Corporate Information Strategy and Management

Abstract

In today’s competitive world of business, everyone is adopting new

strategy and revisiting their strategy to stay ahead of their competitors. As

information technology has made advancement at many levels, its use at

business level may not be surprising but has varying effects. Some

companies that have integrated their strategy with information technology

have achieved their objectives at their desired level whereas some have

failed in their attempt to do so. This research aims to provide the impact of

IT integrated corporate strategy in the business organizations and to assess

its role during the difficult times recession.

Introduction

The scenario in the world of business is changing every now and then

with new entrants in the market making sincere attempts to make it to the

top. Any organization either to survive or compete in the industry needs to

re-formulate its strategy keeping in view the market condition and rivals.

According to Grant (Bowman, E.H and Helfat, C.E., 2001) business strategy

deals with the ways in which a single business firm or an individual business

unit of a larger firm competes within a particular industry market whereas

corporate strategy deals with the ways in which a corporation manages a

set of business together. Chew E.K. and Gottschalk, P. (2009) states that

strategy is about creating a competitively differentiated position to win

customers in the marketplace. Yannis and Treacy (1986) mentioned that

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senior executives, strategic planners and information system managers are

nowadays formulating policies to include information technology to achieve

competitive advantage in the industry market. The technology offers great

array of capabilities at lower costs that has motivated the companies to

utilize the technology for better decision making process. Information

technology is useful in trying to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of

current organization and out maneuver the others in the competition. The

components of corporate strategy, which include internal, competitive and

business portfolio strategy, are affected by information technology that

improves the efficiency of the firm’s operation. It has become necessary in

today’s competitive climate for every business organization to utilize the

information technology in its operations to achieve the objectives in

scheduled time. Therefore the present study intends to find the importance

of information technology as part of corporate strategy and its usefulness to

the management and also to evaluate its impact during the turbulent times

of recession when most of the companies were going bankrupt and filing for

liquidation.

Research Question

The present study is research on the importance of information

technology in corporate organizations and management in taking decisions

with regard to achieving the objectives through various literature reviews.

It is intended to study the impact of IT strategy in development of

company’s internal strategy and how it is useful in attaining its goals and

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objectives. Therefore, a short study will be carried out in one of the

organizations to study its corporate information strategy and how it is

effective in taking managerial decision making process.

Review of literature

Arquilla and Borer (2007, p.4) relating information strategy to history

mentioned that the first giant leap came with electrical telegraph that

allowed information to move at the speed which was unheard at that time.

And presently, Information Technology (IT) is referred to as wildcard in

business by Applegate et al (2008, p.1), a source of opportunity and

uncertainty, of advantage and risk. It is further stated that the evolution of

technology, work and workforce over the past 40 years has dramatically

influenced the concept of organizations and the industries and IT is not

considered as a back office transactions tool, it has become a strategic part

of businesses enabling the redefinition of markets and industries and

strategies and designs of firm competing within the them. It is further

stated that ability to achieve alignment among the environment, strategy

and capabilities is central to the creation of successful business model that

delivers value to all stakeholders. Casidy (Chew and Gottschalk, 2009, p.76)

opines that true strategic alignment is achieved when IS/IT strategy is

developed concurrently with business strategy so that it ensures that all IS /

IT activities provide optimal support for the business goals, objectives and

initiatives. It is further stated that IS/IT strategy is a combined strategy

including business context and business direction, strategies like mission,

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vision, objectives, knowledge strategy, applications like knowledge

management systems, people, organization and technology are all combined

elements of an IS/IT strategy. McFlaran (Applegate, 2008, p.35) suggested

that an organization’s portfolio of IT initiatives and projects should be

assessed along two key dimensions based on the impact on the business

operations and the impact on strategy. Lucas C.H. (2009, p29) stresses

upon the importance of management by reiterating the need to develop a

corporate strategy for organizing and deploying competencies which will

then act as road map in identifying those core competencies which need to

be build and their required technologies. Chew, E.K. and Gottschalk P.

(2009, p.84) further states the importance of IS/IT regarding achieving the

benefits of company, studying the hierarchical perspective of operational,

tactical, and strategic management, etc. Banerjee U.K. (2008, p.148)

mentioned that IT is fast becoming an integral part of overall business

planning, understood and managed senior and top levels for management

strategizing and policy making. It is further stated that IT can operate as

catalyst helping in achieving the fundamental changes in managing

business. The technologies are utilized to forge new kinds of strategic

actions like electronic alliance and relationship marketing involving

databases and analysis on clients, industry, products, prices, markets and

quality. The use of IT in business and industry has increased rapidly due to

its utility factors like providing data and other information related to

production, market, sales, workforce, etc. helping the computer – numerate

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managers and executives in decision making process. The impact of IT can

be understood from the fact that during 2003, on an average companies

spend 4 percent of their revenues on IT and in United States, 40% of IT

investments are not sufficient to realize the goals of country. The number

further increases as Applegate mentions that $148 billion was purchased on

software purchases, $40 billion on custom built software for insiders and

additionally $40 billion for software that will be used by outside parties.

(Applegate, 2008, p.35)

According to Lucas (2009, p.29) management must combine corporate

wide technologies and production skills into competencies for competitions

that are the collective learning in the organization about how to integrate

multiple technologies and coordinate diverse production capabilities. The

core competencies which are identified should be able to provide access to

a wide variety of different markets, make a significant contribution to the

end product and must be difficult to imitate. Applegate (2008, p.41) has laid

much importance on assessing whether IT can change the basis of

competition, nature of relationships, the balance of power among buyers

and suppliers, build or reduce barriers to entry, increase or decrease costs,

and whether it can add value to the existing products and services which is

nothing but a PESTLE analysis regarding the use of IS/IT in the business.

Further, relating the organizations to information processing systems,

Applegate (2008, p.42) mentions those limitations in vertical and horizontal

information processing capacity directly influences the range of

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organizational choices available to managers facilitating them to execute

strategy.

The literature review presents a broad understanding of the use and

importance of Information Technology (IT) in the decision making process

by the management in the business. The advancement of technology and

competition in the market has motivated the management to include the

information technology its corporate strategy so as to enable quick and

correct decision making based on accurate data and information. Though

the review rightly presents a broad overview of the importance of IT in

corporate strategy and the management process, it is necessary to extend

the study to gather information regarding its utility and effectiveness during

the recession when most of the companies were filing for liquidation.

Research Methodology

Ranjit Kumar (2005) states that there are several ways to find

answers to professional questions depending on the methods ranging from

fairly informal which are based upon clinical impressions, strictly scientific,

adhering to the conventional expectations of scientific procedures. Research

is one of the ways to find the answers which are undertaken within a

framework of a set of philosophies using procedures, methods and

techniques that have been tested for their validity and reliability which is

designed to unbiased and objective.

Research methodology is the path to finding answers to the research

questions by choosing from a multiplicity of methods, procedures, models

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which helps in achieving the objectives of research (Ranjit Kumar, 2005).

John W.C. (2003) emphasis on using mixed methodology which includes

quantitative as well qualitative, as individually these methods fall short of

major approaches that is been used today in social and human sciences.

Qualitative methodology is used to gather information through survey that

provides answer to the research question and provides valuable insights in

the area of research from the organizations perspective. Whereas

Quantitative methodology is also employed to gather information from

maximum respondents as far as possible as the issue is related to the use of

information strategy in management processes and gathering information in

quantum will lead to appropriate analysis with regard to research question.

Therefore, qualitative as well as quantitative methods are employed for the

purpose of this research.

Frowler (2002) mentions the situations where goal of the information

gathering is not about data generation of population but to describe a set of

people in a more general way. The researchers carry out pilot studies to

measure the range of ideas, views and opinions about the topic which may

vary from people to people. The systematic sampling method has been used

for selecting the number of respondents to be surveyed so as to complete

the research. The present research is carried out to evaluate the

performance and impact of strategy on the overall business. The sample

selected for this study comprises of 20 Managers throughout the

organization, 2 senior executives, review of their corporate strategy with

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regard to information technology. Further the process of coding or data

reduction is explained which involves five separate phases like deciding on

a format, designing the code, coding, data entry, and data cleaning.

Accordingly the collection information will be analyzed to derive answer to

the research question and arrive at a conclusion.

The research undertaken is type of human experimentation which is

any manipulation, test or procedure of an experimental nature performed

on a human being as a part of scientific or social science investigation.

(Deni and Judy, 1997) As the present study is related to the strategy of

particular company, it is necessary that research ethics are fully complied

during the process. Therefore consent will be obtained from the top

executives in the company and utmost transparency will be maintained

while conducting the survey by explaining the reason for survey to everyone

surveyed for the purpose of data collection. Further strict confidentially

need to maintained on the individual information as well as company’s

collective information and assurance may be provided on not using the

information other than to derive answer for the present study. (Gregory I,

2003)

Therefore using the above methodology, the researcher attempts to

study and evaluate the performance of corporate information strategy in the

management process during the turbulent times of recession and to

document findings. In spite of certain constraints like finance and time, the

researcher intends to conduct the study on the above research question.

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Project Plan

As the research is an attempt to study the corporate strategy, a

company which has good number of branches at various locations will be

good for the purpose of research. Therefore, an organization will be

selected to investigate in detail regarding its corporate information strategy

and the importance of IT in management process. It is assumed that more

than 20 managers will be interviewed with their due consent and also

atleast five top level managers regarding the strategy and how they

managed during the recession period and was IT of any use during this

period. Later the collected data will be compiled, analysed and documented

along with secondary data compared with the literature review as well to

identify the solutions for the research question.

Time Frame

Study of various literature and documentation – 45 days

Primary Data (Survey and Interview) - 15 days

Data Analysis - 5 days

Final Documentation and Findings 10 days

References

1. Applegate, L.M., Austin, D.M. and McFarlan, F.W.(2008) Corporate Information Strategy, 5th Ed., Tata-McGraw Hill, United States.

2. Arquilla, J and Borer D.A. (2007) Information strategy and warfare: a guide to theory and practice, Routledge.

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3. Bowman E.H and Helfat C.E. (2001) Does Corporate Strategy Matter? Strategic Management Journal, Vol, 22, No. 1, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 1-23

4. Chew E.K and Gottschalk, P. (2009) Information Technology Strategy Management: Best Practices, Idea Group, United States.

5. Deni Elliot and Judy E Stern (1997) Research Ethics – A Reader, UPNE, USA

6. Frowler J.F. (2002) Survey Research Methods, Vol. 1, Ed 3, Sage Publication.

7. Gregory Ian (2003) Ethics in Research, Continuum Research Methods Series, Continuum International Publishing Group.

8. John W.C. (2003)Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Method Approaches, ed. 2, Sage Publications.

9. Lucas. H.C., (2009) Information Technology: Strategic Decision Making For Managers, Wiley-India

10. Ranjit Kumar (2005) Research Methodology: A Step by step guide for beginners, Ed. 2 SAGE Publications, India.

11. Utpal Kumar Banerjee (2008) Management strategy for information technology, Concept Publishing Company

12. Yannis B.J and Treacy M.E. (1986) Information Technology and Corporate Strategy: A Research Perspective, MIS Quarterly, Vol, 10, No. 2, Management Information Systems Research Centre, University of Minnesota, pp. 107-119

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