To fully grasp the value architecture, we need understand the extended value chain of the firm, which we have discussed. However, this is not enough. Digging into what are the strategic resources and key competencies of the business is going to help us get a fuller picture of the value architecture. In the 90s, ideas about the role of strategic resources and key competencies, sometimes called capabilities, as primary determinants of a company’s strategy and performance emerged, in what has become known as the "resource-based view of the firm”. Strategic resources and key competencies are really about the "how". Let’s see what they really are. A nice metaphor is the one of a tree. The branches of the tree represent products and services that the firm develops over time. The root system of the tree, that grows with the top of it, represents the strategic resources and key competencies. It’s often made of non-visible elements on which the firm builds its growth and performance. As strategic resources and key competencies allow the firm to grow and perform, they should be nurtured as a tree is nurtured, with water, fertilizer and light. In business terms, it means developing them, devoting financial resources to their conservation and development, as well as management time, and protecting them. A very famous example is the one of Honda, which from the 1950s to the 1980s grew from being a moped manufacturer to a diversified corporation involved in motorcycles, small cars, pumps, generators, mowers, marine engines, snow blowers, by exploiting three strategic resources and key competencies. First of all, the ability to conceive small motors, mastering the assembly process and outsourcing the rest, and third, excellent management of distribution networks. Strategic resources are assets owned by the firm and fall in three large categories. The tangible resources, both financial and physical, the intangible resources, such as reputation, patents, and human resources. They are more or less imitable. And of course, the more imitable they are the less valuable they are. Here are some examples. Cash or commodities are easy to imitate. Economies of scale or a large manufacturing capacity are a bit more difficult. Brand loyalty is very difficult to imitate because it takes so much time to build. Intangible resources are usually less imitable. Some resources are totally impossible to imitate such as a unique location, for a hotel for example. Competencies, on the other hand are organisational in nature, more complex, about how things are put together and done, and it’s the unique combination of strategic resources and key competencies that make the firm’s success. This combination has to be non imitable as much as possible, rare (not every company has them), and create value that the firm can actually capture. For example, a unique production process can be difficult to imitate, rare, but if it's not protected, in the end it will not create value for the firm that developed it. As a consequence, strategic resources and key competencies are limited for each business. We are looking for what is really distinctive. As an example, let’s take Disney, in each of it’s businesses. We can identify four strategic resources and key competencies: the characters themselves, a resource, the brand and more particularly its emotional strength, this is an intangible resource as well, the integrated consumer experience that can be found in any of Disney's many businesses, this is typically a key competency, and the ability to manage rights, which again is a key competency. From these four strategic resources and key competencies, Disney has built a very diversified group of businesses. The notion of strategic resources and key competencies is therefore useful in our approach, it applies to one single business, but also in corporate strategy, strategic resources and key competencies can be shared across several businesses in a group. So, as a conclusion, to get a full picture of our value architecture we need to analyse the extended value chain and identify strategic resources and key competencies. In our next video, we will discuss the profit equation, to finalize our detailed analysis of the business model framework.