Information technology in hotel management - A framework for evaluating the sustainability of IT-dependent competitive advantage

Information technology can provide hospitality firms with a sustained competitive advantage, provided the technology complements operations. Based on interdisciplinary research findings with regard to the sustainability of IT-enabled competitive advantage, this article provides a framework that can help both hospitality scholars and managers formally analyze existing and proposed IT-dependent strategic initiatives. The chief element in achieving a competitive advantage is to identify the drivers of response lag, which is the time it takes for competitors to imitate an IT initiative-if they are able to do so. The drivers can be grouped into one of the following four barriers to erosion of competitive advantage: (1) IT-resources barrier, (2) complementary-resources barrier, (3) IT-project barrier, and (4) preemption barrier.