understand or copy. The second route entails the development of superior knowledge management capabilities,
which encourages continuous innovation (Lubit 2001).
Elaborating on the former as an inimitable advantage often
overlooked by practitioners; tacit knowledge can be described as knowledge that is difficult to verbalise or share in a
structured way. It becomes part of the individual’s way of
thinking as opposed to a visible repository of knowledge as
would be the case with explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge
is unconsciously acquired from the experience one has while
immersed in an environment and often allows us to perform
at a higher level than that which our explicit knowledge
does.
Tacit knowledge can be broadly categorised into four
different types: know-how, mental models, problem solving
techniques, and ways of working. The very nature of tacit
knowledge (being hard to share in a structured way) helps
the company to protect it from the competition. If the
organisation itself cannot codify its own tacit knowledge, it
is possible to imagine how difficult it would be for the
competition to replicate it. It ensues from this that tacit
knowledge lends itself naturally to being a strong source of
sustainable competitive advantage, provided the firm can
make use of its own tacit knowledge by embedding it into
the organisation’s ways of working. In summary, a key
reason why tacit knowledge may lead to sustainable competitive advantage is that it is embedded within an organisation’s ways of working, but is challenging for other
organisations to copy. It is important in the development of
tacit knowledge that a firm captures organisational learning
over time, encouraging the documentation of case studies
and best practice, especially from more experienced managers. It is also then critical to turn this knowledge into
learning and ways of working as employees learn and
practice their own tacit knowledge over time, making it a
unique knowledge base for the organisation.
With respect to attaining SCA by building on Knowledge
Management, it is important to note that, like with other
assets, its value will gradually decrease and it will lose
uniqueness within the context of current or future operations.
Two important factors that might delay this erosion are
learning culture and climate as well as information processing (Hult 2003).
7 Quality of Execution as a Source of SCA
Possession of the sharpest market orientation, excellent
resources, with comprehensive knowledge management will
not result in a Sustainable Competitive Advantage without
flawless execution. For this reason, execution discipline has
recently been quoted as a source of competitive advantage.
1
According to Ram Charan (2008), “Execution is a discipline
and discipline is key to competitive advantage”. This concept merits further investigation.
8 Deficiencies in the Literature
After reviewing extant literature on the sources of sustainable competitive advantage, a number of deficiencies have
become apparent. The overwhelming lack of empirical
research in the developing economies in general, is the first
observation. Although the literature has moved from the
internal focussed “resources” as the main source of competitive advantage in the resource-based view in early days
to a more market-centric, there is still insufficient research
devoted to the important area of market orientation or marketing practise as a source of sustainable competitive
advantage. Even the literature that does exist on the latter
often fails to explain the exact mechanism by which market
orientation will lead to sustained superior performance,
which makes the conclusions difficult to implement as
learnings. Moreover, very little literature exists on an
emerging topic in the area of competitive advantage, namely,
execution or implementation and the role the latter plays in
the sustained success of the organisation relative to its peers.
Finally, there are also definitional problems in the literature on competitive advantage. There appears to be a lack
of a clear definition of competitive advantage per se (Sigalas
and Economou 2013). The many and contradictory definitions of competitive advantage lead to a lack of semantic
content and the inability to operationalise the construct of
competitive advantage in an empirical research study
(Sigalas and Economou 2013).
9 Literature Review Synthesis
The literature review demonstrates the varied points of view
existing regarding the sources of sustainable competitive
advantage ever since the concept appeared until present
days.
Two prominent theories of competitive advantage, were
summarised, compared and contrasted, namely Porter’s
market view and the resource-based view. The two theories
1
Ram Charan, Strategy Execution Workshop, Fairmont Hotel, Cairo,
Egypt, 11th August 2008.
310
N. El Daly
which encourages continuous innovation (Lubit 2001).
Elaborating on the former as an inimitable advantage often
overlooked by practitioners; tacit knowledge can be described as knowledge that is difficult to verbalise or share in a
structured way. It becomes part of the individual’s way of
thinking as opposed to a visible repository of knowledge as
would be the case with explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge
is unconsciously acquired from the experience one has while
immersed in an environment and often allows us to perform
at a higher level than that which our explicit knowledge
does.
Tacit knowledge can be broadly categorised into four
different types: know-how, mental models, problem solving
techniques, and ways of working. The very nature of tacit
knowledge (being hard to share in a structured way) helps
the company to protect it from the competition. If the
organisation itself cannot codify its own tacit knowledge, it
is possible to imagine how difficult it would be for the
competition to replicate it. It ensues from this that tacit
knowledge lends itself naturally to being a strong source of
sustainable competitive advantage, provided the firm can
make use of its own tacit knowledge by embedding it into
the organisation’s ways of working. In summary, a key
reason why tacit knowledge may lead to sustainable competitive advantage is that it is embedded within an organisation’s ways of working, but is challenging for other
organisations to copy. It is important in the development of
tacit knowledge that a firm captures organisational learning
over time, encouraging the documentation of case studies
and best practice, especially from more experienced managers. It is also then critical to turn this knowledge into
learning and ways of working as employees learn and
practice their own tacit knowledge over time, making it a
unique knowledge base for the organisation.
With respect to attaining SCA by building on Knowledge
Management, it is important to note that, like with other
assets, its value will gradually decrease and it will lose
uniqueness within the context of current or future operations.
Two important factors that might delay this erosion are
learning culture and climate as well as information processing (Hult 2003).
7 Quality of Execution as a Source of SCA
Possession of the sharpest market orientation, excellent
resources, with comprehensive knowledge management will
not result in a Sustainable Competitive Advantage without
flawless execution. For this reason, execution discipline has
recently been quoted as a source of competitive advantage.
1
According to Ram Charan (2008), “Execution is a discipline
and discipline is key to competitive advantage”. This concept merits further investigation.
8 Deficiencies in the Literature
After reviewing extant literature on the sources of sustainable competitive advantage, a number of deficiencies have
become apparent. The overwhelming lack of empirical
research in the developing economies in general, is the first
observation. Although the literature has moved from the
internal focussed “resources” as the main source of competitive advantage in the resource-based view in early days
to a more market-centric, there is still insufficient research
devoted to the important area of market orientation or marketing practise as a source of sustainable competitive
advantage. Even the literature that does exist on the latter
often fails to explain the exact mechanism by which market
orientation will lead to sustained superior performance,
which makes the conclusions difficult to implement as
learnings. Moreover, very little literature exists on an
emerging topic in the area of competitive advantage, namely,
execution or implementation and the role the latter plays in
the sustained success of the organisation relative to its peers.
Finally, there are also definitional problems in the literature on competitive advantage. There appears to be a lack
of a clear definition of competitive advantage per se (Sigalas
and Economou 2013). The many and contradictory definitions of competitive advantage lead to a lack of semantic
content and the inability to operationalise the construct of
competitive advantage in an empirical research study
(Sigalas and Economou 2013).
9 Literature Review Synthesis
The literature review demonstrates the varied points of view
existing regarding the sources of sustainable competitive
advantage ever since the concept appeared until present
days.
Two prominent theories of competitive advantage, were
summarised, compared and contrasted, namely Porter’s
market view and the resource-based view. The two theories
1
Ram Charan, Strategy Execution Workshop, Fairmont Hotel, Cairo,
Egypt, 11th August 2008.
310
N. El Daly