Information technology and sustained competitive advantage : a research model for the effect of information technology on sustained competitive advantage and an empirical analysis

Abstract

Companies consider Information Technology (IT) to be a major factor for achieving sustained competitive advantage (SCA). The effect of IT on firm performance has been studied from two main perspectives: the market based perspective and the resource based view. The market based perspective emphasises market structure as the primary cause of a company's strategy and the resource based view builds on the concept of an enterprise as a bundle of unique resources. In this thesis, the effect of IT on SCA is studied from these two theoretical frameworks and an integrated research model is proposed. This model considers contribution of IT factors: IT assets, IT capabilities and IT strategies towards SCA. An empirical analysis of the SCA research model has been done through surveys. The results of this analysis do validate some literature based findings but do not provide statistical evidence of any IT factors leading to SCA.