The interrelationship between people management practices and product market/competition was examined in a series of case comparisons of pairs of firms/organizations of the following types: professional sports teams, military services, retailing firms, information service firms, business schools, financial services, shipping services, and food and beverage companies. The case comparisons suggested a clear division between companies that develop employee competencies within the firm and those that assemble employee competencies ready-made from the outside market. Those firms that developed talent from within tended to rely more on group and organizational efforts to achieve competencies, whereas those firms that hired talent from without relied more on individual efforts. A clear division was also found between organizations that compete by moving quickly and adjusting to new opportunities and firms that have developed a superior approach to a long-standing market. Organizations of the first type did not develop employee talent from within because it did not pay for them to do so. The case comparisons were concluded to support the argument that there may be no such thing as "best practice" for all employers and that, like product differentiation, distinctive human resource practices help firms compete. (MN)