La definizione del costrutto di eterogeneitŕ e il legame eterogeneitŕ-performance

Although heterogeneity has gained broad acknowledgement as a crucial phenomenon in the resource-based perspective, its relevance, whether as a source of inter-firm differences or of differences in firms' performance, has often been taken for granted rather been empirically assessed. Further, heterogeneity has been accepted as a self-explanatory concept instead of being studied and clarified as a construct for empirical research. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to define the heterogeneity construct and to eventually link the latter to firms' performances. A research on a 132 firms sample drawn from the Italian tool machine industry has been carried out to pursue this task. By means of a Structural Equation Model (LISREL) a 3-dimension construct has emerged; the heterogeneity construct dimensions are: contextuality, complexity and intertwinedness. The impact of heterogeneity on firms' performance has also been confirmed by means of LISREL. . Keywords: resource-heterogeneity, construct development, competitive advantage, Structural Equations Models Parole chiave: eterogeneitŕ delle risorse, sviluppo del costrutto, legame eterogeneitŕvantaggio competitivo, modelli di equazioni strutturali . Jel Classification: M100