Abstract
When building a Strategic Information System (SIS), it may not be economically sound for s firm to be an innovator through the strategic deployment of information technology. The decreasing costs of the technology and the power of imitation may quickly curtail any competitive advantage acquired through an SIS. On the other hand, the iron law of market competition prescribes that those who do not imitate superior solutions are driven out of business. This means that any successful SIS becomes a competitive necessity for every player in the industry. Tapping standard models of strategy analysis and data sources for industry analysis will lead to similar systems and enhance, rather than decrease, imitation. How then should ‘true’ SISs be developed? In order to avoid easy imitation, they should emerge from the grass roots of the organization, out of end-user hacking, computing, and tinkering. In this way the innovative SIS is going to be highly entrenched with the specific culture of the firm. Top management needs to appreciate local fluctuations in system practices as a repository of unique innovations and commit adequate resources to their development, even if they fly in the face of traditional approaches. Rather than looking for standard models in the business strategy literature, SISs should be looked for in the theory and practice of organizational learning and innovation, both incremental and radical.
This chapter originally appeared in (1987) Office, Technology and People 3: 17–38.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Argyris, C. (1982). Reasoning, Learning and Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Argyris, C. and Schön, D.A., (1978). Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Bain, J.S. and Treacy, M.E. (1986). Information Technology and Corporate Strategy: A research Perspective, MIS Quarterly, June: 107–119.
Barney, J.B. (1985). A Framework for Evaluating Strategic Option. Mimeo, GSM, UCLA, Winter.
Barney, J.B. (1985a). Types of Competition and the Theory of Strategy: Towards an Integrative Framework. GSM, UCLA, Spring.
Bateson, G., (1972). Steps to an Ecology of Mind, New York: Ballantine.
Bikson, T.M. and Eveland, J.D. (1989). Technology Transfer as a Framework for Understanding Social Impacts of Computerization, in M.J. Smith and G. Salvendy (eds) Work with Computers: Organizational Management, Stress, and Health Aspects, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers, pp. 28–37.
Bikson, T.K., Stasz, C. and Mankin, D. (1985). Computer Mediated Work: Individual and Organizational Impact in One Corporate Headquarters. The RAND Corporation, R-3308, OTA, Santa Monica, CA.
Brousseau, E. (1990). Information Technologies and Inter-firm Relationships: The Spread of Interorganizational Telematic Systems and its Impacts on Economic Structures. Proceedings Eighth International Telecommunications Conference, Venice, March.
Brown, J.S. (1991). Research that Reinvents the Corporation, Harvard Business Review, January–February: 102–111.
Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (1989). Learning and Improvisation: Local sources of Global Innovation, Mimeo, Xerox Parc.
Cash, J.I. and Konsynski, B. (1985). IS Redraws Competitive Boundaries. Harvard Business Review 63(2): 134–142.
Chamberlin, E.N. (1933). The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ciborra, C.U. (1987). Reframing the Role of Computers in Organizations: The Transactions Costs Approach, Office Technology and People 3: 17–38.
Ciborra, C.U., and Lanzara, G.F. (1990). Designing Dynamic Artifacts: Computer Systems as Formative Contexts, in P. Gagliardi (ed.) Symbols and Artifacts: Views of the Corporate Landscape, Berlin: De Gruyter.
Ciborra, C.U. and Schneider, L. (1990). Transforming the Routines and Contexts of Management, Work and Technology, Proceedings of the Conference on Technology and the Future of Work, Stanford University School of Engineering, March.
Clemons, E. K. (1986). Information Systems for Sustainable Competitive Advantage, Information & Management, November: 131–136.
Clemons, E. K. and Row, M. (1988). McKesson Drug Company: A Case Study of Economost: A Strategic Information System, Journal of Manage ment Information Systems 5(1): 3650.
Copeland, D.G. and McKenney, J.L. (1988). Airline Reservation Systems: Lessons from History, MIS Quarterly 12(3): 353–370.
Feeny, D. and Ives, B. (1989). In Search of Sustainability: Reaping Long Term Advantage from Investments in Information Technology. Mimeo, Oxford Center for Development Studies.
Fiol, C. M. and Lyles, M.A. (1985). Organizational Learning, Academy of Management Review 10(4): 803–813.
Hedberg, B. and Jonsson, S. (1978). Designing Semi-Confusing Information Systems for Organizations in Changing Environments, Accounting, Organizations and Society 3(1): 47–64.
Heiner, R. (1983). The Origin of Predictable Behaviour, American Economic Review 73: 560–595.
Henderson, J.C. and Venkatraman, N. (1989). Strategic Alignment: A Process Model for Integrating Information Technology and Business Strategies, MIT — Sloan Working Paper, pp. 3086–3089.
Hopper, M.D. (1990). Rattling SABRE: New Ways to Compete on Information, Harvard Business Review 68(3): 118–125.
Itami, H. (1987). Mobilizing Invisible Assets, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ives, B., and Learmonth, G.P. (1984). The Information System as a Competitive Weapon, Communications of the ACM 27(12): 1193–1201.
Johnston, H.R. and Vitale, M.R. (1988). Creating Competitive Advantage with Interorganizational Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, June: 153–165.
Levitt, B. and March, J.G. (198). Organizational Learning, Annual Review of Sociology 14: 319–340.
Malone, T.W., Yates, J. and Benjamin, R.I. (1987). Electronic Markets and Electronic Hierarchies, Communications of the ACM 30(6): 484–497.
Marchand, M. (1987). Le Paradis Informationelle, Paris: Masson.
Masuch, M. (1985). Vicious Circles in Organizations, Administrative Science Quarterly 30: 1433.
McFarlan, W.F. (1984). Information Technology Changes the Way You Compete, Harvard Business Review 62(3): 98–103.
Mintzberg, H. (1990). The Design School: Reconsidering the Basic Premises of Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal 11: 171–195.
Nonaka, I. (1988). Toward Middle-Up-Down Management: Accelerating Information Creation, Sloan Management Review 29(3): 9–18.
Nonaka, I. (1988a). Creating Organizational Order out of Chaos: Self-Renewal in Japanese Firms, California Management Review 30(3): 57–73.
Nonaka, I. and Yamanouchi, T. (1989). Managing Innovation as a Self-Renewing Process, Journal of Business Venturing 4: 299–315.
Nora, S. and Minc, A. (1978). L’Informatisation de la societe, Paris: La Documentation Francaise.
Penrose, E. (1959). The Theory of Growth of the Firm, New York: Wiley.
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive Strategy, New York: The Free Press.
Porter, M.E. and Millar, V.E. (1985). How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage, Harvard Business Review 63(4): 149–160.
Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990). The Core Competence of the Corporation, Harvard Business Review 68(3): 79–93.
Rockart, J.F. (1979). Chief Executives Define Their Own Data Needs, Harvard Business Review 57(2): 81–93.
Rosenberg, N. (1982). Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sabel, C. (1990). Studied Trust: Building New Forms of Cooperation in a Volatile Economy, ILO Conference on Industrial Districts and Local Economic Regeneration, Geneva, October.
Schön, D.A. (1979). The Reflective Practitioner, New York: Basic Books.
Schneider, V., Charon, J.M., Miles, Thomas, G. and Vedel, T. (1990). The Dynamics of Videotex Development in Britain, France, and Germany: A Cross-National Comparison, Proceedings Eighth International Conference of the International Telecommunications Society, Venice, March.
Schumpeter, J.A. (1950). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 3rd Edition, New York: Harper & Row.
Suchman, L. (1987). Plans and Situated Actions: The Problem of Human-Machine Communication, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Takeuchi, H. and Nonaka, I. (1986). The New New Product Development Game, Harvard Business Review 64(1): 137–146.
Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1981). The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice, Science 221: 453–458.
Venkatraman, N. and Short, J.E. (1990). Strategies for Electronic Integration: From Order-Entry to Value-Added Partnerships at Baxter, MIT-Sloan School Working Paper, Mimeo.
Vitale, M. (1986). The Growing Risks of Information Systems Success, MIS Quarterly 10(4): 327–334.
Weick, K.E. (1979). The Social Psychology of Organizing, 2nd Edition, New York: Random House.
Wiseman, C. (1988). Strategic Information Systems, Homewood, IL: Irwin.
Zuboff, S. (1988). In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power, New York: Basic Books.
Copyright information
© 2009 Claudio U. Ciborra
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ciborra, C.U. (2009). From Thinking to Tinkering: The Grassroots of Strategic Information Systems. In: Bricolage, Care and Information. Technology, Work and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230250611_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230250611_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30620-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-25061-1
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)