Can big data analytics help organisations achieve sustainable competitive advantage? A developmental enquiry

Society is changing radically and fast, triggered by the digital revolution. Firms are thus looking for newer ways to attract, satisfy and retain those customers as their needs and aspirations change. Such newer ways constitute the firms’ quest to achieve competitive advantage. However, in this current digital era almost all the traditional “Porterian” competitive advantage barriers are difficult to sustain. Further, COVID has led to a rapid acceleration in the pace of digitalisation. Can the huge data generated in every digitally enabled entity of today be judiciously combined with other firm resources? Can this big data be transformed into meaningful knowledge which organisations can leverage to sustain and grow? Can big data provide a sustainable competitive advantage? In this conceptual paper, I use a knowledge-based approach analysed through resource-based view from the strategic management domain to search for answers to these questions. I introduce a holistic framework that integrates the following: (i) firm knowledge, (ii) managerial capabilities and decision-making, (iii) sustainable competitive advantage, (iv) big data analytics. I call this framework the “The Perpetual Model of BDA as a Sustainable Competitive Advantage”. I also propose a unique Analytic Maturity Model, which I call the SAMDDC-DAMPPC Model, which can help identify and classify firms based on their analytic maturity. •Combines resource-based view, knowledge-based view, and dynamic capabilities literature from the field of business strategy•Extends our existing understanding about data, information, knowledge and learning related to BDA by organisations•Helps organisations understand the potential of big data analytics to continually improve their offerings to customers•Offers an intuitive conceptual framework by which BDA can ensure a sustainable competitive advantage for firms•Offers an integrated analytical maturity model that can be used to understand the level of analytic maturity of a firm