Making Your Case for OB and Competitive Advantage

Competitive advantage, resource--based theory, organizational resources

Many students—and perhaps some of our faculty colleagues—fail to appreciate the fact that organizational behavior courses are dedicated to one of the few potential sources of sustained competitive advantage. This session begins with a quick recap of resource-based theory. Next, participants engage in an exercise they can use to show why and how organizational behavior resources can indeed be sources of sustained competitive advantage. Then, participants use Alka-Seltzer and water to compare how socially-complex (and other) resources operate in markets. Some graduating students recall this exercise as particularly memorable and useful.

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