Journal of Management Research

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Resource Substitution


Affiliations
1 Management Strategy Department Samsung Economic Research Institute Seoul, South Korea 140702
2 Department of International Business & Strategy Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of
     

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This study focuses on the resource substitution strategy of late movers in a dynamic environment. We identify "the dark side" of a first movers' effort to sustain its causally ambiguous competency-based advantage. Then, based on this identification, we suggest a model that describes why resource substitution can be an effective strategy to late movers. We propose that although the efforts of a first mover to sustain its competitive advantage are crucial to maintain its barriers to imitation, those efforts not only decrease its capability for resource substitution due to competency's nature of causal ambiguity, but also lower its barrier to resource substitution in a highly competitive market that characterizes the current business environment. We also propose intensified causal ambiguity of the first mover as indicative of a lessened likelihood of its counterattack in response to a resource substitution of late mover.

Keywords

Causally Ambiguous Competency-Based Advantage, Barriers to Resource Substitution, Dynamic Environment, Inter-firm Rivalry
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  • Resource Substitution

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Authors

Jae Wook Yoo
Management Strategy Department Samsung Economic Research Institute Seoul, South Korea 140702
Youngjun Choi
Department of International Business & Strategy Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, Republic of

Abstract


This study focuses on the resource substitution strategy of late movers in a dynamic environment. We identify "the dark side" of a first movers' effort to sustain its causally ambiguous competency-based advantage. Then, based on this identification, we suggest a model that describes why resource substitution can be an effective strategy to late movers. We propose that although the efforts of a first mover to sustain its competitive advantage are crucial to maintain its barriers to imitation, those efforts not only decrease its capability for resource substitution due to competency's nature of causal ambiguity, but also lower its barrier to resource substitution in a highly competitive market that characterizes the current business environment. We also propose intensified causal ambiguity of the first mover as indicative of a lessened likelihood of its counterattack in response to a resource substitution of late mover.

Keywords


Causally Ambiguous Competency-Based Advantage, Barriers to Resource Substitution, Dynamic Environment, Inter-firm Rivalry

References