Several researchers have adopted a resource-based perspective to address the issue
of the contribution of IT to business value (Wade and Hulland, 2004; Melville et al.,
2004). In their studies, IT resources were conceptualized in a variety of fashions. In
a literature review of the resource-based view in IS research, Wade and Hulland
(2004) identify eight such IS resource, which fall into three main categories. The
First category, outside-in resources-external relationship management and market
Responsiveness-are externally oriented and pertain to the establishment of relationships
with business partners, and to the understanding of competitors. The second
category, inside-out resources-IS infrastructure, IS technical skills, IS development,
and cost effective IS operations-are used from inside the firm to respond to market
requirements. Finally, spanning resources-IS business partnerships and IS planning
and change management-involve both internal and external analysis capabilities. A
small number of empirical studies have examined the relationship between IS resources
and firm performance. Among those, Bharadwaj (2000) compared the performance of
firms that had been recognized by the magazine in formation Week as being IT leaders in
their industry to the performance of a control group. She found that firms with high IT
capabilities outperformed the firms from the control group. Using the same sample,
Santhanam and Hartono (2003) compared their performance with two different control
groups, and confirmed the results obtained by Bharadwaj (200).