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Article
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Hongyi Mao, Yeming Gong and Ryad Titah

The system of information technology (IT)-oriented resources and processes that organizations need to develop to achieve operational agility remains unclear. The study research…

Abstract

Purpose

The system of information technology (IT)-oriented resources and processes that organizations need to develop to achieve operational agility remains unclear. The study research seeks to extend existing competency literature by incorporating the unique contextual nuances of the relationship between IT capabilities and operational agility.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a multi-method approach, this paper presents a theoretical framework of IT-enabled operations strategy that conceptualizes the role of IT capability in leveraging resources and processes for operational agility. Drawing on operations and information systems research, the authors advance that IT enables operational agility through two dimensions. From the perspective of a resource-based operations strategy, the authors explore the role of IT in resource-leveraging activities by investigating the nonlinear relationship between IT infrastructure and IT reconfiguration. From the perspective of a process-oriented operations strategy, the authors explore the role of IT in process-enhancing activities by investigating the nonlinear relationship between IT coordination and IT integration.

Findings

The study results, based on a sample of 113 organizations in Europe, Asia and North America, show that the interaction between IT infrastructure and IT reconfiguration positively influences operational agility, hence showing complementarity between the two constructs, while the interaction between IT coordination and IT integration negatively affects operational agility, hence indicating substitutability between the two constructs. A series of 62 interviews and a case study of Carrefour were further conducted to validate the field survey's results and to provide a finer grained explanation of the research model and quantitative findings.

Originality/value

The study findings offer an alternative explanation of the inconsistent relationship between IT capability and operational agility.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2006

Anote Chanopas, Donyaprueth Krairit and Do Ba Khang

The purposes of this study are to present an operational definition of information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility and to provide a framework for assessing its…

3601

Abstract

Purpose

The purposes of this study are to present an operational definition of information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility and to provide a framework for assessing its components.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive review of the relevant literature was conducted along with expert interviews to determine what experts considered to be the characteristics of IT infrastructure flexibility. A questionnaire was then developed, and 388 IT personnel with a wide range of experience verified the proposed framework. Factor analysis was conducted to reveal the common aspects of IT infrastructure flexibility.

Findings

The results expand on the four recognized components (connectivity, compatibility, modularity and IT personnel competency) from the literature by revealing five further components (scalability, continuity, rapidity, facility and modernity).

Research limitations/implications

The issue of external validity should be a concern because the samples were collected only from IT personnel in the financial service industry in Thailand. The improvement of the instrument to fit additional contexts is recommended.

Practical implications

Practitioners may now consider their IT infrastructure profiles and determine which components need more attention. Researchers may expand on this paper's results by conducting further investigations with other organizational measurements.

Originality/value

This study is the first to provide empirical evidence from the context of a developing country, which fills a significant gap in the literature. Although this study reports different findings from the literature, the results still complement rather than contradict the existing research framework.

Details

Management Research News, vol. 29 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0140-9174

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2018

Amir Ashrafi and Ahad Zare Ravasan

Market orientation (MO) (intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness) is known as one of the key concepts in marketing literature. Although prior…

1316

Abstract

Purpose

Market orientation (MO) (intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness) is known as one of the key concepts in marketing literature. Although prior research has widely focused on the meaning and application of MO, few attempts have been made to explore how market-oriented firms lead to innovation and market performance and what factors actually moderate this relationship. To fill this gap, the present study aims to explore the relationship between MO, innovation and market performance. This study also attempts to examine the intervening role of IT infrastructure, business analytics (BA) capabilities and market turbulence in the proposed model.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a questionnaire-based survey was undertaken to test the proposed hypotheses. To verify the proposed theoretical model, partial least squares (PLS)/structured equation modeling (SEM) was performed with 114 valid survey data.

Findings

Despite prior studies which postulated innovation performance as the final outcome of MO (Han et al., 1998; Song et al., 2015), this study focused on innovation performance as a mediating outcome which finally leads to market performance. The statistical results approve the putative relationship which means managers would be able to realize the paramount role of innovation as an integral part of achieving higher market performance. In addition, no support was found for the relationship between intelligence generation and responsiveness. This finding shows that not all obtained information can help managers in the decision-making process.

Originality/value

This study aims to enrich literature by developing a conceptual model to test the link between MO, innovation and market performance. The value of this study is to investigate the roles of flexible IT infrastructure, BA capabilities and market turbulence as the potential moderators in the proposed model. The results advance the understanding of the influence of BA capabilities on the link between intelligence dissemination and responsiveness. Findings also show innovation performance as remarkable and deemed valuable capability, leading to higher performance in marketing-related activities, particularly in highly turbulent markets.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 33 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2008

Alan Eardley, Hanifa Shah and Andrea Radman

Extensive literature on business process management suggests that organisations could enhance their overall performance by adopting a process view of business. However, there is a…

2758

Abstract

Purpose

Extensive literature on business process management suggests that organisations could enhance their overall performance by adopting a process view of business. However, there is a lack of empirical research in this field. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the understanding of the process view and process maturity levels in a transition economy and to test the impact of process orientation maturity level on organisational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical investigation combined an exploratory‐confirmatory approach using factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

Findings

The investigation confirms the impact of business process orientation on organisational performance in a transition economy. The link is even stronger than in the original investigation. The results show that business process orientation leads to better non‐financial performance and indirectly to better financial performance.

Practical implications

The research confirms that business process orientation is advantageous for companies since it has a positive influence on organisational performance. The finding that the impact on financial performance is indirect through non‐financial performance suggests that the companies have to take that view of performance into consideration as well.

Originality/value

The paper is valuable for academics and practitioners because the impact of business process orientation on organisational performance has been confirmed for a transitional economy. Its originality is in the measurement of organisational performance, for which a more detailed specification of organisational performance based on the balanced scorecard concept that includes non‐financial performance measures has been used.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2004

Marinos Themistocleous

Enterprise integration is considered to be of great strategic significance in the support of organisations to achieve a competitive advantage. Traditional approaches to…

2408

Abstract

Enterprise integration is considered to be of great strategic significance in the support of organisations to achieve a competitive advantage. Traditional approaches to integration such as electronic data interchange (EDI) have provided a wide range of benefits but have not managed to fully automate and integrate business processes and applications. In addressing many of the limitations of EDI to piece together disparate systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions introduced an alternative approach to integration. Although ERP systems overcome significant integration problems, they have failed to adequately support intra and inter‐organisational integration. There has been a great demand by organisations to overcome integration problems and become more competitive. In this respect, enterprise application integration (EAI) has emerged to address intra and inter‐organisational integration in a more flexible and maintainable way. The normative literature remains limited regarding this emerging area and there is consequently a need for further research and contribution in identifying influential factors for EAI adoption. In addressing this relative void in the literature, this paper proposes a model for the justification and evaluation of EAI adoptions. The proposed model can be used by organisations as a tool for decision making when considering the adoption of EAI.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 February 2010

Ganesh D. Bhatt and Ali F. Emdad

The purpose of this paper is to present a model that tests the relationship between information technology (IT) infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages.

1478

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a model that tests the relationship between information technology (IT) infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages.

Design/methodology/approach

Customer focus is categorized into: customer responsiveness and product/service innovation. The data for the study are obtained from 116 executives from a number of business organizations.

Findings

IT infrastructure is found to have a significant effect on customer responsiveness, but does not show any significant relationship with product/service innovation. IT infrastructure, customer responsiveness, and product/service innovation are found to be significantly related business advantages.

Research limitations/implications

The research is useful for academic scholars and managers as the results of the study show the value of firm‐specific resources such as IT infrastructure in business advantages. The research is also useful as it finds support for the resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm.

Originality/value

The paper exemplifies how IT infrastructure can influence customer focus and thus affects directly and indirectly business advantages.

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2012

María N. Perez‐Arostegui, Jose Benitez‐Amado and Javier Tamayo‐Torres

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of information technology (IT) competence – composed of IT infrastructure, IT technical and managerial knowledge and the…

1501

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of information technology (IT) competence – composed of IT infrastructure, IT technical and managerial knowledge and the integration of IT strategy with firm strategy – on quality performance. Since, according to the resource‐based view, IT alone is not able to sustain a competitive advantage, the moderating effect of leadership practice on this relationship must be analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach

A proposed research model is tested using survey data from a sample of 230 leading Spanish firms. Multiple regression analysis was performed with SPSS package.

Findings

The main findings show that: the existence of an IT competence will have a partial impact on improvement in quality performance; IT technical knowledge in itself does not influence the determination of improvement in quality performance – rather, one needs complementarity with leadership; and the impact of IT dimensions on quality performance will be greater in the presence of leadership practice.

Practical implications

Managers must be aware that the impact of IT on competitive advantage need not be direct; it can have influence through complementarity with other organizational capabilities.

Originality/value

The paper reinforces the need to explore in greater depth the relationship between IT and quality management. This appears to be one of the first papers to simultaneously explore relationships between IT, leadership and quality performance. The paper provides insights on the processes by which IT resources interact with other organizational resources, a topic that has received little attention to date.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 112 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2020

Rishabh Rajan, Sanjay Dhir and Sushil

In the rapidly changing business world, innovation plays a vital role for organizations to gain a competitive advantage. Various factors associated with technology management and…

1899

Abstract

Purpose

In the rapidly changing business world, innovation plays a vital role for organizations to gain a competitive advantage. Various factors associated with technology management and innovations in organizations are diverse in the existing literature. Therefore, there is a need to bridge these gaps in the fitting proportions toward innovations within organizations. The primary objective of this study is to identify, explain and interpret the relationships between the identified technology-related factors that are important for innovations in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a modified total interpretive structural modeling (M-TISM) methodology was used to examine and analyze the various interactions between identified factors for innovations in organizations. However, the argumentation of the links is relatively weak in M-TISM. In order to compensate for this, M-TISM is additionally altered by an “Argumentation-based Modified TISM”. Hence, this research strengthens the modified TISM methodology by incorporating argumentation and total interpretation of the relationships between the identified factors.

Findings

A total of six major factors were identified using a literature review. Results suggest that workforce technical skills, technological infrastructure, technological alliances, technology transfer and top management support have an impact on innovation in organizations. Results also suggest that top management support and the technological infrastructure of an organization have a greater impact on innovation.

Research limitations/implications

For policymakers and practitioners, this study provides a suggestive list of critical factors, which may help to develop policies or guidelines for improving innovation in organizations. Policymakers should focus on technological infrastructure and collaborations to enhance innovations and productions within the organizations. For academicians, this study provides a modified TISM model that shows the impact of technology-related factors on innovations. Future researchers could expand this study by adding a greater number of technological factors and validate this model in other industries.

Originality/value

This study fills a gap in the literature by interpreting the various relationships among the identified factors and innovations. The model has been validated through a panel of seven experts from the Indian automotive industry of multiple organizations. This study is useful in the automobile industry as it determines what and how technology-related factors affect innovations, process improvement and R&D production for organizations.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2016

Ghazal Bargshady, Seyed Mojib Zahraee, Mohammad Ahmadi and Ali Parto

An agile supply chain (ASC) includes companies that are operationally linked to each other, such as supply, design, manufacturing and distribution centers that respond and react…

1294

Abstract

Purpose

An agile supply chain (ASC) includes companies that are operationally linked to each other, such as supply, design, manufacturing and distribution centers that respond and react quickly and effectively to change markets. Information systems and technology have a main role in achieving this objective. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between information integration, information infrastructure flexibility and the ASC in the Iranian power plant industry (IPPI).

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative method was employed in this study. Survey questionnaires were sent to 87 managers in the IPPI to examine the relationship between information integration, information infrastructure flexibility, and the ASC.

Findings

The final results indicated that information sharing and responsibility were strongly related with the ASC; accessibility and connectivity had important relations with the ASC; while the relationships between compatibility and adaptableness as IT flexibility variables and ASC were positive but not significant.

Research limitations/implications

This study focussed on the impact of IT on the IPPI specifically companies that manufacture boilers, electronic control tools, turbines, turbine blades, generators and other power plant-related components.

Practical implications

A new research model was developed to assess the impact of the interrelationships among IT capabilities and the ASC and results should assist managers as well as academicians.

Originality/value

An investigation was carried out through this study based on the current situation in IPPI to empirically examine and evaluate the effect of IT integration and flexibility on ASC. Besides, a very limited number of studies have been done on the implementation of information technology in the IPPI.

Details

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 27 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-038X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 December 2023

Ayesha Masood, Anas A. Salameh, Ashraf Khalil, Qingyu Zhang and Armando Papa

This study investigates the integration of information technology (IT) competencies with organizational inclusion initiatives and its impact on firm performance. It examines the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the integration of information technology (IT) competencies with organizational inclusion initiatives and its impact on firm performance. It examines the role of organizational inclusion in promoting knowledge management capability (KMC) and the moderating effect of approach and avoidance motivation on the relationship between KMC and operational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is grounded in the resource orchestration theory (ROT), which conceptualizes the integration of IT competencies and organizational inclusion. It employs hierarchical regression analysis on data collected from 204 firms and 374 managerial respondents to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

The results indicate that IT competencies enhance the relationship between organizational inclusion and KMC. Additionally, the relationship between KMC and operational performance is weaker when employees exhibit higher levels of avoidance motivation.

Practical implications

This study offers theoretical and managerial insights for integrating IT competencies into organizational inclusion initiatives, providing guidance for organizations seeking to enhance their performance, with a specific focus on the relevance of China as the research context.

Originality/value

This study enriches the scholarly discourse by examining the underexplored integration of IT competencies with organizational inclusion, notably in the context of China. It illuminates the moderating role of motivation in the KMC-operational performance relationship, benefiting both academia and practitioners. Furthermore, this work extends the literature by demonstrating how combining organizational inclusion and IT competencies can enhance workplace KMC, connecting it to internal knowledge resources. Theoretical implications extend beyond organizational inclusion and IT to show the broader application potential of ROT in management and information systems.

Details

Information Technology & People, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-3845

Keywords

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