Core Competencies for Business Reference

Adaptive apparel advocacy : a case study exploring how Mindy Scheier catalyzed the adaptive apparel market

“…As was stated by several researchers (Barney, 1991;Gupta, 2013;Hunt 1995), a firm's reliance on resources is a central tenant of R-A theory. Firm resources are defined as the "tangible and intangible entities available to the firm that enable it to produce efficiently and/or effectively a market offering that has some value for some market segments(s)" (Hunt, 1995, p. 322).…”

“…Barney (1991) suggests that firms can achieve sustained competitive advantage through the implementation of strategies that build upon the firm's internal strengths by their responsiveness to environmental opportunities and by neutralizing external threats and reducing the internal weakness of the firm. Gupta (2013) Hunt (1995) suggests that competition is a struggle among firms to achieve a comparative advantage (the ability of a firm to produce more efficiently than any other activity it performs) in resources that provides a "marketplace position of competitive advantage" (p. 329) and, because of this, superior financial performance. Therefore, firms can maintain their competitive advantage if they reinvest in the resources that provided them with the advantage initially and if their competitor's acquisition and innovation efforts fail (Hunt, 2011).…”

“…Whereas, reactive innovation suggests the firm is innovating for the sole purpose of competing with other firms for market segment advantage. Gupta (2013) also suggests that innovation is necessary to achieve competitive advantage by stating that businesses should be capable of innovating things that are difficult for competitors to duplicate. Hunt and Arnett (2003) suggest that firms learn through competition, and thus competing firms; to achieve comparative advantage in a market segment, a firm will attempt to "neutralize and/or leapfrog" (p. 7) the competition through "acquisition, imitation, substitution, or major innovation" (p. 7).…”

“…Firm resources are defined as the "tangible and intangible entities available to the firm that enable it to produce efficiently and/or effectively a market offering that has some value for some market segments(s)" (Hunt, 1995, p. 322). Gupta (2013) suggests that a firm's resources, or core competencies, are not "ordinary skills" that any organization can acquire easily. He suggests that a firm's resources (or competencies) are built over time and are unique to that organization and to that industry.…”

“…He suggests that a firm's resources (or competencies) are built over time and are unique to that organization and to that industry. However, much like Hunt (1995), who states that a 34 firm's resources are hard to copy, Gupta (2013) states that a firm's resources are "simply impossible" (p. 12) for a competitor to copy.…”