Strategic Partnering in Oil and Gas: A Capabilities Perspective

33 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2014

See all articles by Rodrigo Garcia Palma

Rodrigo Garcia Palma

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Donald R. Lessard

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Aditya Singh

Total SA

Date Written: June 19, 2014

Abstract

A firm’s strategy typically is defined in terms of its position in the industry or landscape that operates in and the competitive advantage of the firm on that landscape. This competitive advantage, in turn, derives from a combination of assets (what the firm owns) and capabilities (how the firm does what it does). While the image of the oil and gas industry is that it is all about assets, competitive advantage generally results from a combination of tangible assets, capabilities, and intangible assets such as reputation and intellectual property (IP). The types of capabilities that are most likely to set one firm apart from others in a highly competitive field like oil and gas are complex bundles of complementary capabilities that are required to solve key challenges and that are hard to develop and emulate, particularly when the challenges are new and require new bundles of capabilities. Thus, the differentiating capabilities may be integrative, dynamic, or both. This paper identifies a set of integrative dynamic capabilities that are emerging as differentiators in the oil and gas industry and discusses what these imply for partnering at the company and asset levels.

Keywords: oil and gas, strategy, capabilities, strategic groups, partnering, asset-level partnering

JEL Classification: L1, L7, M1

Suggested Citation

Garcia Palma, Rodrigo and Lessard, Donald R. and Singh, Aditya, Strategic Partnering in Oil and Gas: A Capabilities Perspective (June 19, 2014). MIT Sloan Research Paper No. 5092-14, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2456718 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2456718

Rodrigo Garcia Palma

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management ( email )

100 Main Street
E62-416
Cambridge, MA 02142
United States

Donald R. Lessard (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management ( email )

100 Main Street
E62-460
Cambridge, MA 02142
United States
617-253-6688 (Phone)
617-258-6617 (Fax)

Aditya Singh

Total SA ( email )

2, place Jean Millier
La Défense 6
Paris, 92078
France
+ 33 (0) 1 47 44 45 46 (Phone)

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