Leveraging Relationships with Web 2.0 Consumer Communities as a Strategic Capability

In today’s dynamic business environment many firms must pursue a series of competitive strategies to survive. According to RBV, these strategies are based upon a firm’s possession of resources and capabilities that are valuable, imperfectly inimitable, non-substitutable, rare and non-transferable. In this paper we extend research on online communities and interfirm performance differences by suggesting that ability to leverage relationships with Web. 2.0 consumer communities is a strategic capability. We illustrate through the example of Starwood Hotels and Resorts how this capability may lead to competitive advantage and offer suggestions as to how firms may use Web 2.0 consumer community relationships effectively.

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