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In today's fast-moving, e-commerce economy
information is power. For years companies have been investing
in IT, expecting to develop their ability to exploit the
power of information and achieve better business performance.
Frequently, a company's investment has been a cost with
no clear payback -- a competitive necessity rather than
a strategic advantage.
The authors have developed a clear and effective
framework for evaluating IT strategies -- Information Orientation.
Information Orientation does this by determining the degree
to which a company implements and realizes the synergies
across three information capabilities: information behaviors
and values; information management practices; and information
technology practices. The book provides a thorough description
of the dimensions of each of the capabilities, along with
the analytical basis which validates the research finding
that a company must integrate all three information capabilities
as a precondition for achieving superior business performance.
The book contributes to a new area of management
thinking by offering empirically-tested and statistically-validated
theories, which will not only be of interest to academics,
but will also carry great significance for the practitioner/
For academic readers, this book presents a theory with supporting
evidence and arguments for changing the way management,
and in particular IT researchers, examine the roles of people,
information, and IT in decision making and strategy implementation.
For company managers, this book provides a new framework
and business metric that challenges current mindsets and
practices concerning how people, information, and IT can
be managed to achieve business results.
Donald A Marchand is Study Director and
Professor, Information Management and Strategy, IMD International,
Lausanne.
William J. Kettinger is Director, Center
of Information Management and Technology Research, Darla
Moore School of Business Administration, University of South
Carolina.
John D. Rollins is Study Director and
Managing Partner, Strategic IT Effectiveness (SITE), Andersen
Consulting.
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