IT Strategy and Economic Sustainability: Formulating a 21st Century Paradigm

The resource-based view (RBV) has been widely adopted as the theoretical code for harnessing the strategic contributions of information technology (IT). However, mere ownership of resources, as prescribed by this body of theory, is no guarantee of competitiveness. Furthermore, RBV does not convey the wider concerns of social and environmental sustainability that many leading corporations now accept as pressing responsibilities of the 21 st Century. We propose a relevant extension to the RBV as a strategic paradigm. It begins with the argument that the tenets of sustainability translate commercially into a customercentric strategy of lean production. In this context, the Value Chain concept could be an important mediator for ensuring the most profitable IT investments, while promoting green economic practices. We tested our model using a sample of third party logistics firms, with supportive results.