Abstract This article asks a simple question with a long history: why do some firms keep outperforming others in the same market? The standard answer comes from #competitive_advantage theory, which says that a firm wins by being the lowest-cost producer, by offering something buyers see as different and better, or by serving a narrow segment very well. These are Porter's three #generic_strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. The study reviews this body of w

This article explains #Value_Chain_Theory in plain language for students while keeping the structure and rigour of a peer-reviewed journal article. It starts from Michael Porter's original idea that an organization is best understood not as one block but as a sequence of connected activities, each adding a little value on the way from raw inputs to a delivered product or service. The article then widens the lens. Using Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital, and habitus