Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
tencies, combinative capabilities, transformation-
based competencies, organizational capabilities,
and other capabilities (Newbert, 2007).
implementation), uniqueness (a unique history or
constellation of other assets); lack of entry due to
profit maximization (firm's expectations regarding
the true value of a strategy), financial strength (a
firm has sufficient financial backing to enter a
strategic factor market and to attempt to acquire
the resources necessary for the implementation
of a product market strategy), and lack of under-
standing (the entrants may not understand the
return-generating processes underlying a strategy)
may create competitive imperfection in a strategic
factor market (Barney 1997).
Secondly, the adoption of a resource-based
view in environmental dynamic terms is the first
step in the formulation of a strategic diversification
(Helfat and Peteraf, 2003). Teece et al . (1997, p.
516) defined this dynamic capability as the firm's
ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure inter-
nal and external competencies to address rapidly
changing environments. In order to compete in a
dynamic environment, Porter and van der Linde
(1995) have proposed that innovation is the key
strategic factor that must be possessed by the or-
ganizations. Resources need to alter the dynamic
environment by providing dynamic capabilities
(Helfat, 2000). Thus, companies should reconfig-
ure their internal and external capabilities in order
to respond to a dynamic environment (Teece et al .,
1997). Dynamic capabilities involve adaptation
and change, as they are instrumental in building,
integrating, or reconfiguring other resources and
capabilities (Helfat, 2000).
Natural Resource-Based View
The natural resource-based view was initially
introduced in 1995, by Hart. Hart (1995) pos-
ited that the constraints imposed by the natural
environment would constitute novel challenges
and new opportunities for firms, and that the
recognition, management, and leveraging of these
constraints would result in the achievement of a
desirable position. Lucas (2009) suggested two
features of resource-based logic to elucidate the
relationship between environmental practices and
sustained competitive advantage: (1) resources
are not economically valuable in isolation, thus,
environmental changes may affect the importance
of resources to the firm; (2) resources are not
productive in and of themselves, but proper ex-
ploitation of the appropriate bundles of resources,
in consideration of both internal and external
constraints, may create superior economic value.
With regard to application in the natural envi-
ronment, firstly, the development of organizational
capabilities and resources may be considered to
be a function of imperfect or incomplete market
factors. Under circumstances of market imper-
fection, managers, through the decisions they
make, alter the nature of competition in markets.
The decisions made by managers are linked
inextricably to their perceptions regarding the
internal characteristics of their own firms and
also of the external environment in which they
compete (Penrose 1959). From the perspective of
the resource-based view, managerial perceptions
should be linked to resource functionality, resource
recombination, and resource creation. Some have
argued that other differences between firms, in
addition to differences in firm expectations, such
as the factor of the lack of separation (a small
number of firms seeking to implement a strategy
Environmental Strategy
The success of an environmental strategy requires
a truly forward-looking approach and a long-term
commitment from the firm (Shrivastava, 1995;
Hart, 1995). Environmental management is one
of the key elements of manufacturing strategy.
Crowe and Brennan (2007) previously character-
ized environmental management as the systematic
and strategic inclusion of environmental concerns
in manufacturing priorities, improvement goals,
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