THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSFORMATION AMBIDEXTERITY: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FOUR LEADING IT ORGANIZATIONS

Successful IT organizations are ones that can constantly transform themselves to adapt to the changing environment. Unlike the punctuated change in traditional organizations’ transformation, IT organizations’ transformation is often a continuous change where the existing and the new business coexist. The ability to simultaneous exploit the existing business while exploring the new business during organizational transformation, which we term transformation ambidexterity, has proven to a key success factor. This study intends to explore how IT organizations develop transformation ambidexterity. We conduct a comparative case study of four leading IT organizations that have just gone through a successful transformation and unveil four development approaches, namely partition, hybridization, self-extension, and self-generation. These four approaches are based on two primary dimensions of ambidexterity development: 1) development mechanism and 2) development path. We conclude with theoretical contributions to IS, organizational transformation and ambidexterity literature and with guidelines for IT and general managers to redeploy appropriate mechanisms and follow appropriate path for ambidexterity

Data Analytics Contributes to Better Decision-Making Beyond Organizational Boundaries

We describe how GSE, a leading Chinese garment company, deployed data analytics to orchestrate a networked organization. Data analytics helps to align partners’ operations with GSE’s goals while simultaneously empowering partners to perform actions that optimize their local outcomes. The GSE case highlights the emerging strategic role of the IT department during the adoption of data analytics. Based on the case analysis, we provide nine recommended actions for using data analytics to orchestrate a networked organization

Affordances, experimentation and actualization of FinTech : A blockchain implementation study

Blockchain, the technology underlying bitcoin, is an emerging financial technology (FinTech) that is poised to have strategic impacts on organizations. Because it is a new phenomenon, there are few studies on blockchain, and those studies have focused mainly on the technology's potential impacts, whereas how to effectively implement it in an organization remains unknown. Our study intends to fill that gap. Using affordance-actualization (A-A) theory as the theoretical lens, we conducted a case study of blockchain implementation in an organization that has effectively implemented it. We identify three affordances of blockchain in the organization and a process model whereby these affordances are actualized. The process model extends A-A theory by adding an experimentation phase where blockchain's use cases within the organization are identified, developed and tested through conceptual adaptation and constraint mitigation. Our study makes important theoretical contributions to the literature on A-A theory, blockchain, information technology (IT) implementation, and strategic information systems (SIS). Our study can also help IT practitioners to implement blockchain effectively and extract value from their investment