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Strategic Organization
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Contrasting the resource-based view and competitiveness theories: how pharmaceutical firms choose to compete in Germany, Italy and the UK

Andrea M. Herrmann

Utrecht University, The Netherlands, a.herrmann{at}geo.uu.nl

As economic internationalization advances, the question of how firms cope with increasing pressure for competitiveness gains momentum. While scholars agree that firms need a competitive advantage, they debate whether firms exploit the comparative advantage of their economy and converge on that strategy facilitated by national institutions.`No', argue strategic management proponents of the resource-based view. `Yes', claim contributors to the competitiveness literature.The author's micro-level studies of these opposing views do not find evidence for a strong, widespread convergence by the firms in one economy to the same institutionally supported strategy. The discrepancies between these findings and the analyses of the competitiveness literature are attributed to differences in the indicators employed to measure corporate strategies.Whenever macro-level indicators are used, the related loss of information on micro-level variety entails that convergence effects are more pronounced — possibly exaggerated.

Key Words: competitive strategies • competitiveness theories • pharmaceutical industry • resource-based view • varieties of capitalism

Strategic Organization, Vol. 6, No. 4, 343-374 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1476127008096362
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