This paper analyzed, under the Resource-Based View (RBV) perspective, the internal Information Technology (IT) resources as providers for competitive advantage. The main analysis of this historical longitudinal study investigated 17 strategic attributes through a qualitative exploratory approach. Each strategic attribute was identified, characterized and defined according to the corresponding RBV authors, before being used in the analysis. This multiple case study considered the competitive dynamics in two metal-mechanic leading and highly competitive organizations in terms of technological innovation. The study consists of interviews with 16 senior executives (12 CEOs and four CIOs) whose narrative made possible the reconstruction of twenty years of competitive history, considering relevant economic events or critical phases identified during each studied period. After the reconstruction of the competitive history, the identification of resources, and the critical economic events the senior executives were encouraged to give their opinion about the strategic potential of the identified IT resources. Understanding IT intervention was important to study the way matching to the adopted instrument the IT resources support competitiveness according to the RBV perspective. Content analysis, following Bardin's approach, was useful to the unveiling of meanings from different speeches based on inference or deduction and, simultaneously, following specific criteria to generate proper data for the theme structures. The IT resources did not contribute strategically dissociated from the other resources during the critical economic events faced by the two organizations. The two organizations recognized the strategic potential of using integrated resources for the development of new strategies and the maintenance of the existing ones. Among the results, the study revealed the different IT strategic attributes and their interaction with the critical events at the studied organizations. The strategic attributes were associated to some of the identified resources, such as Product Configurator (PC), Commercial Module (CM) and Virtual Manufacture (VM).
Information technology; Competitive advantage; Competitiveness; Resource-Based View; Strategic attributes
