Information systems and competitive advantage: a competency-based view

In this paper, we offer a competency-based view of how information systems (IS) can be used to achieve competitive advantage. Building on the resource-based research that links distinctive organizational competencies to sustainable competitive advantage, we argue that the potential contributions of IS to competitive advantage can be understood in terms of their impact on the development and utilization of distinctive organizational competencies. To explore the potential TS linkage to organizational competencies, we examine whether and to what extent IS can be used to foster and facilitate the development and utilization of three types of organizational competencies at the operational level: input-based competencies, transformation-based competencies and output-based competencies. Our analysis shows that IS may play an important role in enabling firms to develop and leverage these organizational competencies. We discuss research and managerial implications of the competency-based framework for the strategic management of IS. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.