STRATEGIC RESOURCES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: APPLICATION OF VRIO'S MODEL IN A SUGARCANE AND ETHANOL ORGANIZATION

Resource-based view represents one of the main schools of thought in the field of business strategy. The resources of an organization can be a source of competitive advantage, since the organization recognized as valuable, rare, hard to be copied and exploited by the firm. However, identifying and analyzing the resources are not easy tasks and rarely applied in a business context. Recognizing the importance of resources to the competitive advantage of organizations, this study aims to identify and analyze the strategic resources of an organization of the sugar and alcohol sector in their capacity to contribute to competitive advantage. To achieve this goal, we performed a case study in the company adopting the theoretical approach of VRIO's model, proposed by Barney and Hesterly (2007). To collect data from field research were adopted semi-structured interview, passive observation and document analysis. Through research, it was observed that none of the resource leaves the company at a competitive disadvantage, nor contributes to an organizational weakness. All resources are exploited by the firm, although not all allow the development of a sustainable competitive advantage.