Deploying the Internet for Leveraging Strategic Assets

In contrast to large companies small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) frequently suffer from ‘resource poverty’ (Welsh and White, 1981; Bharati and Chaudhury, 2009), which often affects strategy development and creates perceptual and physical barriers to growth (Fillis, Johansson and Wagner, 2004). For example, small companies usually have fewer financial and human resources (Chow, Haddad and Williamson, 1997; Ihlstrom and Nilsson, 2003; Gribbins and King, 2004, Montazemi, 2006). However, according to the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) the value of strategic assets can be increased if they are combined with other strategic assets, which is called complementarity. Complementarity can be defined as “an enhancement of resource value, [which] arises when a resource produces greater returns in the presence of another resource than it does alone” (Powell and Dent-Micallef 1997, p.379). Teece (1986, p.301) suggests that complementary assets are especially important for small companies because, in contrast to their larger competitors, they “are less likely to have the relevant specialized and cospecialized assets within their boundaries and so will either have abStract