The Organization System:

A competitive advantage arises when a company is implementing a value creating strategy that no other competitor is currently implementing. A sustained competitive advantage occurs when competitors stop trying to replicate the advantage.

In order to ensure sustained competitive advantage, four criteria must be met

1) The resource must add positive value to the company

2) The resource must be unique or rare amongst competitors.

3) The resource must be imperfectly imitable.

4) The resource cannot be substituted with another resource by a competing company.

My company is Langley Radiology. Our greatest resources include

1) Our radiologists

2) Our Customer Service

3) Our IT applications which make the radiologists more efficient.

Comparison against Criteria

1) The resource must add positive value to the company. All of these resources add positive value to the company.

2) The resource must be unique or rare amongst competitors. These resources are not unique or rare amongst competitors. There are other military and civilian radiological companies that possess similar resources.

3) All of the resources, customer service, Radiology IT systems and Radiologists have been around for decades. Many of our processes and applications are patented, but there are other systems in the market that do the exact same thing.

4) The resources cannot be substituted with another resource by a competing company. Although our exact applications and technology are patented, the concepts and systems have been available for decades and have been copied and used all over the world.

In my opinion, the criteria specified in the article Theoretical Perspectives for Strategic Human Resource Management, almost never exists outside of the theoretical. For most companies, competitive advantage lies not in doing something totally unique, but in doing better than your competitors. This involves making better use of your resources, adjusting to changes in the marketplace and a...