Traditional strategy theories have focused on resources, information and dynamic capabilities but have neglected theorizing and persuasion processes as ultimate sources of competitive advantage. In this paper, we build on the theory-based view of strategy to link persuasion to competitive advantage. We develop a formal model based on belief revision and unawareness modeling, which allows us to combine aspects of managerial cognition with the structural aspects of the situation. Concretely, we show how and under which conditions an incumbent's unawareness of the disruptive potential of a new technology allows a resource-poor challenger to get the incumbent to provide it with critical resources and thus create competitive advantage, and how the incumbent can mitigate its disadvantage. We contribute to the theory-based view by formalizing persuasion processes and thereby offering a non-Bayesian framework for persuasion as part of the theory-based view. Our work also revives the idea of strategizing or strategic thinking to outsmart others for competitive advantage.
