IT-Enabled Strategy: Implications for Firm Performance?

Abstract

The rapid evolution of IT has enabled new organizational capabilities to manage knowledge and information. Given this evolution, IT systems for enabling the acquisition, processing and dissemination of knowledge may present unique opportunities, if effectively leveraged, for firm competitive capabilities. This chapter examines some of these uses of IT; offers a framework to view firm activities as knowledge Inflow, Intraflow and Outflow processes; and explores possible performance implications of some potential IT-enabled capabilities. Such IT enablement challenges some existing views of strategic management theory and suggests that theory may need to be reexamined and extended to handle some implications arising from advances in IT systems. We explore potential implications of IT-enabled capability and argue that through adopting, integrating and effectively leveraging these capabilities, firms may have the opportunity to enhance their competitive advantages and performance.