Why Trafalgar was won before it was fought: Lessons from resource-based theory

Academy of Management Executive

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 73-89

  Pringle, Charles D ^a   Kroll, Mark J ^b  

^a JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT TYLER   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0008536665     PISSN: 10795545     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5465/ame.1997.9712024840     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Our discussion of the Battle of Trafalgar and the Royal Navy is based on numerous sources. To avoid the bias of any single historian, we have avoided taking any positions that are not reflected in at least two of the works listed below: Aldington, R. 1943. The Duke: Being an account of the life and achievements of Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington. New York: Viking;
2. Armitage, M. 1994. The Royal Navy: An illustrated history. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute;
3. Aubry, O. 1938. Napoleon: Soldier and emperor. New York: Lippincott;
4. Ballard, C.R. 1971. Napoleon, an outline. New York: Books for Libraries;
5. Carr, A. 1941.Napoleon speaks. New York: Viking;
6. Castelot, A. 1968. Napoleon. New York: Harper and Row;
7. Corbett, Sir J.S. 1910. The campaign of Trafalgar. New York: Longmans, Green;
8. Fournier, A. 1913. Napoleon I, Volume 1. New York: Henry Holt;
9. Lloyd, C. 1973. Nelson and sea power. London: The English Universities Press;
10. Marcus, G.J. 1971. The age of Nelson: The Royal Navy 1793-1815. New York: Viking;
11. O'Brian, L. 1989. Nelson's navy: The ships, men and organization 1793-1815. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press;
12. Pocock, T. 1994. Horatio Nelson. London: Pimlico;
13. Walder, D. 1978. Nelson. New York: Dial;
14. Warner, O. 1971. Nelson's battles. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute.
15. Our description of RBT is based primarily on Barney, J. 1991. Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17: 99-120.
16. Porter, M. 1980. Competitive strategy. New York: Free Press.
17. Lado, A.A., Boyd, N.G., & Wright, P. 1992. A competency-based model of sustainable competitive advantage: Toward a conceptual integration. Journal of Management, 18: 77-91.
18. Miller, D., & Shamsie, J. 1996. The resource-based view of the firm in two environments: The Hollywood film studios from 1936 to 1965. Academy of Management Journal, 39: 521
19. Miller and Shamsie, The resource-based view of the firm in two environments ..., 519.
20. Lippman, S., & Rumelt, R. 1982. Uncertain imitability: An analysis of interfirm differences in efficiency under competition. Bell Journal of Economics, 13: 418-438.
21. An excellent discussion on how organizational culture can - and cannot - be linked to sustained competitive advantage is found in Barney, J.B. 1986. Organizational culture: Can it be a source of sustained competitive advantage? Academy of Management Review, 11: 656-665.
22. Dierickx, I., & Cool, K. 1989. Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage. Management Science, 35: 1504-1511.
23. At the end of the elaborate four-hour funeral service for Lord Nelson, Sir Isaac Heard recited the various titles that Nelson held as the coffin was lowered into its crypt in St. Paul's Cathedral. Heard concluded with this quotation (Walder, Nelson, 508).
24. Undoubtedly, impressment was a cruel system of conscription but, by law, it applied only to professional seamen. Captains of warships needed skilled men and, therefore, had no wish to press landmen into service. Though non-seamen were occasionally taken by press gangs, the vast majority of them were soon released after proving their identity. See O'Brian, Nelson's navy, 117-119.
25. The Royal Navy's approach to the recruitment and development of officers differed significantly from that of the British Army, in which officers could purchase their commissions. These officers, typically from wealthy or titled families, did not benefit from the valuable apprenticeship experiences common to naval officers.
26. Marcus, The age of Nelson ..., 221.
27. Warner, Nelson's battles, 241.
28. This statement may surprise readers who are familiar with John Paul Jones' success against the Royal Navy frigate, Serapis. But that contest was a minor engagement between two medium-sized vessels, not a major battle involving capital ships. Jones himself was a product of the British maritime tradition. He was born in Scotland and obtained his sailing skills through service in the British merchant marine from 1752 through 1772. He served in the American navy for only five years before accepting an offer to become an admiral in the Russian fleet.
29. Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. 1996. Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson. Funk & Wagnalls.
30. Business Week. 1994. IBM leans on its sales force. February 7: 110.
31. Barney, J.B. 1986. Strategic factor markets: Expectations, luck, and business strategy. Management Science, 32: 1238-1239.
32. Miller & Shamsie, The resource-based view of the firm in two environments ..., 540.
33. Fortune. 1996. Microsoft's big advantage - hiring only the supersmart. November 25: 159-162.
34. O'Brian, Fortune op. cit., 278.
35. Fortune. 1995. Ten commandments for managing creative people. January 16: 135-136;
36. Business Week. 1994. The drought is over at 3M. November 7: 140-141.
37. Wright, R.W. 1994. The effects of tacitness and tangibility on the diffusion of knowledge-based resources. Academy of Management Best Papers Proceedings, 56.
38. Barney, Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, 117.
39. Deal, T.E., and Kennedy, A.A. 1982. Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.
40. Although PepsiCo recently divested itself of its fast food businesses - Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut - this decision was not a result of inappropriate diversification or of cultural rigidity. PepsiCo's foray into the fast food industry was a related acquisition that was intended to forge synergies between the company's soft drink lines and fast food products. Even though the subsequent performance of the fast food businesses proved disappointing, these business units were hardly money losers.
41. Pfeffer, J. 1995. Producing sustainable competitive advantage through the effective management of people. Academy of Management Executive, 9: 64-65.
42. Kotter, J.P., & Heskett, J.L. 1992. Corporate culture and performance. New York: The Free Press.
43. USA Today. 1996. Approach may seem flighty, but it works. November 11;
44. The Wall Street Journal. 1992. Southwest Airlines is a rare air carrier: It still makes money. October 26;
45. Fortune. 1992. Southwest Airlines: Where service flies right. August 24: 116;
46. Business Week. 1992. The airline mess. July 6: 53.
47. The Washington Post. 1994. Finding a creative alternative to layoffs. July 24.
48. Newsweek. 1986. GM boots Perot; & Perot to Smith: GM must change. December 15: 56-62;
49. Business Week. 1986. GM hasn't bought much peace; & The risks of running EDS without Perot. December 15: 24-27.
50. Business Week. 1994. Motorola: Training for the millennium. March 28: 158-162.
51. Kelly and Burrows, Motorola, 158.
52. Kanter, R.M. 1979. Power failure in management circuits. Harvard Business Review, 57, no. 4: 72-75.
53. Bowen, D.E., Siehl, C., & Schneider, B. 1989. A framework for analyzing customer service orientations in manufacturing. Academy of Management Review, 14: 76-82.
54. The Wall Street Journal. 1993. Marketing. June 7;
55. The Wall Street Journal. 1993. Now hotel clerks provide more than keys. March 5.
56. Fortune. 1992. Why the price wars never end. March 23: 74 & 78.
57. Grant, R.M. 1991. The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: Implications for strategy formulation. California Management Review, 33, no. 3: 125.
58. Barney, California Management Review, op. cit., 662-663.
59. Pfeffer, California Management Review, op. cit., 57.