SHAPING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES INFRASTRUCTURES IN THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY: CASES ON THE ROLE OF IT COMPETENCIES

This paper proposes an integrative theoretical model, drawn from the competence-based view of the firm in institutional economics and sociology, in order to examine the emergence of IT competencies as a key component of organizational distinctive competence in knowledge-intensive firms. In so doing, it addresses the paucity of in-depth empirical research on the role of IT competencies in building information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructures. A conceptual framework drawn from the model is employed to test its empirical validity in two exploratory case studies of firms operating in the newspaper industry. Firms in this industry are information and knowledge intensive; consequently, their core business processes have increasingly become dependent on IT—so much so that competency in the planning, design and delivery of IT architectures has become the sine qua non for competitive success. The organizations studied—News International Newspapers Ltd. and Examiner Publications Ltd.—are industry leaders in the application of ICT in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They offer particularly fruitful examples of the phenomenon of interest. In providing empirical support for the proposed theoretical model, this paper makes a contribution to theory in the quoted referent disciplines. It also provides a theoretically-grounded, in-depth description of the key role that IT competencies play in the commercial success of today’s knowledge-intensive firms.