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Objective and main results

This study examines the resources needed to build a big data analytics (BDA) capability, which is defined as a firm’s ability to assemble, integrate, and deploy its big-data specific resources. It also shows that there is a positive relationship between BDA capability and firm performance.

Main findings:
The study presents seven resources that are likely to create a BDA capability, which again positively influences market and operational performance.

• Data, technology, and basic resources (e.g., sufficient investments, adequate time) are important tangible resources.
• Managerial and technical big data skills are identified as two important human skills.
• Data-driven culture and intensity of organizational learning are important intangible resources.

Summary of practical implications

Gaining competitive advantage from big data is not only about making investments, collecting hordes of data, and having access to sophisticated technology but also about having availability of big data-specific technical and managerial skills, an intensity of organizational learning, and an organizational culture where insights extracted from data are valued and acted upon. It is an aggregate of all these resources that will create a BDA capability.

The foremost step in building a BDA capability is self-assessment of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses to determine the resources it has in abundance and the resources it lacks. The survey instrument presented in this paper can be used by organizations to evaluate their BDA capabilities and respond accordingly.

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Tags

Organizational capabilities IT capabilities