Cloud adoption in emerging economies: A Costa Rican RBV-SAM Analysis

Abstract

This research meticulously assesses the effectiveness of public cloud solutions in Costa Rica, using a mixed-methods framework to address the dichotomy between the democratizing potential of cloud computing and its actual results in developing countries. By combining Resource-Based View (RBV) theory with regional contextual analysis, we look at data from 200 firms and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) interviews to uncover three important things: (1) Enterprises achieve 22% greater cost savings than Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs) (*p* < 0.05), underscoring RBV’s resource advantage hypothesis while exposing its neglect of contextual barriers like regulatory fragmentation (29% higher compliance costs) and talent scarcity; (2) Leadership commitment mediates 68% of performance variance (β = 0.68), necessitating the expansion of Strategic Alignment Models (SAM) to include cultural preparedness as a measurable construct; and (3) Costa Rica’s reliance on foreign hyperscale’s exacerbates latency (40% worse than global averages) and vendor lock-in (63% prevalence), challenging universalist cloud frameworks. The research presents a Strategic-Regional Alignment Model (SRAM) that incorporates legal readiness assessments and infrastructural standards, in addition to a validated five-dimensional cultural readiness instrument. Policy suggestions for regulatory harmonization (like a National Cloud Office) and solutions for small and medium-sized businesses (like multi-cloud pilots) are some of the practical consequences.