IT impacts on operation-level agility in service industries

A new kind of Web-based application, known as Enterprise Mashups, has gained momentum in the last years: Business users with no or limited programming skills are empowered to leverage in a collaborative manner user friendly building blocks and to combine and reuse existing Web-based resources within minutes to new value added applications in order to solve an individual and ad-hoc business problem. Current discussions of the Mashup paradigm in the scientific community are limited on technical aspects. The collaboration and the peer production management aspects of the Mashup development have received less attention yet. In this paper, we propose a reference model for Enterprise Mashups which provides a foundation to develop and to analyse grassroots Enterprise Mashup environments from a managerial and collaborative perspective. By following the design science research approach, we investigate existing reference models and leverage the St. Gallen Media Reference Model (MRM). The development of Enterprise Mashups is structured by market transaction phases similar to electronic markets. The user roles, the necessary processes and the resulting services are modelled according to the views of the MRM. By means of the SAP Research RoofTop Marketplace prototype we demonstrate the application of the designed reference model for grassroots Enterprise Mashups environments

Agility in Information Systems – A Literature Review on Terms and Definitions

Agility is a term used in many works in the context of information systems. When studying the concept closer, it became obvious that there is a terminological heterogeneity preventing a common definition whilst at the same time not preventing the frequent use of the term. In order to approach the term in a structured way, the following two paths were chosen. Firstly, the term was traced back to its roots which showed its first appearance in organisational theory. Secondly, the major IS conferences (ECIS and ICIS) and the requirements engineering conference as a major computer science conference were analysed from 2001 when the agile manifesto was published which led to a wave of works on agility. The descriptive results are presented in the paper

User acceptance of second life: An extended TAM including hedonic consumption behaviours

This study examines the relationship between operation-level agility and firm performance in service industries. The study is augmented by investigating the role of IT resources and competence to achieve this specific type of agility. As of to date, most of the published literature in this stream of research has focused on manufacturing industry. This research is an early attempt to examine the strategic value of IT-enabled operational capabilities in service industry. We propose a theory-based model of the positive relationships among IT service competence, operation-level agility, and firm performance. Survey data of medium to large-size enterprises in service industries in the United States were used to validate the proposed model. The results indicate that operation-level agility is a significant driving force of firm performance in the service industries and that IT service competence significantly determines the operation-level agility. The results emphasize that IT-supported operation-level agility significantly leads to a better performance

IT-ENABLED STRATEGIC-LEVEL AGILITY AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: SERVICE VERSUS MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

This study investigates the organizational value of IT-enabled strategic capabilities in specific industry settings. We propose a theory-based model of positive relationships among IT resources, strategic-level agility, and firm performance. The model also proposes the relative values of the strategic-level agility in service and manufacturing industries. Survey data of medium to large-size enterprises in the United States were used to validate the model. The results indicate that the role of strategic-level agility in leading to firm performance is more significant in manufacturing industry than in service industry. Also, the values of IT resources, i.e., IT infrastructure and IT strategic planning, vary under the different industries. Our findings, although significant, challenge the conventional perspective on the core competence of service and manufacturing industries and thus call for further investigations on the strategic role of IT in the two distinct industries

Enterprise Systems and Organizational Agility: A Review of the Literature and Conceptual Framework

The impact of enterprise systems (ES) on organizational agility (OA) is an under-researched area. Given that most organizations are heavily investing on ES infrastructure and the increasing demand for agility, the lack of research on ES and OA is a critical oversight. This article reviews previous literature on information systems in general and ES in particular and organizational agility. The article offers a comprehensive and deepened perspective toward the existing discourses on ES-enabled organizational agility. Using insights from the dynamic capability theory, we propose a conceptual framework that highlights how organizations can exploit ESs to improve their agility in two significant ways―by creating and constantly developing an ES-enabled sensing and responding capability. We also argue that the quality of the ES competence provides the necessary technical and business platform for deploying and exploiting ES in building and rebuilding sensing and responding capabilities. The proposed framework sheds light on three important missing factors in the realm of IT-enabled organizational agility, namely ES competency, the alignment between ES-enabled sensing and responding capability, and environmental dynamism. Our theorizing makes an original contribution to ES and IS research by extending previous works of IT-enabled organizational agility by introducing the three constructs previously mentioned

IT impacts on operation-level agility in service industries

This study examines the relationship between operation-level agility and firm performance in service industries. The study is augmented by investigating the role of IT resources and competence to achieve this specific type of agility. As of to date, most of the published literature in this stream of research has focused on manufacturing industry. This research is an early attempt to examine the strategic value of IT-enabled operational capabilities in service industry. We propose a theory-based model of the positive relationships among IT service competence, operation-level agility, and firm performance. Survey data of medium to large-size enterprises in service industries in the United States were used to validate the proposed model. The results indicate that operation-level agility is a significant driving force of firm performance in the service industries and that IT service competence significantly determines the operation-level agility. The results emphasize that IT-supported operation-level agility significantly leads to a better performance

Enterprise systems and organisational agility: developing and exploring a causal model

 Organisational agility (OA) refers to an organisation’s ability to compete and thrive in an unstable business environment by quickly detecting and seizing opportunities. A number of previous researchers have investigated the factors, processes and strategies that contribute to OA. Of these areas, the role of information systems (IS) in general and enterprise systems (ES) such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) in particular is of interest to this thesis. Contemporary organisations depend on their ES, cannot survive or grow without ES support, and are investing to build their ES infrastructure to improve performance. Despite the pervasiveness of ES, their impact on OA is under-researched. Given that most organisations are investing heavily in ES and the increasing demand for agility, the lack of research on ES and OA is a critical oversight. This research aims to address the question of how ES enables OA. The objectives of the study were (1) to investigate the role of ES and (2) to explore the mechanisms of how ES influences OA. Previous literature on IS in general and ES in particular and OA are reviewed. The thesis offers a comprehensive and deepened perspective on the existing discourses on ES-enabled OA. Using insights from dynamic capability theory, a conceptual framework is proposed. The framework highlights how organisations can exploit ES to improve their agility in two significant ways―by creating and constantly developing ES-enabled sensing (ESS) and responding (ESR) capabilities. The quality of the ES competence provides the necessary technical and business platform for deploying and exploiting ES in building and rebuilding sensing and responding capabilities. The development of the research model followed a rigorous research design which included theoretical and operational definitions of the constructs, identification of appropriate methods of data collection and refining the measurements by pretesting and a pilot study. The proposed model was tested in a large-scale field survey. Data were collected from 179 medium and large organisations in Australia and New Zealand that have implemented and been using ES for at least a year. The data were analysed in a two-stage structural modelling procedure using SPSS and PLS. The theoretical and empirical results show that organisations can achieve agility out of their ES investment in three ways: (1) by developing an ES for technical, human, managerial, vendor, and functional competences; (2) by exploiting their ES competences to build ES-enabled capabilities that digitise their sensing and responding processes; and (3) when ESS and ESR are aligned. The results shed light on three important missing factors in the realm of IT-enabled OA, namely ES competency, the alignment between ESS and ESR capabilities, and environmental dynamism. This research makes an original contribution to theory and practice through its development and validation of a theoretical model. Specifically, the research uncovers the mechanism by which ES impacts OA by explicitly theorising ES-induced competencies that may be exploited to develop distinctive ESS and ESR to enable OA. The research also provides a number of implications for practitioners on how they can successfully manage their ES to advance OA level