An Information Company in Mexico: Extending the Resource-Based View of the Firm to a Developing Country Context

Information Industries assume that information is seen as a valued resource that enables organisations and individuals to improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and overall competitiveness. For Information Industries to bridge rather than divide further the global economy to information rich and information poor, we need to understand better how firms, particularly local firms, can successfully pioneer or participate in the Information Industry in emerging economies that do not inherently embrace information as a valued business resource. This research examines how one local firm shaped the external environment to pioneer a local information industry in Mexico and how it competes in a newly opened local market against large well-established foreign competitors. In addition to extending the boundary conditions of the resource-based view of the firm -a dominant strategic management theory--, this paper analyzes both the content and implementation of the information company's strategy.