Strategic Infrastructure and Asset Management: A Resource-Based View

This paper explores the conceptual framework for strategic infrastructure and asset management, emphasizing the importance of identifying and leveraging organizational capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. It examines the resource-based view (RBV) and its application to infrastructure management, highlighting the significance of internal resources and capabilities in a volatile external environment. The paper also outlines a strategic asset management process, emphasizing continuous improvement, goal alignment, core procedure identification, challenge delineation, and the development of effective capabilities.

Strategic Infrastructure and Asset Management Body of Knowledge
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Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................3
Strategic Infrastructure and Asset Management Body of Knowledge.......................................4
Strategy and performance......................................................................................................7
Resource Based View for a Strategic infrastructure management organisation....................8
Strategic asset management process....................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12
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Abstract
Purpose: the main purpose of the assignment provided below is to effectively identify and
analyse the conceptual framework that can be used such that the capability and the
management needs of the infrastructure assets of the organisation can be identified in an
enhanced manner
Design/ Approach/ Methodology: The design that has been utilised by the paper provided
below is qualitative in nature and the secondary data has been used in order to develop the
conceptual framework that has been provided in this research and identify the capabilities of
the strategic infrastructure asset management in an organisation (Smith, 2015).
Findings: It should be noted that in the external environment of the business which is volatile
in nature and changes in a rapid pace, it is more important that the company should keep its
main emphasis on the internal factors of the company such as resources and the capability of
the organisation that helps the company to develop a competitive advantage (Lowenstien &
Slater, 2016). However, it has been found hat very limited are available in the current
scenario which can help the researcher in gaining the insights on the capabilities which are
required for asset and infrastructure management in an organisation. This makes it important
to develop a conceptual framework which can help the company in the effective and efficient
identification of the organisational capabilities (Campbell et. al., 2016).
Limitations of the research: the paper provided below is conceptual in nature and in order to
determine the limitation of the research the future studies should be conducted on the basis on
empirical evidence.
Practical Implications of the research: the research paper provided below effectively and
clearly presents the arguments on the need for infrastructure for an organisation which makes
it important for such companies to adopt a systematic approach such that the capabilities of
the infrastructure asset management can be identified in an enhanced manner (Bryman &
Bell, 2015). This discussion will be helpful for the manager and provide them with the
impetus to operate in the deregulated infrastructure and business landscape which helps them
to review their current strategies (Bryman, 2015).
Originality and validity: The literature review provided below is based on the recent sources
and will help the researcher to gain h insights on how the asset managers can create value by
the means of investment in the relevant capabilities.
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Strategic Infrastructure and Asset Management Body of Knowledge
As per Kaplan & Norton (2005), it is important for the corporate and real estate management
companies to seek and optimise the utilisation of the assets that can help the businesses in
order to achieve the goals and main objectives. While there is various researches presented in
the relation of management of residential, commercial and industrial real estate there is a lack
of studies that have been conducted on the strategic infrastructure and asset management
(Kaplan & Norton, 2005). The infrastructure can be effectively defined as the stock of fixed
capital structure that is present in a country or in a company which are the determinants of
economic growth and organisational growth. It should be noted that link in any kind of real
estate the development of the infrastructure is capital intensive in nature. Though the
infrastructure assets have several layers of complexity, they can be distinguished as the
traditional and modern infrastructures. The most important thing to keep in mind that that the
production of the infrastructure related services can help in increasing the returns to scale.
This helps implication of a tendency towards the monopoly and as the result, the regulations
in the industry increases in a significant manner (Talbot & Jakeman, 2011). Next, the most
important thing to keep in mind that that the infrastructure related goods helps in the
production and the generation of the public goods that helps in increasing the issue of non-
excludability. This kind of outcomes leads to increment in the demand for funding’s which
could be gathered by the means of government sources and regulations. For these particular
reasons, the infrastructure assets utilised by an organisation are owned in a traditional manner
and managed by the public sector. Due to this constraint, these infrastructure assets can be
further referred to as the public infrastructure capital (Halfawy, 2008).
As per Grossman (2006), however, in the recent developments in the industry it is generally
seen that the most of the companies that have industrialised are facing many issues and
challenges that are in concern with the building and management of the infrastructural assets.
These challenges and issues are inclusive of the ageing infrastructure, short-term focus on
political issues, inadequate funding, globalisation and the need for the companies to satisfy
multiple stakeholders of the company (Grossman, 2006). This has created a huge problem for
the infrastructures that are owned by the government. The generation of these issues is
effectively evident from the example of past two decades in which it has been found that the
government-owned infrastructure management companies have majorly suffered from issues
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such as poor productivity of labour, deterioration of facilities and equipment, chronic
shortage in the revenues and poor quality of service. In response to these important issues that
are currently being faced, many companies and countries have reformed that provision for
infrastructure facilities and institutional options for the management of infrastructure based
services. This has majorly been done by the method of competitive restructuring, the
establishment of regulatory mechanisms and privatisation in the industry (Baskerville &
Dulipovici, 2006).
According to Jugdev et. al., (2007), in the volatile environment, the infrastructure based
organisation are required to maximise the investment that they are making in the industry and
how these companies can modify their existing infrastructure based assets which can help the
company in reducing the capital and operating expenditures which can help in improvement
of the overall performance of the organisation. The literature that is currently being
conducted strategically keeps its main focus on the factors that are in the internal operations
of the company in addition to the structure of the industry in which the company is operating
in (Jugdev et. al., 2007). It has been argued by (Smith & Tardif, 2009) that the resource-based
theories and its extension can help the company to focus their resources and capabilities
which can effectively help the organisation in examining that how these factors can be used
in order to gain the competitive advantage in the industry. An organisation is able to achieve
the goals and objectives only when its full resources and capabilities are utilised in an
enhanced manner. This makes it significantly important for the company to effectively and
efficiently identify the core capabilities that are required to be developed by the company that
can help the organisation in making a difference in the infrastructure based performance of
the assets (Smith & Tardif, 2009).
It should be noted that as the owners, maintainers and operators of the infrastructure assets,
the infrastructure based organisation are given a significant responsibility such that the
successful performance of the assets can be ensured in order to meet the needs and
expectations of the stakeholders of the company. Hence it can be stated that it is important for
the infrastructure based companies to improve the operations such that the essential such as
satisfaction of customers, employee productivity, quality of assets and other performance
indicators can be ensured (Gao et. al., 2008) .
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As per the view of Oluikpe (2012), in order for the asset management of the company to
become of true value, it is important to add the pursuit within a corporate framework and in
this, it is required that the objectives should be primarily be concerned with the filing of a
strategic role. It is important for the assets managers to be proactive about their roles and no
reactive. It is important that the manager should be able to forecast the needs and demands of
the organisation and make the plan accordingly such that the future aims and objectives of the
company might be supported (Oluikpe, 2012). This strategic view is important for the
company as this helps in analysing the long-term view of the company and gather the
effective and efficient information about the performance and costs that have been incurred in
the organisation accordingly. It should also be noted that the strategic management of the
assets and infrastructure of the company helps in the achievement of organisational long-term
goals and its effectiveness through the means of dynamic alignment of the infrastructure that
helps in meeting the needs of the consumers (Haslinda & Sarinah, 2009).
As per Nicolas et. al. (2011), it has been found from various researchers and evidence that the
strategic and integrated approach of the company has gradually gained the attention in the
industry. There are various practices in the management of assets and infrastructure by the
organisation that have been undertaken by the companies in which the organisation have been
identified to be taking a strategic approach. Here the organisation are undertaking all the asset
management frameworks which are inclusive of the dynamic business processes that help
them to link all the types of business practices in a single context (Nicolas et. al., 2011). the
major strategic advantage from the application of strategies approach of asset and
infrastructure management is that this help in gaining a better understanding about the
alignment of asset portfolio such that they might be best able to meet the service delivery
needs of the customers in the current as well as in the future based scenario. This process is
holistic by nature and has been effectively designed in order to meet the corporate objectives
by the means of clear responsibilities between the service providers, owner as the asset
managers in the company. Thus it can be said that the concept of asset management is
effectively driven by the means of policy-based goals and the objectives that are based on
sustainability and the performance of the employees of the company (Wakefield, 2005).
Apart from this, increasingly the asset managers of the organisation are devoting their
attention towards the broad range of concerns that is inclusive of combining the principles of
science with best practices in the business. This will help in adopting a more professional
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approach to traditions operations and will aid in enhanced maintenance of the assets that are
utilised by the organisation (Montequin et. al., 2006).
Strategy and performance
There are works of various authors that provide the insights ion the field of strategic
management in an organisation. In a collective manner, these help the readers to gain the
knowledge about the critical concepts and propositions that work in a particular strategy
which is also inclusive of how the strategy affects performance, the significance of both
internal and external opportunities and notions that the organisational structure is required to
follow the strategy of the company.
According to Carrion (2008), the principal developments in the strategy of the company are
major focuses on the link between the external environment and the company’s strategy. This
can be further understood by taking into consideration the prominent example of the
competitive Strategy, which is a book written by Michael Porter. The book is considered to
be one of the most influential contributions in the field of strategic management. The ideas
that have been presented in the book have been effectively collected by the means of
industrial organisational economics in which there is present a framework of generic
strategies and industrial analysis (Carrion, 2008). The central tangent of this paradigm as
summarised by Porter effectively and efficiently revolves around the performance of the
organisation which the primary function in the industrial environment in which the company
competes. This is because the operations of the company are directly influenced by the means
of the organisational structure that defines the strategy of the company. This makes it
important to manage the asses and infrastructure according to the organisational strategy and
ensure that proper strategic implementation is done and the strategy is also being followed
(Zou et. al., 2007).
It should be noted that in the recent times, in various studies the implementation of the
strategies and the use of organisational resources have not been paid effective attention. The
resurgence in the interest in the management of infrastructure based assets did not rise until
the starting of the 1990s. This resurgence helps in increasing the emphasis of the businesses
on the resources that help in internal functioning of the organisation. This is also known as
the resource-based view of the companies (O’Dell & Hubert, 2011). The main idea of this
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RBV is that the organisation is generally a pool of capabilities and resources that are the main
determinants of the organisational performance. The process of strategy formation the RBV
helps the companies to find a different route than that of the “industrial organisation
economics”. There are various theorists of IOE such as Porter who have argued that the
performance of the company is in close relation to the structure of the industry. Here the
organisation in itself is clearly seen as the allocator of resources between the market and
product based opportunities. Hence from this point of view, it can be stated that the strategic
tasks that take place in an organisation are focused on creating a competitive position in the
industry (Heisig, 2009). This can also be stated to as the positioning school of strategy based
development.
Resource Based View for a Strategic infrastructure management organisation
As per weber et. al., (2016), it has already been found that the external environment of the
business is volatile in nature and it also changes at a rapid pace, this makes it problematic for
the managers of the company to plan for the future as the technological changes have
identified to be abrupt the working of the company in a smooth manner. The deliberate
strategies plan in order to complete the organisational goals would result in the tension
created by the organisation. This tension expands as the business jumps to a new level in the
processes and trends followed in the market while it still possesses the old technology or the
stock of resources. It has been found that the company would not be able to sustain the
competitive advantage in the industry until unless it won’t get rid of the old technologies and
resources. Thus it has been arguing that the new internal sources help the business to gain a
competitive advantage in the industry which further increases the scope for the management
of assets and infrastructure in the industry. It should also be noted that when the external
environment of the business is in a flux state, the internal resources and capability of the
organisation is much more stable which helps the company to define its own identity. All of
the companies which are inclusive of the infrastructure based organisations are required to
create their values such that their existence can be justified (Weber et. al., 2016). This
competitive advantage can help the company in a better and effective manner which could
help them to create an enhanced value for the consumers of the company which then helps in
contributing to the organisational performance as a whole. There are two categories of the
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competitive advantage that can be enjoyed by the company when its infrastructure and asset
management is done in a strategic manner i.e. positional and kinetic advantage (Winch &
Leiringer, 2016).
The positional advantage can be defined as the primary ownership or access based advantage
such as super endowments of the managerial skills, superior corporate culture etc. Another
definition is more focused towards the size based advantages such as economy of scale, the
economy of experience etc. the better control over the distributors an supply is another of the
positional advantages that are enjoyed by the organisation. On the other hand, the kinetic-
based advantages are knowledge and capability based and they are regularly in operations. It
is inclusive of the entrepreneurial capabilities, knowledge of owners and ability of the
company to identify and create new market-based opportunities (Hajir et. al., 2015).
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Strategic asset management process:
Step 1: According to Bryce, (2017), the continuous improvement is a process of assets
management. The concept of asset management is based on the principles of continuous
improvements in the successive and the manageable steps to necessary implement the various
forms of the complexities (Bryce, 2017). It is an approach which helps in providing the clear
distinction between the decisions making and the performance of the actions. Herein the top
management is responsible for the settlement of the business tactics and the structure.
Step 2: in the second step there is an alignment of the infrastructure assets management
goals. These goals act as a guideline for the asset manager in terms of the costs, risks
assigned and the level of the performances. In the words of Obeidat, et. Al., (2015), the assets
management acts as a custodian of the infrastructure towards the organisation's main
resources. It also helps in the development of strategic business goals and the activities.
Hence the manager helps in supporting the organisational business goals (Obeidat, et. al.,
2015).
Step 3: Identification of the core infrastructure asset management procedure: Herein the
goals which are required to implement the assets management function is provided therein to
accomplish the set goals. Herein the tactics are effectively managed with the help of the set
life cycle. It helps in the development of the strategic and the corporate management plans
and the operations. Hence it is essential to identify the process and also helps in the
improvement of the performances and the plans (Collins and Junghans, 2015). Core
procedure is a work which starts with the consumers and ends with the consumers. It is also
assessed that not only the business procedure is a way to attain the competitive advantages.
Step 4: Delineation of the challenges within the core infrastructure process: In order to
maintain the competitive advantages in the working of the organisation it is assumed that the
core business process needs to be managed (Redlich, et. al., 2015). The factors which
contribute to the competitive advantages are resources and the capabilities.
Step 5: Effective infrastructure asset management capabilities: Thre are involved various
capabilities which are related to the process. Hence all the settle, an element of the
capabilities helps in enhancing the performances and the plans hence effective investment
made in the performances helps in the enhancing the performance of the organisation. Hence
when the effective capabilities are identified then this helps as one of the processes to
enhance the performance and the abilities (Whyte, et. al., 2016).
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Conclusion
It is concluded from the above report that the asset infrastructure management helps in
enhancing the level of the performances of the organisation. It acts as one of the ways which
contribute to the dynamic variations involved in the environment. It is also suggested by the
resource paradigm that the effective process needs to be followed in order to enhance the
level of the performances and the plans. Hence it is concluded that the process acts as an
effective way to strategically manage the assets and that contributes ion the business success.
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