Most pre-1990 literature on busi-

nesses’ use of information technology

(IT)—defined as any form of computer-

Line based information system—focused on

(5) spectacular IT successes and reflected

a general optimism concerning IT’s poten-

tial as a resource for creating competitive

advantage. But toward the end of the

1980’s, some economists spoke of a

(10) “productivity paradox”: despite huge IT

investments, most notably in the service

sectors, productivity stagnated. In the

retail industry, for example, in which IT

had been widely adopted during the

(15) 1980’s, productivity (average output per

hour) rose at an average annual rate of

1.1 percent between 1973 and 1989, com-

pared with 2.4 percent in the preceding

25-year period. Proponents of IT argued

(20) that it takes both time and a critical mass

of investment for IT to yield benefits, and

some suggested that growth figures for

the 1990’s proved these benefits were

finally being realized. They also argued

(25) that measures of productivity ignore what

would have happened without investments

in IT—productivity gains might have been

even lower. There were even claims that

IT had improved the performance of the

(30) service sector significantly, although mac-

roeconomic measures of productivity did

not reflect the improvement.

But some observers questioned why,

if IT had conferred economic value, it did

(35) not produce direct competitive advantages

for individual firms. Resource-based

theory offers an answer, asserting that,

in general, firms gain competitive advan-

tages by accumulating resources that are

(40) economically valuable, relatively scarce,

and not easily replicated. According to

a recent study of retail firms, which con-

firmed that IT has become pervasive

and relatively easy to acquire, IT by

(45) itself appeared to have conferred little

advantage. In fact, though little evidence

MM定位不对，从题目中resource based theory 就表明应该定位在第二段，而不是第一段。请参考。

Resource-based

theory offers an answer, asserting that,

in general, firms gain competitive advan-

tages by accumulating resources that are

(40) economically valuable, relatively scarce,

and not easily replicated. According to

a recent study of retail firms, which con-

firmed that IT has become pervasive

and relatively easy to acquire, IT by

(45) itself appeared to have conferred little

advantage.