GWD5-Q22 to Q25:
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 of any direct effect was found, the fre- quent negative correlations between IT and performance suggested that IT had
(50)
probably weakened some firms’ compet-
itive positions.
However, firms’ human resources, in and of themselves, did explain improved performance, and some firms gained IT-related advan-
(55)
tages by merging IT with complementary
resources, particularly human resources. The findings support the notion, founded in resource-based theory, that competi- tive advantages do not arise from easily
(60)
replicated resources, no matter how
impressive or economically valuable they may be, but from complex, intan- gible resources.
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GWD5-Q22:
The passage is primarily concerned with A describing a resource and indicating various methods used to study it B presenting a theory and offering an opposing point of view C providing an explanation for unexpected findings D demonstrating why a particular theory is unfounded
E resolving a disagreement regarding the uses of a technology答案说是C,但我觉得E貌似也行啊。说是分析了关于一个technology(IT)的作用的意见不一致。 望大家赐教了~~~ | 
