The distribution of leadership skills across a single-focus company, a multi-focus company, and an industry: three case studies

Strategic resources are critical for the survival of organizations. One such critical strategic resource is the quality of leadership found within an organization. The competitive advantage provided by any intangible resource like leadership is predicated upon two bases – an adequate level of skill and the skill's relative rarity in the market. Just how rare are patterns of leadership skills within an organization, a multi-foci organization or even an industry? Leadership skills are assessed for these three contexts. We find great similarity of patterns within each type of entity and across all three contexts. This argues that some leadership patterns may indeed be effective in a variety of contexts but may not be the only strategic resource contributing to the competitive advantage of an organization since on their own they are not rare.