1. Information systems
and strategy
User imperative (add p.11)
Each information technology has dynamic
properties determined by how people use it
It is people’s use of IT, and not IT itself which
shapes society and organizations
Those in power can shape interpretive
schemes, but not technology use directly
IT is a resource for improvisation

2. User imperative and tech. (add p.11)
IT designers build capabilities into their
hardware and software
These capabilities are turned into features as
users draw on them in their everyday work
These features are crystallized as others used the
outputs of technology for their own practices
User imperative and org’s (add p.11)
IT is a resource that people use as they
address the everyday challenges of
organizational life
‘Consequences of IT’ is a misnomer : Instead,
the focus is on the uses of IT
The same technology can be used
by the same people
in different ways

3. The ISS Triangle
Biz strategy
Org’l strategy IS strategy
analysis
Biz strategy
Org’l strategy IS strategy
*What imperative is this?
How does IT matter?
Radical Radical
organizational market
changes changes
IT as
a core element
in strategy
6

4. IT is a major corporate
investment
7
Growth in IT spending spans
borders
8

5. SO... IT is an important startegic parameter
9
However, these investments
have not delivered
10

6. Is this surprising?
!
! What strategic advantage does IT look
like?
11
12

7. Taking advantages of
infrastructural technologies
Getting there first
Factories installed next to electricity
plants
Insightful early uses
Replace pulleys and steam engines
Serve emerging market needs
13
As technologies spread this
advantage disappears
Strategic advantage coms from scarce, not
from abundant resources
IT is increasingly ubiquitous hence it is
decreasingly strategic
IT is becoming a cost that all must bear but
that no one can profit from
14

8. If IT doesn’t matter, what
are the next steps?
Minimize your IT costs
Focus on efficiency, not effectiveness
Minimize your IT risks
Focus on system continuity
15
The user imperative critique...
?
?
!
?

9. Addressing this conundrum...
IT does not provide competitive
advantage directly, but it is of strategic
consequence
IT matters strategically
Market pull: Punctuated change
Organizational push: Continuous change
18

10. IT and market pull
IT changes mean different relationships with
customers
IT changes mean new and nimbler
competitors
IT changes mean new production (incl
strategy production) processes
19
IT and organizational push
As employees use IT in organizations...
changes to underlying structure and startegy are
likely to unfold
Managers use IT to...
... As an opportunity to apply pet solutions
... As an opportunity to advance politically
IT is co-opted in strategic power struggles 20

11. The ISS Triangle, really
Biz strategy
Org’l strategy IS strategy
analysis Implementation
Biz strategy Biz strategy
Org’l strategy IS strategy Org’l strategy IS strategy