resources, which give them the ability to compete in the business field.     References . Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press, 1980. Barney, J.B., (2001), Is the Resource-Based Theory a Useful Perspective for Strategic Management Research? Yes. Academy of Management Review; 26, Boncella, Robert J (2003). "Competitive Intelligence on the Web." Communications of AIS 12: 327–340. Burwell, Helen P, (1999). Online Competitive Intelligence: Increase Your Profits Using Cyber- Intelligence. Tempe, AZ: Facts on Demand Press, Chen, Hsinchun, (2002). "CI Spider." Decision Support Systems 34, no. 1, 1–17. David Wyld, (2010). Top ten management on resource based strategy. Louisiana University Press. Fuld, Leonard M, (1985). 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