ICT STRATEGY FORMULATION: A CASE STUDY OF INSURANCE

COMPANY
Smilka Janeska Sarkanjac
Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering
Rugjer Boskovic !
""" Skopje# Repu$lic of Macedonia
smilkaj%hotmail&com
Abstract. ICT strategy is an important topic in management information systems research
field, as it is in practice. The research approaches applied so far has focused mainly on
analysis of the features of a successful ICT strategy, but not on the very process of its
development.
Insurance companies, as a part of a mature and prolific financial sector, rely to a large
extent on information and communication technology in everyday operations. In
developing countries, however, they often lack clearly formulated functional ICT strategy,
to harness the full power of ICT in their efforts to achieve the business objectives of the
company.
This paper describes the process of developing an ICT strategy for an insurance company
from Macedonia according to dams, !ia, and "all method. In this case study the
theoretical foundations of dams, !ia, and "all method are briefly presented as a part of
the introduction. Then, the ICT strategy of the insurance company is conceptuali#ed in
terms of ICT roles, ICT organi#ational capabilities, and ICT governing policies and
principles. $urther in the paper an appropriate ICT strategy is proposed, in order to align
the ICT and the business domain of the company according to %enderson and
&enkatraman ICT'business strategic alignment model. In this particular case, the
implementation of the strategy was accepted as one of the key priorities for the insurance
company, and the strategy has been progressively implemented since ())*. There is
sufficient evidence of improved business performance of the company, partly as a result of
implementation of the ICT strategy.
In this regard, this paper presents a case which can be used as a pattern that could be
followed in the analysis of ICT roles, organi#ational capabilities, governing policies and
principles in a given company, and as pattern that could give directions in developing and
implementing an ICT strategy, in insurance companies as well as in business companies in
the private sector.
Keywords: ICT strategy, ICT management, ICT'business alignment, management
information systems, insurance company, case study.
! I"trod#ct$o"
+ood ICT strategy is recogni#ed as an important factor for achieving sustainable
competitive advantage of the company. ,nlike the process of formulating the business
strategy, there is no one or a few widely accepted ways of formulating the ICT strategy.
-ne of the most significant efforts in offering method of formulating functional ICT
strategy of the company is conducted by dams, !ia, and "all ./0.
In the next, second section we will briefly present the theoretical foundations of the
aforementioned ICT strategy development method. Then, in the third section, we will
present a case of formulating an ICT strategy for an insurance company, so that we can
gain a good insight into the process and the results thereof. In the final section, we will
discuss strengths and weaknesses of the applied method of the development of ICT
strategy in the company of the private sector, in order to align the ICT and the business
domain of the company according to %enderson and &enkatraman .(0 ICT'business
strategic alignment model.
%! Ada&s et a'! &et(od o) de*e'o+&e"t o) ICT strate,y
dams, !ia and "all from the ,niversity of Minnesota, ,1, in ())2 made an attempt
to conceptuali#e typology of ICT strategies based on the role of ICT in the company, ICT
organi#ational capabilities and ICT governance. 3ole of ICT represents the degree of
involvement of ICT in the value chain of the company, and the impact of ICT on achieving
a business result. -n the other hand, ICT capabilities can be defined as organi#ational
4soft4 inputs that contribute to achieving these results. ICT governance refers to the
policies and principles of management in the company that manage daily ICT activities.
ccording to this perspective, the ICT function must have the proper mix of capabilities to
support its role in the company, and they have to be properly managed.
%!! T(e ro'e o) ICT $" t(e co&+a"y
s a result of their extensive work with CI-s during the research that preceded the paper
we analy#e, dams et al. identified four ICT roles defined in terms of expectations of ICT
contribution in the value chain of the company. 5very higher role is more demanding of
ICT, compared to the previous role. The roles suppose ability to6
/. 1upport the individual activities of value chain of the company 7 enterprise systems
must provide significant functionality for maintaining the basic functions in the company8
(. Integrate the value chain in the company 9this fosters the ability to support individual
activities and to integrate systems, applications, data and business processes across the
company8
:. Change business processes 9that is, to support and integrate the value chain, to
improve business processes, and support relationships with suppliers and customers8
2. Change business scope and business models 9this should be the catalyst in the
changes of the organi#ation regarding the products and services the company offers that
improves the performance or the reach of the company on the market or catalyst of the
paradigm shift of the company.
%!%! ICT ca+ab$'$t$es
s dams et al. define, capability is more than an organi#ational resource, or
combination of resources, and it is the ability of the organi#ation to mobili#e resources in
order to accomplish an organi#ational objective.
"esides business value chain, the company should manage its ICT value chain in order
to deliver ICT products and services.
ctivities of the primary ICT value chain are6
7 Monitoring of the ICT market 7 monitoring emerging technologies,
procurement of ICT or related services, benchmarking the ICT with the competing
companies in the industry etc.8
7 IT research and development 9 acting as the first mover in the field of
information technologies or their application8
7 ;elivery of applications and solutions 9 timely and in the budget8
7 Implementation 9 testing, training the users, migrating the system and
implementing8
7 IT operations and post7implementation services 7 dealing with low downtime
and errors, maintaining low costs, achieving high <uality, change management8
7 Management of business re<uirements from ICT 7 promoting the use of ICT,
communicating business value of ICT, understanding the re<uirements and customer
needs, communicating and managing the users= expectations and maintain the
support of top management.
The activities of secondary value chain of ICT are related to the general skills and
abilities, and management of resources6
7 >lanning and strategy development strategy8
7 IT organi#ational development8
7 IT integration8
7 Creation and strengthening of ICT architecture and standards8 and
7 IT portfolio management.
3esources management capabilities, as another secondary value chain include6
7 Management of technical resources 7 older technologies and systems, wide
range of technologies, etc.
7 Management of ICT human resources 7 portfolio of skills, recruitment and
retention of professionals, hiring external consultants if necessary, etc.8
7 $inancial management of ICT resources8
7 Managing ICT relationships 7 maintaining partnerships with customers and
suppliers, communication and negotiating ICT priorities with customers,
management of outsourcing relationships, etc.
%!-! ICT ,o*er"$", +o'$c$es a"d +r$"c$+'es
ICT roles and capabilities position ICT strategy externally. s opposed to them, ICT
governing policies and principles deal with the internal positioning of ICT strategy.
ccording to dams et al., ICT governing policies and principles guide the company
through the individual elements of the position of IT6 technical architecture, organi#ational
architecture or structure, relational architecture, processes and resources.
%!.! ICT ca+ab$'$ty &at#r$ty
In order to determine the extent of involvement of ICT in the value chain of the
company, the authors offer a matrix of ICT capability maturity. In the columns of the
matrix, four levels of maturity of the role of ICT in the company are listed, and in the rows
the ICT skills are listed. ICT skills are assigned with : levels 7 low, medium and high. The
level of maturity of ICT capabilities is based on assessment of ICT skills in the company.
The model of maturity of ICT capability, shown in $igure /, contains 2 levels of ICT
capability maturity6 technical maturity, enterprise support, strategic management and
organi#ational learning and development. The matrix shows the appropriate level of
maturity of ICT capabilities for each capability maturity level.
F$,#re / ICT Ca+ab$'$ty Mat#r$ty Mode'
1ource6 dams Carl 3, !ia ?eidong, and "all @icholas A., BI1'IT 1trategy6 Concepts, $rameworks and
Case -bservationsC, S'()ead Conference *""+, thens, +eorgia, ())2, p.D.
"y using a framework similar to the product'market matrix developed by %ayes and
?heelwright .:0 that describes the product strategy, the matrix of the 3ole of ICT in the
company'Aevel of capability maturity is a mechanism to describe the ICT strategy, and it is
presented in $igure (.
ccording to dams and his associates, the level of ICT capability maturity and the role
of ICT in the value chain of the company, determine which ICT strategy fits that particular
company. The possible strategies are6 operational support strategy, enterprise integration
strategy, organi#ational value creation strategy and organi#ational change and development
strategy.
The columns in the matrix are the role of ICT in the enterprise, and the rows are levels
of maturity of ICT skills. "ased on those two dimensions, there are /E possible
configurations of ICT roles and capability maturity. %owever, only those configurations
that lie on the diagonal represent the optimal relation between the role of ICT and ICT
capability maturity. These four configurations are ideal types of ICT strategies. Those
configurations that lie below the diagonal represent the level of ICT skills in the company
that exceed the level necessary to ade<uately perform the expected role of ICT in the
company. In this case, it is considered that the company invested too much in its ICT
capabilities without a corresponding benefit from that investment. Those configurations
that lie above the diagonal represent the opposite situation 7 they lack some important ICT
skills to achieve the expected role of ICT in the enterprise. These companies do not invest
enough in developing ICT skills to be able to deliver the necessary capabilities.
F$,#re % / ICT Ro'es0Ca+ab$'$t$es Matr$1
1ource6 dams Carl 3, !ia ?eidong, and "all @icholas A., BI1'IT 1trategy6 Concepts, $rameworks and
Case -bservationsC, S'()ead Conference *""+, thens, +eorgia, ())2, p.*.
Configurations that do not lie on the diagonal may represent transitional states. $or
example, during the change the business strategy, the company may decide that ICT needs
to change its role in the company from support value chain activities to integrate value
chain. ssuming that the company was on the appropriate level of ICT capability maturity
and they satisfied the role of support value chain before the change, it can be expected that
after the changeover the company will temporarily lack ICT capabilities to fulfill
integrative role. In such case, the company will be in a transition stage before it develops
the necessary skills to fulfill the new role.
-ther models of development of ICT strategy, such as "alanced 1corecard and nalysis
of critical success factors are more business oriented and business managers would
probably chose them as tools for creating an ICT strategy. The model that is presented in
this paper, developed by dams and his associates, is largely technically oriented and
operates with the technical terms that are close to ICT managers, and probably represents a
model of choice of ICT managers. Model and the steps for its implementation are intuitive
and not very difficult to follow even for ICT managers who are inexperienced in the field
of business and strategic management.
-! I"s#ra"ce Co&+a"y ICT Strate,y
In this section, we will introduce few general characteristics of a company from
3epublic of Macedonia, which, for the purpose of this paper, we will provisionally call
BInsurance Atd MF;C. The BInsurance Atd MF;C company was founded in the early
()))s, five years before this particular ICT strategy for BInsurance Atd MF;C was
developed. The company started with about ten young but experienced employees who
were appointed directors of departments. They set the foundations of the company that in
just /) year become the second on the insurance market in Macedonia, competing with
companies G) years old, or companies that were almost monopolies, or with companies
who were brand names in 5urope and had powerful head<uarters and strong financial and
logistic support.
1ince its foundation, the company developed integrated insurance information system
witch was built from the scratch with the business knowledge from inside of the company,
and with outsourcing help of computing company BComputing AtdC. >roject manager of
information system development project was the ICT department director of BInsurance
Atd MF;C. The company introduced an integrated insurance information system and 53>
applications that not only automated individual processes of the business value chain of the
company, but also integrated, in the most part, the individual functions, and in doing so the
ambition of ICT function was never below the role of value chain integrator.
The ICT department in the company was designed to have few employees, and to rely on
complete outsourcing of ICT services from external software, hardware, system integration
and ICT service companies, according to the contemporary business management
philosophy of in sourcing only the core business. The time proved that it was a good
approach, because with wisely spent money .20 the company received high <uality ICT
services originating from hundreds of ICT experts.
@onetheless, there was one shortcoming, namely ICT capabilities of BInsurance Atd
MF;C were tightly connected and highly dependent to the skills and abilities of the
outsourcing companies. In the first five years the foundations of the company were laid in
all business areas including ICT. Integrated insurance information system was up and
running, 53> applications also, automating vast majority of the processes of the company
and providing efficient substitution of human labor and real7time control of the processes
at the same time. "esides the core information system, design, setting and maintenance of
the computer network, Internet and &>@ connections were taking place, and several
document management systems for structuring of non7structured data in the company such
as word documents, digital photographs, fax files, e7mails, etc. were also up and running.
In the fifth year of the companyHs existence, the company showed signs of maturity, and
it was time to rethink the business strategy of the company, to evaluate its achievements
and to develop future strategy and goals, including ICT strategy .I0. "ut, the support for
ICT faded out during the time. That was the main reason that it was decided to develop
separate business strategy and separate ICT strategy. The method of choice of ICT strategy
development was the one from dams et al.
To make it clear, when the top management supports ICT function, ICT may introduce
innovations and propose ICT enabled business models. ?hen ICT function lacks such
support, it still has to operate effectively and within the budget. 1o, ICT strategy is
necessary in either case, but the former leverages the power of the information technology
and creates conditions for innovation and flexibility.
The first step of ICT strategy development in this company was to assess current
situation, using the ICT capability maturity matrix. The results of the analysis are given in
$igure :. The analysis of the ICT capability maturity model conducted for BInsurance Atd
MF;C says that the role of ICT is somewhere between integrate value chain and change
business processes. ?e will present the analysis in more details of each capability below6
/. pplications and 1olutions ;elivery 7 level of development of this ICT capability is
directly dependent on the <uality of service or capability of the main outsourcing partner in
the application software section that we provisionally call BComputing AtdC, and it
fluctuates over the time. BComputing AtdC occasionally experiences dynamic staff
turnover, and in periods when the number of employees working as a support of
BInsurance Atd MF;C information system is reduced, or when the BComputing AtdC
employees are in the learning phase, the <uality of services decreases, particularly response
time dramatically increases. +enerally, the cost out of this strategic partnership with a
company that has made custom software solution is high, the highest of any other
migration in technology in the enterprise.
F$,#re - / ICT Ca+ab$'$ty Mat#r$ty Mode' )or 2I"s#ra"ce Ltd MKD3!
ICT Ca+ab$'$t$es ICT Ca+ab$'$ty Mat#r$ty
/. pplication and 1olutions ;elivery %igh
(. Implementation %igh
:. -perations and 1ervices Moderate to Aow
2. >roject'portfolio Management Moderate
I. Manage Technical 3esources Moderate
E. Manage "usiness ;emand of ICT Moderate
G. Integration Moderate
D. ;evelop rchitecture'1tandards Aow
*. Manage of 3elationships Moderate
/). Manage the ICT Market Aow
//. ICT >lanning and 1trategy Moderate
/(. Manage ICT $inancial 3esources Aow
/:. ICT 3J; and Innovation Aow
/2. ICT -rgani#ational ;evelopment Aow
/I. Manage %uman ICT 3esources Aow
The integrated insurance information system itself is a <uality one, and possibilities of
its development as BInsurance Atd MF;C grows and develops are wide. BInsurance Atd
MF;C staff is familiar with the information system, and finds it helpful in their day7to7day
operations. ?eakness of the information system is that BComputing AtdC owns the
copyright, and it has the right to sell it and it did sale it to several insurance companies in
MF.
There are two possible negative conse<uences for BInsurance Atd MF;C that could
result form the sale.
$irst one is that the information system is sold to insurance companies that compete on
the same market K3epublic of MacedoniaL. This may cause BInsurance Atd MF;C to loose
its competitive advantage, and other companies to gain it by using the information system.
-n the other hand, the system is custom made, especially for the company with
experienced, but open7minded professionals, so that competing insurance companies which
introduce the system, will need some time to learn to use its features with full capacity.
5ventually, if BInsurance Atd MF;C doesnHt develop the system, the position may change
in favor of these competitors.
nother drawback of the main information system is that is developed in older
technology that is not very suitable for remote data processing Ksimply said, it is slowL, and
appears to be an obstacle for spreading the BInsurance Atd MF;C in several branches
throughout the country. The most efficient solution to this problem is a gradual migration
of the application to a ?eb application, with retention of the existing database structure
and data. This means that for the classes of insurance that have large number of clients and
policies the information system has to migrate to ?eb technologies first. Aarge industrial
property insurance, for example, that do not re<uire a short response time, which are
among the most complicated for processing and would cost the most to migrate, may
remain in the old technology.
1econd negative conse<uence, which is, at the same time, a source of risk in strategic
partnership with BComputing AtdC, is the possibility to close the operations or even go
bankrupt, although it has been on the market already () years. n effective solution to this
problem would be to deposit the source code of an information system to a notary.
-ther applications that are purchased from BComputing AtdC or other software
companies are not essential for the operation and their impact on strategic advantage of
BInsurance Atd MF;C is minor. In any case, the delivery of applications and solutions for
other applications so far went according to plan, with no major problems.
+eneral assessment of IT capabilities of BInsurance Atd MF;C with respect to
applications and solutions delivery is that the capability is high.
(. Implementation 9 The capability for implementation of new software is generally
high. pplications are created on the user friendly way and the versioning is automatic,
getting a new version of software is on one click. -n the other hand, all new employees are
trained as they are employed, including the use of software applications in the company.
Cooperation and mutual assistance among employees is high, and the introduction of new
applications and their implementation is conducted without major problems.
:. -perations and services 9 general assessment of the operations and services ICT
capability in BInsurance Atd MF;C is medium with periodic shifts to low. %istorically, the
company started with /) employees, with no branch offices outside the head<uarters and
/) desktop >Cs in ())(7()):, and with one person in charge of ICT function. In ())D, at
the time this strategy was written, the company had about G) employees, /E branch offices
besides the head<uarters and about /)) user >Cs, but only two employees in ICT
department. ;uring all that period, total spending in ICT was kept relatively constant and
well below the industry average, which is between 2 and IM of the gross premium of the
company, as shown in $igure 2.
F$,#re . 4 F$"a"c$a' a"a'ys$s o" ICT s+e"d$",
Near Total ICT
spendings
Maintenance Investments
in ICT
+ross
>remium
Investments in
ICT'+ross
>remium
())I G/D 2GD E() 2** *G *GE ::E ))) ))) ),(M
())E / G/* DD2 / EIG **D E/ DDI 2): I)) ))) ),2M
())G ( /(E (:* / *** (/E /(G )(: I(I I)) ))) ),2M
s in the case with software services, the company decided to outsource hardware and
networking services. It made a choice of a company, BComputing Two AtdC, and it became
BInsurance Atd MF;C subcontractor for ICT services but application software. %ere, with
the hardware and services, as well as in software, the weakness of complete outsourcing
repeats, that means that the <uality of service is directly dependent on the capabilities of
employees in the outsourcing company. ?hen the staff of the BComputing Two AtdC
reduces, problems with the large response time in administering the database and the server
arose.
1econd negative issue for the insurance company in choosing BComputing Two AtdC as
a partner in hardware and system support is that it is based in 1kopje only and has no
branch offices across Macedonia. They have only one company vehicle and a modest
number of employees in the hardware and system support section, so the <uality of support
is inevitably low.
Third issue is that BComputing Two AtdC has no experience in creating and supporting
an enterprise which has branches throughout Macedonia and that need to work on7line at
full capacity and reliability. t this stage of development BInsurance Atd MF;C needs a
strategic partner who has experience as a systems integrator in banks or insurance
companies, and which may transfer best practices from the operations of other enterprises
to BInsurance Atd MF;C.
2. >roject'portfolio Management 7 moderate level of maturity. The fact that BInsurance
Atd MF;C company is young, that it uses its own custom made integrated insurance
information system from the very beginning, and has no legacy systems, simplifies the
situation .E0 and does not re<uire a high level of skills management portfolio and projects.
I. Manage Technical 3esources 9 the same analysis applies from the previous section.
E. Manage "usiness ;emand of IT 9 moderate. "usiness re<uirements are delivered in
the ICT department, smaller and less re<uiring in terms of resources are implemented
immediately, and major ones are presented and discussed at the "oard of directors and
accessed to deliver with the approval of the 5xecutive ;irector. steering group is not
established or any formal body in charge of the priorities that will be awarded on ICT
projects and resources.
G. Integration 9 moderate level. In terms of geographical spread, enterprise integration
of A@ and ?@ networks and the communications in general becomes a thorny issue
that has been addressed incidentally. This issue became a turning point in the ICT domain
in this stage of development of BInsurance Atd MF;C. The current solution of the
telecommunications and the ?@ was applied at the end of ())I, when the company
opened the first branch office. The intention of introducing interim solution was to allow
branch offices to access the head<uarters by acceptable cost, because of a modest
workload. lso, because of the small workload of the new branch offices, lower speeds of
?@ connections were rented. The plan was to introduce professional and stable ?@
solution when the branch offices will become developed enough. Meanwhile, the number
of branches increased from : in ())I7())E to /G in ())D, which stress the network and
slowed down the larger branch offices in their work and the situation demanded a better
solution. ttempt to resolve the situation with a free &>@ service that was installed in all
branch offices starting in 1eptember ())G was a success, until the number of branch
offices grew drastically and that solution proved not to be stable and fast enough to support
the growth of the company.
t this stage of development BInsurance Atd MF;C needs a strategic partner who has
experience as a systems integrator in banks or insurance companies, and which may
transfer best practices from the operations of other enterprises to BInsurance Atd MF;C.
$irst contacts with the company BComputing Three AtdC are reali#ed, and it has a reference
list with a number of banks not only the country but in the region, and has a speciali#ed
department for system integration.
D. ;evelop rchitecture'1tandards 9 Aow. Market experience shows, in terms of the
correlation between market share and standardi#ation of the work in insurance companies
is not positive, but it has negative correlation. $or these reasons, there is lack of support
from the top management to introduce the I1-, I1M1 or other formal standards.
*. Manage of 3elationships 9 Moderate. The relations with the outsourcing companies
are on continuous basis, but the <uality varies depending on the <uality of the job done,
that is on the <uality of the current staff in the outsourcing company.
/). Manage the ICT Market 9 Aow. mounts on cost reducing management.
//. ICT >lanning and 1trategy 9 Moderate. >lans that take place in the company are
financial ones, and this is a first effort for written ICT strategy, probably the first one in the
industry in the country.
/(. Manage ICT $inancial 3esources 9 Aow. Aack of the top management support for
ICT.
/:. ICT 3J; and Innovation 9 Aow. Companies from the financial industry usually
work on the safe side, and do not prefer innovations, especially not ICT innovations.
/2. ICT -rgani#ational ;evelopment 9 Aow. "ecause of the lack of the support of the
top management, ICT is not counted as a part of the core business, but as a supporting
service. That is why it cannot serve as catalyst of an organi#ational development.
/I. Manage %uman ICT 3esources 7 Aow. There is no political will of the top
management to employ more ICT specialists, and the company cannot influence
outsourcing companies in their staff selection process.
ccording to the analysis of the level of ICT capability maturity and the role of ICT in
BInsurance Atd MF;C, the conclusion states that the role of ICT is between levels ( and :,
that is between integrate value chain and change business process. The level of capability
maturity is between / and (, respectively, which is technical capability and enterprise
support. This shows that in the recent past the role of ICT has come to change as a result of
the development of the company and as a result of the business strategy shift. s a result of
the changing role of ICT, a discrepancy between the ICT role in the company and level of
capability maturity appeared. 1olution for this discrepancy is to raise the level of maturity
of IT skills. >roposed ICT strategy for BInsurance Atd MF;C is to strengthen enterprise
integration strategy, which takes part in some ICT areas, but not comprehensive enough in
other ICT areas.
The ICT strategy document for BInsurance Atd MF;C continues with practical
recommendations as to how the implementation of the enterprise integration strategy
should be conducted, such as to change system integration outsourcing partner, with the
specification of re<uirements that a new partner should fulfill in order to strengthen
operations and services capability and integration capability8 how to rise the level of
telecommunication services in the company8 to audit the network and the configuration of
network servers to optimi#e their work and adapt to distributed access from multiple
remote branch offices8 to introduce a new database server taking into account cost'benefit
analysis and the price of 3M, which is necessary to supplement the existing server8 to
purchase new anti7virus software that will make tighter control of viruses and other
malicious software and increase network reliability and reduce the need for interventions
on computers in branch offices in order to strengthen management of technical resources
capability8 to deposit the source code of integrated insurance information system from
BComputing AtdC to a notary in order to strengthen development of architecture'standards
capability8 to develop written procedures for the main ICT processes in order to develop
architecture'standards capability8 to initiate establishment of a steering committee in order
to improve management of business demand of ICT8 and other technical recommendations
that exceed the interest of this paper. fter fulfilling previous tasks, project'portfolio
capability and management of relationships capability will become more mature as a result
of the actions taken in other ICT areas.
.! Co"c'#s$o"
There is no one or a few widely accepted ways of development of an ICT strategy, in
theory and in practice. -ur opinion is that dams, !ia, and "all method should be a
method of choice of one ICT manager in developing an ICT strategy of a company. This
paper presents a case of developing an ICT strategy for an insurance company in
Macedonia. This case study is meant to help ICT practitioners to translate general, abstract
method descriptions into specific, tangible, day7to7day ICT issues, during the process of
development of ICT strategy in a company.
-f course, the development of high <uality ICT strategy is just a prere<uisite of the final
goal 9 its successful implementation, and becoming important factor in achieving the
business goals of the company.
5! Re)ere"ces
/. dams Carl 3, !ia ?eidong and "all @icholas A., BI1'IT 1trategy6 Concepts,
$rameworks and Case -bservationsC, >roc. S'()ead Conference *""+, thens, +eorgia,
,1, ())2.
(. %enderson Oohn C. and &enkatraman @., B1trategic alignment6 Aeveraging information
technology for transforming organisationsC, 'BM Systems Journal, :(K/L, /**:.
:. %ayes, 3. %. and ?heelwright, 1. C. K/*G*L. Aink manufacturing process and product
life cycles.,arvard $usiness revie-# ./K/L, /::.
2. 3app ?illiam &., 'nformation 0echnology Strategies1 ,o- )eading Firms Use '0 0o
(ain 2n 2dvantage, -xford ,niversity >ress, @ew Nork, ())(.
I. 5arl Michael O., Information systems strategy formulation, in 3.O. "oland and 3..
%irschheim, eds, Critical 'ssues in 'nformation Systems Research, Oohn ?iley J 1ons,
Chichester, ,F, /*DG.
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1ons Atd, %oboken, ())E.