The impact of causal ambiguity on competitive advantage and rent appropriation

British Journal of Management

Volumn 21, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 939-953

  Ambrosini, Véronique ^a   Bowman, Cliff ^b  

^a CARDIFF UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 78249290535     PISSN: 10453172     EISSN: 14678551     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00644.x     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. Adner, R. and C. Helfat (2003). 'Corporate effects and dynamic managerial capabilities', Strategic Management Journal, 24, pp. 1011-1025.
2. Alvarez, S. A. and J. B. Barney (2004). 'Organizing rent generation and appropriation: toward a theory of the entrepreneurial firm', Journal of Business Venturing, 19, pp. 621-635.
3. Ambrosini, V. and C. Bowman (2005). 'Reducing causal ambiguity to facilitate strategic learning', Management Learning, 36, pp. 517-536.
4. Badaracco, J. L. (1991). The Knowledge Link. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
5. Barney, J. B. (1986). 'Strategic factor markets: expectations, luck and business strategy', Management Science, 32, pp. 1231-1241.
6. Barney, J. B. (1991). 'Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage', Journal of Management, 17, pp. 99-120.
7. Barney, J. B. (1995). 'Looking inside for competitive advantage', Academy of Management Executive, 9, pp. 49-61.
8. Barney, J. B. (2001). 'Is the resource-based "view" a useful perspective for strategic management research? Yes', Academy of Management Review, 26, pp. 41-56.
9. Barney, J. B. (2002). Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
10. Barney, J. B. and A. M. Arikan (2001). 'The resource-based view: origins and implications'. In M. A. Hitt, R. E. Freeman and J. S. Harrison (eds), Handbook of Strategic Management, pp. 124-188. Oxford: Blackwell.
11. Barney, J. B. and W. S. Hesterly (2006). Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage Concepts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
12. Black, J. A. and K. B. Boal (1994). 'Strategic resources: traits, configurations and paths to sustainable competitive advantage', Strategic Management Journal, 15, pp. 131-148.
13. Blyler, M. and R. Coff (2003). 'Dynamic capabilities, social capital and rent appropriation: ties that split pies', Strategic Management Journal, 24, pp. 677-686.
14. Bowman, C. and V. Ambrosini (2000). 'Value creation versus value capture: towards a coherent definition of value in strategy', British Journal of Management, 11, pp. 1-15.
15. Castanias, R. P. and C. E. Helfat (1991). 'Managerial resources and rents', Journal of Management, 17, pp. 155-171.
16. Clark, K. B. (1985). 'A historical comparison of resource-based theory and five schools of thought within industrial organization economics: do we have a new theory of the firm?', Journal of Management, 17, pp. 121-154.
17. Coff, R. (1997). 'Human assets and management dilemmas: coping with hazards on the road to resource-based theory', Academy of Management Review, 22, pp. 374-402.
18. Coff, R. (1999). 'When competitive advantage doesn't lead to performance: the resource-based view and stakeholder bargaining power', Organization Science, 10, pp. 119-133.
19. Collis, D. and C. Montgomery (1995). 'Competing on resources: strategy in the 1990s', Harvard Business Review, 73, pp. 118-128.
20. Davis, J. H., F. D. Schoorman and L. Donaldson (1997). 'Toward a stewardship theory of management', Academy of Management Review, 22, pp. 20-47.
21. Dierickx, I. and K. Cool (1989). 'Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage', Management Science, 35, pp. 1504-1514.
22. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). 'Agency theory: an assessment and review', Academy of Management Review, 14, pp. 57-74.
23. Eisenhardt, K. M. and J. A. Martin (2000). 'Dynamic capabilities: what are they?', Strategic Management Journal, 21, pp. 1105-1121.
24. Feldman, M. S. and B. T. Pentland (2003). 'Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change', Administration Science Quarterly, 48, pp. 94-118.
25. Foss, K. and N. J. Foss (2005). 'Resources and transaction costs: how property rights economics furthers the resource-based view', Strategic Management Journal, 26, pp. 541-553.
26. Ghoshal, S. and C. A. Bartlett (1998). Managing Across Borders. London: Random House.
27. Grant, R. M. (1996). 'Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm', Strategic Management Journal, 17, pp. 109-122.
28. Groysberg, B. and R. Abrahams (2006). 'Lift outs: how to acquire a high-functioning team', Harvard Business Review, 84, pp. 133-144.
29. Groysberg, B. and L. E. Lee (2008). 'The effects of colleague quality on top performance: the case of security analysts', Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, pp. 1123-1144.
30. Hales, C. (1999). 'Why do managers do what they do? Reconciling evidence and theory in accounts of managerial work', British Journal of Management, 10, pp. 335-350.
31. Helfat, C. E., S. Finkelstein, W. Mitchell, M. Peteraf, H. Singh, D. Teece and S. Winter (2007). Dynamic Capabilities: Understanding Strategic Change in Organizations. London: Blackwell.
32. Henderson, R. M. and K. B. Clark (1990). 'Architectural innovation: the reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms', Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, pp. 9-30.
33. Hennart, J.-F. (1993). 'Explaining the swollen middle: why most transactions are a mix of "market" and "hierarchy"', Organization Science, 4, pp. 529-548.
34. Hunt, S. D. and R. M. Morgan (1995). 'The comparative advantage theory of competition', Journal of Marketing, 59, pp. 1-16.
35. Jenkins, M., K. Pasternak and R. West (2005). Performance at the Limit. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36. Jensen, M. and W. H. Meckling (1976). 'Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure', Journal of Financial Economics, 3, pp. 305-360.
37. Johnson, G., L. Melin and R. Whittington (2003). 'Micro strategy and strategizing: towards an activity-based view', Journal of Management Studies, 40, pp. 1-22.
38. Johnson, G., K. Scholes and R. Whittington (2005). Exploring Corporate Strategy. London: Prentice Hall.
39. Kilpatrick, A. O. (1999). 'When in doubt, don't: alternatives to downsizing', Management, 2, pp. 209-219.
40. King, A. W. (2007). 'Disentangling interfirm and intrafirm causal ambiguity: a conceptual model of causal ambiguity and sustainable competitive advantage', Academy of Management Review, 32, pp. 156-178.
41. King, A. W. and C. P. Zeithaml (2001). 'Competencies and firm performance: examining the causal ambiguity paradox', Strategic Management Journal, 22, pp. 75-99.
42. Kogut, B. and U. Zander (1992). 'Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology', Organisation Science, 3, pp. 383-396.
43. Kor, Y. Y. and J. T. Mahoney (2004). 'Edith Penrose's (1959) contributions to the resource-based view of strategic management', Journal of Management Studies, 41, pp. 183-191.
44. Kotowitz, Y. (1989). 'Moral hazard'. In J. Eatwell, M. Millgate and P. Newman (eds) The New Palgrave: Allocation, Information and Markets, pp. 207-213. New York: W. W. Norton.
45. Kulkarni, S. P. and N. Ramamoorthy (2005). 'Commitment, flexibility and the choice of employment contracts', Human Relations, 58, pp. 741-761.
46. Lado, A. A., N. G. Boyd, P. Wright and M. Kroll (2006). 'Paradox and theorizing within the resource-based view', Academy of Management Review, 31, pp. 115-131.
47. Lee, P. M. and H. M. O'Neill (2003). 'Ownership structures and R&D investments of U.S., Japanese firms: agency and stewardship perspectives', Academy of Management Journal, 46, pp. 212-225.
48. Leiblein, M. J. (2003). 'The choice of organizational governance form and performance: predictions from transaction cost, resource-based, and real options theories', Journal of Management, 29, pp. 937-961.
49. Lepak, D. P., K. G. Smith and M. S. Taylor (2007). 'Value creation and value capture: a multilevel perspective', Academy of Management Review, 32, pp. 180-194.
50. Lippman, S. A. and R. P. Rumelt (1982). 'Uncertain imitability: an analysis of interfirm differences in efficiency under competition', Bell Journal of Economics, 13, pp. 418-438.
51. Lippman, S. A. and R. P. Rumelt (2003). 'The payments perspective; micro-foundations of resource analysis', Strategic Management Journal, 24, pp. 903-927.
52. Lockett, A. and S. Thompson (2004). 'Edith Penrose's contribution to the resource-based view: an alternative perspective', Journal of Management Studies, 41, pp. 193-203.
53. Madhok, R. (2002). 'Reassessing the fundamentals and beyond: Ronald Coase, the transaction cost and resource-based theories of the firm and the institutional structure of production', Strategic Management Journal, 23, pp. 535-550.
54. Mael, F. and B. E. Ashford (1992). 'Alumni and their alma mater: a partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification', Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13, pp. 103-123.
55. Makadok, R. (2001). 'Toward a synthesis of the resource-based and dynamic capability views of rent creation', Strategic Management Journal, 22, pp. 387-401.
56. McEvily, S. K., S. Das and K. McCabe (2000). 'Avoiding competence substitution through knowledge sharing', Academy of Management Review, 25, pp. 294-312.
57. Mintzberg, H. and J. A. Waters (1985). 'Of strategies, deliberate and emergent', Strategic Management Journal, 6, pp. 257-272.
58. Morgan, R. M. and S. D. Hunt (1999). 'Relationship-bases competitive advantage; the role of relationship marketing in marketing strategy', Journal of Business Research, 46, pp. 281-290.
59. Mosakowski, E. (1997). 'Strategy making under causal ambiguity: conceptual issues and empirical evidence', Organization Science, 8, pp. 414-442.
60. Orlikowski, W. J. (2002). 'Knowing in practice: enabling a collective capability in distributed organizing', Organization Science, 13, pp. 249-273.
61. Pachedo-de-Almeida, G. and P. Zemsky (2007). 'The timing of resource development and sustainable competitive advantage', Management Science, 53, pp. 651-666.
62. Penrose, E. T. (1959). The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. Oxford: Blackwell.
63. Peteraf, M. A. (1993). 'The cornerstone of competitive advantage: a resource-based view', Strategic Management Journal, 14, pp. 179-191.
64. Porter, M. E. (1996). 'What is strategy?', Harvard Business Review, 74, pp. 61-78.
65. Powell, T. C., D. Lovallo and C. Caringal (2006). 'Causal ambiguity, management perception, and firm performance', Academy of Management Review, 31, pp. 175-196.
66. Priem, R. L. and J. E. Butler (2001). 'Is the resource-based view a useful perspective for strategic management research?', Academy of Management Review, 26, pp. 22-40.
67. Reed, R. and R. J. DeFillipi (1990). 'Causal ambiguity, barriers to imitation and sustainable competitive advantage', Academy of Management Review, 15, pp. 88-102.
68. Rivkin, J. (2001). 'Reproducing knowledge: replication without imitation at moderate complexity', Organization Science, 12, pp. 274-293.
69. Roberts, J., T. McNulty and P. Stiles (2005). 'Beyond agency conceptions of the work of the non-executive director: creating accountability in the boardroom', British Journal of Management, 16, pp. S5-S26.
70. Rumelt, R. (1984). 'Toward a strategic theory of the firm'. In R. Lamb (ed.), Competitive Strategic Management, pp. 556-570. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
71. Rumelt, R. (1987). 'Theory, strategy and entrepreneurship'. In D. J. Teece (ed.), The Competitive Challenge, pp. 137-158. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
72. Simon, H. A. (1955). 'A behavioural model of rational choice', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69, pp. 99-118.
73. Simonin, B. L. (1999). 'Ambiguity and the process of knowledge transfer in strategic alliances', Strategic Management Journal, 20, pp. 595-623.
74. Sundaramurthy, C. and M. Lewis (2003). 'Control and collaboration: paradoxes of governance', Academy of Management Review, 28, pp. 397-415.
75. Szulanski, G. (1996). 'Exploring internal stickiness: impediments to the transfer of best practice with the firm', Strategic Management Journal, 17, pp. 27-43.
76. Szulanski, G., R. Cappetta and R. J. Jensen (2004). 'When and how trustworthiness matters: knowledge transfer and the moderating effect of causal ambiguity', Organization Science, 15, pp. 600-613.
77. Teece, D. J., G. Pisano and A. Shuen (1997). 'Dynamic capabilities and strategic management', Strategic Management Journal, 18, pp. 509-533.
78. Thomke, S. and W. Kuemmerle (2002). 'Assets accumulation, interdependence and technological change: evidence from pharmaceutical drug discovery', Strategic Management Journal, 23, pp. 619-635.
79. Tosi, H. L., A. L. Brownlee, P. Silva and J. P. Katz (2003). 'An empirical exploration of decision-making under agency controls and stewardship structure', Journal of Management Studies, 40, pp. 2053-2071.
80. Walsh, J. P. (1988). 'Selectivity and selective perception: an investigation of managers' belief structures and information processing', Academy of Management Journal, 31, pp. 873-896.
81. Whittington, R. (1996). 'Strategy as practice', Long Range Planning, 29, pp. 731-735.
82. Williamson, O. E. (1975). Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: Free Press.
83. Williamson, O. E. (1985). The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: Free Press.
84. Winter, S. G. (1995). Four Rs of Profitability: Rents, Resources, Routines and Replication. Resource-Based and Evolutionary Theories of the Firm: Towards a Synthesis. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic.
85. Zander, U. and B. Kogut (1995). 'Knowledge and the speed of transfer and imitation of organizational capabilities: an empirical test', Organization Science, 6, pp. 76-92.
86. Zollo, M. and S. G. Winter (2002). 'Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities', Organization Science, 13, pp. 339-351.