Producing competitive advantage from an infrastructure technology: The case of cloud computing

ABSTRACT

To determine the viability of cloud computing as a source of competitive advantage, we integrate the theory of diffusion of innovations and the theory of dynamic capabilities to synthesize the strengths of these theories into a framework. The theoretical framework with 13 propositions would enhance conceptual understanding of strategic initialization of cloud computing and its outcomes and should serve as a foundation for further theoretical and empirical investigations.

KEYWORDS:

• Cloud computing
• strategic value
• sustainable competitive advantage
• dynamic capability
• business sustainability

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Xin (Robert) Luo

Xin (Robert) Luo is an Endowed Regent’s professor and associate professor of MIS and Information Assurance at the Anderson School of Management of University of New Mexico. He has published research papers in leading journals including Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Communications of the ACM, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of the AIS, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Information & Management, and Information Systems Journal, etc. He is currently serving as an ad-hoc associate editor for MIS Quarterly and an associate editor for Decision Sciences, European Journal of Information Systems, Electronic Commerce Research, and Journal of Electronic Commerce Research.

Wei Zhang

Wei Zhang is an associate professor of Information Systems in the College of Management, University of Massachusetts Boston. He holds a DBA in Information Systems from Boston University. His research interests include Strategic use of IT, IT innovation, and IT education. He has published academic papers in such journals as Journal of Association for Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Journal of Knowledge Management, and Computers & Security.

Ranjit Bose

Ranjit Bose is Regent’s professor of MIS at the Anderson School of Management of University of New Mexico. He received his PhD. in MIS from the University of Texas at Austin. His research has appeared in several computer science and MIS journals such as Knowledge Based Systems, Information and Software Technology, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Data Base for Advances in Information Systems, Information & Management, among others. He is currently the director of Anderson School’s Master of Science in Information Systems and Assurance program.

Han Li

Han Li is an assistant professor of MIS and Information Assurance at University of New Mexico. She received her doctorate in Management Information Systems from Oklahoma State University. She has published in Decision Sciences, Decision Support Systems, Operations Research, European Journal of Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, Information & Management, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Database Management, Information Management & Computer Security, and Journal of Information Privacy and Security. Her current research interests include Health IT, privacy and confidentiality, data and information security, and the adoption and post-adoption of IT.

Q B Chung

Q B. Chung is a professor of Information Systems at Villanova University. His current research interests include big data analytics, role of social networking in location-based mobile marketing, trust and deception in digital commerce, and Radio Frequency Identification in healthcare. His research has appeared in such journals as European Journal of Information Systems, Information & Management, Omega, Electronic Markets, Journal of Knowledge Management, Computers & Operations Research, Expert Systems with Applications, Journal of Computer Information Systems, and Journal of Management Systems.