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In the digital economy, firm performance increasingly depends on the ability to convert raw data into strategic knowledge that generates sustained information advantage. This theory-development article re-examines the knowledge-based view through a digital lens, distinguishing data as raw inputs, information as processed signals, and knowledge as contextually applied understanding. We argue that information advantage emerges not automatically from data volume but through deliberate analytics-enabled transformation processes supported by digital infrastructures. We synthesize insights on data as a strategic resource, analytics capabilities, digital information asymmetries, and knowledge accumulation in data-rich environments. The article advances five theoretical propositions that link data resources to knowledge development, strategic action, and superior firm performance while identifying organizational moderators that strengthen or erode information advantage. A conceptual model illustrates the dynamic flow from data to performance with feedback loops. By integrating the knowledge-based view with digital-specific mechanisms, this work offers a novel framework for understanding competitive positioning in digital markets. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications for capability development are discussed.

In an era of pervasive digitalization, organizations possess unprecedented volumes of data, yet few convert these resources into enduring strategic capabilities that deliver sustainable competitive advantage. This conceptual article synthesizes the literature on data as a strategic resource, information processing, analytics-enabled decision-making, and organizational knowledge conversion to address a critical gap: the mechanisms by which raw data become higher-order capabilities. Drawing on studies, the article introduces the Transforming Information into Strategic Capability Architecture (TISCA) framework. This novel six-layer model explicates the progressive transformation from data possession to capability orchestration and performance reinforcement. The framework highlights the pivotal roles of digital infrastructures, analytics systems, organizational sensemaking, and dynamic feedback loops in turning information into a source of sustainable advantage. By mapping the processes of acquisition, interpretation, integration, deployment, realization, and reinforcement, TISCA offers managers and scholars a practical architecture for designing data-driven capability-building initiatives. Theoretical contributions extend the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities literature by specifying the micro-processes of information-to-capability conversion. Managerial implications focus on the organizational conditions required for information resources to generate long-term competitive differentiation rather than transient operational gains.