ABSTRACT
The resource-based view (RBv) has become the dominant paradigm in research in strategic management (Peteraf, 1993). According to this perspective, variations in performance between firms from the same industry can be explained by the differences in their endowments of resources (Barney, 1986a, 1986b, 1991; Peteraf, 1993; Wernerfelt, 1984). Traditionally, it has been considered that firms with resources that are valuable, rare, non-substitutable and difficult to imitate can achieve and maintain over time a position of advantage with respect to their competitors (Barney, 1995: 56). Of these four characteristics, inimitability is the most important (Hoopes, Madsen and Walker, 2003: 890), and it is the most significant contribution of the RBv (Barney, 2001: 45).
