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Previous studies have shown that lack of information can provide an obstacle to firms’ endeavour to be competitive in oversea markets. This study provides empirical data that examine how managers of internationalising UK high‐technology firms perceive the usefulness of overseas market information, their levels of utilisation, plus perceptions of the types of data required. Findings are based on a postal survey of winners of the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement; also reported are selected findings from a series of in‐depth interviews. This paper sets out to establish whether statistical differences exist between two sub‐samples identified by their overseas market expansion strategies: those that concentrate on key markets as opposed to those that spread sales over a number of markets. Results from follow‐up interviews provide in‐depth data to support the quantitative findings.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly being used in the home environment, making it a very important and interesting research topic for communication scientists. Future developments will influence the way and the extent to which ICT will be used in the home environment and therefore the way people look for information, communicate, make use of entertainment services and carry out transactions. However, it is still very difficult to make meaningful and accurate forecasts with regard to the possible future use and acceptance of ICT in people’s homes. Important reasons are, for example, that more and more market parties are involved in the development of innovative ICT products and services. This makes developments more complex and the outcomes more uncertain. Furthermore, consumers play an important role in the development of new ICT‐based information, communication, transaction and entertainment services. Since a precise prediction of the possible use of ICT in domestic environments in 2010 is hard to make, other methods of futures research must be used. Combining technological forecasting with scenario thinking is such a research method, whereon, technological forecasting shows the major trends in the specific technology domain, while scenarios cover the possible future worlds. By giving end‐users a central place in these scenarios, the diversity of the use and acceptance of innovative products and services is captured. Thus, the addition of scenarios to the technology trends gives insight into the possibilities (and impossibilities) of new ICT‐technologies and the way they may be used in the home environment.

A strategy is a plan or method for achieving a set of goals. Sounds simple enough, but when it comes to information technology (IT), that’s not always the case. Why? Because the executives who approve strategic IT plans may not understand the scope and content they provide. The purpose of this article is to demystify IT strategic plans by identifying some basic guidelines for developing the content and providing appropriate questions to challenge the content once it is created.

Driven by cost reduction and improved quality of service, some firms have adopted shared services as a governance model to manage their staff functions. This paper seeks to explore this behavior using the resource‐based view.

The case of an information technology (IT) unit of a multinational manufacturing firm is presented to provide insight into the issues involved when adopting and migrating an IT resource system to a shared services model. The analysis is extended using conceptual models of the relevant sub‐systems developed through the soft systems methodology (SSM), using a set of root level definitions that are intended to express the transformation to a shared services model.

The results suggest that the major changes involved when transitioning to shared services are process and communication related. Aligning the team members and gaining their commitment are necessary for success.

The case analysis and SSM models provide some insight into the important issues to be considered when moving to a shared services model.

With the growing practice of shared services, it is important to understand how a shared services model fits successfully into the overall business strategy of the firm. This study will spawn further research into the evaluation and control techniques for the different types of IT capabilities under a shared services model.

Information technology (IT) applications in the hotel industry have largely been devoted to the handling of the routine operational problems that crop up while running a hotel. Previously, the hotel industry has been criticised as reluctant to make full use of IT. This paper reports and analyses the findings of a recent survey on IT applications in Hong Kong hotels.

Through personal interviews with 21 managers of hotel electronic data processing/management information systems (EDP/MIS) in 2003, different technical and behavioural aspects of IT were examined.

Compared with a similar study performed in 1997, the empirical findings in 2003 showed that IT was used not merely to replace the existing paper system but also to improve customer services and to enhance operational effectiveness. Unfortunately, the empirical findings also indicated that hotel decision makers did not seem to realise the importance of IT for the purpose of developing business strategies and, therefore, IT was generally not used in hotels for high‐level business decision‐making.

A limitation of this study was the fairly low participation rate of hotel managers.

The study does offer useful insights for hoteliers to realistically analyse the potential benefits of IT applications to their business.

This paper will contribute to help raise the awareness of IT involvement at all levels of hotel business processes, and facilitate hoteliers to proactively incorporate IT into their efforts to remain competitive in the industry.

This paper proposes a value configuration approach for managing information technology in enterprises.

This conceptual research paper is concerned with industrial management and data systems from the perspective of value configurations. The value configuration approach consists of value shop, vale chain and value network.

The contingent approach to information technology management can be applied to value configurations.

Traditionally, data systems in industrial management have been supporting value chains. Recently, alternative value configurations have emerged. Specifically, the value shop and the value network are alternative value configurations. This paper makes an important contribution to insights into information systems depending on value configurations. The final section of this paper suggests that industrial management might expand from value chain management to value shop management, as firms become electronic businesses.

To examine the impact of organizational learning factors (training available, technical expertise, and knowledge level) and knowledge management processes (knowledge acquisition, knowledge application, and knowledge sharing) on e‐business systems adoption level.

The data from a survey of 202 IS executives in Taiwan were used empirically to test the proposed research model. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural equation modelling technique was used to evaluate the research model.

The analytical results showed that organizational learning factors and knowledge management processes are closely related to the level of e‐business systems adoption. However, knowledge sharing did not significantly affect e‐business systems adoption level.

Future studies could seek an enhanced understanding of the impacts on the level of e‐business adoption of the organizational learning and knowledge management factors investigated in this paper through structured interviews and case studies of IS executives dealing with ongoing or recently completed e‐business systems projects.

Owner/managers considering e‐business systems adoption would be best to focus on both social and technical factors, and their interaction within and beyond the organization, rather than focusing exclusively on technological considerations.

This paper has implications for e‐business managers or policy‐makers in formulating policies and targeting appropriate organizational capabilities to ensure effective adoption of e‐business systems.

This paper seeks to examine the impact of information technology (IT) on the competitive advantages of third‐party logistics (3PL) firms in China.

A questionnaire‐based mail survey was conducted in mainland China. Spline regressions were used to model the relationship between IT and competitive advantages.

This study found that IT could significantly influence a firm's competitive advantage, and the effects are nonlinear.

The modeled relationship between IT and competitive advantages may not hold in different cultural environments and industrial settings. The sample size was small.

A higher IT focus may improve a firm's competitive advantage. To achieve competitive advantages efficiently, it is essential to integrate IT, align IT strategy and business strategy, obtain IT‐related management skills, and achieve IT competency. 3PL managers can expect competitive advantages from their investments in IT to begin showing up when the deployment of IT is higher than the average relative to competitors.

This paper is a pioneering study that investigates the relationship between IT and competitive advantages in 3PL firms; is a pioneering study on IT and its impact on competitive advantages in China's 3PL firms; and provides valuable guidance and insights for 3PL managers to improve competitive advantages using information technology.