IS-enabled sustainable competitive advantage in financial services, retailing and manufacturing

Abstract

The research reported in this paper identifies those factors that, taken together with Information Systems (IS) augmentations, affect the competitive positioning of businesses. The research focuses on the financial services, retailing and manufacturing sectors, spanning the levels of business information intensity found in the UK. The paper is in two parts. The first deals with the scope and duration of the achievement of IS-enabled enhanced competitive positioning. Around 25% of businesses in the sample were judged to have at least one IS that allowed the organisation to gain competitive advantage, whilst 30% were judged to have at least one IS that nullified a competitor's advantage. Broadly, all sectors showed the same pattern. The median time that a competitive advantage was held was between 6 and 18 months. The second part of the paper is concerned with the establishment of an IS-enabled opportunity framework, identifying the associated business benefits, the associated changes in competitive position, and the sources of sustainable achievement. Twenty-two factors were identified as being significant in turning a business benefit into a competitive advantage, and seven were identified as significant in converting this competitive advantage into a sustainable one. These factors were overwhelmingly within the internal architecture of the organisation. The findings support the view that sustainable IS-enabled competitive advantage is elusive.