Making Natural Resource Management a Distinctive Capability for Companies in a “Strong” Sustainability Paradigm: A Proposed Reinterpretation of the Natural-Resource-Based View[Faire de la gestion des ressources naturelles une capacité distinctive pour les entreprises dans un paradigme de soutenabilité “forte” : proposition d’une relecture de la Natural-Resource-based view]

The ecological crisis positions the strategic management of natural resources as a critical issue. This article explores the implications of natural resource management by focusing on the transition from weak sustainability, predominant in our economies, to strong sustainability. The latter offers a renewed theoretical framework for corporate strategic management, encouraging reflection on the role of natural resources. We propose revisiting Hart's "Natural-Resource-Based View" theory, which advocates for environmental proactivity. Our approach reconsiders the limited substitutability between manufactured capital and natural capital, as well as the critical nature of the latter. We introduce a new distinctive capability in which natural resources are considered a key strategic stakeholder enabling corporate economic development. This distinctive capability highlights the need for collaboration between companies and actors capable of guiding strategies within the limits of natural resources: economic and natural sciences, representing Nature and defending its rights. The importance of these debates is illustrated through the case of a rock extraction company.