Reconceptualizing Resources

Abstract

This article examines the interactive relationship between intangible, human capabilities (operant resources) and tangible, physical assets (operand resources) in an era of global interconnectedness. It does so within the context of service-dominant logic and the challenge of sustainability in a world of resource scarcity. Introducing object-oriented philosophy as an alternative framework, this paper challenges ideas about the superiority of certain kinds of resources while confronting a pervasive culture of demateriality in marketing and contemporary post-industrial theory – the idea that “stuff” does not count. The article offers a parsimonious model of a more holistic conceptualization of resources. It demonstrates the complex entanglement of operant and operand resources, finding that this entanglement is a precondition to marketing-related issues of natural resource selection, globalization, sustainability, and distributive justice.