Competence of Information Technology Professionals in Internet-Based Ventures

This chapter articulates the knowledge and skills required by IT professionals in young Internetbased firms. Building on the general IT governance principle of aligning business and IT, it introduces an adequate competence model, outlines its dimensions, and suggests a framework for modeling the effects of factors internal and external to the firm on the value propositions of the different dimensions. The authors hope that a comprehensive understanding of the role of IT-related competence will assist founders not only in finding suitable partners, but also in aligning e-business strategy and information technology in Internet-based ventures. IntroductIon The growing relevance of information technology (IT) and, in particular, the proliferation of the Internet, has resulted in a new economic dimension that is characterized by new possibilities of creating value (Lumpkin & Dess, 2004). The so-called Net Economy inevitably facilitates various possibilities for developing innovative business concepts and realizing them by founding a new company (Kollmann, 2006; Kollmann & Häsel, 2006). In newly found ventures, founder competence represents a significant preceding indicator for success (Baum, Locke & Smith, 2001; Chandler & Jansen, 1992). Internet-based ventures are mostly established by heterogeneous teams of founders incorporating knowledge and skills from both the areas of business administration and information technology DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-008-0.ch013