Official Explanation
2. The resource-based view, as described in the passage, is based on which of the following ideas?
Difficulty Level: Medium
Explanation
Evaluation
This question requires analysis of the reasoning underlying one of the two explanations described in the passage. The resource-based view (RBV) holds that retaining high-level executives with long tenure will contribute to success because those people have important company-specific knowledge. This view rests on the assumption that company-specific knowledge is valuable to postacquisition success.
A. In RBV, executives with long tenure are valuable not specifically for their managerial skills but for their knowledge about the acquired company. The passage does not restrict to five years the period in which this knowledge is gained.
B. Correct. RBV values executives’ knowledge of the acquired company and is based on the belief that company-specific knowledge is valuable for postacquisition success.
C. The passage does not indicate that RBV claims that executives’ companyspecific knowledge is generally undervalued. But the passage does indicate that RBV regards such knowledge as valuable to postacquisition success.
D. In RBV, executives with long tenure are valuable not for their ability to adapt to change, but for their knowledge about the acquired company.
E. RBV does not suggest that short-tenured executives impede postacquisition success, only that they are less important to success than the highest-ranked executives.
The correct answer is B.