Which types of resources are necessary to achieve competitive advantage?

Abstract

In this article we test simultaneously various hypotheses of the RBV by taking into ac-count trade-offs and reinforcing effects between resources. Data consisting of 129 teams in the European professional soccer leagues between 1998 and 2003 was used to predict which types of resources are most significantly associated with firm perform-ance. The most important finding from this study is that socially complex intangible capabilities such as group routines have a positive impact on performance. According to our results, complementary factor markets for valuable resources do exist and their acquisition cannot be reduced to information asymmetry. We propose that causal am-biguity is about making difficult decisions with inherent trade-offs rather than about lack of understanding.