Laan, A; Leuven, A v; Kolkman, S and Voordijk, H (2002) It in construction: Aligning it and business strategies. In: Greenwood, D (ed.) Proceedings of 18th Annual ARCOM Conference, 2-4 September 2002, Northumbria, UK.
Abstract
The extent to which information technology (IT) infrastructures and strategies are aligned with business processes and strategies varies widely along firms. The objective of this paper is to explain the success or failure of IT in construction firms by focusing on the alignment (or lack of it) between business strategy, IT strategy, organizational infrastructure, and IT infrastructure. It is hypothesized that the 'fit' among these elements, the domains of the Strategic Alignment Model, is positively related to the Business Value of IT in Construction. The IT Business Value is evaluated in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and business performance. By applying the Strategic Alignment Model to the Dutch construction industry, it is shown that the inadequate alignment between these domains is a major reason for the modest added business value from IT investments in this industry. The first lack of alignment is the technology shortfall: hence IT contributes in an inadequate way to strategic processes of construction firms. The second lack of alignment is the strategy-shortfall: hence the firm strategy impedes the implementation of IT that could generate a high business value.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | alignment; it business value; information technology |
| Index terms: | effectiveness, business performance, information technology, construction industry, implementation, efficiency, construction firm, business strategy, strategy |
| Subjects: | performance measurement, management, performance management, industry analysis, computing systems, organization, business, contractual arrangements |
| Topics: | Procurement, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Digital Applications, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here