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Purpose Research has shown that information and communication technologies (ICT) are crucial for economic growth. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that would depict and examine the nature of the relationship between ICT use and organizational performance in the Lebanese market, taking into consideration the impact that innovation and corporate entrepreneurship may have on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach To investigate the proposed model a survey targeting employees, and managers who adopted ICT applications in SMEs located in Lebanon was conducted. Findings The results indicate that ICT and innovation are strategic resources. However, their contribution to sustainable competitive advantage vitally depends on the implicitness and entrepreneurial behaviors of those involved. It is through this capability that ICT and ICT-based innovations could make a difference in organization’s performance – both present and future. Research limitations/implications First, the respondents were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Second, the data were collected through self-report questionnaires. Finally, the use of perceptual data related to performance may have a bias effect on the study results. Practical/implications At the practical level, the study results have repercussions for managers, technology suppliers, and innovation adopters and managers, as this may contribute to better understanding of the factors that could influence the adoption, management, and use of ICT resources for enhancing the competitiveness level of the firm. Originality/value The results of this study have implications for ICT adoption in Lebanese SMEs. More importantly, they suggest a framework which depicts the relationship between ICT and the organization’s innovation level on one hand, and a company’s performance on the other, taking entrepreneurship as a mediator in this relationship.

Purpose -The purpose is to examine the role of TQM in a strategy-TQM-performance model. More specifically, it seeks to investigate whether TQM has a driving role in the formation of strategy or has a mediating effect in the strategy-performance relationship. Design/methodology/approach -A survey was used to collect data. The instrument was assessed for its validity and reliability. Structural equation modelling was employed. Findings -TQM influences strategy formulation process and it is a dynamic resource that contributes to the achievement of a sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, soft TQM has a higher impact than hard TQM on competitive strategy formulation and on performance.Research limitations/implications -The model developed and tested can be enriching to the TQM, strategic management, and quality management fields. Future research is recommended to use methods other than self-report questionnaires and to account for certain behavioral factors that can influence the relationships investigated in the study. Practical implications -The findings provide insights to the need to integrate TQM with the various stages of the strategy formulation process, with an emphasis on the soft elements of TQM, including customer satisfaction, management and leadership, and employee relations. Originality/value -Despite the remarkable contributions of existent research, there is a lack of substantive research that examines the relationship between the hard and soft components of TQM on one hand and the two types of competitive strategy -differentiation and cost leadership -on the other. This gap is filled by this study.

An increasingly important advancement in information and communication technologies is cloud computing, and a remarkably increasing trend is its adoption by various organizations. The trend is attributed to the potential of this growing computing paradigm to improve the scalability, efficiency, and reliability of IT systems. Diffusion of cloud computing innovation is changing the way business information systems are developed, paid for, and maintained Alshamaila et al. 2013, Low et al. 2011, thus contributing to efficiency and better value for enterprises. This not only applies to large organizations, but also progressively more to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, little is known about the factors most likely to be associated to the adoption behavior of cloud computing services among small and medium enterprises operating in Lebanon. This study deploys the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and the Contextual Theory to empirically examine the determinants of cloud computing service adoption in a developing country, namely Lebanon. A model is proposed, and data collected from 139 respondents working in SMEs in Lebanon and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and logistic regression in SPSS provide strong support for the model. Results indicate that technological (i.e., complexity and security) and organizational (i.e., top management support and prior IT experience) factors are positively related to the decision to adopt cloud computing services. Moreover, one of the areas of potential interest is the effect of country-specific, or contextual factors, among those who intend to adopt cloud computing. The analysis shows that context-specific factors (i.e. poor infrastructure and lack of government initiatives) are negatively related to the adoption decision. Implications and limitations are discussed, and recommendations for future research are proposed.

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