Comparative advantage

Irving Wladawsky-Berger is vice president of technology and strategy at IBM.

Economists describe this kind of specialization as "comparative advantage," with everyone doing what they do best rather than trying to compete across the board. That's what brought companies such as United Parcel Service and Federal Express into existence.

"We are evolving toward an economy
in which expertise embodied in an enterprise and its people will be its
real advantage and differentiator. Whatever strategic value technology may
have had is shifting to the people and businesses that put it to work in
support of their frame of excellence--this is the expertise that will
define them to their customers, collaborators and competitors."