Linking Information Technology to Global Business Strategy to Gain Competitive Advantage: An Integrative Model

Abstract

While information technology has been recognized as critically important for supporting global business strategy, the contingent relationships between salient dimensions of an information technology and key sources of competitive advantage have not been systematically explicated and discussed in the literature. Instead, a universal view of the role of information technology in developing competitive advantage for a firm is often adopted. Taking a contingency perspective, this paper more systematically examines the links among global business strategies, global information technologies (GIT) and competitive advantage within an integrative framework. Additionally, the issue of sustainability of GIT-based competitive advantages is addressed using the conceptual tool kits of the I/O (industrial organization)-based and resource-based theories of strategic management. The proposed conceptual model provides an encompassing framework for future research on the increasingly important topic of global information technology and its potential to generate competitive advantage for firms.