A RESOURCE-BASED ANALYSIS OF IT-ENABLED MARKET ORIENTATION AND STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT: A MODERATING ROLE OF IT MATIRITY

Since organizations have faced new and ever changing market where they must quickly and appropriately respond to customer needs and demands, more and more organizations strive for greater customer intimacy. To realize this intimacy, many organizations have adopted the market orientation as a concept that can be implemented as one of business strategic directions. In today’s intensely competitive and dynamic market places, organizations also have developed information technology (IT) applications that are expected to enhance the content and quality of customer services, and thus generate a significant competitive edge. How IT can be strategically employed to retain and improve customer intimacy for business value becomes a great challenge continuously in recent years. This strategic use of IT or strategic alignment generally refers to the extent to which IT strategy can be pursued to support business goals and determined by the sophisticated level of IT management practices, noted as IT maturity. When IT maturity increases, it is more likely to have a better strategic alignment and thus hold or even sustain the organization’s competitive position. Business goal can be market oriented and involve the implementation of marketing concept into activities and behaviors of an organization toward that goal. High market orientation organizations with the use of IT might enjoy intangible benefits (e.g., improved market share, improved flexibility and adaptability, and increased marke