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How Does Technology Enable Competitive Advantage? Reviewing State of the

Art and Outlining Future Directions

Article in Journal of Competitiveness · December 2022

DOI: 10.7441/joc.2022.04.10

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 Saura, J., R., Skare, M., & Riberio-Navarrete, S. (2022). How Does Technology Enable Competitive
Advantage? Reviewing State of the Art and Outlining Future Directions. Journal of Competitiveness, 14(4),
172–188. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2022.04.10

How Does Technology Enable Competitive Advantage?

Reviewing State of the Art and Outlining Future
Directions
▪▪ Jose Ramon Saura, Marinko Skare, Samuel Riberio-Navarrete
Abstract
In an increasingly competitive global market, companies have steadily increased their production,
logistics, and innovation capacities. However, the ability to develop competitive advantages
afforded by technology is becoming increasingly important. In the paradigm where competition
and the speed of technological development grow exponentially, companies must be able to
obtain a competitive advantage through the adoption of technologies that would allow them to
improve their products, services, strategies, or production processes, among others. To this end,
the present study aims to identify the characteristics of the technology to enable competitive
advantages. This is achieved through a systematic review of the literature and analyzing its
results with a statistical analysis known as Multiple Corresponds Analysis (MCA) developed
in the R language. Based on the results, we identify four independent clusters linked to the
characteristics of the technology to enable competitive advantages. The first of these clusters is
focused on specialization, integration, compatibility, cost and scalability variables; the second
includes flexibility, applicability, demand and innovation; the third is related to sustainability,
productivity, energy and resources; finally, the fourth one is composed by complexity, utility and
connectivity. The implications of the study show how the characteristics of the technology can
be applied to enable competitive advantages. The paper concludes with a discussion of the state-
of-the-art in relation to the characteristics of technology to enable competitive advantage and
formulation of 30 future research questions to be explored in further research.

Keywords: Technolog y, Competitive Advantage, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, R, innovation

JEL Classification: N30, N70, 014, 030

Received: October, 2022

1st Revision: October, 2022
Accepted: November, 2022

1. INTRODUCTION
Recent decades have witnessed rapid growth in technological development (Torkayesh &
Torkayesh, 2021). Companies have modified and adapted their business models to an era where
technology can allow them to obtain higher returns and expand their businesses (Berman &
Dalzell-Payne, 2018). In this new connected era, the Internet is the center of business strategy, and

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 companies have adapted their supply processes, logistics, product development, and innovation
strategies accordingly (Ali et al., 2022). Of note, however, innovation is generally achieved
through the application of new technologies to existing products or services (Shahzad et al.,
2022). In this context, a major challenge for companies is the adoption of new technologies such
as artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, Machine Learning, or any type of data-centric model that
can predict and improve internal processes (Ribeiro-Navarrete et al., 2021; Tu & Akhter, 2022).
In the globalized business sector, the struggle to achieve competitive advantage is among the
main objectives of any business strategy (Wang et al., 2011). Competitive advantage refers to
those attributes allowing a company to increase its profits as well as lead the industry against
the competition for the use or adoption of new features in its products or services (Huang
et al., 2015). Competitive advantage linked to technology is focused not only on the process
of production and design of products and services (Bilgihan et al., 2011); rather, the business
model can also be influenced by technology. For instance, startups, i.e., small companies that
focus innovation on the application and development of new technologies, achieve competitive
advantage owing to the exponential development of their technologies or the original application
of new technologies to traditional sectors (Stratopoulos & Wang, 2022; Tica et al., 2022).
Another example of how business models and business projects have adapted their performance
to identify and improve their competitive advantage includes the new economy, which comprises
collaborative or circular economy (Corvellec et al., 2022). On the strategic level, companies
should also make offers to increase demand for their products and services. Sometimes, these
measures should be complemented by the design and use of new technologies so as to increase
the robustness of their projects, meet new demands, or cover new market niches (Ryding, 2010;
Jinqiao et al., 2022).
At the same time, company managers should also be aware of the fact that, in order to achieve
competitive advantage owing to technology, they must position and adopt new technologies, as
well as maintain them over time in a profitable and low-cost manner. It is only in this way that
sustainability of new actions driving competitive advantage will become a robust management
strategy (Schaltegger & Synnestvedt, 2002; Boxu et al., 2022).
Consequently, the development of technology applied to products and services can improve
companies’ offer, as well as their manufacturing and logistics processes. These innovations
can change industries and create new boundaries. From technological developments such as
engineering and the Internet, new materials or tools to combat global warming have emerged
(Sony & Naik, 2019; Chen et al., 2021). As argued by Zhong et al. (2017), competitive advantage
centered on technology has led to the emergence of a new digital economy—the one where
globalization, local markets, collaborations between companies, research on consumer
expectations, or the inclusion of the Internet in previously disconnected devices—has changed
the paradigm of the technological revolution in relation to the creation of competitive advantage
(Frank et al., 2019; Hou et al., 2022).
In this paradigm of strong competition and overwhelming speed of technological development,
companies must be able to obtain a competitive advantage by adopting technologies allowing
them to stay ahead of the competition and thus achieve a larger market share. However, while
numerous previous studies have investigated competitive advantage and technology, relevant

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 research on the identification of the characteristics of the technology to enable competitive
advantage remains scarce. To fill this gap in the literature, in the present study, we aim to
understand how technology enables competitive advantage. The central research questions
addressed in this study are as follows: RQ1: What are the characteristics of technology that allow
companies to gain a competitive advantage? RQ2: How should companies apply technology to
achieve competitive advantage? To find answers to these questions, in this study, we seek to
achieve the following research objectives:
yy To create knowledge about the opportunities and challenges of adopting technologies to
create competitive advantages
yy To identify analytical insights to improve understanding of technology adoption to create
competitive advantages
yy To explore the characteristics of technologies to achieve competitive advantages
To achieve the aforementioned goals, we conducted a synthetic review of the literature
complemented by a statistical analysis known as Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) for
the visualization of clusters of themes. The originality of our methodological approach lies in the
use of the computation of MCA with the programming language R, an emerging programming
language that has been exponentially used in many recent studies. Based on the results, we also
outline future research directions and formulate research questions to be studied in further
research.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. After the presentation of the theoretical
framework is presented, we outline the development of the methodology used in the present
study. This is followed by the presentation of the results, the discussion of our findings, and an
outline of future research directions. In the conclusions section, we outline the practical and
theoretical implications of our findings and discuss the limitations of the present study.

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Building competitive advantages using technology
Company managers face many risks and opportunities on the local and international levels
(Cao et al., 2021). In many industries, companies should identify competitive advantage to be
above their competitors, offer good services to consumers, as well as strengthen relationships
with suppliers. Similarly, the role of technology is linked to a global market where capitalism
has generated a multitude of opportunities focused on sustainability, environment, innovation,
creativity, or technological development (Lee et al., 2010).
In this paradigm, Stratopoulos and Wang (2022) demonstrated that, when adapting technology
to activate competitive advantage, companies typically face the following two challenges: (i)
reduction of costs and (ii) adaptation to market demands. Consumers need the interest to perceive
that technology of a new product or service is useful. At the same time, in order to adopt new
technologies that can improve prices or allow companies to produce more products, consumers
should be willing to sacrifice certain preferences in products and services (Stratopoulos & Wang,
2022; Bui & Lo, 2022).

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 Accordingly, technology adoption is not easy for corporations. While companies try to gain
a competitive advantage by facing new challenges that can endanger the robustness of their
companies, competition requires companies to lower production costs. Simultaneously, companies
must adopt and learn to implement new technologies without increasing product costs. As noted
by Saeidi et al. (2019), managers attend to local pressures to respond to price demands to adopt
products and services to different countries. For companies, these challenges are complicated
since adopting technologies in a global and connected market can harm expansion, production,
or logistics strategies (Luo et al., 2018).
Furthermore, Tornikoski et al. (2017) showed that it is important for companies to learn to
identify opportunities related to new technology adoption. To this end, to put technologies
to good use, companies should be aware of how to recognize opportunities and attend to
different sources of information (Sony & Naik, 2019; Xu et al., 2022). To this end, they can
talk to experts so as to better understand the precision of the technology and its characteristics
applied to a product that yet has to be developed. They can also introduce their products in other
markets to improve and adapt their products globally. By paying attention to the organization
of other geographic markets or industries, companies can gain knowledge that can be turned
into a competitive advantage by applying innovative technology in another industry or sector
(Khanmirzaee et al., 2022).
Similarly, companies should be aware of the fact that adopting new technologies is primarily
driven by the following four characteristics: (i) attractive; that is, an opportunity must be
attractive to the market and the industry, thus allowing products and services to become more
attractive from a marketing perspective; (ii) achievable; that is, an opportunity to use the
technology must be practically and physically attainable, i.e., there must be sufficient resources
to enable the characteristics of that technology to the company’s products and services; (iii)
durable; that is, the opportunity must be attractive not only in the short and medium term but
also in the long term, since its successful development can propose or encourage the creation of
new opportunities in the future; that (iv) create value; that is, an opportunity must be profitable
and focused on increasing or improving the characteristics of existing products. In this way,
the margins can be commented, and the cost of the product can be increased in relation to the
obtained improvement (Karia, 2018).
However, in order to achieve a competitive advantage, companies can develop different types of
strategies and tactics. In this respect, Bilgihan et al. (2011) argued that, before initiating a strategy
to achieve a competitive advantage, the activities that competitors’ activities, both current and
future, should be evaluated. When talking about dynamic competencies, Nayak et al. (2021)
noted that the competitiveness of responses must also be addressed. Before a company can gain
a competitive advantage, it must understand how competitors will respond to such adoption.
With regard to strategic actions, an important step is an entry into new markets in geographical
terms or industries of competitors. With regard to the development of new products, companies
can cover gaps in the quality of existing products, add new technologies or develop innovation
through the registration of patents. However, companies should be aware that, for an effective
strategy to achieve a competitive advantage, they may be focused on production capacity in
relation to manufacturing or logistics time. They can also focus on creating alliances to combine

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 actions with other competitors and reduce competition or obtain new technologies to facilitate
entry into certain markets (Ryding, 2010).
However, from the tactical perspective, prices can go up or down; therefore, a low-price strategy
that adds technology to the companies’ products can be the key to developing new strategies
with suppliers. Yet, the services and products can be expanded to increase their improvements
in relation to the use of technology. Accordingly, the measures to increase the marketing tasks in
the markets where the companies develop their new products should be selectively developed.
Finally, new distribution channels should be identified for products improved with technology;
this can multiply the points of contact with consumers and access to such improvements (Sioutis
& Anagnostopoulos, 2016). Table 1 present a summary of the main actions that companies can
develop to increase competitiveness of their products, both with and without technology.

Tab. 1 – Strategic and tactical actions to boost competitive advantages. Source: own research
Strategies Actions Examples Authors
Market geographical expansions
Expansion into neglected markets Sioutis and
Entering new
Anagnosto-
markets Targeting rival markets poulos (2016)
Targeting new demographics
Imitating rival products
Addressing gaps in quality Chung et al.
New products Leveraging new technologies (2003)Chiu
introductions Leveraging brand name with related prod- and Yang
ucts (2019)

Strategic Protecting innovation with patents

actions Creating overcapacity
Tying up raw materials sources Frank et al.
Changing produc-
(2019)Nayak
tion capacity Tying up preferred suppliers and distributors et al. (2021)
Stimulating demand by limiting capacity
Acquiring/partnering with competitors to
reduce competition
Tying up key suppliers through alliances Berman and
Mergers/alliances Dalzell-Payne
Obtaining new technology/intellectual (2018)
property
Facilitating new market entry

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 Maintaining low-price dominance
Offering discounts and rebates Schaltegger
Price cutting (or
and Synnest-
increases) Offering incentives vedt (2002)
Enhancing offering tom over upscale
Address gaps in service
Product/service Jääskeläinen
Expand warranties
enhancements et al. (2013)
Making incremental product improvements
Tactical
actions Conducting selective communications
Increased market- Khanmirzaee
Changing products packaging
ing efforts et al (2022)
Using new marketing channels
Accessing suppliers directly
Accessing customer’s directly Gupta et
New distribution al. (2001)
channels Developing multiple points of contact with Tornikoski et
customers al. (2017)
Expanding Internet presence

However, while different strategies and options to achieve competitive advantage using
technology are available, it remains unclear which characteristics a technology should possess
to help companies achieve a competitive advantage in the market. In this study, we explore this
issue using the methodology presented in the next section.

3. METHODOLOGY
Systematic literature review
Following Iden and Eikebrokk (2013), in this study, we conducted a systematic literature review.
To this end, we first developed a theoretical framework where the main characteristics of the
analyzed sector were highlighted. Indeed, considering that addressing current problems which
would cover a literature gap should be done in the first place (Saura, 2021), we linked the
theoretical framework to our research objectives.
As argued by Stieglitz et al. (2018), the relevance of the research topic must be directly linked to
an emerging concept in the scientific literature. Accordingly, in the present study, we focused
on previous research on the adoption of new technologies and their characteristics to achieve
a competitive advantage, assuming that our systematic literature review will be instructive for
future research. In structuring the process of our systematic literature review, we followed the
three-step procedure previously proposed by Webster and Watson (2002).
The first step in this procedure included identifying the main contributions made to date in
relation to the subject of our study as well as the problems that must be solved. Second, we
searched for the most relevant academic contributions in scientific databases. In the third step,

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 the main contributions were extracted and identified using qualitative and quantitative analyses.
More specifically, we searched several reputed academic databases (see also Saura et al., 2021),
including ACM Digital Library, AIS Electronic Library, IEEE Explore, ScienceDirect, and Web
of Sciences. Queries made with the following keywords: “Technology” AND “Competitive
Advantage,” “Technologies” AND “Competitive Advantage.” The searches were carried out
between August 15 and 18, 2022. For the classification of the content, the title, abstract, and
keywords were analyzed in depth. Furthermore, detail on the selection process developed
following the indications of the PRISMA method (Moher et al., 2011) is presented in the Results
section.

Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA)

In addition to the systematic literature review, in this study, we also developed an MCA in
the programming language R. This enhanced the originality of the present study since this
programming language is currently increasingly used in scientific research. Authors such as
Morandat et al. (2012) highlighted the power of the R language, as well as its adaptability and
flexibility to different samples.
More specifically, Wagner et al. (2011) demonstrated that R is a good option to visually identify,
through the generation of graphs, statistical representations of clusters that explain how the
sample is organized. These types of applications are defined as tools focused on data analysis that
can come from large or small samples, with the ultimate goal of identifying patterns and trends
with statistical value (Saura et al., 2021).
MCA is generally used in academic research in order to group independent variables and to
discover associations between them. In this context, the results computed with the MCA aim
to group both individual and composite variables to determine visual relationships through
clusters. These clusters show the relationships among the studied variables: namely, the further
one variable is from another, the less related the content they deal with is. In this way, this
approach can be used to identify the main themes and categories of variables that appear in a
given sample.
The theoretical framework of homogeneity analysis of variance by means of alternating least
squares (HOMALS) allows for the development of the MCA to estimate a value of 1 for those
words that are identified in the sample in relation to the theme and a value of 0 for those words
that are not chosen to be part of the study. It should be understood that these dimensions are
interpreted in terms of the distance and length between them. When a variable is identified as a
result of the MCA analysis in R, the variables of chi-square, p-value, variance and percentage of
the accumulated variance can also be computed (Ihaka and Gentleman, 1996).
Overall, chi-square is an indicator used to statistically test differences between an expected
distribution and the actual distribution. Variance is commonly used to calculate the squared
deviation of an individual or group variable from its mean. In this way, the variance measures
the spread of random data in the dataset from its mean or median value (Saura et al., 2021). As
concerns the percentage of variance and the cumulative percentage of variance indicator, these
measure the cumulative input parameters in the sample. Finally, in relation to the probability

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 that a hypothesis is true, the p-value indicates the statistical summary is equal to or great than
the current observed results (Saura et al., 2021). In MCA and HOMALS analysis, the p-value is
used to identify the accuracy capacity of the model and to show the study variables (Gonzalez-
Loureiro et al., 2015; Kiessling et al., 2019).

4. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
As discussed previously, in this study, we used a database-oriented approach to review all articles
indexed in the academic databases ACM Digital Library, AIS Electronic Library, IEEE Explore,
ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. After the searches were carried out, the following results
were obtained: ACM Digital Library—16 results (0 included in the sample); AIS Electronic
Library—9 results (3 included in the sample); IEEE Explore—34 results (0 included in the
sample); ScienceDirect—24 results in total (7 included in the sample), and, finally, Web of
Sciences—179 results (21 included in the sample). The total number of articles analyzed was 262;
of these, 31 studies were included in the sample.
For the final dataset, we selected only those studies directly linked to the proposed objectives.
These studies were selected because they met the selection criteria proposed in the methodology
development and PRISMA. First, the search criteria were formulated, and the results were tested
in relation to inappropriate or non-inclusive terms. In this step, inadequate terms were identified,
so the total number of articles dropped to 173. In the next step, the content of all remaining
studies, as well as the quality of the proposed assessment and description, was analyzed. This
reduced the dataset by 142 articles. Therefore, the final dataset was reduced to a total of 31
articles. These studies were analyzed in depth to complete the methodological process with the
MCA in R.
According to Kaciak and Louviere (1990), Gonzalez-Loureiro et al. (2015) and Kiessling et al.
(2019), HOMALS is a methodological approach used to build matrices from data. Although the
technique is known as MCA, the theoretical framework that justifies its application is defined
by HOMALS. These approximations can be programmed in different programming languages.
In MCA, based on descriptive statistics, the weights and lengths of the identified clusters that
explain the relevance of the sample among the concepts that compose it are identified on a
graphic map. If the descriptors appear far from the axes or between them, it means that they are
not relevant or linked to each other (D’Esposito et al., 2014). MCA proposes that variables are
categorically coded. The categorical variables in the present study were (i) technology and (ii)
competitive advantage. These categories were structured around sets of words that we classified.
Overall, this study included two multivariate groupings (technology and competitive advantage)
and 16 individual variables of a total of 30 investigations based on our systematic review of the
literature. The set of these variables and their arrangement structure the dimensions of the map.
The identified variables are the groupings of words identified in the review (Kiessling et al.,
2019). We also computed chi-square, p-value, variance, % of variance, and cumulative percentage
of variance. In this study, the variable chi-square of independence between the two variables
amounted to 342.9701. As concerns the p-value, it was 1. This means that if the results of chi-
square were greater than the critical value calculated from df= (row−1) (column−1) degrees and

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 p = 1, then the row and the column variables were not independent from each other. These
results imply that the variables are associated with each other (see Figures 1 and 2). The results
of the eigenvalues indicators corresponding to variance, percentage of variance and cumulative
percentage of variance are shown in Figures 1 and 2. Specifically, Figure 1 shows the results on
eigenvalues/variances. These represent Dimensions 1, which obtains a representation of 14.89%,
and Dimension 2, which obtains a representation of 17.96%. Similarly, the variable cos2, on
the side of the figure, marks the percentage of distance from the central axis in the graphic
representation on a number scale from 0 to 0.8 points. In this way, the crossing of the axes
represents the correlations between the terms that participate in the study and their relationships.

Fig 1. Eigenvalues / Variances results using MAC and HOMALS analysis with R (Source: own research)

Figure 2 shows the biplot of the individual variables and categorical variables, showing small
variations in the content of the identified clusters. Dimension 1 represents 14.82% of the sample,
while Dimension 2 represents 22.14%. As in Figure 1, cos2 presents the relevance of each variable
in relation to the center of the axes.
Based on the results of the analyses, a total of four clusters directly linked to technology to enable
competitive advantage were identified. These clusters have direct relationships with the research
topic. Therefore, the clusters closer to the axis are more directly linked to technology and the
enabling of competitive advantage. The themes and clusters further away from the axis are those
that, in principle, have less influence on technology and competitive advantage.
In Cluster 1 (C1), a link was identified between Specialization, Integration, Universality, Cost
and Scalability. The last two concepts are also part of Cluster 3. This can be explained by the fact
that cost and scalability share a direct relationship with the themes linked in Cluster 3, but also
with those presented in C1. Therefore, C1 is focused on the ability to integrate new technologies
through specialization to enable competitive advantage by focusing on the compatibility of
these new technologies globally with other existing products and services and, thereby, enable
competitive advantages.

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 Fig 2. Biplot of individuals and variable categories using MAC and HOMALS analysis with R. Source: own
research

Similarly, Cluster 2 (C2) is focused on understanding and highlighting the innovation capacity
of technologies, their applicability and flexibility for certain industries and fields, as well as
understanding that these features are unimportant if there is no current demand for a technological
product or service. Cluster 3 (C3) is directly linked to productivity and the sources necessary for
the development of a technology that allows the achievement of competitive advantage. Both
sustainability and energy, as well as cost and its long-term scalability, allow us to understand
the existing connection in this cluster. Finally, in Cluster 4 (C4), the themes are farthest from
the central axis, suggesting the characteristics of the technologies that are not directly linked to
competitive advantage; this includes connectivity, complexity, and usefulness. These last two
concepts are related to competitive advantage as a company can manage to develop a complete
technology to improve its products or boost the value of its company, while other companies fail
to identify that complexity or solve it in an applied way in their strategies.

5. DISCUSSION
In the present study, two data-centric methodological approaches were developed to explore
whether technology promotes the development of competitive advantage. As argued by
Stratopoulos and Wang (2022), it was previously identified that technology and competitive
advantages are directly linked to cost and the scalability of said cost in the medium and long
term. Technology, However, in order to promote specific characteristics of products or services
that can create a competitive advantage, technology, as noted by Sony and Naik (2019), should
specialize in a specific sector (Sony & Naik, 2019; Dana et al., 2022).
Technology integration and universality are some of the most important points that enable

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 competitive advantage. As argued by Sioutis and Anagnostopoulos (2016), the compatibility of
one type of technology with other technologies, as well as with the strategies and products and
services of companies, can promote the development of new products and services, as well as
business models that both boost optimization of the supply chain and improve logistics processes
worldwide. Therefore, technology is capable of using characteristics such as universality and
compatibility, and specialization as fundamental pillars of innovation linked to a competitive
advantage when using technology.
Similarly, as indicated by Ryding (2010), the demand for technology, both from the structural
point of view of companies and society, should ensure that technology promotes the creation
of competitive advantages. Innovative technologies can break barriers with current markets and
propose the development of new commercial routes worldwide. This point was also mentioned
by Ribeiro-Navarrete et al. (2021), who argued for the improvement of technologies such as
artificial intelligence. This technological development not only created the market for machine
learning and automatic improvement but also indirectly caused the demand for new products and
services focused on defending user privacy (Saura et al., 2022).
Furthermore, as indicated by Shen et al. (2022), flexibility of technologies applied to new markets
and new offers may be one of the fundamental characteristics to legally enable competitive
advantage. There is no doubt that innovation is crucial for a technology to be applicable to a
company both in its processes and in its products to enable competitive advantage. Innovation
is also linked to the development of flexible strategies that enable companies to adopt new
paths of development. Along similar lines, since, in the business ecosystem, there is growing
support for sustainable strategies, both the cost and the energy and sources used to produce new
technologies should focus on sustainability. As indicated by Huang et al. (2015), sustainability is
a keystone of future strategies. Therefore, the sustainability of new technologies should respect
the environment and reduce the costs of both production and natural resources used. In this
context, scalability is essential for a company to focus its long-term strategies on the use of
technologies that increase productivity. Finally, the usefulness of new technologies is linked to
their complexity (Karia, 2018).
However, it should be noted that complexity in the development and utility of technology is a
double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can allow companies to obtain a competitive advantage
because, by using it, they acquire advanced knowledge not possessed by other companies due
to the level of investment and time invested in understanding. However, complexity can also
be the reason why a technology is not professionally implemented in a company (see Luo et al.,
2018). The complexity of technology demands the need to hire experts in a given technology, as
well as the investment in initial capital to acquire specialists and the existing resources to make a
technology properly function. Connectivity here is taken for granted: indeed, connected devices
are the future of the industry to drive new markets, such as those based on the Internet of Things
(IoT) or Industry 4.0 (Frank et al., 2019).

Future research questions

To better understand the adoption or development of technologies, as well as their characteristics
related to enabling competitive advantage, in Table 2, we formulate future research questions

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 that cover the main insights identified in the present study. These questions may be used in
further research to drive the study of technology and competitive advantage.
Tab. 2 – Future research questions. Own research.
Technology Future Research Questions
Characteristics
Sustainability How should companies apply new models of sustainable technologies to achieve competitive advantage?
Productivity What technologies are considered more sustainable from the point of view of innovation and competitive advantage?
Energy What software ensures the highest increase in productivity due to the technology?
Resources How can the adoption of new technological software boost competitive advantage?
Cost What type of energy will grow exponentially due to technologies?
Scalability How can companies identify new sources of efficient energy due to the use of new technologies?
Integration How should companies manage exclusivity in access to resources?
Flexibility What are the available resources that determine companies’ competitive advantage?
Applicability Is it profitable to adopt technology and reduce business costs?
Demand Which are the main theoretical frameworks that analyze models of technology adoption to reduce costs according to
the industry?
Innovative
What are the main scalability variables of the technology that enable competitive advantage?
Complexity
Does technological scalability drive competitive advantage, or is it the opposite?
Utility
What are the indicators that determine the technological integration with other connected devices?
Connectivity
Does the combination of technologies boost competitive advantage?
Universality/
Does the flexibility of technology adoption in companies make it possible to increase the product line?
Compatibility
What is the relationship between the flexibility of the business models and a competitive advantage acquired due to
the technology?
Which are the most efficient applicability values to achieve competitive advantages thanks to technology?
In what industry the most competitive advantage is generated by the applicability of the technology?
How do consumers’ new technological demands affect competitive advantage?
What are the technological habits of society that influence the creation of companies’ competitive advantage?
What are the techniques to generate technological innovation that allow the exponential development of technology?
How is it possible to quantify the level of technological innovation in relation to the generation of competitive
advantage?
Complexity What degrees of complexity characterize technology?
Utility How does the complexity of using new technologies affect the generation of competitive advantage?
Connectivity Is there a theoretical framework that allows us to understand the levels of technological utility linked to the generation
of competitive advantage?
Universality/
Does the utility of technology directly influence companies’ competitive advantage?
Compatibility
What are the technological adoption processes that boost competitive advantage due to connectivity?
What role does innovation in processes of connectivity to technology play in the development of competitive
advantage?
Do universal technologies adopted by companies generate a competitive advantage?
Is the exclusivity in the development and technological adoption the drive for competitive advantage on the global
level?

6. CONCLUSION
In this study, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and an MCA by which a total of
four clusters composed of 15 characteristics of the technology needed to promote competitive
advantage were identified. Based on the results, we formulated 30 future research questions,
which, in further research, will provide a deeper understanding of the development of technology
183

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 to drive competitive advantage in companies. In doing so, we addressed the first research
question asked in this study. Furthermore, these characteristics were discussed in relation to their
direct implication to enable competitive advantage. Similarly, we addressed our second research
question; different ways in which companies should use technology to increase their chances of
obtaining competitive advantage were presented. In relation to our research objectives, on the
one hand, we discussed the opportunities and challenges of the adoption of technologies with
regard to obtaining competitive advantage. Relevant examples were presented and linked to the
current theory. Similarly, we also identified different analytical perspectives so that companies
can improve their technology adoption processes.

Theoretical implications
The theoretical implications of this study are directly linked to the clusters identified as
fundamental pillars of achieving competitive advantage afforded by technology. Based on a
review of previously published research, we identified characteristics of the technology that,
in future research, could be used as variables and constructs of empirical models. From the
theoretical perspective, different questions for future research formulated in this study and the
characteristics of the technology to enable competitive advantage identified in our analyses will
improve the understanding of these links in the current scientific literature. Furthermore, the
methodological process developed in the R programming language will allow other researchers
to extract new methodological approaches to identify themes in an exploratory way.

Practical implications
As concerns practical implications of the present study, companies can take the characteristics of
the technology we identified as a guide to verify the adoption of technologies in their business
models. In the context of the exponential development of technology, companies can rely on the
14 characteristics of the technology identified in relation to competitive advantage. Furthermore,
the results of this study can be used by both public institutions and companies focused on
analyzing the market to develop new products or services, exporting, or importing raw materials,
optimizing logistical processes, and improving production structures, among others. Similarly,
the identified clusters can be useful for practitioners prior to the adoption of technologies to
identify possible linkages after their adoption in relation to competitive advantage.

Limitations and future research

The present study has several limitations. First, we reviewed a limited number of published
articles. The second limitation is that we focused only on articles published in English. The third
limitation is a certain time lag—considering the exponential growth of technology, relevant
publications are always behind it in time. To address these limitations, in further research, it
would be necessary to increase the sample size and include in the review the papers published in
a language other than English.

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Contact information
Assoc. Prof. José Ramón Saura, Ph.D. Samuel Ribeiro-Navarrete, Ph.D.
Rey Juan Carlos University ESIC University (Spain), Visiting professor
Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences University of Economics and Human Sciences in
Department of Business Economics, Spain Warsaw
E-mail: [email protected] Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-9457-7745 Email: [email protected]

Prof. Dr. Sc. Marinko Skare, Ph.D.

University of Pula
Faculty of Economics and Tourism, Croatia
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-6426-3692

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