secure a continuing supply of resources

Running Head: ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES Securing a continuing supply of resources Name: University: Tutor: Course: Date: Organizational Resources Different kinds of resources are employed by organizations so that they may be capable of attaining their goals. Some of the major resources employed by organizations include human resources and physical resources as well as information resources and financial resources. These resources are very much interrelated. For example, if an organization has strong financial resources, it then capable of acquiring better physical resources and competent manpower and thus the achievement of its goals quite easier (Stankard, 2002). To achieve organizational goals, managers are entitled to managing and making sure that all these resources are available. In any organization, human resources refer to all the employees or rather the workforce of that particular organization. Human resources ensure that the organization`s activities run smoothly. Human resources are people and thus their abilities and general performance greatly impact on the achievement of the goals set by the organization. Human resources ensure proper strategies are set and good policies and systems as well as standards and processes are developed. The human resources greatly determine the effectiveness of any given organization (Poole, & Van De Ven, 2004). For any organization to be effective people should be assigned to tasks according to their profession. Conducive environment should be availed so as to capable of meeting all the deadlines as per the goals set by the organization. Human resources should be managed with a lot of care as it is the backbone of any organization. Physical resources include tangible materials such as buildings and machinery. Plants and products also fall under this category. Organizations can very much utilize physical resources in the creation of competitive advantage. For instance, the Caterpillar Company, which is a leading company for manufacturing earth moving machines, has greatly utilized physical resources in the development of competitive advantage. This company invested greatly on physical resources by expanding its factories and building new factories to replace the old ones. They also invested in more efficient machines (Stankard, 2002). This measure resulted to higher production rate and hence higher profits. Physical resources such as machinery and plants cannot serve long as sources of competitive advantage due the fact that they are subject to imitation. It thus important for companies to be very much innovative when it comes to machinery so that if any of their products are imitated, they can always come up with new products which are better as compared to the old ones. Competitive advantage also results from locations. For in stance, by clustering related organizations or rather companies in one place, it becomes possible for the organization to fully utilize the available resources in that location effectively. Clustering leads to demand advantages. This is because many consumers are usually attracted to areas where they are able to choose from a wide variety of products. Hotels and restaurants tend to be clustered in a particular ...