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Abstract This study is focused on the investigation of the main sustainability drivers that may improve production performances for Asian firms. The main objective of the paper is to unfold the potential tangible and intangible sustainability resources that can act as strategic assets in improving production performances, with the Resource-Based View as the main framework used in the study. As a further investigation, the research explores how these resources may vary under the contingency perspective by considering two different stages of implementation of Quality Management Systems within the respondents. These issues are examined through a wide survey of textile firms in India and Pakistan, using Structural Equation Modelling as the main tool of investigation. Some of the main outcomes show that Environmental Management and Safety Management result in the strategic use of resources to improve production performances. It emerges from the contingency analysis that increasing importance is given to intangible assets by those firms that are at an advanced stage of implementation of their Quality Management System. Highlights • We realize an extensive survey on the core resources that may impact on production performances for Asian firms. • A contingency analysis is made through Structural Equation Modeling, with Quality Management System as discriminant factor. • Environmental Management, Safety Management and Sustainability Awareness have a key role within a QMS. • Firms at different stages of implementing a QMS do not share the same core resources. • Social Issues and Sustainability Awareness are core resources for firms with an advanced stage of QMS implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]