Cooperation, Coopetition and Innovation

7Theoretical Principles of Inter-firm Cooperation: RBV Approach

7.1. Introduction

The resource-based view (or RBV) and competencies approach, developed by different authors [BAR 91, GRA 91, WER 84], has become a determining framework for the strategies of firms. It was the pioneering work of Penrose (1959) that encouraged the development of this theoretical corpus. The fact that there are multiple approaches in terms of resources, which have inspired numerous authors [HOO 03], makes it difficult to establish a definitive typology.

RBV has opened new perspectives, not only for understanding the consolidation of lasting competitive advantage, but also in what concerns inter-firm cooperation.

7.2. Reversal of the “classic” paradigm of strategic management: strategic management schools

In their book Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour Through The Wilds of Strategic Management, Mintzberg, Ahlstrand and Lampel [MIN 99] provided a comprehensive overview of strategic management theories and classified them into ten “schools”: the Design School, the Planning School, the Positioning School, the Entrepreneurial School, the Cognitive School, the Learning School, the Power School, the Cultural School, the Environmental School and the Configuration School.

It is interesting to observe that Porter’s work (value chain, five-force scheme, etc.) was included under the Positioning School, a school that privileges the environment (in the broad sense of the term, beyond the market and its characteristics) ...