ceo center

Center for
Effective
Organizations

HUMAN RESOURCES AND SUSTAINED
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE : A
RESOURCE-BASED PERSPECTIVE
CEO PUBLICATION
G 93-19 (239)
P ATRICK M. WRIGHT
Texas A&M University
G ARY C. MCM AHAN
University of Southern California
ABAGAIL MCWILLIAMS
Texas A&M University

November 1993

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Human Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage:
A Resource-Based Perspective

Patrick M. Wright
Department of Management
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4221
Gary C. McMahan
Center for Effective Organizations
School of Business Administartion
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-1421
Abagail McWilliams
Department of Management
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4221

Human Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage:
A Resource-Based Perspective

Abstract
This paper integrates the theories and findings of micro-level organizational behavior/human resource management research with the macro-level resource-based view of the firm, specifically presenting a firm 's human resources as an important potential source of sustained competitive advantage. Unlike practice-oriented discussions that assume the role of human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage, we use the theoretical concepts from the resource-based view of the firm (Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1991) to discuss how human resources meet the criteria for sustained competitive advantage in that they are valuable, rare, inimitable, and nonsubstitutable. The implications for developing human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage are discussed, particularly examining the role of HR

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