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This paper investigates the ownership and location strategies as contingency factors, which affect the relationship between SMEs’ open innovation activities and innovation performance in the context of emerging economies. Drawing from the corporate strategy and open innovation literature, we argued that SMEs with state and foreign ownership can more effectively capture economic rents from open innovation in a weak intellectual-property-rights regime. Meanwhile, the subnational environments in which SMEs locate their businesses is also crucial for them to capture value from open innovation. Using the data of 1050 SMEs in China, we found that state ownership positively and significantly moderates the relationship between openness and innovative performance, while foreign ownership partially supports the same effect. By disentangling the pro-business environment and the market development, we found that for SMEs that are located in a region with a stronger pro-business environment and a higher level of market development, open innovation can bring more value than it does for those located in regions with lower levels of those factors. Overall, this paper also contributes to our understanding of the complementary relationships between ownership and location strategies and open innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a contingency model that examines the external links between the business environment and supply chain strategies, and the internal links between supply chain strategies and supplier management practices. The research model theorizes that flexibility and low-cost oriented supply chain strategies should fit with the underlying business environments, and, in turn, supplier management practices (i.e., long-term relationships, supplier assessment, and integration) should fit with the chosen supply chain strategies. The dataset to test the research model was drawn from a survey of managers from 232 Australian manufacturing firms, and comparative path analyses were employed to assess the fit among different business environments, supply chain strategies, and supply chain practices. The findings show that dynamic environment has a better fit with flexibility strategy than low-cost strategy, while competitive environment surprisingly does not show a stronger fit to low-cost strategy than flexibility strategy. Additionally, the results show that while supplier assessment is important for both flexibility and low-cost oriented strategies, long-term relationship and logistics integration are more important for flexibility strategy than for low-cost strategy. The implications for theory and practice are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand the underlying mechanisms by which relational ties influence firm innovation. Companies in China rely much on relational ties to implement business strategies. Combining social network theory with dynamic capability perspective, we build a model that analyzes the direct and indirect impact of relational ties (business ties and service ties) on innovation performance through supply chain adaptability. We further analyze that technological turbulence and dysfunctional competition influence the relationships between relational ties and supply chain adaptability. We test these relationships using data collected from 300 manufacturers in China. The results show that service ties plays a relatively more important role than business ties in enhancing innovation performance directly. Interactions between business ties and service ties significantly influence innovation performance. Moreover, our results demonstrate that supply chain adaptability fully mediates the relationship between business ties and innovation performance but partially mediates the relationship between service ties and innovation performance. Our results show that technological turbulence positively moderates the relationships between business/service ties and supply chain adaptability. In addition, dysfunctional competition negatively moderates the relationship between business ties and supply chain adaptability. Overall, our findings contribute to the understanding of the roles of relational ties in supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on new institutional economics and the innovation literature, this paper examines how subnational institutions can impact corporate research and development (R&D) investment in emerging economies. The study further investigates a key contingency of this institutional effect: a firm's country/ownership identity. Using China's pharmaceutical sector as the empirical context, we find that the quality of subnational institutions, such as the degree of government deregulation and the effectiveness of local contracting institutions, has a significantly positive impact on corporate R&D intensity. Moreover, this institutional effect is more salient in indigenous firms and international joint ventures than in wholly owned foreign subsidiaries. This study serves to shed light on future research on how multifaceted subnational institutions shape innovation activities across different types of business organizations in emerging economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discursive strategy is important in engaging users when an organization-wide strategic change, such as an enterprise system (ES), is introduced. Although some information system (IS) studies have suggested the use of discursive framing, little is known about how such framing is conducted. Hence, our study aims to conceptualize discursive framing strategies by taking into account user diversity. A qualitative case study of China's largest food conglomerate, with its diversified subsidiaries, is presented. Specifically, the pre-implementation phase of an ES implementation is examined. Based on a spatiotemporal analysis of the IS context that could give rise to user diversity, this paper makes two contributions. It addresses a gap in the literature by conceptualizing discursive framing strategies in managing user diversity during ES pre-implementation and it extends organizational discourse analysis through a spatiotemporal analysis of users’ IS context. We conclude with guidelines for managers to anticipate and overcome potential conflicts, and offer suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterprise ontologies (EOs), introduced in the mid 1990s, were expected to have a significant impact on enterprise computing, especially integration. However, despite a great deal of academic research on EOs, the actual use of EOs in real-life integration and planning projects is almost nonexisting. This paper describes an approach to build and use EOs for information system (IS) planning and integration projects with particular focus on real-life eBusiness applications. The approach is based on firsthand practical insights gained through construction and use of an IS planning and integration environment that needs to capture business processes, enterprise applications, integration technologies, and computer-communication platforms. The planning model with the aforementioned information is based on an EO and is populated by a set of intelligent advisors while they guide the users through various stages of the planning process. This ontology has been used to support over 40 real-life business scenarios in the telecom, manufacturing, financial services, retail, healthcare, and insurance industries. The practical contribution of this paper is that it connects ontologies to the practice of IS planning and integration, links ontologies to decisions such as enterprise application selection, and provides tools for automatically creating and maintaining ontology repositories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many software projects fail, whether failure is measured in terms of budget, schedule, or some other requirement. The causes of such failures are many, but are not always easily recognized. This is not the least due to the human dimension of corporate activities, as spurious or misdiagnosed issues in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects can take on a life of their own and become a magnet for company politics. This paper reports an industrial case in which the senior management attempted to deal with a troubled ERP implementation (SAP R/3) in an international fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company during 2001 and 2002. This paper reflects this dimension as it uses original emails and PowerPoint slides to recount a number of representative episodes in a troubled but ultimately successful project. At the heart of this success is the realization that whereas it can be difficult and time-consuming to do root-cause analyses, it is relatively simple to identify problem owners. In this case, the senior management without IT backgrounds turned around a failing project by reorganizing the team structure according to process areas so that issues in each process area had one problem owner. We summarize the management's actions into a troubleshooting framework, and in addition, suggest three actions for rescuing troubled projects: keep the project manager but narrow down the manager's scope of responsibility to one or two process areas; assign the right people to be responsible for other process areas; and have the General Manager chair the ERP meetings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the upper echelon theory, this paper studies the relationship between the individual characteristics of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and organizational innovative usage of information technology (IT) by examining both the CIO's demographic characteristics and personality traits. Survey results from 89 CIOs strongly support our proposition. A CIO's personality traits of openness and extraversion and CIO's demographic characteristics of educational level have strong impact on the organizational innovative usage of IT even after controlling for organizational variables such as the organization's business strategy, outsourcing of IT operations, IT department age, and IT budget relative to revenue. This paper contributes to the age-old debate on whether managers matter in deciding an organization's strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research argues that alignment between business and information systems (IS) strategies enhances organizational performance. However, factors affecting alignment have received relatively little empirical attention. Moreover, IS strategic alignment is assumed to facilitate the performance of all organizations, regardless of type or business strategy. By using two studies of business firms and academic institutions, this paper: 1) develops and tests a model relating alignment, its antecedents, and its consequences and 2) examines differences in these relationships across organizational types and strategies. Findings indicate that alignment depends on shared domain knowledge and prior IS success, and also support the expected positive impact of alignment on organizational performance. Differences across Prospector, Analyzer, and Defender business strategies are examined. A key research contribution is the empirical demonstration that the importance of alignment, as well as the mechanisms used to attain alignment, vary by business strategy and industry. In past alignment studies, controlling for industry has not been uncommon. The findings suggest that future research studies should also control for business strategy. The article also empirically demonstrates that past implementation success influences alignment. In addition, it highlights the influence of a process variable, strategic planning, on the development of shared knowledge and, consequently, on alignment. This paper examines strategic issues related to the management of technology. Data from multiple surveys are used to test the extent to which strategic planning, shared business-IS knowledge, prior IS success, and other variables consistently enhance IS alignment. The study also provides empirical support for the popular argument that IS alignment improves organizational performance. It extends the current literature by examining the extent to which these findings hold across firm strategies and industries. The authors argue that not all firms are equally well served by allocating scarce resources to improve IS alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business process reengineering (BPR) has made a significant impact on managers and academics. Despite the rhetoric surrounding BPR, articulated mechanisms, which support reasoning on the effect of the redesign activities to the performance of the business model, are still emerging. This paper describes an attempt to build and operate such a reasoning mechanism as a novel supplement to performance-driven change (PDC) exercises. This new approach proposes the utilization of the fuzzy causal characteristics of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) as the underlying methodology in order to generate a hierarchical and dynamic network of interconnected performance indicators. By using FCMS, the proposed mechanism alms at simulating the operational efficiency of complex process models with imprecise relationships to quantify the impact of performance-driven reengineering activities. This research also establishes generic maps that supplement the strategic planning and business analysis phases of typical redesign projects in order to Implement the integration of hierarchical FCMs Into PDC activities. Finally, this paper discusses experiments with the proposed mechanism and comments on its usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many U.S. government agencies and their contractors have subscribed to using the prescriptive metric of technology readiness level (TRL) as a measure of maturity of an individual technology, with a view toward operational use in a system context. A comprehensive set of concerns becomes relevant when this metric is abstracted from an individual technology to a system context, which may involve interplay among multiple technologies that are integrated through a system development life cycle. This paper proposes a system-focused approach for managing system development and making effective and efficient decisions during this life cycle. A system readiness level (SRL) index that incorporates both the current TRL scale and the concept of an integration readiness level is presented with methods for determining current and future readiness of a system. Using techniques in evolutionary algorithms, the SRL index is optimized based on resource allocation to provide a decision support approach that enhances managerial capabilities in the system's development life cycle. The optimization model for the SRL is then executed with a case example and resource constraints of 75%, 60%, 45%, 30%, and 15% to demonstrate how it can be used to make strategic planning decisions in the system's development life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many organizations have very limited information about the supply networks in which they are involved. For the purpose of planning business strategies, tracing products, and assuring product quality, organizations are eager to know their entire supply networks, i.e., who are their suppliers' suppliers and who are their buyers' buyers. However, because an organization's higher-tier suppliers and buyers are not directly connected to the organization, it is difficult for the organization to obtain the information about all entities and their relationships in its supply networks. This paper aims at providing an innovative solution for organizations to discover their supply networks. We first propose a new taxonomy of supply networks, which provides a necessary and systematic framework for mapping supply networks based on the mapping purpose and available information. We then develop a methodology for discovering and mapping supply networks by means of radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled capture and sharing of the information about the movement of products throughout supply networks. This research solves a real-world supply chain management problem of what supply networks can be discovered using RFID and Internet technologies and how to discover them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-business successes in traditional organizations have prompted much interest among researchers in many disciplines such as strategic management, information systems, and economics. However, the complexity of e-business implementation process has been overlooked, and it remains unclear. This paper investigates causal relationships among strategic initiative, information technology (IT)-related resources, and e-business capabilities; and their roles in the implementation process. From the resource-based view (RBV) of a firm and e-business strategic stand-point, we propose a model of e-business implementation process. We divide the process into four stages, and 11 hypotheses are developed in seeking relationships among six proposed constructs. Drawing from a sample of 56 enterprises within Hubei Province in China, we provide theoretical support for a critical causal link from e-business strategic initiatives to utilization of IT-related resources, and consequently, creating distinctive e-business capabilities. We find that information sharing capabilities are intermediate and transferable forces that help translating IT-related organizational resources into the collaborative process capabilities. The causal relationships expand our understanding of the dynamics of organizational transformation enabled by the Internet. The practical implications offer managers guidelines to the roles played by strategy, resource, and capabilities for e-business success. It helps in recognizing the value of their potential contributions to the organization as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful utilization of the firm's information technology (IT) investments continues to be a difficult but important task for senior business and information systems managers. This paper focuses on one potentially important determinant of IT investment outcomes—integration of business and IT planning. Integration is examined using three kinds of participation: business managers' participation in IT planning, IT managers' participation in business planning, and top managers' participation in IT resource allocation. Based on considerations of knowledge sharing and commitment, a theoretical model linking these three aspects to three potential consequences—quality of IT plans, IT project problems, and IT-based organization performance—and two antecedents—top managers' perception of IT importance and environmental heterogeneity—is developed. The model is tested using data collected through a survey of 274 chief information officer (CIO) respondents. Results of structural equation modeling analysis support 12 of the 15 hypotheses. Surprisingly, top managers' participation in resource allocation had a stronger association with IT-based organizational performance than either quality of IT plans or the absence of IT project problems. This implies that the role of IT planning and alignment might be weakened when investments reflect top managements' selection. Implications of the study for practice and future research are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of knowledge management (KM) efforts is well recognized in the popular and academic press. However, KM efforts do not always lead to improved firm performance. This paper argues that different kinds of KM efforts may be appropriate for firms pursuing different business strategies, and the impact of a KM effort on firm performance would depend on whether the effort is aligned with the firm's business strategy. Prior literature on organizational learning, KM, and business strategy is used to develop these arguments, and also to identify the nature of KM efforts that would be most appropriate for firms pursuing Defender, Analyzer, and Prospector business strategies. An event study is used to evaluate the stock market reaction to a firm's public announcement of the KM effort. The empirical results, based on 103 KM announcements from 1995 to 2002, are consistent with the theory-based expectations, showing alignment between the KM effort and business strategy to be positively associated with impact on firm value. Some of the implications of these results for practice and future research are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agility has been widely accepted in manufacturing industry as a new competitive concept. However, how to develop a manufacturing strategy based around agility is not fully understood. This paper proposes a framework for the implementation of agility as a manufacturing strategy and describes the development and analysis of a numerical taxonomy of agility strategies using the framework. The taxonomy was developed with cluster analysis based on the relative importance attached to seven agility capabilities by a number of U.K. manufacturing companies. Three distinct clusters of strategy groups were observed across the industry studied: Quick, Responsive and Proactive Players. Quick Players are oriented towards a strong customer focus and quickness. They do not emphasize flexibility and responsiveness to changes and they give low priority to proactiveness and partnership. Responsive Players are preoccupied with flexibility and responsiveness to changes. They do not emphasize proactiveness and partnerships and they attach low importance to quickness. Proactive Players are characterized by high priorities on proactiveness and customer focus, high values attached to all capabilities, and high importance given to partnerships. The underlying dimensions of agile capabilities along which the three strategy groups differ were investigated based on factor analysis and canonical discriminant analysis. Changes/uncertainties in the business environment experienced by members of different strategic groups were compared, and ‘manufacturing strategy choices,’ in terms of manufacturing practices for achieving agility, employed by members of different strategic groups were studied. Business characteristics and typical cases for each strategy group were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information system (IS) leadership is a critical area for many organizations because of their increasing dependence on ISs both for operational stability and for enablement of process innovation and business strategy. IS Leadership is distinctive from leadership in general because the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is expected to combine IS technical skills with an in-depth understanding of the organization across all functions from operational to strategic. Thus, unique leadership challenges arise due to the technology/business interface. The breadth of the IS Leadership role implies that IS Leadership research needs to cover a wide range of topics concerning the role and characteristics of the CIO, the CIO's interface with the top management team, and the CIO's organizational impact. This essay discusses the distinctive aspects of IS Leadership, identifies the dominant themes in prior IS Leadership research, and introduces five papers on IS Leadership in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key issue in enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation is how to find a match between the ERP system and an organization's business processes by appropriately customizing both the system and the organization. In this paper, we advance a framework for supporting management decision-making about customization choices and the capabilities required to accomplish them. In this framework, we identify various customization possibilities for business processes as well as ERP systems. We also identify technical and process change capabilities required for system and process customization. Combining customization options with change capabilities, we present a useful way for managers to identify feasible customization options for their particular organization. Such a framework also helps managers to recognize the gap between desired customization options and change capabilities. A case study is used to illustrate the application of the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business plan, psychological factors, and operational issues are three major reasons that Internet-based businesses fail. This paper considers why operational concerns occur and illustrates how they can be avoided, by demonstrating the application of techniques that were pioneered in manufacturing automation and service management. The use of process mapping and failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) can assist the development of e-commerce business processes in a manner similar to the way these tools have proven valuable in manufacturing. The use and value of process mapping and FMEA are demonstrated through the development of an online auction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]