Information technology as competitive advantage: the role of human, business, and technology resources

Abstract

This paper investigates linkages between information technology (IT) and firm performance.Although showing recent signs of advance, the existing IT literature still relies heavily on case studies, anecdotes, and consultants' frameworks, with little solid empirical work or synthesis of findings. This paper examines the IT literature, develops an integrative, resource-based theoretical framework, and presents results from a new empirical study in the retail industry. The findings show that ITs alone have not produced sustainable performance advantages in the retail industry, but that some firms have gained advantages by using ITs to leverage intangible, complementary human and business resources such as flexible culture, strategic planning-IT integration, and supplier relationships. The results support the resource-based approach, and help to explain why some firms outperform others using the same ITs, and why successful IT users often fail to sustain IT-based competitive advantages.

Hard and Soft Ways to Create Value from Information Flows: Lessons from the Canadian Financial Services Industry

“…Revue canadienne des sciences de I'adrninistration B(1), [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53]…”

“…In traditional discussions of information management, it has generally been recognized that hard elements are not sufficient, and that the management of these hard elements matters (Powell & Dent-Micaleff, 1997). E-commerce or e-banking is based on a hard Internet architecture.…”

“…Why would you give up this natural advantage, having this very robust network, in favour of letting the competition virtually catch up to us? (VP, Network Management at Bank A, Toronto) Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences Revue canadienne des sciences de ]'administration ,20(1), [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] Few banks made a priority of becoming a selling organization in the financial services market. They did not see the impact of the ATMs' deployment on the corporate image.…”

“…The bank can use the data generated as customers use the ATMs, to help it redefine the nature of the bank branch (see Table 8). They can then begin to answer the following kinds of Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences Revue canadienne des sciences de I'administration a( I ) , [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] What is the amount of customer deposits for a specific postal code? What are the customer segments in one vicinity?…”

“…Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences Revue canadienne des sciences d e I'administration a( I), [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] frequency and the variety of their interactions with the bank (see Table 5).…”