AccScience Publishing / SCMR / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/SCMR025350006
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Data orchestration as a sustainable competitive asset: Lessons for emerging markets from the manufacturing industry in China

Yi Liu1 ,  Ravi S. Sharma2* ,  Stephen T. Wingreen3
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1 Department of Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
2 Department of Information Systems and Technology Management, College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates
3 Department of Accounting and Information Systems, School of Business, University of Canterbury, Canterbury, New Zealand
SCMR, 025350006 https://doi.org/10.36922/SCMR025350006
Received: 26 August 2025 | Revised: 17 October 2025 | Accepted: 20 November 2025 | Published online: 8 January 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

This paper uses a resource orchestration framework as a theoretical lens to investigate the deployment of industrial big data for sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in emerging economies. This is a critical strategy to capture and retain revenues in the global marketplace. A software platform and services provider to over 4,000 industrial enterprises in China was selected as the case study for analyzing the orchestration of data assets. Our unit of analysis is China Plant Cyber Technologies Inc., an industrial Internet platform provider whose orchestration activities drive competitive advantage across its client ecosystem through three distinct strategic stages. Replicating the Structured–Pragmatic–Situational approach described in prior work, we first “framed” a model and then validated it with support from empirical observations. Our findings inform researchers and practitioners on why and how (i) the orchestration of enterprise assets such as big data can provide a first-mover advantage; (ii) the orchestration of asset comprehensiveness control and management provide efficiencies and cost leadership advantage; and (iii) the orchestration of a big data platform and augmented information and communication technology (ICTs) such as machine learning, generative artificial intelligence, and blockchain provide SCA. The main contribution of this paper is the extension of the ICT resource orchestration theory to an impactful application domain such as industry big data in the context of emerging markets where multi-staged, multi-technology convergence creates unique orchestration challenges not addressed in prior research. This also provides an empirically validated set of postulations for further research.

Keywords
Industry 4.0
Structured–Pragmatic–Situational case method
Information and communication technology for sustainable competitive advantage
Resource orchestration
Big data diffusion
Funding
This work was funded by the Financial Support for Overseas Collaboration (from the Government of Chin) awarded to Yi Liu, with additional support from Jinan University for Yi Liu to spend a semester at the University of Canterbury for collaboration with Drs. Ravi Sharma and Stephen Wingreen.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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