BUILDING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE ON MANUFACTURING RESOURCES

Today's dynamic and global competitive forces require new thinking abo ut the implications of manufacturing for achieving superiority in the marketplace. This article suggests that a resource-based perspective o ffers an innovative approach to thinking about and developing a manufa cturing strategy. According to this approach, a company's manufacturin g strategy must capitalize on, and add to, its resources and capabilit ies. To show how executives can use the resource-based approach, categ ories of manufacturing resources are defined. The next section of the article discusses the important attributes of manufacturing resources, their relationship with distinctive competence, and their impact on c ompetitive advantage. Finally, the article explains how manufacturing strategy can effectively leverage these resource attributes to obtain an enduring competitive advantage that leads to high performance.