Information technology (IT) service providers are often advised to consider moving their service offerings along the value chain as a way to enhance their competitiveness. On the basis of this advice, service providers operating successfully at the lower end of the value chain have tried to expand into higher-order consulting services, whereas those operating higher up on the value chain have sought to expand into more routinized services. In both cases, such efforts have been met with limited success. In this paper, we examine why this might be the case, using an agent-based model developed specifically for this purpose. As part of the model, we use the resource-based view of the firm to construct agents, representing individual IT services firms with three distinct strategic orientations (archetypes) operating at different parts of the value chain with varying resource endowments. We then examine the outcomes associated with these firms when they transition along the value chain. Although we find that moving along the value chain is generally risky, we identify specific conditions under which such moves may be favorable to firms. We find that firms moving up the value chain are likely to be successful only if such moves are accompanied by significant resource changes. In contrast, firms moving down the value chain are likely to be successful only if such moves are accompanied by learning capability arising out of higher absorptive capacity. We find that resource fungibility moderates these relationships. We conclude with a discussion of the managerial implications of our study as well as opportunities for future empirical research within the IT services industry based on our propositions.

中文翻译：

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草更绿吗？沿着价值链发展对IT服务提供商的战略意义

通常建议信息技术（IT）服务提供商考虑在价值链上转移其服务产品，以增强其竞争力。根据此建议，在价值链低端成功运营的服务提供商已尝试将其扩展为高阶咨询服务，而在价值链上较高运营的服务提供商则试图将其扩展为更常规的服务。在这两种情况下，这种努力都取得了有限的成功。在本文中，我们使用专门为此目的开发的基于代理的模型来检查为什么会出现这种情况。作为模型的一部分，我们使用公司基于资源的观点来构建代理商，代表具有三种不同战略方向（原型）的个体IT服务公司，这些战略方向在价值链的不同部分运营，资源varying赋不同。然后，当这些公司沿着价值链过渡时，我们将研究与这些公司相关的结果。尽管我们发现在价值链上移动通常具有风险，但我们确定了在哪些特定条件下此类移动可能对公司有利。我们发现，只有在这种举动伴随着重大的资源变化的情况下，在价值链中向上移动的公司才可能成功。相比之下，沿着价值链向下移动的公司只有在伴随着更高吸收能力而产生的学习能力的情况下才可能成功。我们发现资源可替代性调节了这些关系。