Superior Strategy Capabilities and Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A theoretical Paper

Abstract

The global business ecosystem continues to be dogged with volatility and organizations are struggling to overcome the heightened competition due to inability to match up to the increasing demands. However, the articulation of the unique capabilities necessary for creation of superior value for customers and a prerequisite for the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) continue to be unsettled. It is against this puzzle that this study aimed to establish the sources of SCA in a dynamic and turbulent business environment. The specific objectives that guided the study were to establish the influence of superior strategic capabilities that included knowledge management, organizational innovation, social capital integration and organizational agility, on SCA. The study was underpinned on the resource-based view, and dynamic capabilities. The study was a theoretical review that critically analysed past theoretical and empirical literature on the subject. Though the extant literature was mixed, the study concluded that knowledge management capabilities, organizational innovation capabilities, social capital integration capabilities and organizational agility capabilities are essentially instrumental towards sustainable competitive advantage. The study recommends that top management team in organizations should continually nurture knowledge management capabilities such as knowledge acquisition, knowledge codification, and knowledge utilization so as to enhance value creation. In addition, senior management should continually support acquisition and development of new resources, and create structures that enhance partnership and interaction between employees within and across departments.