Management of Technology, Article Critique Example

Study limitations refer to factors of the study’s methodology or design that influenced the results of the study. In other words, it refers to threats to the internal validity of the study, which the researcher cannot control (Creswell J., 2009). Limitations found in this study include the fact that it utilized self-reported data to conduct primary research (Newbert, 2008). General concerns, with regards to self-report data, center on the fact that such data may often be subject to common method bias.

However, the author states that self-report data collection was the most appropriate means of data collection for the study. Furthermore, firms examined in this study did not own secondary data which was readily available for analysis. As such, self-report data had to be used. The author states that no response bias is present in the collected data used for this study; however, he suggests that other researchers, who wish to repeat this study, should consider using publically held firms that have secondary data more readily available.

This article was particularly helpful in contributing to my overall knowledge of technology management. Prior to this study it was a common assumption of resource-based views of the firm (RBV) that the firm will gain a competitive advantage over it competitors if it exploited its most valuable resources and capabilities. This competitive advantage, in turn, boosted the firm’s overall performance. However, no conclusive studies had ever been performed to confirm this assumption. Newbert (2008) confirmed that the rareness of a firm’s resources and its overall value does indeed relate to the firm’s overall advantage over it competitors and that advantage does indeed improve the firm’s performance.

The confirmation of such an assumption is good to know. However, the part of this study which intrigued me most was the clarification of the distinction between competitive advantage and performance. Competitive advantage is defined as the degree to which a company subjugated opportunities, defused threats, and reduced costs (p. 752). In other words, a firm will employ these strategies because they are not currently employed by another firm; as such, the firm will gain a competitive advantage. Performance, on the other hand, is the incurred advantages, or profits that a firm accrues as the result of implementing a series of competitive advantages.

References

Creswell, J. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Newbert, S. L. (2008). Value, rareness, competitive advantage, and performance: A conceptual level empirical investigation of the resource-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 29, 745–768.