Mathias Cöster

Influence of insight and manoeuvre inertia on information technology investments and strategic change

IT is transforming the global economy. The technology may inspire as well as hinder the development of business strategies. The concept of organisational inertia highlights factors that prevent organisations from making changes necessary to realise such strategies. In this article, writings on the inertia concept are summarised and used as a framework to analyse how organisational inertia influences decisions on IT investments and strategic change. The empirical data consists of minutes from board meetings regarding investments in information technology (IT) in a Swedish newspaper and printing company during the years 1971-1989. The analysis shows that it was various aspects of manoeuvre inertia that postponed the necessary changes to take place and furthermore that the frame of reference used still is valid in order to analyse and understand organisational inertia. To a manager in a business world that is in a state of constant change (often spurred by various IT innovations), the inertia concept can contribute to deepening the analysis of factors that may influence the change necessary to realise the full potential of an IT investment.