Recognizing competitive advantage theory: Narrative research of Lionel Messi’s biography

Competitive advantage theories are faced with a wide variety of perspectives, including resource-based view, industrial organization perspective, transaction cost approach, entrepreneurship approach, and finally behavioral economics, each of which has its own paradigms. Each paradigm attributed the reason for the success of organizations to different factors. The purpose of this study is to explore theories of competitive advantage and achieve a new approach with the help of Lionel Messi's life biography to create a new and different insight into competitive advantage. In this paper, the method of phronetic iterative research, which has an inductive-deductive approach and at the same time uses first-hand data as well as existing theoretical frameworks, to construct new theories. First, data related to the life of Lionel Messi are extracted from his biography, this data is coded in two stages, then it is linked to existing and related theories and concepts, and finally through Combining and interpreting codes, a new theory of competitive advantage has emerged. The findings of this study show that competitive advantage is a matter beyond existing resource-based view, industrial organization and behavioral theories, and includes sociological theories, including the Pygmalion effect, symbolic interactionism, social sensemaking, social support, habitus, and romantic rationality. The new theory of competitive advantage is completely different from existing theories, both in nature, ie, the presentation of the sociological concepts of competitive advantage, and in terms of the level of analysis, that is, attention to the sociological level of the organization.