THE LINKAGE BETWEEN LIS AND RBV FOR SUSTAINED COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: AN INTEGRATED CONCEPTUAL MODEL

An important factor that guarantees a persistent competitive advantage is the sustainability of the firm’s capabilities or their core competences. These capabilities should form the basic support of firm’s strategy. Several authors point out the importance of the information systems (IS) for firm competitive advantage. The main tenet of this paper is to define a coherent theoretical framework of reference which will lead to a broader understanding of the relationship between Logistics Information Systems (LIS) and RBV in an integrating conceptual model for gaining and sustaining competitive advantages of firms. The paper argues that most failures of firms can be attributed to the fact that resources and capabilities of firms were either not existing or not addresses correctly. Neglecting IS linkage to resources and capabilities is one main reason for the failure. In this sense, a precondition for a sustained competitive advantage is to admit LIS as specific source of firms’ distinctive competences.