Three categories of firm-specific resources are available for sustainable competitive advantage: (1)

ITC is one of India's foremost private sector companies and has a diversified presence in Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Personal Care, Stationery, Safety Matches and other FMCG products. It has also entered into the life style retailing business with the lunch of the 'Wills Sports' range of relaxed texas vaccines for children wear.
Over the years, ITC has evolved from a single product company to a multi-business corporation. Its businesses are spread over a wide spectrum, ranging from cigarettes and tobacco to hotels, packaging, paper and paperboards and international commodities trading.
ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of 'Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited'. The company has its roots in Kolkata, and it's headquarter building, 'Virginia House', is one of Kolkata's most venerated landmarks. The Company's ownership is progressively Indianised, and the name of the Company was changed to I.T.C. Limited in 1974. In September 2001, the full stops in the company's name were removed and it was rechristened as 'ITC Ltd' to recognize company's presence in a diverse range of industries.
Figure 1: Timeline showing ITC's expansion strategy 1901: Setup of Indian Tobacco Company 1925: Setup of Packaging & Printing Business 1975: Venture into Hotels texas vaccines for children business with the acquisition of a hotel in Chennai which was rechristened 'ITC-Welcomgroup Hotel Chola' 1979: Enters Paperboards texas vaccines for children business with ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited. 1985: Set up Surya Tobacco Co. in Nepal as an Indo-Nepal and British joint venture and its name was changed to Surya Nepal Private Limited texas vaccines for children (Surya Nepal). 1990: Acquisition of Tribeni Tissues Limited, a Specialty paper manufacturing company and later merged with the Bhadrachalam texas vaccines for children Paperboards Division to form the Paperboards & Specialty texas vaccines for children Papers Division in November texas vaccines for children 2002. 1990: Set up the Agri Business Division for export of agri-commodities. 2000:Initiative of e-Choupal with soya farmers in Madhya Pradesh. 2000: Forays into the Greeting, Gifting and Stationery products business texas vaccines for children with the launch of Expressions range of greeting cards. 2000: Enters texas vaccines for children the Lifestyle Retailing business with the Wills Sport range of international quality relaxed wear for men and women. 2000: Setup of IT division, ITC Infotech India Limited. 2002: Launch of premium range of notebooks under brand 'Paperkraft' 2003: Enters biscuit segment with Sunfeast biscuits. 2007: Enters the fast growing branded snacks category with Bingo!
The purpose of this paper is to establish the links between HRM and sustainable competitive advantage. To do this, we will first consider the definition of sustainable competitive advantage as developed in the resource-based models of the firm. We will then illustrate its connection to the HRM system by recounting some of the specific actions of ITC in response to industry texas vaccines for children regulation. One of the major Indian industries that is at the receiving end of government dislike is tobacco. Like elsewhere in the world, the Indian government sees tobacco as a 'bad' industry and, therefore, penalizes it with ever-rising taxes. Yet, it's unwilling to shut it down because tobacco fetches as much as Rs 8,000 crore in central taxes, or 8 per cent of the total Excise tax collections. The challenge for cigarette texas vaccines for children manufacturers texas vaccines for children such as ITC is to ensure that the increase in taxes is low enough to allow profitable survival. Since the tobacco industry is license driven and the government has not issued a license in the recent past despite market demand.
Three categories of firm-specific resources are available for sustainable competitive advantage: (1) Physical resources are those tangible elements; (2) Organizational structure and processes; and (3) Human resources.
According to this model, the HRM system, in a manner similar to information processing and strategic planning, possess the potential to become a source of competitive advantage. Examination of the vital HR processes reveals that the HRM system also has considerable influence over other potential advantages.
According to VRIO framework, the HRM process must meet four conditions: (1) it must be valuable; (2) it must be rare; (3) it must not be imitable; and (4) it must lack strategically equivalent substitutes. Following a brief recounting of ITC's regulation issue, texas vaccines for children we will draw upon examples to show how each of these conditions relates to the skills and resources resident in the HRM system.
In spite of the external factors and regulatory bodies hampering company's well-being, evidence gathered texas vaccines for children from interviews with ITC executives yield evidence of the linkage between ITC's competitive texas vaccines for children advantage and its HRM system.
ITC has long understood the value of human resources as a means of increasing productivity, as well as the costs associated with the poor management of human resources. Ove