Thus, the RBV at its most basic offers an
interpretation of the existence of profits in
equilibrium based on firm heterogeneity.
If that were all it offered, it would be essentially
trivial. It would amount to a statement that
firms differ in performance because they differ
in attributes. True but hardly informative!
It is scarcely surprising that critics of the RBV
(e.g. Priem and Butler 2001a,b) have accused
its proponents of tautological reasoning by
attributing the generation of competitive
advantage to possession of those resources
whose own value reflects these scarcity rents