Competitive positioning school of Business Strategy and Resource based Business strategy are two very important schools of thought in business management, vying with each other for superiority. A detailed look–into the two strategies would enable us to study the two contrasting theories.

Both competitive positioning school of Business management and Resource Based view of Business Management have their strengths and weaknesses.

Competitive positioning is most suitable for beginners in business or at the time of launch of a new brand. Since the question of having protectable resources does not arise in such cases, competitive positioning is the only way out for them. Resource-based view does not arise in these cases. The school of thought advocates the study of market conditions, competitors’ position, customers’ preferences and defining of core values. Due to technological developments and increasing globalization, these aspects need a continuous study and observation. It is in this background, this school of thought assumes a lot of significance. Competitive positioning, in fact is a dynamic process in which the factors keep on changing and the firm’s preferences and options may need a partial or total change.

The present day business consists of lot of trading and retailing. Competitive positioning is the only strategy that is useful for them. Since the question of resource –holding does not arise in such cases, the resource based view is irrelevant for them.

The most important part of present day business is marketing. However good a product might be unless it is competitively positioned in the market to suit the customer’s preference, it will be a stagnant commodity in the market. Competitive positioning is important from this angle.

However this school of thought suffers from certain weaknesses also. The theme does not help a pure manufacturer. The need for continuous vigilance and study of the market is strenuous. The core value once chosen may not remain valid after sometime and switch over to the other core values may not be easy.

Resource-based view is very useful for the manufacturers or manufacturer-traders. Most of the longstanding companies or big companies are early entrants into their businesses and are the holders of valuable resources which are not available to the late entrant. Resource-based view helps them in maintaining a hold on such resources and coordinating them to the strategic advantage of the firm.

The weakness of the resource –based view is its limited applicability. Present day business environment encompasses more of trading than manufacturing. Apart from this, keeping a continuous hold on the prescribed resources for long time is turning out to be a Herculean task. If some resources are really scarce, technology is evolving ways to duplicate the same. An apprehension therefore arises that in course of time with technology improvement this theory may become redundant.

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Other articles on corporate strategy found at

 Competitive positioning of strategy at http://assignmentdesign.com/competitive-positioning-of-strategy-corporate-strategy-assignment-help-by-assignmentdesign.com.aspx

Resource-based view of Strategy at http://assignmentdesign.com/blog/resource-based-view-of-strategy-in-business/

Competitive Positioning of strategy Vs Resource Based view of strategy at http://assignmentdesigners.blogspot.com/2011/08/competitive-positioning-based-view-of.html

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