Integrating information systems into business strategies

The role of information systems (IS) in business is changing rapidly. The information revolution, driven by dramatic improvements in cost and performance of the technology is radically altering the business environment of many firms— restructuring whole industries, re-aligning the balance of power and leverage of industry component firms and enabling competitive strategies to be implemented or sustained more effectively. This transformation of role requires strategies for information systems to become an integral part of business strategy formulation. Traditional approaches to the management of IS activities are inappropriate for the determination of business strategies for systems. However, the techniques of corporate strategic analysis and formulation can be used to determine how IS should be managed to gain maximum business benefit.     

Strategic Manufacturing Planning Systems and Their Linkage to Planning System Success

Academics and practitioners alike are focusing more attention on manufacturing strategy after having recognized the important role it plays in shaping the success of industrial firms. Even though research in this area has increased in the last decade, the focus of much of that work has been on the content rather than the process of the manufacturing strategy. Consequently, this study attempts to understand the important elements of the strategic manufacturing planning process and its effectiveness. Borrowing from the extant literature in the fields of strategic management and information systems, we propose a research model that relates strategic manufacturing planning system design to planning system success. Using structured questionnaires, empirical data is collected from over 200 manufacturing executives to test the model hypotheses. Planning process in manufacturing was found to be a bottom‐up approach from a corporate or business perspective, which differs from the top‐down planning process prevalent in strategic information systems planning process. Findings also indicate that greater planning system success in manufacturing is associated with a planning system that combines some “rational” elements (formality, comprehensiveness, control focus, longer horizon) with others that lend adaptability (wider participation and more intense interaction). But the strategic manufacturing planning system is more than just a collection of independent planning characteristics. Instead, it can be viewed as a gestalt planning system whereby planning characteristics move together in affecting overall planning system success.     

CIM implementation for job-shop environments

Abstract

Abstract. The small to medium-sized job-shop manufacturing industry can benefit most from the implementation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) technology, to meet the increasing demand for high-quality and economically priced products. The injection mould making industry is a typical representative for this group, where a manufacturer would generally produce moulds which consist of parts that are standard to every mould type or very similar. Thus, manufacturing techniques, such as group technology (GT), and production planning and control (information) management systems could make significant contributions in improving the efficiency of design and production operations.

The objective of the project, presented in this paper, was the development of a GT-based classification and coding (C/C) system for injection mould parts especially for the design and process planning phases, and the development of a production planning and shop-floor control (SFC) information management system.

An extensive investigation was carried out on existing GT-based C/C systems. This investigation, followed by a thorough examination of many injection mould parts for determining geometric similarities, led to the development of part families (classes) required for GT implementation. An OPITZ-type GT system was developed, thereafter, for the C/C of the manufactured parts of the target company.

The production planning and control software that has been developed for the target company utilizes a relational data base management system. It consists of 13 application programs, which provide a tool of organizing information for efficient production planning and SFC. The programs are designed to cover all manufacturing operations of a job from the proposal to the final testing stage. Shop orders and dispatch lists are created using this software for effective and prioritized SFC. Shop status and job status reports are generated based on feedback information received through time card entries.     

Strategic management in major Japanese hightech companies

Since the early 1980s, there has been remarkable progress in advanced technology in Japan and in leading Western countries. What is the present situation in technological development in major Japanese industries and what are the implications for strategic management? The author describes how Japanese industries have harnessed new technologies and suggests a number of concepts which underly these trends. Given the imperatives of advanced technology, he emphasizes the importance of positioning the technology development strategy in the context of strategic management paying particular attention to developing an open organizational culture through a flexible corporate planning system.     

德鲁克论21世纪管理挑战——信息挑战

彼得·德鲁克在其新著中解释,一个新信息革命正在进行中,它将彻底改变信息对企业和个人的意义。它不是技术革命,而是概念革命。至今,信息技术集中在数据,聚焦在“IT”中的“T”;新信息革命聚焦在“I”。 德鲁克论述了15世纪印刷技术的历史教训,对比了传统成本会计与基于活动的成本核算,说明企业需要的信息,具体提出了管理现行企业所需要的四套诊断工具与战略所要求的外部信息,明确了主观人员工作所需的信息观念,其形成必须由主管提出两个问题开始“我给什么?”“我要什么?”然后论述了组织信息问题,提出若干方法学概念。德鲁克敦促企业与个人必须学会组织信息作为它们的关键性资源,以迎接21世纪的管理挑战。     

A framework for the strategic management of future tyre technology

Strategically managing technology faces one major problem: technology planners and managers who mistake ‘R & D management’ for ‘strategic technology management’. In globally competitive markets, survival and growth of tyre companies will increasingly depend upon the ability to manage technological resources strategically. This article proposes a process model which views the strategic management of technology as ‘techno-business management’, where technology and business strategy, planning and implementation can be facilitated by the use of portfolio frameworks and technology forecasting techniques in analysing and addressing the key strategic management areas of techno-business strategy development and strategy implementation.     

A production management information model for discrete manufacturing

The Manufacturing Systems Integration (MSI) project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing a system architecture that incorporates an integrated production planning and control environment. The development of this architecture includes the definition of information models describing the information which needs to be shared among production management systems (production planning, scheduling and control systems) in order to achieve the integration of manufacturing systems. This paper presents the production management information model within the MSI project. The main focus of the model is to identify and characterize the relationships between orders and workpieces, to identify the information necessary to achieve workpiece tracking and to identify the information necessary to achieve resource requirements specifications for process plans.     

Cost models for evaluating virtual design strategies in multicycle product families

Rapid technological change and increased competition are forcing firms to compress the time it takes to develop product families and rapidly realize innovations among successive family members (models). Competition in rapidly changing high-variety markets requires effective management of design information across successive generations of products as well as in the same product generation. This paper considers two complementary approaches to design information management: virtual design and modular design. Virtual design describes the abstraction hierarchy used to represent product function. Modular design describes the hierarchy of physical realizations of the product and leads to a group technology approach to manufacturing. An analytical model is used to describe the impact of design management strategy characterized by investment in tools and infrastructure for virtual design and group technology on product development costs. This model provides insight into the impacts on costs of the mix of standard and revised parts in a product family. Virtual design has greatest impact on cost when there is a large proportion of parts revision, while group technology has most impact on cost when large numbers of standard parts are re-used. Effective management strategy for high variety rapidly changing products should combine both of these approaches and emphasize compatible organizational methods and technology integration.     

基于竞争能力理论的企业信息系统战略规划方法

在过去的20多年中,信息系统战略规划一直是学者和管理者关注的热点问题之一,动态多变的竞争环境使传统的信息系统战略规划方法的有效性和适应性面临着挑战.分析了信息系统战略与业务战略的动态关系,简要评述了现有信息系统战略规划方法,基于竞争能力理论提出一种新的信息系统战略规划方法,该方法从竞争能力利用和竞争能力构建视角出发,分为竞争环境分析、业务过程分析、比较等阶段,包括竞争能力的描述和竞争能力比较等分析工具.以某柴油机股份有限公司为例,展示了基于竞争能力理论的企业信息系统战略规划方法的过程和分析工具,讨论了该方法的有效性和适用性.结果表明,基于竞争能力理论的企业信息系统战略规划方法具有动态性、系统性、全面性和认知性等特点.     

Energy modelling for technology assessment: the MARKAL approach

The primary objective of energy policy in many countries is to change the structure of their energy systems so as to reduce the dependence on imported oil. A large amount of funds is spent on energy research and development. The technologies competing for such funds have widely varying characteristics. These relate to costs and benefits, technical performance, environmental effects, the requirements for land, water and materials and the impact on employment. It is necessary to analyse these effects in some detail before decisions on technology programmes can be made. A complete assessment of the possible value of a particular technology cannot be made on an individual basis. It is necessary to consider many technologies simultaneously, competing against each other for various shares of the energy market. However, analysing the behaviour of the entire energy system requires the handling of an extensive amount of data and can only be done effectively with the help of a computerised system. The model, MARKAL, described in this paper is a multi-period linear programming model which has been developed and applied by 15 OECD countries for the purpose of energy technology research and development planning. Examples of the use of the model for this purpose are given both for the group as a whole and for individual countries. The model is structured so that an exogenously specified set of end-use demands must be satisfied given available technologies and energy supplies. The model allows for substitution possibilities in both the energy supply and demand sectors. A feature of the model is the use of varying objective functions such as minimum discounted costs, oil imports, or environmental effluents. These can be used individually or in combination in trade-off situations. The broader question of the use of energy modelling for technology assessment, including its limitations, is also discussed with particular reference to the insights that can be gained from the MARKAL model. Information from the MARKAL model has been used by the International Energy Agency to assist it in formulating a strategy for energy research development and demonstration.     

Strategies for planning

In recent years there has been a good deal of discussion amongst planning specialists and academics about the gap which exists between the theory of planning as set out in journals and textbooks, and the practice of planning in private and public organizations. Planners are continually complaining about the resistance to planning by top management and operating managers in divisions and departments.In this article the author aims to produce a reconciliation between theory and practice and to discuss what alternative strategies are open to planners in devising planning systems for their organizations.He suggests that the problem has its origin in the fact that corporate planning theory was first developed by management scientists as a total systems approach. Corporate planners have failed to sell an integrated planning system either as programme budgeting or as corporate planning. Research suggests that a management team can only adopt and implement a comprehensive planning system in very special circumstances, e.g. when the organization's survival is threatened, a new management team has been appointed and the staff of the organization are ready to accept radical change.In normal circumstances the planner is wrong to advocate a ‘root and branch’ solution. He must diagnose the planning needs of the organization and his objective must be not merely to establish a particular planning procedure but rather to discover how he can best improve the quality of management decisions.Recent studies on strategy formation indicate that the introduction of a formal planning procedure is only a partial answer to the problem of improving the quality of management decisions.The paper reviews various approaches to planning and considers how they relate to organizations with different strategic problems, with differing organization structures and various management styles.     

网络经济时代的商务模式变革与知识管理

企业组织基于信息的竞争优势正向基于知识创造的优势转移,如何根据商务环境的变化调整战略和商务模式是所有企业组织在跨入网络经济必然面对的课题。分析了近几十年来商务模式的发展和变革,指出了其最新形式--知识管理认识和实践上的误区,并综合阐述了如何根据电子商务战略实施知识管理,通过结合数据、信息技术的处理能力和人的创造、创新能力来提高组织在非连续性变化环境中的生存能力、创新能力和竞争能力。     

Modelling a make or buy decision at ICI

Many of the long term problems facing management are so large that either a shorter term view is taken or they are split up into smaller components and analyzed independently. This paper describes a problem for which such approaches would have been invalid. To overcome this, Operations Research was used and a long range planning model was set up. This enabled exhaustive analysis over a planning period much longer than is usually attempted. The results of the study included a stable strategy, detailed operating plans and timetables of expenditures, and a readily accessed management information and planning review system.     

Private and Public Sector Models for Strategies in Universities*

Increasing formalization of disciplined management of UK universities over the last 30 years has been accompanied by moves to articulate universities' strategies, by attempts to connect organizations' plans and management of activity to those strategies and by a desire to measure how well outcomes are fitted to universities' goals. In this complex change in the orientation of universities' management, lessons have been drawn from the contemporary development of the analysis of strategy and strategic process in commercial and, latterly, in public sector settings. It is argued that there have been very significant errors and weaknesses in the importation of such models of strategy, especially in the stress on strategic planning rather than strategic process and in the insensitivity of universities' planning to the underlying strategy process of the typical university. Most universities, it is argued, mistake planning – and even budgeting – for strategy itself, having failed to make proper sense of their own organizations' processes of generating strategies and putting them into practice. They have typically missed the crucial context of strategy and change. It is argued that there are crucial lessons to be learned from recent advances in theorizing about strategy in the private or commercial sector, particularly in relation to the development of modelling complex and path‐dependent systems; and it is argued strongly that universities' strategic process can fruitfully be analysed through the perspectives of real options analysis. This can also accommodate the richness of universities' traditions of strategy formation and implementation within ‘loose‐coupled’ organizations.     

Linking IT planning to business strategy

Information Strategy Planning is of growing importance. There are available a variety of formal methodologies for carrying out information systems planning, none of which are particularly well aligned to the current business planning views. The author was concerned that the value of the approaches used in business planning, most notably those of Michael Porter, were being ignored by the information systems planning methodologies. Both mechanisms yield insight and both are required to make strategic gains from IT. The paper explains the experience at Simon Engineering in combining Porter's value chain and five forces approach with the more usual Information Engineering methodology for information planning. A workshop approach was adopted and the conclusions drawn that the information strategy must be seen and developed as an integral part of, and at the same time as, the business strategy, and that both Information Engineering and Porter's approaches are necessary component parts of creating an integrated business and IT strategy. IT strategies cannot be developed independently of the business strategy, nor should they follow the business strategy. Successful IT strategies must be developed at the same time as the business strategy.     

Planning Implications of the Information Systems Strategic Grid: An Empirical Investigation

In recent years, information systems (IS) planning has come to represent a key IS management tool to practitioners and researchers. Concurrently, there has been increasing recognition by organizations that their IS can be viewed as a strategic resource. This research is an attempt to explore the relationship between these two aspects of IS. It analyzes, in an empirical setting, the contingent nature of some IS planning-related variables in the context of the strategic relevance of an organization's IS. The basis for the empirical test is the IS strategic grid framework developed by Cash, McFarlan, McKenney, and Vitale [6]. A questionnaire survey method is employed to elicit information on the strategic orientation of IS and IS planning issues within respondent organizations. The difference in emphasis on various planning aspects in organizations with different IS environments is analyzed. Results of the analysis indicate that there is empirical support for the strategic grid framework and that there are differences in planning aspects among organizations, depending on their location in the grid. The implications of these findings for IS and IS planning are then discussed.     

过程系统管理与技术的综合集成

在激烈的市场竞争中,过程企业不仅要重视技术、更要加强管理,实现全局优化运行。提高过程企业的市场竞争能力必须全面综合集成人、组织、战略管理、经营管理、过程管理及信息自动化技术等因素。本文以石化企业为背景,对过程企业面临的问题及发展趋势进行了分析,并且对过程企业管理模式、过程企业的体系结构以及过程集成与优化技术进行了探讨。     

Leveraging Supply Chain Integration through Planning Comprehensiveness: An Organizational Information Processing Theory Perspective

This study extends prior research on supply chain planning and integration by examining the underlying capabilities by which firms exploit the information they gain from integration activities. We use organizational information processing theory (OIPT) to develop hypotheses that identify the comprehensiveness of an organization's supply chain planning capabilities as an important mediator in the relationship between its supply chain integration activities and its operational performance. Further, our interpretation of OIPT suggests that an organization's usage of technology‐enabled supply chain management systems (SCMS) moderates these effects. Using survey data from 445 global firms, we estimate the corresponding moderated‐mediation structural model. The results indicate that usage of SCMS enables organizations to better utilize the information they gain from external integration efforts (relationships with customers and suppliers), thus improving the comprehensiveness of their supply chain planning capabilities. In contrast, the use of SCMS appears to be a partial substitute for internal integration as a driver of planning comprehensiveness. Most importantly, the results suggest that planning comprehensiveness is a significant generative means by which integration and technology investments produce superior operational performance. These findings provide a richer and more theoretically grounded explanation of relationships between supply chain integration, supply chain planning, and operational performance.     

信息化建设、供应链信息分享与企业绩效——基于中国制造业企业的实证研究

信息化建设是现阶段国家和企业都难以回避的问题,本文建立信息化建设-信息分享-企业绩效的分析框架,从信息传递的视角探讨信息化建设对企业绩效的影响机理,认为企业的信息化建设能够通过促进供应链上下游企业之间的沟通,带来更好的企业绩效。以我国制造业企业为样本进行的实证研究表明,企业信息化设备建设投入以及网站的建立能够促进其与供应链上下游企业有关需求、库存、产量等信息的分享,并通过这些有价值信息的分享推动企业绩效提升。进一步的分析表明,信息化建设使得信息分享在支持企业业务活动和提升企业绩效方面的效果更加显著。     

Impact of Information Systems (IS) Steering Committees on IS Planning*

One of the most efficient ways to manage the information systems function is to introduce steering committees. It has been suggested that one of the foremost benefits of a steering committee is that it can improve the information systems planning efforts of an organization. However, there is very little empirical evidence in the literature that deals with how such committees affect planning. This study investigates the impact of steering committees on three phases of information systems planning: strategic planning, systems planning, and implementation of planning. The greatest impact of steering committees appears to be the strategic planning phase, while a lesser effect is observed in the systems planning and implementation of planning phases.