Exploring performance heterogeneity: Integrative insights from strategic management and marketing

The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast several definitions of performance outcomes across the strategic management and strategic marketing literature streams. We motivate our study on the shared history of both fields in explaining performance heterogeneity across firms. Our review of literature on the concept of competitive advantage in the strategic management field, and an exemplar case of strategic marketing research on brand competitiveness, highlights opportunities for cross-fertilization across these domains. In particular, we argue that future research on brand competitiveness may benefit by drawing on the concept of ecosystems, business models, and microfoundations research in strategic management.