Huang Li-hua

Comparative study of obtaining competitive advantage from information technology

Researches on IT and competitive advantage have shifted from strategic information system, the tool to gain competitive advantage, to information technology capabilities inside the firms. The aim of this shift lies in how to gain sustained competitive advantage (SCA). The paper provides a brief review of these two perspectives guiding IT for competitive advantage. First, the means and its problems of attaining competitive advantage through strategic information systems are analyzed. Second, a typology of key IS resources is presented from resource-based view of firms. And then we compare and contrast them with one another using six resource attributes of value, rarity, appropriability, instability, substitutability and mobility. Third, we explain the mechanism that IS resources act on firm performance. Finally, the structure of information technology capabilities is briefly discussed.

Mobile business applications adoption model based on the concepts of task/technology fit

With the speedy development of mobile communication and wireless technologies, business activities will break away from the limitation of region and time step by step, which bring the continuous influences on organizations. Thus, mobile commerce is regarded as a beginning signal of a new area of business. In this field of mobile technologies and applications studies, many researchers focus on personal mobile applications, but omit the considerable research value and significance of mobile technologies applied in business environments. Since mobile business services (i.e., MBS) differ distinctly from mobile consumer services (i.e., MCS), their relevant adoption models are definitely diverse. This paper, based on task-technology fit model, presents a MBS adoption model from the perspectives of the actual usage of mobile applications in business environments, and the impacts of mobile technologies on businesses.