Why Information Systems Replication Strategy Fails in Transnational Operation
In search of cheaper resources and being able to serve nearby market more efficiently in order to maintain and improve their market position in a global economy, companies relocate, extend, or establish new production facilities overseas. Because of this, how to manage the Information Systems (IS) that support transitional activities within companies has become an important agenda not only in the business but also in the academic community. At a glance, replicating information systems and value chain that a company already has in the new facility overseas is seemingly a cheap and easy option. Nevertheless, in practice, it is not a trivial task, and at its worst, the IS can become obsolete. This chapter explains why replication strategy does not always work, and drawing on the practice lens approach, it posits that any changes in technology-in-use are the outcome of an ongoing structuring process where people constitute and reconstitute the structure of an IS in use. The chapter demonstrates that the structure of an IS is not defined a priori but emerges from daily use of the system, along with people’s understandings of the system, and of its role in the context of organisational routines. On this view, any challenges arising from the attempt to replicate the IS can be regarded as largely inevitable, since the structures embedded and enacted in the use of system, along with the practices that in turn recursively structure the use of the system would also have changed.