Hierarchical business value of information technology: Toward a digital innovation value chain

Information technology (IT) increasingly changes the ways through which firms develop and commercialize innovation. Prior studies have mainly focused on the direct effect of IT use on innovation performance, while little is known about how IT use for different purposes in the innovation processes leads to innovation performance at the organizational level. Drawing on the routine-based absorptive capacity (AC) framework, we conceptualize IT use for knowledge search and relational search as IT-enabled internal and external AC routines and unveil the hierarchical benefits resulting from IT use for innovation. We propose a model in which firms need to purposefully use IT to search for knowledge in the new product development process or search for relationships in the collaborative innovation process, leading to first-order benefits (i.e., internal innovation benefits and open innovation benefits) and, in turn, second-order benefits (i.e., innovation performance). By using a unique data set from 1028 German firms between 2003 and 2007, we find that IT use for knowledge search enhances internal innovation benefits, whereas IT use for relational search increases open innovation benefits. More importantly, internal and open innovation benefits mediate the relationships between IT use for knowledge and relational search and various innovation performance measures. Taken together, our findings shed light on a deeper understanding of the digital innovation value chain.     

Greening and performance relativity: An application in the shipping industry

Shipping activities involve physical movement of cargoes from production to consumption sites. Although shipping operations are beneficial to global trade as well as economic development of countries, the related activities can cause environmental harm, e.g., CO₂ emissions and ballast water discharge. As a result, public concerns about the environmental damages caused by shipping activities in servicing international trade are on the rise. To balance environmental protection and business performance improvement, shipping firms should pay more attention to the environmental and financial ramifications of their business routines. This study proposes the concept of Greening and Performance Relativity (GPR) and uses an input–output analytic approach to investigate how greening operations are related to firm performance in shipping operations. We present theory-driven arguments on the link between environmental and financial performance outcomes and empirically validate them with survey data collected from shipping firms. We also examine application of the GPR concept using survey data from the shipping industry in Hong Kong. Our analysis results show that there is a positive association between greening and firm performance in shipping operations. The results also indicate that shipping firms possess reasonably good capability in the business routines of “company policy and procedure”, “shipping documentation”, “shipping materials”, and “shipping design for compliance”.     

Information technology,the organizational capability of proactive corporate environmental strategy and firm performance: a resource-based analysis

The study of the relationships between information technology (IT), environmental organizational issues and firm performance is a cutting-edge research topic for the information systems (IS) community. However, at present we know very little about these relationships. Drawing on the perspective of IT-enabled organizational capabilities and the literature on organizations and the natural environment, our study introduces conceptually the construct organizational capability of proactive corporate environmental strategy to the IS field. We propose that IT capability may enable the implementation of a proactive environmental strategy and that this strategy could play a significant role in determining the business value of IT. Using structural equations modeling with data collected from 63 firms, we find that IT capability is an enabler of proactive environmental strategy and that this strategy plays a significant role in mediating the effects of IT on firm performance. Our study provides initial evidence on the role of IT in the implementation of proactive environmental practices. Our results suggest to IT executives that their decisions matter in shaping environmental sustainability, which in turn will generate business value from IT.     

Commoditization and IT Product Innovation Strategies from an IT Firm Perspective

Based on a survey (N = 248 business managers) this study confirms that different types of innovation in IT products have a direct positive impact on IT firms’ business performance. The commoditization level of IT markets acts as a moderator dampening this positive relationship. This implies that IT firms should take existing commoditization levels as well as a mix of IT product innovation types into account as part of their innovation strategy.     

Drivers and export performance impacts of IT capability in ‘born‐global’ firms: a cross‐national study

Past research focusing on large firms has argued that information technology (IT) capability enhances firm performance. However, these studies have seldom explored why firms develop IT capability, and have also left a void the understanding of the role of IT capability in Small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). This study attempts to fill that void by examining the effect of relevant environmental and firm‐level factors on IT capability, and the effect of IT capability on the export performance of Chinese and US born‐global firms, a special breed of export‐focused SMEs. Results indicate that environmental factors such as information intensity, and firm‐level factors such as international entrepreneurial orientation, prompt born‐global firms to develop IT capability. Further, our results also strongly emphasise the positive role that IT capability plays on the performance of born‐global firms. Finally, a comparative analysis of the Chinese and US born‐global firms revealed a lack of a cross‐cultural difference in the factors leading these firms to develop IT capability, therefore supporting the ‘convergence’ perspective in cross‐cultural research.     

Matching information technology and organizational structure: an empirical study with implications for performance

In information systems and organization theory research, the alignment or fit between information technology (IT) and organizational structure has long been hypothesised to be a sine qua non for success. However, few solid results have been found linking this relationship to enterprise level performance, as problems abound in defining and measuring IT, performance and the fit between technology and structure. In view of this, an empirical study was conducted among 108 small and medium-sized manufacturing firms, using a comprehensive instrument to measure overall IT sophistication along two dimensions, namely IT usage and IT management. Taking organizational size and environmental uncertainty into account, it was found that IT sophistication is positively related to structural sophistication, IT usage is positively related to organizational performance, and the relationship between IT management and structural sophistication is stronger among the better-performing firms than among the worst-performing firms.     

Managing innovation performance: Results from an industry‐spanning explorative study on R&D key measures

Research on R&D performance measures applied in firms is still scarce. Based on the established “R&D laboratory as a system” thinking, systematically derive and identify R&D department level key performance measures. Through a mixed‐method approach, grounded in (1) literature and (2) text analysis, 154 R&D performance measures were developed. Amongst those, an (3) online expert survey, as well as (4) three independent focus group workshops with >40 industry experts from more than ten industries identified and validated ten key R&D performance measures. All industry experts involved are members of an innovation network, additionally accounting for innovation network effects. In contrast to earlier research, some of the measures like degree of anticipation of internal customer needs were perceived both by the survey respondents and the focus groups as key measures, indicating that behavioral measures should not be excluded per se. However, the importance of external validity of R&D performance or indicators to measure performance in relation to activities outside the R&D department were not confirmed. Hence, we partly confirm the relevance of the original “R&D Lab” measures, contributing a more granular level, thereby drawing implications for future research and practice.     

A process for post-implementation IT benchmarking

Post-implementation learning involves continuing improvements in how effectively information technology (IT) is utilized. This kind of IT learning is a core competency that may determine the competitiveness of firms in information intensive industries. While many chief information officers (CIOs) may have some experience with infrastructure, user satisfaction, or business process benchmarking, few firms benchmark how effectively IT is utilized or its impact on the user’s work.This paper proposes a web-enabled process for benchmarking IT outcomes (effective use and impacts) and diagnosing problems with the user’s learning. This process is based on an explicit causal model of how induced and autonomous learning factors drive IT usage and impacts. The proposed process enables internal versus “best-in-class” causal analysis. We discuss the common considerations and key issues involved in implementing this IT benchmarking process.     

Informationstechnologie, Governance und Compliance

The paper presents the results of a World Wide Web research on the relationships between information technology (IT) on the one hand and governance and compliance on the other. The research sheds light on two different roles IT can take up in governance and compliance. Firstly, IT is used as an instrument or tool in support of implementing governance and compliance in organizations. Secondly, IT is an important concern in governance and assurance of compliance in organizations, resulting in IT-governance and IT-compliance as issues of their own. Since the domains of governance and compliance overlap in some respect, both areas are not always properly distinguished. This can especially be observed in offerings of IT consulting firms and in the positioning of products of software developers and vendors which are often vaguely labeled as “Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Software”. An imprecise and somewhat inflationary use of the terms governance and compliance impedes a systematic analysis of the field.     

Towards a framework for sustaining Green IT initiatives: an empirical investigation

With several studies investigating the adoption of Green IT and the factors that lead to its successful adoption, it is important to look into the continuity of Green IT initiatives in the long run. We investigate the factors that contribute to the continuity of Green IT efforts using resource-based explanations and a natural resource-based view. We also devise a method to classify firms into Sustainers and Non-Sustainers from the Program sustainability view and literature. With Green IT data (primary and secondary) collected from Indian firms, we use Discriminant analysis to identify the key factors that distinguish between Sustainers and Non-Sustainers. The analysis revealed that the organizational Green IT system, organizational flexibility, Green IT service adoption, and Green IT process innovation became significant discriminators between sustainers and non-sustainers.

     

Assessing the role of IT-enabled process virtualization on green IT adoption

Green Information Technology (IT) tools and practices contribute to environmental sustainability and business processes virtualization. To assess whether IT-enabled process virtualization capabilities impact organizational Green IT initiatives, Bose and Luo 2011 proposed a conceptual model that combines three theories: technology-organization-environment framework, process virtualization theory, and diffusion of innovation theory. We conducted an empirical analysis of data from 251 European firms, and found that environment context (competition intensity and regulatory support) was more important to Green IT initiatives than organization or technology context. Technology factors (sensory readiness, relationship readiness, synchronism readiness, and identification and control readiness) facilitating process virtualization were not found significant to organizational Green IT initiatives.     

Technological innovation and the formation of Japanese technology: the case of the machine tool industry

This paper focuses on how “Japanese technology” was formed in the Japanese machine tool industry, and presents how Japanese machine tool builders competed in R&D and the innovation process in the domestic and international markets. During the competition for the innovation of computerised numerically-controlled (CNC) tools, drastic changes occurred in the ranking of individual firms. Prior to the transformation, the traditional “Big 5” companies occupied the largest market share. After the innovation, however, the “Big 3” firms which had not been big in size at their origins increased their market share. This paper explains how this change stemmed from different attitudes towards R&D and innovation.     

The Influence of Green IS Practices on Competitive Advantage: Mediation Role of Green Innovation Performance

This article explores the effect of Green information systems (Green IS) practices on Green innovations and how corporations gain competitive advantages through better performance of Green innovations (both process and product). Results based on IT firms in India indicate that Green innovation performance mediates the effect between Green IS and competitive advantage. This could imply the potential of Green IS moving beyond environmental benefits to include innovation and a chance to attain competitive advantage.     

Beyond the Generation of Ideas: Virtual Idea Campaigns to Spur Creativity and Innovation

Firms striving to maintain high rates of innovation need a continuous flow of new ideas. This is resulting in the establishment by large firms of IT platforms to generate ideas for innovation, and to encourage employees and customers to participate in innovation contests. However, there has been little published research on the use of IT platforms for idea generation by employees, and it is unclear whether they facilitate in‐house innovation. The purpose is to investigate how firms use IT platforms internally to generate ideas, and how their use contributes to the innovation process in large firms. We rely on data from two collaborative research projects in the automotive industry: Volvo Cars and Renault. We found that both firms used IT platforms as campaigns to promote innovation and to involve employees in the innovation process. The findings suggest that these virtual idea campaigns support innovation in large firms mainly by (1) encouraging employee creativity in idea generation and (2) involving employees and top managers simultaneously in the innovation process. This paper contributes to idea management systems theory by highlighting the importance of virtual idea campaigns for the firm's innovation process, and their dual role.     

Exploring the relationships between IT competence,innovation capacity and organizational agility

Business environments today are characterized as being very dynamic and hyper competitive. Organizations in these environments have to be agile in order to adapt their strategies and actions to be successful. While it is recognized that information technology can enable firms to be agile, there is a limited understanding of the mechanisms through and the contexts in which Information Technology (IT) enhances agility. This study examines two key antecedents of organizational agility, namely the IT competence of a firm and its innovation capacity and, examine their independent and joint effects on agility. We test our model using data collected from large firms in the US. The results provide strong support for our model. We found that firms with superior IS capabilities coupled with an aggressive IT investment orientation create digital platforms that enable them to be agile. We also found that the innovation capacity of the firm has a positive relationship with organizational agility and that firms with higher innovation capacity are better able to leverage their digital platforms to enhance agility. Our results indicate that organizational agility has a strong positive impact of firm performance. We interpret and discuss these results and their theoretical and practical implications.     

Exploratory analysis on the halo effect of strategic goals on IOS effectiveness evaluation

How do managers evaluate the effectiveness of IT use? Past literature showed that the assessment of IT effectiveness is not straightforward, especially when viewed in terms of “business outcomes,” such as sales increase, firm profitability, and firm success. For inter-organizational systems (IOS), IT effectiveness evaluation is even more challenging, because these IOS are an integral part of a retail channel distribution system where several factors can influence business outcomes. Under such circumstances, IOS effectiveness evaluation is prone to a halo effect. A survey of retailers and suppliers showed that firms favorably judge IOS as long as their strategic goals are met, even when they do not recognize any IOS contribution towards accomplishing them. Conversely, IOS use was not appreciated when strategic goals were not met—even if IOS use benefits the firm at the operational or tactical level. In effect, IOS evaluation was overshadowed by the halo effects of strategic goal accomplishment.     

The effects of business systems leveraging on supply chain performance: Process innovation and uncertainty as moderators

Rooted in the profit-seeking motives of social exchange theory, this study aims to investigate the factors that facilitate leverages of firm’s business systems and their sharing of information with group members, as well as the impacts of business systems leveraging (BSL) on information sharing and supply chain performance. Simultaneously, the moderating effects of uncertainty and the degree of process innovation on the relationship between BSL and supply chain performance are also estimated. The analytical results indicated that proactive technological orientation, information technology (IT) connectivity, supply chain member pressure, and member relationship quality encourage firms to combine their business systems with those of other business partners. Interestingly, in a situation where there is high demand and an uncertain supply, the impact of BSL on supply chain performance is low, while the moderating effect of process innovation on the relationship between BSL and supply chain performance is significant. Finally, it is suggested that firms implementing BSL work to upgrade their technology maintain tight relationships with supply chain partners and create innovation in all aspects of their business processes in order to survive in the highly competitive IT environment.     

Ideal patterns of strategic alignment and business performance

Strategic alignment or “fit” is a notion that is deemed crucial in understanding how organizations can translate their deployment of information technology (IT) into actual increases in performance. While previous theoretical and methodological works have provided foundations for identifying the dimensions and performance impacts of the strategic alignment between IT, strategy, and structure, few attempts have been made to test the proposed theory empirically and operationalize fit systemically. Based on a gestalt perspective of fit and theory-based ideal coalignment patterns, an operational model of strategic alignment is proposed and empirically validated through a mail survey of 110 small firms. Using cluster analysis, it was found that low-performance firms exhibited a conflictual coalignment pattern of business strategy, business structure, IT strategy, and IT structure that distinguished them from other firms.     

Saying and doing: Social responsibility declared and applied

The purpose of this work is to examine the relationships between and among firms' commitment to social responsibility, their declarations—or reporting—on their social responsibility, the application of social responsibility in the form of social innovation, and customer acceptance. A research model drawing on the attributes of stakeholder theory is tested using data collected from 355 firms. The findings indicate that firms with commitments to social responsibility are likely to report on their social responsibility and are also likely to be engaged in social innovation. However, a negative relationship was found between reporting on social responsibility and social innovation. This highlights the importance of differentiating between saying and doing. Finally, social innovation was found to contribute to customer acceptance, while reporting on social responsibility was not. When it comes to social responsibility, it might be fair to say that “talk is cheap”, while social innovation “speaks louder than words”.