| Summary: | The increasing demand for business analysts in recent years has brought about the
need for a proper articulation of the Business Analyst’s role. Despite the growth of the
business analysis field, and its value, academic research on the practices, competencies
and capabilities of a business analyst is still limited. Drawing on the Resource-Based
View of the firm theory and the concept of practice, this study proposes a business
analysis capability model. A positivist qualitative research methodology has been
conducted using a directed content-based analysis approach. This research analysed
300 business analyst online job advertisements in order to identify the practices,
competencies and capabilities of business analysts as perceived by employers based in
South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK). The findings suggest that, both in SA
and the UK, analysts with systems skills, practices, competencies and capabilities are
preferred by employers over those with business skills. The results of the study suggest
that South African employers demand additional skills, practices and competencies
from a business analyst than are required by employers based in the UK. This suggests
that SA based business analysts are capable of competing for employment in the UK
without the need for them to acquire additional skills. This research makes conceptual
contributions to academia, and also offers managerial contributions to practice.
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