Association Study On Information Technology Capability And Sustained Competitive Advantage Of Manufacturing Enterprises

Yangtze River Delta is one of the largest and most important manufacturing bases. In recent years, with the heavy investment in ERP, CRM, CAD and SCM information technology projects by manufacturing enterprises in this region, information technology has developed by leaps and bounds, which has a profound impact on the original resources and capabilities such as the organizational reform, the core business processes and technology research and development of manufacturing enterprises. Meanwhile it has brought about an increasing contribution to the enterprise operation and a sustainable competitive advantage for enterprises. However, IT practices of many enterprises and the results of the study show that:the magnificent investment in informationization construction seems not to improve business performance or the competitive advantage of excess returns, but produce such serious problems as inefficiency, ineffectiveness and even failures, which means the investment did not bring about the expected performance and commercial value for enterprises. So how to get enterprises out of the plight of the IT investment, and really make a profit from the IT investment and IT capabilities, enjoy stronger sustainable competitive advantages than their peers? To solve this problem, this dissertation, from the perspective of the enterprise resources and capabilities, discusses the IT capabilities of manufacturing enterprises, sustained competitive advantages, as well as their relationship, and provides theoretical and practical guidance for the informationization construction of the manufacturing enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta.Information technology is one of the important capabilities for enterprises, and it is one of the key factors to create and strengthen the sustained competitive advantage. Based on the rough set theory, grey relational analysis, cluster analysis, principal component analysis and multiple linear regression theory, the author makes a theoretical research and empirical analysis of the IT capabilities, sustained competitive advantages and the correlation of IT capabilities and sustained competitive advantages of the manufacturing enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta.Firstly, this dissertation expounds the enterprise strategic management theory, enterprise resource-based view and enterprise competence theory. It also describes the concepts of manufacturing enterprise IT resources and IT capabilities as well as their differences, studies the formation mechanism of the manufacturing IT capabilities and the internal logical relationship between IT capabilities and enterprise informationization construction, then explains the life cycle of the competitive advantages of manufacturing enterprises, elaborates the formation mechanism of sustained competitive advantages of the dissipative structure-based manufacturing enterprises, and constructs the approach to build the sustained competitive advantages.Secondly, the dissertation studies the characteristics of IT capabilities of the manufacturing enterprises from the theoretical and empirical point, builds the initial index system of IT capacities. Based on the statistics of questionnaire, the author conducts a reliability and validity analysis on the measure model, carrys out a statistical analysis of33initial index systems by using principal component analysis, and obtains the variance contribution rate of the four principal component factors on the whole evaluation,70.28%. With re-integration, screening and classification of the original index system, the author acquires23optimized indicator systems of the4principal influencing factors, builds a new IT capability evaluation index system, and redesigns the four dimensions of IT capabilities, on a high-low scale, IT infrastructure, IT application, IT development and IT exploration. Then the author applies the rough theory to get the weight of each evaluation indicator, applies gray multi-objective decision-making theory to establish the evaluation model for manufacturing enterprise IT capabilities, based on which the author reaches the value of gray relational evaluation of manufacturing enterprise IT capabilities in the Yangtze River Delta. Finally, the author applies the two-step clustering method to carry out a cluster analysis of IT capabilities of these enterprises to state the development situation of five types of manufacturing enterprise in the Yangtze River Delta. Through cluster analysis the author finds out that the majority of manufacturing enterprises in Yangtze River Delta have already acquired initial IT capabilities (ie, IT infrastructure and IT application capabilities), but the performance of these enterprise IT on a higher level (ie, IT development and IT exploration) is less satisfying. Only a small number of enterprises can apply IT capabilities and contribute effectively to the sustainable development of the enterprises, help to tap the needs of potential customers, and enhance their ability to explore the development of the market. Therefore, most manufacturing enterprises are undergoing the transition period from a basic level of IT capabilities to a higher level.Thirdly, in line with the meaning and characteristics of the sustained competitive advantages of manufacturing enterprises, the author introduces the evaluation approach of the traditional balanced scorecard to the dimensional model of sustained competitive advantage of enterprises, and redesigns the four dimensions of the sustained competitive advantages on the basis of the improved balanced scorecard, namely, financial strength, resources advantage, technology advantage and process advantage. Then, the author establishes34original index systems of sustainable competitive advantage of manufacturing enterprises and does optimizing calculation of these systems by Rough Set Attribute Reduction Method and gets8effective index systems. In addition, the author applies the grey correlation method to set up the evaluation model and analyses and verifies the reliability and validity of original data, uses weight of the rough set attributes to determine the weight of index, makes calculation of the index systems to reach the evaluation value of grey correlation, and finally carries cluster analysis of "the sustained competitive advantages of those manufacturing enterprises in the objective region to form the development status of four types of manufacturing enterprises. Study shows that the vast majority of manufacturing enterprises in Yangtze River Delta have relatively higher levels of sustainable competitive advantage, and maintain a steady development. However, still a number of enterprises have not gained all-round development, some laying too much emphasis on the advancement of technology and less focus on production and marketing, some neglecting the R&D of technology and production with too much focus on marketing, hence, no higher level of financial strength.Fourthly, based on the theoretical and empirical research of IT capabilities and sustained competitive advantages, the author fist reviews the five resources-based IT capability property theory, and the four approaches of the application of IT as well as each IT dimension in maintaining enterprise sustained competitive advantage, namely, cost leadership, unique resources, technology innovation, and advanced process. Then, the author creates the correlation model of IT capabilities and sustained competitive advantage, that is, the relationship between the four levels of IT capabilities and four sustained competitive advantages, and puts forward the research hypothesis, designs a multiple linear regression model, and conducts the empirical multiple regression analysis on the factors involved and verifies the relevant assumption. Empirical study shows that establishment and improvement of enterprise IT capabilities can develop and maintain sustained competitive advantage of enterprises, and it also manifests the correlation between factors at all levels of IT capacity and between IT capabilities and enterprise competitive advantage, IT application and enterprises the four kinds of sustainable competitive advantages. There exists a positive correlation resources, IT infrastructure and application with enterprises technology advantage.Finally, based on the empirical research of IT capability and enterprise sustained competitive advantages, the author carries out a case study of the imformationization construction of Shanghai Baosteel Group, conducts an objective investigation of the background and history of its IT construction, analyses the IT capabilities of every level, the sustained competitive advantages, their function and the IT capability impact on the enterprise sustained competitive advantages, with the focus on the IT capabilities to support enterprise transformation and innovation. The author finds that the application of IT capabilities has not only an obvious positive impact on the advantages of resources, technology development and innovation, but also a crucial influence on the sustained competitive advantages of the enterprise as a whole. Therefore, as long as the enterprise makes successful IT investments and forms IT capabilities, the enterprise information construction can achieve a greater contribution to sustainable competitive advantage and overall performance.Based on this study, the author concludes that IT capabilities can help the manufacturing enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta to acquire and maintain sustained competitive advantages, and the IT application capability has a particularly evident impact on the sustained competitive advantage. Some top enterprises have strong high-level IT capabilities (IT development and exploration). IT capabilities can strategically help the enterprises to achieve and strengthen the sustained competitive advantages. However, most enterprises only have basic IT capabilities (essential IT capabilities and application capabilities), and they are experiencing the critical stage of growing and achieving high-level IT capabilities, so it is crucial for them to attach greater importance on the cooperation and support of IT strategy to the enterprise overall development strategy.