TY - JOUR
T1 - Conventional Resource-Based Theory and its Radical Alternative
T2 - A Less Materialist-Individualist Approach to Strategy
AU - Bell, Geoffrey G.
AU - Dyck, Bruno
PY - 2011/2/1
Y1 - 2011/2/1
N2 - Management scholars, practitioners, and policy makers alike have sought to develop a deeper understanding of recent business crises-including corporate scandals, the collapse of financial institutions, and deep recession-in order to prevent their recurrence. Among the "culprits" that have been identified is Conventional management theory based upon a moral-point-of-view founded on assumptions of materialism and individualism. There have been calls to move beyond the dominant profit maximization paradigm and think about other, potentially more compelling, corporate objectives (Hamel, 2009). In this article, we respond to those calls, and seek to develop what we call Radical resource-based theory (RBT), which draws from and contrasts with the highly-influential Conventional RBT. Radical RBT defines the value of resources more broadly than profit maximization, rarity as an occasion for stewardship, inimitability as an opportunity for teaching, and non-substitutability as an opportunity to meet a panoply of human needs. This augmentation of RBT promises to help managers and scholars address a myriad of problems that are insoluble under Conventional assumptions. More generally, it shows the value of broadening management theory to a radical perspective by relaxing assumptions of self-interest and materialism.
AB - Management scholars, practitioners, and policy makers alike have sought to develop a deeper understanding of recent business crises-including corporate scandals, the collapse of financial institutions, and deep recession-in order to prevent their recurrence. Among the "culprits" that have been identified is Conventional management theory based upon a moral-point-of-view founded on assumptions of materialism and individualism. There have been calls to move beyond the dominant profit maximization paradigm and think about other, potentially more compelling, corporate objectives (Hamel, 2009). In this article, we respond to those calls, and seek to develop what we call Radical resource-based theory (RBT), which draws from and contrasts with the highly-influential Conventional RBT. Radical RBT defines the value of resources more broadly than profit maximization, rarity as an occasion for stewardship, inimitability as an opportunity for teaching, and non-substitutability as an opportunity to meet a panoply of human needs. This augmentation of RBT promises to help managers and scholars address a myriad of problems that are insoluble under Conventional assumptions. More generally, it shows the value of broadening management theory to a radical perspective by relaxing assumptions of self-interest and materialism.
KW - Aristotle
KW - Individualism
KW - Materialism
KW - Radical management
KW - Resource-based theory
KW - Weber
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84857235714&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10551-011-1159-4
DO - 10.1007/s10551-011-1159-4
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84857235714
SN - 0167-4544
VL - 99
SP - 121
EP - 130
JO - Journal of Business Ethics
JF - Journal of Business Ethics
IS - SUPPL. 1
ER -