Comparing IT success in manufacturing and service industries

The ubiquitous nature of information technology (IT) and its ever-increasing rate of change have meant that businesses cannot compete on technology alone. Competitive advantage does not come from sophisticated IT; instead it comes from the skilled management of information technology assets, both tangible and intangible.

The importance of understanding IT implementation is represented by the amount of research dedicated to the topic. Over the past two decades, Lai and Mahapatra (1997) identified 71 articles pertaining to IT implementation published in nine leading journals. Understanding the motivation for the volume of research dedicated to IT implementation lies in Ross et al.’s...