The Strategic Role of Talent Management: A Perspective on Creating Competitive Advantage through Competitive Strategies
Chapter from the book:
Aladağ,
Ö.
F.
(ed.)
2025.
Contemporary Studies in Strategic Management.
Synopsis
In contemporary competitive landscapes characterized by escalating global pressures and perpetual change, organizations’ sustainable competitive advantage rests less on physical assets and more on the management of strategically configured human resources. Within this context, this study investigates the role of talent management by examining how organizations develop and align their strategic human resources through the lens of three foundational theoretical approaches— the Resource-Based View, Strategic Alignment, and Dynamic Capabilities. The Resource-Based View conceptualizes valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable resources as the primary source of competitive advantage, while the Strategic Alignment perspective argues that consistently aligning these resources with the organization's strategic orientation is critical for performance. However, variable and uncertain environmental conditions demonstrate that sustaining competitive advantage requires more than the possession of strategic resources; it also depends on the capacity to renew, transform, and reconfigure these resources over time. At this point, Dynamic Capabilities provide a critical complementary perspective. Talent management, which recognizes human resources at the center as a strategic asset, occupies the intersection of these three theoretical approaches. On one hand, it provides behavioral consistency that supports strategic objectives, on the other, it enhances the organization’s capacity for renewal and adaptation. Therefore, talent management is positioned not merely as a means of achieving sustainable competitive advantage but as a fundamental strategic mechanism.
