Training and its influence on competitive strategy implementation

Abstract

Abstract This study evaluates the influence of training on competitive strategy implementation, a little‐explored relationship in the strategic human resource literature. Theoretically, this goal is grounded in the resource‐based view of the firm, which postulates that training is a strategic resource. Additionally, contingency theory is adopted herein, in order to understand the ways in which training varies, in accordance with firm strategy. Relationships between training in specific content and Miles and Snow's opposite strategies (prospector and defender) were proposed and subsequently tested in 205 large Colombian industrial companies, through structural equation modeling. Given that prospectors compete via new products and market development, and defenders through operational efficiency, it was found that research‐development, marketing, and sales training support prospector strategy implementation, and that operations management and finance training support defender strategy implementation. The results further indicate that, if training contents are not linked to the correct strategy, they do not support its implementation. In organizational terms, this suggests that training supports strategy implementation, as long as employees are trained in the appropriate content.

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