Is it a core competency?

Abstract

Information technology has developed very rapidly during the last decades of the twentieth century. Companies seeking for competitive advantage turned to IT, and the lack of evidence about the benefits was referred to as the "Information technology productivity paradox". Because of its ubiquity, IT cannot constitute a source of competitive advantage anymore, and it's becoming a commodity, necessary but not sufficient. In order to be competitive, companies need something which is neither highly available, nor easy to copy or imitate, like knowledge. This paper aims to emphasize the increasing need for a competitive advantage which can be best achieved by focusing on human resources and knowledge.