Jahangir Karimi

Impact of Information Technology Management Practices on Customer Service

Recently,despite huge incentives and subsequent increases in investment in customer relationship management technology, many firms have not been able to increase their customer satisfaction index ratings. The purpose of this paper is to gauge whether IT management practices differ among firms where IT has a major role in transforming marketing, operations, or both, which give the firms advantage by affecting their customer service. Several research hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a survey of 213 IT-leaders in the financial services industry. The results clearly indicate that the IT-leader firms have a higher level of IT management sophistication and a higher role for their IT-leaders compared to IT-enabled customer focus, IT-enabled operations focus, and IT-laggard firms. This paper concludes with the implications for both researchers and practitioners.

Impact of Environmental Uncertainty and Task Characteristics on User Satisfaction with Data

Today, more than ever before, organizations are faced with the task of processing volumes of information under more uncertain and more competitive environments. This study investigates the impact of environmental uncertainty and task characteristics on user satisfaction with data by using IS and organizational theories. Responses were matched from 77 CEOs and 166 senior managers, who were end users of IS. The partial least squares technique indicated that environmental uncertainty has a positive impact on task characteristics. Task characteristics have a direct and mediating impact on user satisfaction with data. Our findings also demonstrated that user satisfaction with data could be better understood by overlapping IS and organizational theories, rather than by treating the subject matter in disjoint fields. The paper concludes with discussions and implications for researchers and practitioners.

Alignment of a firm's competitive strategy and information technology management sophistication: the missing link

The need for establishing a link between information technology (IT) management strategies and a firms competitive strategy has been identified and discussed in the literature. In this paper, factors for measuring IT management sophistication are identified first. Then the effects of the competitive strategy on IT management sophistication are tested empirically. According to a survey of 213 managers, this study finds that competitive strategy has a direct impact on IT management sophistication. This paper concludes with implications for both researchers and practitioners.

A framework for comparing information engineering methods

This article proposes a comprehensive framework for comparing the current methodologies and tools for information engineering and using these methods for applying information technology to construct the overall information systems architecture for the organization. The proposed framework consists of two dimensions: (1) an expanded sequence of the traditional system life cycle; and (2) the conceptual depth of the methods.The article shows that information engineering is the key to effective information management. Using the proposed framework, 26 widely cited methods for information engineering are compared. Evolution to more effective methods of information engineering are needed to align future information systems requirements to strategic goals and objectives of an organization and to exploit the current information systems technologies for competitive advantage.

Globalization and information management strategies

Recent globalization initiatives have encouraged firms to consider new organizational strategies and to change their coordination and control systems, management processes, and organization structu...

Strategic planning for information systems: requirements and information

The purpose of strategic planning for information systems (spis) is to provide a systematic process for developing a long-range plan for information systems on the basis of the organization’s overa...

An asset-based systems development approach to software reusability

Software reusability has been viewed as one of the major opportunity areas for improving software productivity. An overview of software reusability research suggests that the traditionalapproach to software development is inappropriate for the development of reusable software parts. An organizational strategy for making software reusability practical is needed. An asset-based systems development method, based on this strategy, focuses on the development of information assets designed to be reused. It also facilitates identifying, representing, and classifying information assets.

An automated software design assistant

An automated software design assistant was implemented as a part of a long-term project with the objectives of applying the computer-aided technique to the tools in a software engineering environment. A set of quantitative measures are derived based on the degree to which a particular design satisfied the attributes associated with a structured software design. The measure are then used as decision rules for a computer-aided methodology for structured design. The feasibility of the approach is also demonstrated by a case study using a small application system design problem. >

The Role of Dynamic Capabilities in Responding to Digital Disruption: A Factor-Based Study of the Newspaper Industry

Abstract Internet and digitization are fundamentally changing and disrupting newspaper companies’ traditional operating models. Disruptive innovation theory offers explanations for why companies succeed or fail to respond to disruptive innovations. This study builds on disruptive innovation theory by ascertaining the role of dynamic capabilities in the performance of response to digital disruption. Empirical results suggest that first-order dynamic capabilities that are created by changing, extending, or adapting a firm’s existing resources, processes, and values are positively associated with building digital platform capabilities, and that these capabilities impact the performance of response to digital disruption. For information systems (IS) researchers, this study clarifies the role of first-order dynamic capabilities in responding to digital disruption. For IS practice, it helps managers to focus on the most promising factors for creating first-order dynamic capabilities, for building digital platform capabilities, and for reinventing their core functions to accelerate digitization.

The Role of ERP Implementation in Enabling Digital Options: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

Many firms are transforming themselves from vertically integrated organizations into digitally enabled organizations. As firms become more innovative in their technical infrastructures and more competitive in their respective industries/verticals, their extended enterprise models include using their previous enterprise resource planning (ERP) investments as foundations for prioritizing additions and for longer-term strategies. The key issue for many firms is how to leverage their ERP implementation to become better partners and collaborators by enabling digital options to exploit business opportunities. This paper ascertains the contextual conditions under which ERP system implementations have the greatest impact on intention to adopt digital options. Using empirical data, it finds that the impact of ERP implementation on digital-options adoption intention is moderated by a firms digital-resource readiness. For information systems (IS) practice, the study suggests that firms should view ERP divisibility as an option value generator for supporting new customers and revenue opportunities. For IS research, it relates digital-options theory to specific measurable constructs and to the firms digital-resource readiness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.