<P> Barney's 1991 article "Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage" is widely cited as a pivotal work in the emergence of the resource - based view . However, some scholars argue that there was evidence for a fragmentary resource - based theory from the 1930s . RBV proposes that firms are heterogeneous because they possess heterogeneous resources, meaning firms can have different strategies because they have different resource mixes . </P> <P> The RBV focuses managerial attention on the firm's internal resources in an effort to identify those assets, capabilities and competencies with the potential to deliver superior competitive advantages . </P> <P> During the 1990s, the resource - based view (also known as the resource - advantage theory) of the firm became the dominant paradigm in strategic planning . RBV can be seen as a reaction against the positioning school and its somewhat prescriptive approach which focused managerial attention on external considerations, notably industry structure . The so - called positioning school had dominated the discipline throughout the 1980s . In contrast, the emergent resource - based view argued that the source of sustainable advantage derives from doing things in a superior manner; by developing superior capabilities and resources . Jay Barney's article, "Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage" (1991), is seen as pivotal in the emergence of the resource - based view . </P> <P> A number of scholars point out that a fragmentary resource - based perspective was evident from the 1930s, noting that Barney was heavily influenced by Wernerfelt's earlier work which introduced the idea of resource position barriers being roughly analogous to entry barriers in the positioning school . Other scholars suggest that the resource - based view represents a new paradigm, albeit with roots in "Ricardian and Penrosian economic theories according to which firms can earn sustainable supranormal returns if, and only if, they have superior resources and those resources are protected by some form of isolating mechanism precluding their diffusion throughout the industry ." While its exact influence is debated, Edith Penrose's 1959 book The Theory of the Growth of the Firm is held by two scholars of strategy to state many concepts that would later influence the modern, resource - based theory of the firm . </P>

Who came up with the resource based view