From IT deployment capabilities to competitive advantage: An exploratory study in China

As more and more companies are deploying, or plan to deploy, information systems, the organizational capabilities to effectively deploy information technologies to support and shape businesses become increasingly important. While many studies have focused on how to acquire state-of-the-art information technologies and on how to effectively utilize implemented information technologies, more studies are still needed to investigate how a company can successfully deploy acquired information technologies to support and shape businesses strategies and value chain activities. IT deployment capabilities are defined as the organizational capabilities to configure and reconfigure a company’s information system by adding new IT components or by adapting the existing information systems in order to make the whole information system available to support and shape businesses. This study identifies and investigates the three building blocks of IT deployment capabilities: strategic IT flexibility, business–IT partnership, and business–IT alignment. Using the resource-based view, we propose a framework to explain the relationship between IT deployment capabilities and competitive advantage. The research model is tested on data collected in China. Results show that strategic IT flexibility and business–IT partnership have direct impacts on competitive advantage, while business–IT alignment has an indirect impact on competitive advantage. The effect of business–IT alignment on competitive advantage is fully mediated by strategic IT flexibility and business–IT partnership. The results provide support for the relationship between IT deployment capabilities and competitive advantage. The study presents implications for how to develop IT deployment capabilities and how to generate business value from IT investment.     

The impact of industry contextual factors on IT focus and the use of IT for competitive advantage

Only limited empirical evidence has confirmed the effectiveness of strategic information systems planning (SISP) and there is no evidence that investment in mission-critical systems leads to improved performance under conditions of environmental uncertainty and information intensity. This study tests the extent to which such contextual factors impact business dependence on IT and two SISP practices: IT participation in business planning and the alignment between the IT and the business plans. It also examines the influence of IT dependence and SISP on the use of IT for competitive advantage. Using structural equation modeling on postal survey data from 161 firms, it found a positive and significant impact of the contextual factors on business dependence on IT and the two SISP practices and between these factors and the use of IT for competitive advantage. Data also revealed significant differences between industry types and environmental uncertainty but not information intensity. Implications are discussed.     

Thinking Beyond Security

Abstract

A competitive business views information technology (IT) as an integral part of itself in achieving the business mission. On the other hand, IT cannot stand up to the service level agreement (SLA) with the business units if it views solutions in an ad hoc way [1]. In a time where the IT as a business enabler and enhancer is the target of unanticipated attacks from various agents, the entity at risk is the business itself and the trust the business has developed so far in the IT [2]. Government initiatives, such as the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act [3], include even the assets owned by private industry, such as those of major banking and energy sectors, as a part of the national asset. They mandate that companies take initiatives to protect and make information resources available, despite possibilities of threats [4].     

The role of software patents in sustaining IT-enabled competitive advantage: a call for research

A number of information technology (IT) researchers have examined IT and sustained competitive advantage. However, the relationship between software patents and IT sustained advantage is often unclear and incomplete. This paper reviews some of that research, pointing out various research contributions while indicating some of the problematic issues in dealing with competitive advantage and software patents. In addition, we highlight a number of software-based patents that have been awarded to organizations in diverse industries, including some that provide researchers and executives with insight into how organizations are protecting unique business methods with software patents. We also pose some intriguing research questions, including determining why firms do in fact patent software, and investigating the potential differences in doing business globally involving countries that either take steps to protect software assets with patents versus those that do not. Based on the information presented, we anticipate that IT researchers would be more open to investigating the relationship between software patents and sustaining IT-based competitive advantage.     

Erp Packages: What's Next?

The traditional focus of IT operations no longer meets the challenges of tomorrow's fast-changing business environment. in the new millennium, CIOs will be required to shift their focus from internal information processing to external information processing. By taking on the role of “corporate antenna” and generating the business intelligence that matters, IT will, for the first time in history, start to exercise its true strategic role on corporate operations.     

Measuring organizational impacts by integrating competitive intelligence into executive information system

Despite the progress that has been achieved using modern methods of decision support, competitive intelligence is one of the most economical methods of instrument for executive information system with a relatively high rate of effectiveness. The objectives of this study are (1) to investigate the conception of competitive intelligence and the furtherance of competitive intelligence on the executive information system stage; (2) to form an innovative structural equation modelling for executive information system through the perspectives of competitive intelligence; (3) to examine the influences of competitive intelligence on executive information system and organizational performances. Questionnaire survey methodology was applied to receive data from executives in Taiwan. The process, the product of competitive intelligence, and organizational performances were observed as three considerable axles in this investigation. The results reveal testimony that competitive intelligence is positively related to organizational performances, indicating that competitive intelligence does influence the behavior of decision-making both of enterprise executives and the entire organization. The findings of this study disclose that integrating competitive intelligence activities exert a complete function on executive information system for enterprise executives.     

‘Mind the Gap’: diagnosing the relationship between the IT organisation and the rest of the business

The senior management of many organisations are continually disappointed with the benefits and value which they perceive they are getting from their investments in IT. This frustration with IT, and in particular with the IT function, has seen many organisations choose to rid themselves of the ‘problem’ altogether by outsourcing IT activities to a third party. The fact that there is a separate organisational unit responsible for IT activities has led to the emergence of gap between this so called IT organisation and the rest of the business. Culture is often used to explain the gap as if this somehow justifies an organisations inability to effectively leverage IT. However, the premise underlying this article is that culture is an excuse for rather than a cause of ineffective application of IT for business benefits and value. The clear message from this article is that achieving high performance from IT is not just about the IT function's ability to build, maintain and deliver systems, but is an organisational wide activity requiring a strong business/IT partnership. A framework grounded in the research literature, which identifies the elements to manage in creating high performance from IT, is developed and operationalised. The findings of an exploratory survey are presented and research and practitioner implications developed.     

How information-sharing values influence the use of information systems: An investigation in the business intelligence systems context

Although the constituents of information systems (IS) success and their relationships have been well documented in the business value of information technology (IT) and strategic IS literature, our understanding of how information-sharing values affect the relationships among IS success dimensions is limited. In response, we conduct a quantitative study of 146 medium and large firms that have implemented a business intelligence system in their operations. Our results highlight that in the business intelligence systems context information-sharing values are not directly linked to IT-enabled information use, yet they act as significant moderators of information systems success dimensions relationships.     

The contingent effect of personal IT innovativeness and IT self-efficacy on innovative use of complex IT

While organisational investment in complex information technologies (IT) keeps growing, these technologies are often applied at a superficial level and fail to attain the promised benefits. To further extract the value potential of complex IT, this study investigates employee users' innovate with IT (IwIT), which is a post-acceptance behaviour that refers to individual users applying IT in novel ways to support their task performance. Drawing on the information system continuance (ISC) model, we propose a research framework with perceived usefulness (PU) and satisfaction (SAT) as the antecedents of IwIT. We further emphasise the contingent role of personal characteristics and include personal innovativeness with IT (PIIT) and IT self-efficacy (ITSE) as the moderators of the framework. We validate the model with data from users of two complex ITs: enterprise resource planning and business intelligence technologies. The results suggest that positioning personal factors as moderators significantly increases the explanatory power of the ISC model and offers a more comprehensive understanding about IwIT. Specifically, ITSE positively moderates the effect of PU and negatively moderates the effect of SAT on IwIT. The moderating role of PIIT, however, is subject to the specific type of IT of investigation.     

Managing for Better Business-IT Alignment

Business-IT alignment is a complex and multidimensional problem that remains among the top-10 issues for many organizations. IT investment decisions usually fall to CIOs, and often the temptation is to base the decision to buy solely on superior technology. Clearly, organizations can gain a competitive advantage by such investments, but basing them only on the bells and whistles of a particular platform is foolhardy. Any competitive advantage would vanish as soon as the next platform enters the market, and the technological edge that the organization had briefly gained would evaporate. There are four themes in securing B-IT alignment: the role of IT, the business case, IT management intensity, and IT metrics, IT's role is important because not all organizations use IT in the same manner. The next three themes are natural intersections for business and IT investment. The business case is important because it determines how business and IT collaborate to justify the IT investment. The degree of IT management intensity both during and after the actual IT investment determines the organization's commitment to continuous process improvement. Finally, IT metrics are critical to demonstrate to business executives IT investment's value-generating potential     

Realising platform operational agility through information technology–enabled capabilities: A resource‐interdependence perspective

Intensifying competition in recent times requires business‐to‐consumer (B2C) e‐commerce platforms to develop operational agility for competitive advantage. Despite the agreement on an increasing competitive landscape, the process for realising information technology (IT)‐driven operational agility on e‐business platforms has received little scrutiny. Through an investigation of M.com, a leading multisided online retailing platform in China, this study provides a clear thesis of resource interdependencies and IT‐enabled capabilities forged during operational processes to realise operational agility. Our investigation, observations, and reflections from practice substantiate a model of how a platform like M.com cultivates IT‐driven resource‐interdependent competencies and capabilities tantamount to realising operational agility. The model shows how IT enables three capabilities—localised, synergistic, and optimised—which reflect the effective co‐ordination of three resource interdependencies (pooled, sequential, and reciprocal) during M.com's complex operations and processes, and explicates the consequences. For research, we postulate that IT‐enabled operational agility in complex organisational forms, cultivated through the development of resource‐interdependent capabilities to deliver effective sensing and response mechanisms, forms effective strategies for the B2C platform in dynamic marketplace conditions.     

中小企业客户关系管理探讨

客户是所有企业经营活动的终极元素,客户关系管理(CRM)是“以客户为中心”的现代管理理念和IT技术结合的产物,能够提高企业的核心竞争力。本文对中小企CRM进行了较为全面的研究,包括CRM相关理论和中小企业CRM的实施等。     

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.     

Effects of strategic alignment on IS success: the mediation role of IS investment in Korea

The purpose of this research is to develop a comprehensive information system (IS) evaluation model for IS success linked to organizational performance. The primary focus of this research is to investigate the role of IT investment in business values by means of a group survey of about 300 business executives in Korea. We used the contingency theory to discover the mediation effect of IS investment on strategic alignment and IS success. In contrast to previous research, this study expanded the test scope to IS architecture and organizational structure at the operational level. The results from 273 business executives in Korea indicated that strategy integration with IT is positively related to IT investment, and IT investment is a critical antecedent of IS success. Thus, the implications of the findings are that right-directional IT investment has played an important role in the success of IT companies in Korea.     

金融领域智慧运维现状与挑战

为落实国家“十三五”信息化发展规划的要求,更好地满足业务部门需求,金融业信息化建设日益复杂,软硬件的数量与规模成倍增长,这给IT运维人员带来了极大的困难。以人工智能为代表的高新技术为IT运维打开了新局面。该文以IT运维的发展历程为起点,分析了智慧运维在金融信息化建设存在的问题,并对未来发展提出了一些建议。     

Information technology as a facilitator for enhancing dynamic capabilities through knowledge management

Research on dynamic capabilities is an emerging field: it studies the activities of firms during turbulent administrative environments. Current management interests are also focused on knowledge management as a major determinant of business excellence and competitive advantage. Our motivation for this paper was to answer the research question: Does knowledge management (KM) contribute to the enhancement of dynamic capabilities and thus to the enhancement of business excellence and competitive advantage? Our effort examined the use of KM in enhancing dynamic capabilities. Based on results from a survey of major Taiwanese firms, we tested a set of hypotheses with regression models. Empirical findings suggest that management of both endogenous and exogenous knowledge through IT applications significantly enhances dynamic capabilities.     

Creating business value with process mining

Information systems research has a long-standing interest in how organizations gain value through information technology. In this article, we investigate a business process intelligence (BPI) technology that is receiving increasing interest in research and practice: process mining. Process mining uses digital trace data to visualize and measure the performance of business processes in order to inform managerial actions. While process mining has received tremendous uptake in practice, it is unknown how organizations use it to generate business value. We present the results of a multiple case study with key stakeholders from eight internationally operating companies. We identify key features of process mining – data & connectivity, process visualization, and process analytics – and show how they translate into a set of affordances that enable value creation. Specifically, process mining affords (1) perceiving end-to-end process visualizations and performance indicators, (2) sense-making of process-related information, (3) data-driven decision making, and (4) implementing interventions. Value is realized, in turn, in the form of process efficiency, monetary gains, and non-monetary gains, such as customer satisfaction. Our findings have implications for the discourse on IT value creation as we show how process mining constitutes a new class of business intelligence & analytics (BI&A) technology, that enables behavioral visibility and allows organizations to make evidence-based decisions about their business processes.     

Information technology management: the case of the Port of Singapore Authority

The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) used information technology (IT) extensively to create a high-tech port that has become the busiest port in the world. Now corporatised as a commercial port operator, PSA Corporation Ltd employs four key management success factors in managing IT to meet the demands and challenges facing port operators. They are: (1) having a business-driven IT investment; (2) aligning business and IT plans; (3) maintaining a flexible and extensible IT infrastructure; and (4) encouraging IT innovation and creativity. These management success factors are discussed and examples are given to illustrate how they help PSA more effectively leverage IT to streamline operations and sustain its competitive advantage.     

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.