"If we want to explain rather than assume value creation, we need to acknowledge the central role of the firm in the framework. It is the firm that is able to turn resources into products for which the willingness to pay of buyers exceeds the sum of the opportunity costs of resource suppliers. Take this ability out, and no value will be created. However, this ability, too, must necessarily be assumed. Define "productive knowledge" as the ability of the firm to turn resources into products....It may be clear that innovation is the ultimate source of value creation: over time an economic system can only create additional value if firms develop new productive knowledge - or in other words, new ways of increasing buyers' willingness to pay and/or lowering the sum of the opportunity costs of the resources used in creating the products for which buyers are willing to pay."
Trechos retirados de "Value, rent, and profit: A stakeholder resource-based theory" de J. W. Stoelhorst.