The purpose of this research is (1) to examine the integration impact of IT assets (e.g., intangible IT resources, IT capability, and IT flexibility) on core competency, and (2) to explore the mediating effect of core competency on the relationship between IT assets and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA), and (3) to determine whether IT flexibility strengthen the relationship between core competency and SCA. The study applied a quantitative and cross-sectional approach to collect data from

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... 164 Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) targeting managers from the middle-to-upper level. The findings infer new insights regarding IT integration's critical role within core competency activities to achieve SCA. The results show that IT assets possess a positive and significant impact on core competency (CC), and CC positively impact SCA. Finally, CC partially mediates ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lahcene Makhloufi holds a PhD in Technology, Operation & Logistics Management, College of Business, University Utara Malaysia. His research expertise covers strategy & knowledge management, innovation, entrepreneurship, big data analytics, sustainability, technology management. Mr. Lahcene is involved in several national and international conferences discussing current and modern issues in entrepreneurial and sustainability. The author reviewed several papers for some reputable journals published by Taylor & Francis.