A few case studies suggest that strategic learning can be very effective, but that the firms that
gain strategic advantages through learning are abnormal. Many, many firms find strategic learning
quite difficult. Of course, as with other issues in strategic management, strategic learning poses
challenges of mutual contradiction. If every firm were highly capable of learning effectively, then
strategic learning would be essential but would confer no competitive advantages. For strategic
learning to be advantageous, it must be VRIN. If advantageous strategic learning occurs through
cognitive change, it must be rather difficult to do. If advantageous strategic learning occurs through
noncognitive change, some properties of firms or their environments must make it rare.