L'utilisation de l'informatique à des fins compétitives

Résumé du document

In this document we are trying to figure out how companies can use information technology to create and sustain competitive advantages, both from an academic and a "real-life" point of view. The use of Information Technology to gain competitive advantage is not new but the way it has been used for that purpose has been changing over time.

The use of Information Technology (IT) to gain competitive advantage is not new but the way it has been used for that purpose has been changing over time. In the past, the usage of IT on its own could provide a competitive advantage. With the development of IT, this is rarely the case anymore. To gain competitive advantage, businesses now have to use IT in a strategic manner. In our literature review we will analyse how a comparative advantage arise and how it is sustained.

Strategically using IT to gain competitive advantage is to use IT to support the competitive strategy of the company (Rackoff et al. 1985). Dehning & Stratopoulos (2003, p.9) define an IT-enabled strategy as "a corporate strategy that uses IT at its core to support and enable major economic activities performed by the firm". In that context, IT is combined with other resources of the company to leverage them in order to create competitive advantage (Powell & Dent-Micallef 1997). "

Extraits

[...] L'utilisation de l'informatique à des fins compétitives Abstract This report is about the use of IT for competitive advantage, a topic of great importance in today's business world. In this study we are comparing the relevant literature with how those issues are approached and dealt with in practice. Literature Nowadays, there are only two ways for companies to differentiate: customer service or cutting their costs. The key for the CIOs is to achieve the perfect match of the business and IT strategy. [...]

[...] References Current Practice Most of the resources of this section were found on CIO.com. Ehrlich L. and West M. (2007) The Strategic CIO: Using Leadership Skills and IT to Create Competitive Advantage, http://www.cio.com/article/107058/The_Strategic_CIO_Using_Leadership_Ski lls_and_IT_to_Create_Competitive_Advantage, accessed 13 Sep 2009 Friedenberg M. (2006) The CIO As a Competitive Advantage, http://www.cio.com/article/20132/The_CIO_As_a_Competitive_Advantage, accessed 13 Sep 2009 IBM - center for CIO leadership (2007) The CIO profession: driving innovation and competitive advantage http://www- 935.ibm.com/services/us/cio/pdf/2007_cio_leadership_survey_white_paper.p df, accessed 12 Sep 2009 Moore G. [...]

[...] References– Literature It was agreed with the lecturer that only one third of the publications were to be relatively recent (dated year 2003 and later). Carr, N. (2003) Doesn't Matter', Harvard Business Review, Vol Issue pp. 41-50. Clemons E. and Row M. (1991) ‘Sustaining IT Advantage: The Role of Structural Differences', MIS Quarterly, Vol Issue p275-292. Dehning B. and Stratopoulos T. (2003) ‘Determinants of a sustainable competitive advantage', Journal of Strategic Information Systems pp 7-28. [...]

[...] After a short conclusion we list the references that were used in this paper. Literature analysis The use of Information Technology to gain competitive advantage is not new but the way it has been used for that purpose has been changing over time. In the past, the usage of IT on its own could provide a competitive advantage. With the development of IT, this is rarely the case anymore. To gain competitive advantage, businesses now have to use IT in a strategic manner. [...]

[...] Also it appears that the less visible an advantage is, the more sustainable it is. However, the less visible advantage are apparently the less successful (Mata et al. 1995). Literature review summary In this literature analysis we have seen that nowadays, IT has become a necessity for businesses to be able to operate and that IT solution are so easily and available that the use of IT on its own cannot provide any real competitive advantage. If one was gained, it would be immediately imitated. [...]