Managing across boundaries: introduction to the Special Issue

The resource-based view of the firm suggests that direct control over unique assets can form the basis of sustained competitive advantage. In contrast, the papers presented in this Special Issue examine the payoffs to cross-boundary resource management. These papers demonstrate the potency of combining resources across intra-firm and inter-firm boundaries in dynamic industries-pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, cellular, software, and engineering services. The effective pooling of resources is found to enhance business-level strategy by mitigating uncertainty, laying the groundwork for formal relationships such as alliances, and improving product quality and new product development performance. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.