Resource Orchestration to Create Competitive Advantage

Abstract

In this article, the authors discuss how an emerging research stream, which they term resource orchestration, has the potential to extend the understanding of resource-based theory (RBT) by explicitly addressing the role of managers' actions to effectively structure, bundle, and leverage firm resources. First, the authors review this emerging stream by comparing two related frameworks, resource management and asset orchestration. This comparison leads to their integration, which enables a more precise understanding of managers' roles within RBT. Then the authors discuss what is known and what remains to be known about resource orchestration. This leads to in-depth reviews of three areas where research on resource orchestration can be used to extend RBT. These areas are (1) breadth (resource orchestration across the scope of the firm), (2) life cycle (resource orchestration at various stages of firm maturity), and (3) depth (resource orchestration across levels of the firm). They close with a discussion of future research that will extend resource orchestration and contribute to a more robust RBT.

Family entrepreneurship as a field of research: Exploring its contours and contents

“…The concept of familiness refers to "the unique bundle of resources a particular firm has because of the systems interaction between the family, its individual members, and the business" (Habbershon & Williams, 1999 :11). The 3P model (Carney, 2005) Sirmon, Hitt, Ireland, and Gilbert (2011) argue that whether resources and capabilities lead to competitive advantage depends, at least in part, upon management ability to "orchestrate" the resources.…”

Cross-listing and the scope of the firm

“…Instead, we argue that there will be adjustment of product scope after cross-listing and that such an adjustment is a reflection of the combination of MEB and MBC. In other words, cross-listing enables firms to engage in resource orchestration (Sirmon et al, 2011). From a resource-based standpoint, the speed and effectiveness of such resource orchestration are firm-specific-a certain length of time that is viewed "long run" in firm A may be viewed "short run" in firm B.…”

“…But for other firms, the processes and changes may take longer, making it difficult to theorize a priori on the exact demarcation between the short run and the long run. But regardless of how long it takes, the need to make inter-temporal adjustments in the scope of the firm over time seems compelling (Helfat & Eisenhardt, 2004;Peng et al, 2005;Sirmon et al, 2010Sirmon et al, , 2011.…”

Strategy, operations, and profitability: the role of resource orchestration

“…However, in future, scholars may look to consider resource deployment across different stages of firm maturity (the lifecycle of the firm) but do so with great care to account for instances in which firms have multiple products and projects of varying levels of growth, maturity or decline (see e.g. Sirmon et al, 2011). Initial studies should begin with simple firm structures so that lifecycle effects can be captured cleanly.…”

“…Dedicating funds to specific activities steers further resources such as people, expertise and know-how in anticipation of generating returns that exceed the opportunity cost of the original investment (Maritan, 2001). Deployment is a function of the configuration of those resources in a way that generates the superior return desired by the firm and its managers (Sirmon and Hitt, 2009), considering a breadth of resources across the firm (Sirmon et al, 2011) and in ways that detect resource interconnections over and above individual effects (Hitt et al, 2016). Since any one firm among all firms with high profitability is unlikely to possess high levels across all resource orchestration activities (e.g., Woodside, 2013), two research questions are presented: (1) how do resource investments impact profitability?…”