Intangible corporate resources and sustainable competitive advantage

Abstract

Abstract

The study focused on exploring the links between intangible corporate resources and sustainable competitive advantage in selected Nigerian deposit money banks. Specifically, the research investigated how human, structural and relational intangible resources related with competitive advantage in the banking sector in Nigeria. The study was quantitative and adopted a cross-sectional design. The respondents were employees of selected ten deposit money banks in Benin City, Nigeria. A sample of 300 employees across the banks participated in the study. The structural equation technique, confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis were used for the measurement model and hypotheses testing. The findings show that the dimensions of intangible resources investigated support building sustainable competitive advantage in the sampled banks. It was recommended that the management of the sampled banks should invest more in the development of their intangible resources to further support competitive advantage. The study provides empirical evidence supporting the usefulness of intangible corporate resources in building competitive advantage for banks and expands the body of research on how human, structural and relational intangible resources may directly influence competitive advantage in Nigeria as a developing nation. The theoretical implications are that it supports the resource-based view with its extensions and the Porters’ competitive advantage theory.

Key words: Competitive Advantage, Cost Leadership, Differentiation, Intangible Resources.

JEL Classification: M10, M19, M31