Resource- based theories of the fi rm draw attention to a fi rm’s ability to explore and exploit new knowledge as the source of value creation and sustainable development (Conner and Prahalad, 1996). How to achieve a good balance between exploration and exploitation activities in a fi rm is a puzzling question for the manager. For the applied economist, it is difficult to develop eff ective criteria of decision in a dynamic context for dispatching the resources between the two activities (O’Reilly and Tushman, 2004). The problem becomes even more cumbersome in creative industries where production and creation are intimately related. In those industries, creation often occurs during the production phase. Therefore the notion of value creation and the sources of value creation become an even more important topic. Our contribution will be to add a new perspective to the debate: the distinction between division of knowledge and division of labor.