Summary The article written by Viktor Arvidsson, Jonny Halmstrom and Kalle Lyytinen explains to the reader how Information systems (IS) is so important to companies and then goes into detail on explaining the critical challenge within strategic IS implementation of how to successfully infuse strategic change into the company. They go onto and use the case study of the Swedish paper mill (paper mill) company, which is operated by PaperPack and a business group of PaperCo., to explain to the reader how cognitive entrenchment and associated fixity influenced the way they dealt with the new system they were implementing. The authors explain that although technically the implementation was a success for the paper mill company, …show more content…
This strategy-as-practice making puts a big emphasis on the practice of strategizing and the practices used to justify and legitimize the future state and also the actions they take to achieve this end. This type of strategy backs the idea the IT only matters when it is incorporated into local practices. This IS strategy looks for the potential value IT has and then reconfigures the actual role of IT within the organizations and once this is done then value of IT is recognized clearly. The authors go into detail on how the Papermill company operates from Sales all the way to shipping and how they have 3 different organizations and 5 different work units in all. They collected various data in their case study and after analyzing the data they came to the baffling conclusion that despite the new Mill Execution system (MES) being implemented, that was meant to change the practices, in fact remained almost the same. The authors then go into great detail and explained the use of their multi-dimensional view of the IS strategy process, which is used to extend the literature on IS strategy, and stresses the need to really understand the strategy implementation as an rooted process that the actors respond, make sense of and shape based on all the practices they belong to. The author stresses that there is a need for future research and longitudinal studies of the IS strategy-as-practice and hopes that
There has been a large amount of research into what strategy is, since Michael Porter’s perennial work in the 1980s. Studies done on the execution of strategy have been far less numerous. However, there is one major understanding about the execution of strategy. The execution of strategy is a vital part of success in business. A summary of many myths surrounding various strategic executions will be outlined, along with their subsequent analyses.
McKeen, James D; Smith, Heather (2012). IT strategy: Issues and practices (2nd ed.). Boston: Prentice Hall. Kindle Edition.
The literature research reviewed in this paper attempts to address the topic of strategy implementation. The paper tries to establish an academic case for previously researched material on this subject by reflecting on the diverse views published in the literature. The different views expressed combine to formulate research to establish relevance as well as importance in this step of the Strategic Management Process. In order to identify and discuss existing data and developments in strategy implementation, over twelve articles in scholarly academic journals containing “strategy implementation” or “strategy execution” as the key words were
This paper begins with a summary view to develop the concept of strategy and why its implementation is difficult. The following sections then cover the core discussion of this paper to support the aforementioned
Many organizations are working with large amounts of data and important information that can be detrimental to the survival of their business, and organizations typically rely on information systems to manage and carry out their operations. Information systems can be described as an integrated set of components used for storing, collecting and processing data for providing information, digital products and knowledge (IMGI, 2006). For this paper, the strategic analysis decisions along with what we may need to watch out for pertaining URL for the IT field is discussed, along with the impact that these decisions will have on the company. Furthermore, the potential changes in IT related to innovation and organizational process is also reviewed,
McKeen, J. and Heather, S. (2011) IT Strategy - Issues and Practices. 2nd Edition. ISBN-10: 0132145669. Boston: Prentice Hall.
Q:Large numbers of companies are using their information systems as a strategic tool to improve their competitive advantage. Choose one of these companies (Toyota or Wal-Mart) and prepare an essay of 1500 words on: a) how information systems are used strategically by the company to gain a competitive advantage b) discuss if it is possible for the company to maintain this advantage in the future.
The strategy functions as a problem-solving tool of members’ performance towards IT/IS in current organizational culture. Some of the problems involve lack of comprehension by members of their duties in IT/IS management and innovation, also non-optimal implementation of IT/IS infrastructures. Accordingly, it is essential for organization leaders to develop enhanced communication with their members by support from adequate IT system,
‘Strategic Management’ is a very complex term as many eminent researchers and scholars have had different views and conclusions on strategy. According to White (2004), “Strategic Management involves both systematically developing an idea together with its implications and testing the empirical validity & usefulness of that idea against the real world.” Thus strategy is not only about planning for future but also about confirming the validity of the hypothesis considered and implementing it successfully. Strategy formation may take various forms such as implicit, explicit or emergent. Implicit strategy is a strategy formed by intuitions of an individual. As per implicit strategists, strategic management is about reading the environment
Strategy was shaped from the top but also from every person in the company as she adapted the deliberate strategy to her work. The existence of an emergent strategy led to the question of how top management could influence it (through, among other tools, MCS). The concepts of interactive and boundary systems (Simons 1995)—with the purpose of managing these ‘‘unexpected’’ decisions—captured this new role for MCS. If day-to-day actions modify top management deliberate strategy, then why should top management go all the way to formulating it? The answer to this question led to the next step in the evolution of our understanding of the strategic process. Research suggested that top management does not formulate a deliberate strategy that is then randomly mixed with the emergent strategy. Rather, top management knows that the deliberate strategy is never implemented; instead of trying to force it, top management focuses on defining the guidelines that shape the emergent strategy (Burgelman 2002). The process of setting up these guidelines to induce certain strategic behavior is captured in the idea of intended strategic actions (lower left quadrant). These guidelines reflect top management’s objectives rather than prescribe what the organization should do. This idea was further refined through the observation that emergent strategy included two very different types of outcomes. Often emergent strategy evolved
Strategy is analyzing the present situation and changing it if necessary. Incorporated in this is finding out what one 's resources are or what they should be.
A strategy, according to Robbins and Barnwell (2002, p. 139) is “the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary to achieve the organisation’s goals”.
Establishment and execution of a management strategy are the heart and soul of an organization. This strategic management is what determines the company of either successful or fail. Coulter (2002, p. 5) stated that an organization that applies strategic management concepts and techniques have higher level of performance. However, implementation of this strategy is a big challenge. Even a good strategy can be ineffective in its execution. A poor strategy, though always lead to ineffectiveness, can sometimes be effective. Nonetheless, whether or not the implementation of these strategies is effective, it has always give impacts on the involved organization.
Chandler (1962) defined strategy as “The determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources for carrying out these goals”. Strategy is related to long-term goals, policies and major issues of the business which determines the success or failure of the organisation. In simple words, strategy is something which accomplishes the firm’s goals. Strategy is about being different from competitors by performing better (Magretta, 2002). A strategy of an organisation should not be changed very often and should be planned for long-term because strategy needs a period of consolidation. Businesses follow strategy to have a competitive advantage over the other firms in the market.