What Makes an Asset or Capability Truly Valuable
A firm can secure assets and capabilities in four basic ways. 1 It may obtain them with the endowment that established the business. For example, a company established to exploit a proprietary technology may have received a valuable patent from its founder. It may acquire the assets on the open market or contract directly for the services of an asset (as in the case of an equipment lease). It may access the required asset or capability by sharing it with a subsidiary or an alliance partner. Finally, it can accumulate the required asset through learning by doing over time.