IT, as part of a firm’s resource portfolio, may not meet
the resource-based view criteria when acting alone. Due to
the relatively low barriers to imitation and acquisition by
other firms, IT-based advantage tends to diminish fairly
quickly (Clemons & Row, 1991). As a result, how IT as a
resource can provide a sustained competitive advantage for
a firm has become one of the key research topics in recent
years. For example, Powell and Dent-Micallef (1997) have
shown that the value of IT can be augmented only when it is
embedded in an organization through resource complementarity
and co-specialization. In the present study, we
examine the implementation of IT in the supply chain
communication system (SCCS). We propose that through
embedding IT in a firm’s supply chain process, IT can
facilitate the development of higher-order organizational
capabilities, namely supply chain capabilities, which are
firm specific and hard to duplicate across organizations. The
information advantage achieved through the adoption of
sophisticated technologies and the synergistic benefits
achieved through an integrated system provide the sources
of sustained competitive advantage for a firm (Bharadwaj,
2000).