Selective resource orchestration: rethinking how firms realize value

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to challenge the implicit assumption in the resource-based view (RBV) that effective value creation requires continuous, and comprehensive reconfiguration of a firm’s entire resource portfolio. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual approach by integrating the RBV with institutional theory. A mechanism-based framework is developed to explain how managerial selectivity in resource orchestration shapes value realization under conditions of institutional embeddedness. Findings The paper introduces selective resource orchestration as a managerial capability of selective discrimination between resources that require adaptation and those that should be preserved. The framework demonstrates how selective orchestration sustains valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable (VRIN) attributes by structuring managerial attention and temporally decoupling institutional adaptation from core resource stability. Research limitations/implications The study extends the RBV by reconceptualizing resource orchestration as a selective, rather than comprehensive, managerial process. It theorizes intentional restraint as a core mechanism for preserving causal ambiguity and path dependence. Practical implications The framework provides guidance for managers operating in institutionally embedded contexts by clarifying when restraint – rather than continuous adaptation – enhances value realization while maintaining the foundations of competitive advantage. Originality/value This paper offers a novel extension of the RBV by introducing selective resource orchestration and specifying the mechanisms and boundary conditions under which managerial restraint contributes to value creation.