The Role of Information Technology in Firm Strategy

The debate on the role of IT in the competitive dynamics of enterprises has assumed a remarkable importance, during the last few years, in the economic and managerial literature. Most of the literature pays attention to the relationship between IT investments and business performance. This approach underestimates the analysis of the typology of IT expenditure, specifically in terms of organization and business strategy effects. IT investments in business processes include several types of technologies and not all of them are able to influence the competitive advantage of firms. Consequently, it cannot be taken for granted that IT expenditure 'per se' is a correct proxy for evaluating the role of IT on firm performance, without a distinction of IT typology and destination. Therefore, in this work we study the role assigned by firms to IT resources by analysing the decision making process for IT investment choices. The aims of this work are mainly two: i) analysing how IT investments affect the competitive advantage of the enterprise; ii) understanding the role of IT in the definition and implementation of firm strategy.