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A study of Korean service firms found that the level of information technology use is significantly related to the performance of the marketing function. Support was lacking only for the categories of “use of outside database” and “networking between mainframe computer and PCs.” In addition, the form of information technology use is significant in its contribution to the performance of the marketing function. This study supports the argument that benefits of information technology investment can be identified. Furthermore, there is evidence of a time lag in the payoffs from information technology, because the benefits of connectivity have not yet been realized.

Strategic uses of information technology focus on the improvement of customer/client services to increase the value of products, which in turn provides market power, enhancing profits. An external focus on customer/client services leads typically to higher revenues via product‐differentiation strategies, whereas the traditional data processing use of computers has been applied mainly to reduce costs. The leadership and expertise of modern management are necessary to shift emphasis to applications of information technology. Strategic opportunities are in (a) helping buyers, suppliers and consumers to improve the purchasing, supplying, using, maintaining, and replacing products or services, (b) introduction of new products or services based on surplus market information plus information processing capability, and (c) changing the public's ability to use information technology and providing new ways to serve customers.

Information science has differentiated information technology from productive technology, but the common concept of technology remains largely unexplored. A view of technology as a human construction, applied to productive technology, has begun to be developed to comprehend information technology. Information technology is regarded as a form of knowledge concerned with the transformation of signals from one form or medium into another. Analogous, although not identical, concepts of universality can be distinguished for both productive technology and for information technology. The steam engine has been regarded as a universal source of motive power and of the computer as a universal information machine. Universality helps account for the wide adoption of the steam engine and the computer. For both forms of technology, theoretical considerations related to universality and working constructions embodying universality have, in contrasting ways, been partly separate developments. Further possibilities offered by a view of information technologies as human constructions are indicated.

The title of this paper may seem somewhat unusual, as it poses the question, what is a ‘key technology’, and what gaps are being chased? A recurring theme in research such as this is the need to define words or concepts. One of the first tasks was to define ‘key technology’. To arrive at a helpful definition, the whole subject of ‘technology’ was looked at in some depth.

Information technology can play a strategic role at micro as well as at macro — organizational and national‐levels. Developed countries have extensively benefitted from this technology at both levels. Can developing countries duplicate this experience with the technology and thereby foster healthy economic environment within their boundaries and strengthen their abilities to compete in the global markets? This paper addresses this issue. The paper evaluates the prevalent applications of information technology in developing countries, deliberates the potential of the technology, and presents a framework for realizing this potential. The framework proposes strategies to assure smooth and accelerated diffusion of technology in organizations. Importantly, the framework points out the factors, unique to developing countries, that must be addressed in technology planning and implementation. Ignoring these factors may result in failed systems and continued technological disadvantage.

Considers the factors hindering the transfer of information technology and subsequent automation of information management systems in developing countries. The same inhibiting factors which face conventional technology transfer, are identified for information technology transfer. Highlights the failure of policy makers in the Third World to grasp the importance of information and to plan for its collection and management: criticizes the theory of appropriate technology as seeming to aid instead of potential aiding agencies. Stresses the need for positive policies towards information technology in both aiding agencies and recipient governments and identifies the most common obstacles hindering introduction and management of information technology in developing countries.

The evolution of electronic information technologies in a Midwest state in the USA are discussed and this evolution is compared to national trends for processing information. Information management technologies are now in the third stage of evolution. Over the next five years, the technology for handling information will fully integrate voice, data, and video technologies. This integration has profound implications for how organizations manage its enactment and how organizations will adapt to their internal and external environments. In order to manage these enactments and adaptations, a new way of planning is required. Traditional “bottom up” and “top down” planning methodologies must be integrated into a planning method that defines the knit between information system architectures and resources with corporate policies and business plans. The article presents a model of this integrated planning approach for practitioners and policy makers who are responsible for designing organizational systems.

For this second column in the IT I‐V (information technology interview) series, we interview academic chief information officers. The CIOs interviewed for this column use a wide range of titles, and half of them oversee libraries as part of their duties. We interviewed them to find out what challenges they believe libraries are experiencing that could be assisted by technology, and how they believe libraries and information technologists should be working together on those challenges. Some of the questions were: “What challenges do you see academic libraries experiencing now and in the near future that could be assisted by information technology?,” “What are some library challenges for which technology will not help?,” and “What do you see as the ideal relationship between information technology offices and the library on an academic campus?”

The purpose is to indicate the potential impact, be it positive or negative, of information technology on the effective management of the logistics function. This is achieved by defining the concepts of logistics, management, information and technology to create a base of understanding. A framework is then suggested to guide the integration of information technology effectively into the logistic function. In conclusion the important aspect of building commitment as a key success factor in the effective management of information technology in logistics is examined.

Technology can influence the nature of work performed by information systems and information technology professionals. This study aims to identify technologies and tasks performed by information systems and information technology professionals in a range of business organisations in Singapore. The study examines what technologies will become increasingly important in the business organizations as advances in information technology affect the work performed by information systems professionals. A list of information systems tasks and relationships between the tasks and technologies will be examined. The role of information systems and information technology professionals in relation to the tasks performed will also be discussed.