Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Exploring the roots of Porter's activity‐based view

Exploring the roots of Porter's activity‐based view Purpose – Porter's activity‐based view of the firm is a comprehensive strategic framework which analyzes firm‐level competitive advantage. Although Porter's activity‐based view is widely cited by academics, taught to students, and applied by practitioners, little is known about its intellectual roots. Given that a framework's intellectual antecedents not only determine its current content, but also its future development, this paper aims to examine the intellectual roots of Porter's activity‐based view and the value chain. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines Porter's writings in an effort to document his influences while developing the activity‐based view and value chain. Porter's and other scholars' explanations are found to be lacking, so the paper ventures further down paths first suggested by Porter and others. Findings – Whereas Porter's five forces framework built on the existing industrial organization paradigm, the activity‐based view is not derived from any existing paradigms. While consultants of the 1970s impacted Porter's development of the value chain and the activity‐based view, its deeper roots lay in operations research, particularly activity analysis; and the work of Arch Shaw, who was the first to teach a business policy course at Harvard Business School. Porter's contribution is to bring the diverse threads together into a coherent whole which managers can apply to analyze and improve their competitive positions. Practical implications – Following Porter, the authors argue that activities are a key link between resource holdings and strategic positions. Therefore, it is only when the activity‐based and resource‐based views are integrated that they provide a comprehensive explanation of firm value creation. Originality/value – The paper is the first to critically examine the intellectual antecedents of the activity‐based view. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Strategy and Management Emerald Publishing

Exploring the roots of Porter's activity‐based view

Download PDF
21 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/exploring-the-roots-of-porter-s-activity-based-view-36hdPCmSMu
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1755-425X
DOI
10.1108/17554250910982480
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – Porter's activity‐based view of the firm is a comprehensive strategic framework which analyzes firm‐level competitive advantage. Although Porter's activity‐based view is widely cited by academics, taught to students, and applied by practitioners, little is known about its intellectual roots. Given that a framework's intellectual antecedents not only determine its current content, but also its future development, this paper aims to examine the intellectual roots of Porter's activity‐based view and the value chain. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines Porter's writings in an effort to document his influences while developing the activity‐based view and value chain. Porter's and other scholars' explanations are found to be lacking, so the paper ventures further down paths first suggested by Porter and others. Findings – Whereas Porter's five forces framework built on the existing industrial organization paradigm, the activity‐based view is not derived from any existing paradigms. While consultants of the 1970s impacted Porter's development of the value chain and the activity‐based view, its deeper roots lay in operations research, particularly activity analysis; and the work of Arch Shaw, who was the first to teach a business policy course at Harvard Business School. Porter's contribution is to bring the diverse threads together into a coherent whole which managers can apply to analyze and improve their competitive positions. Practical implications – Following Porter, the authors argue that activities are a key link between resource holdings and strategic positions. Therefore, it is only when the activity‐based and resource‐based views are integrated that they provide a comprehensive explanation of firm value creation. Originality/value – The paper is the first to critically examine the intellectual antecedents of the activity‐based view.

Journal

Journal of Strategy and Management – Emerald Publishing

Published: Aug 7, 2009

Keywords: Value chain; Strategic management; Activity based management

References

  • Note on activity accounting
    Aiyathurai, G.; Cooper, W.W.; Sinha, K.K.
  • Management Control Systems
    Anthony, R.N.; Dearden, J.; Vancil, R.F.
  • The Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
    Babbage, C.
  • Barriers to New Competition
    Bain, J.
  • Industrial Organization
    Bain, J.
  • Book review: competitive advantage
    Balderston, F.E.
  • Models of general economic equilibrium
    Balderston, J.
  • Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage
    Barney, J.B.
  • Gaining and Sustaining Competitive Advantage
    Barney, J.B.
  • Where does inequality come from? The personal and intellectual roots of resource‐based theory
    Barney, J.B.
  • The resource‐based view: origins and implications
    Barney, J.B.; Arikan, A.M.
  • Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage
    Barney, J.B.; Hesterly, W.S.
  • The Economics of Strategy
    Besanko, D.; Dranove, D.; Shanley, M.
  • Simple Economic Tools of Strategic Analysis (Case No. 9‐373‐094)
    Bower, J.L.
  • New‐game strategies
    Buaron, R.
  • Introduction
    Campbell‐Kelly, M.
  • Tjalling Charles Koopmans
    Christ, C.F.; Hurwicz, L.
  • Business Policy: Text and Cases
    Christensen, C.R.; Andrews, K.R.; Bower, J.L.
  • The Systems Approach
    Churchman, C.W.
  • Introduction to Operations Research
    Churchman, C.W.; Ackoff, R.L.; Arnoff, E.L.
  • The nature of the firm
    Coase, R.
  • A historical comparison of resource‐based theory and five schools of thought within industrial organization economics: do we have a new theory of the firm?
    Conner, K.R.
  • Frederick Winslow Taylor
    Crainer, S.
  • Linear Programming and Extensions
    Dantzig, G.B.
  • Assessing advantage: a framework for diagnosing competitive superiority
    Day, G.S.; Wensley, R.
  • Industry structure, market rivalry, and public policy
    Demsetz, H.
  • Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantage
    Dess, G.G.; Lumpkin, G.T.; Eisner, A.
  • Mathematical, or ‘linear’ programming: a nonmathematical exposition
    Dorfman, R.
  • Linear Programming and Economic Analysis
    Dorfman, R.; Samuelson, P.A.; Solow, R.M.
  • Book review: competitive advantage
    Farmer, D.H.
  • A critical analysis of scientific management
    Farquhar, H.H.
  • Research in strategy, economics, and Michael Porter
    Foss, N.J.
  • Equilibrium versus evolution: the conflicting legacies of Penrose and Demsetz
    Foss, N.J.
  • Book reviews: competitive strategy and competitive advantage
    Gartner, W.B.
  • The Arithmetic of Strategic Cost Analysis
    Ghemawat, P.
  • Competition and business strategy in historical perspective
    Ghemawat, P.
  • Strategy and the Business Landscape
    Ghemawat, P.
  • Where do we fit in the swings and roundabouts of strategy?
    Ghobadian, A.; O'Regan, N.
  • Strategic choice and resource allocation
    Gluck, F.W.
  • Contemporary Strategy Analysis: Concepts, Techniques, Applications
    Grant, R.M.
  • Prices and Production
    Hayek, F.A.
  • Accounting data for value chain analysis
    Hergert, M.; Morris, D.
  • Strategic Management: Competiveness and Globalization
    Hitt, M.A.; Ireland, R.D.; Hoskisson, R.E.
  • Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases
    Johnson, G.; Scholes, K.; Whittington, R.
  • Activity‐based information: a blueprint of world‐class management accounting
    Johnson, H.T.
  • Mathematical methods of organizing and planning production
    Kantorovich, L.V.
  • Foundations of Corporate Success
    Kay, J.
  • Designing global strategies: comparative and competitive value‐added chains
    Kogut, B.
  • Introduction
    Koopmans, T.C.
  • Capabilities and governance: the rebirth of production in the theory of economic organization
    Langlois, R.N.; Foss, N.J.
  • Business Policy: Text and Cases
    Learned, E.P.; Christensen, C.R.; Andrews, K.R.; Guth, W.D.
  • Business Policy: Text and Cases
    Learned, E.P.; Christensen, C.R.; Andrews, K.R.; Guth, W.D.
  • Capitalism and the factory system
    Leijonhufvud, A.
  • The Collapse of the American Management Mystique
    Locke, R.R.
  • Corporate Strategy
    Lynch, R.
  • Introduction
    Malinvaud, E.
  • Management Strategy: Achieving Sustained Competitive Advantage
    Marcus, A.A.
  • Price and production policies of large scale enterprises
    Mason, E.S.
  • Classics in Management
    Merrill, W.F.
  • Strategy: Seeking and Securing Competitive Advantage
    Montgomery, C.A.; Porter, M.E.
  • Strategy and organization consulting
    Nadler, D.A.; Slywotzky, A.J.
  • The Theory of the Growth of the Firm
    Penrose, E.T.
  • Competitive Strategy
    Porter, M.E.
  • The contribution of industrial organization to strategic management
    Porter, M.E.
  • Industrial organization and the evolution of concepts for strategic planning
    Porter, M.E.
  • Cases in Competitive Strategy
    Porter, M.E.
  • Competitive Advantage
    Porter, M.E.
  • Towards a dynamic theory of strategy
    Porter, M.E.
  • Competitive strategy revisited: a view from the 1990s
    Porter, M.E.
  • What is strategy
    Porter, M.E.
  • Introduction
    Porter, M.E.
  • The five competitive forces that shape strategy
    Porter, M.E.
  • Activity systems as barriers to imitation
    Porter, M.E.; Rivkin, J.W.
  • Competition and strategy: the creation of a group and a field
    Porter, M.E.; Siggelkow, N.
  • A process for applying analytical models in competitive advantage
    Prescott, J.E.
  • A consumer perspective of value creation
    Priem, R.L.
  • Changes in the intellectual structure of strategic management research: a bibliometric study of the Strategic Management Journal , 1980‐2000
    Ramos‐Rodriguez, A‐F.; Ruiz‐Navarro, J.
  • Sustaining competitive advantage
    Reimann, B.C.
  • Toward an integrative model of strategy development: from dynamic clusters to core competencies
    Reve, T.
  • The organization of industry
    Richardson, G.B.
  • Strategi
    Roos, G.; von Krogh, G.; Roos, J.
  • Strategic Management: A Methodological Approach
    Rowe, A.J.; Mason, R.O.; Dickel, K.E.; Mann, R.B.; Mockler, R.J.
  • Fundamental issues in strategy
    Rumelt, R.P.; Schendel, D.E.; Teece, D.J.
  • Strategic Management
    Saloner, G.; Shepard, A.; Podolny, J.
  • Leadership in Administration
    Selznick, P.
  • Strategic cost management: new wine, or just old bottles
    Shank, J.K.
  • Strategic Cost Analysis: The Evolution from Managerial to Strategic Accounting
    Shank, J.K.; Govindarajan, V.
  • Strategic cost management: the value chain perspective
    Shank, J.K.; Govindarajan, V.
  • An Approach to Business Problems
    Shaw, A.W.
  • Advancing the resource‐based view through Porterian activity analysis
    Sheehan, N.; Foss, N.J.
  • Managerial Cost Accounting
    Shillinglaw, G.
  • The New Science of Management Decision
    Simon, H.A.
  • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
    Smith, A.
  • Introduction
    Smolinski, L.
  • Strategic Management & Organizational Dynamics
    Stacey, R.D.
  • The division of labor is limited by the extent of the market
    Stigler, G.J.
  • The Principles of Scientific Management
    Taylor, F.W.
  • Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for Competitive Advantage
    Thompson, A.A.; Strickland, A.J.; Gamble, J.E.
  • Microeconomic Analysis
    Varian, H.R.
  • Modern Competitive Strategy
    Walker, G.
  • Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Since 1945
    Waring, S.P.
  • The resource‐based view of the firm: ten years after
    Wernerfelt, B.
  • Strategic Management and Business Policy
    Wheelen, T.L.; Hunger, J.D.
  • The Mechanisms of Governance
    Williamson, O.E.
  • The programming of interdependent activities: general discussion
    Wood, M.K.; Dantzig, G.B.
  • The History of Management Thought
    Wren, D.A.
  • A refinement of Porter's strategies
    Wright, P.