The resource-based and relational views: complementary perspectives of competitive advantage

Two theoretical perspectives that recognize that differences in firm performance are due to differences in resource endowments are the Resource-based View (RBV) (Barney, 1991) and the Relational View (Dyer & Singh, 1998). However, while the RBV focuses on the attributes of resources endowments that reside within the firm, the Relational View asserts that a firm's critical resources can reside outside the firm. The purpose of this research is to examine the Relational View and the Resource-based View as complementary perspectives by exploring the question: Does the Relational View contribute additional and positive explanatory power to a Resource-based View of competitive advantage?

This study offered a conceptual model of competitive position as comprised of a firm's intraorganizational resource position (the Resource-based View) as well as a firm's interorganizational resource position (the Relational View). To test the hypotheses developed from this model, data was gathered from reliable primary and secondary sources relating to resource endowments, integration strategy and organizational performance. This data was gathered for hospitals (853 hospitals) in 33 of the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs).

Results obtained using regression indicated that the strength of both firms' intraorganizational resource positions as well as their interorganizational resource positions is positively related to performance. Performance was measured with four variables. Return on Assets, Cash Flow Margin, Growth and Market Share. This provided support for the notion that the Relational View provides a needed complementary perspective to the RBV of competitive advantage.

Finally, the study's non-findings indicated that while strategic complementarity was positively related to performance, organizational complementarity did not have the hypothesized moderating effect on the relationship between interorganizational resource position and performance.