Using Information Technology as a Strategic Tool for Competitive Advantage

Abstract

Application of IT in modern industry is gaining momentum and IT has now been recategorized as the fourth production factor after material, machine and labour [1][2]. However, there are very few researches, which show the strategic role of IT in a company [3]. The introduction of IT has rarely helped the companies to acquire the expected competitive advantage. The main hurdle is the historical growth of the IT and the deficiency in taking into consideration the interactions between IT and the corporate strategic planning [4]. Corporate strategies can be effectively implemented, only when concrete measures have been taken to make sure that the individual business processes, the functional departments and the overall corporate strategy are in harmony (i.e. all of them are running in the same tune). However, it is disconcerting to mention that, the correspondence between overall corporate strategy and IT-strategy are rarely harmonized. The requirement for a strategic adaptation of IT is very important for modern companies since for them such communication techniques are very important for the success of the company. The endeavour in this article is to display how one could use IT strategically for gaining competitive advantage. (Af. J. of Science and Technology: 2002 3(2): 107-113)