The Effects of Strategic Typology Model and Strategic Alignment on the Delivery Capability of an IT Organization

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 58-80
Author(s):  
J. Stan Yarbrough ◽  
Mary L. Lind
Keyword(s):  
Business Strategy ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Chief Information Officer ◽  
Single Type ◽  
Information Technology Management ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
It Capability ◽  
Strategic Direction ◽  
It Organization ◽  
Low Levels

Measuring the state of IT alignment with business strategy is gradually becoming less elusive but practical approaches continue to be difficult to propose and execute. The results of this study indicate that higher degrees of IT strategic alignment with business occurs in Prospector and Analyzer types. Given the context of the STM model and the inclination of business strategy to center on a single type, these two models are most effective in generating IT capability over time. Defender STM types tend to lead to lower IT capability and low levels of alignment. It is recommended that the concept of IT alignment is as a function of information technology management, and the idea of making alignment solely the responsibility of the Chief Information Officer (CIO), fails to reach the goals of alignment, which requires strategic direction from a business that matches a Prospector or Analyzer type.

scholarly journals Managing and Delivering Information Technology Value

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Yuliana Lisanti
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Business Value ◽  
It Strategy ◽  
Value Innovation ◽  
Capability Maturity ◽  
It Capability ◽  
It Organization

Investment Information Technology (IT) has always been a primary objective of the business which is expected to provide value to businesses through its role as a competitive advantage and the creation of innovation. However, it is ot easy to measure how much value is successfully created, or determine whether the IT strategy is aligned with business strategy, or find out if the IT organization has a strategy that focuses on creating business value. Innovation Value of Institute (IVI) introduces a new concept known as the IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF) which can help IT organizations to align the business vision with the IT vision so that IT strategy could focus on value creation . the IT-CMF implementation which begins with the assessment of the maturity of IT organization can provide an overall picture, so that organization can prioritize the development of appropriate IT investments to support the value creation for the overall business. 

A Conceptual Model for Aligning IT Valuation Methods

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gilbert Silvius
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Valuation Methods ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Valuation Method ◽  
Business And It Alignment ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between IT and value is complex and often disputed. Researchers and practitioners have created numerous models and valuation methods to capture this value. Although payoffs from IT investment are a function of strategic alignment, most of these models do not address the alignment of business and IT as a factor that influences or creates value. This paper explores the role of business and IT alignment in the valuation methods of IT assets and investments. It focuses on the impacts resulting from the use of IT assets, considering the function and nature of the impacts. It also explores the alignment of IT valuation and business strategy. The paper is concluded with the construction of a comprehensive selection model that provides guidance for aligning the IT valuation method with the specific characteristics, impacts and organizational context of an IT asset or investment.

Strategic Alignment for Business Value Creation

2011 ◽  
pp. 131-166
Author(s):  
Eng K. Chew ◽  
Petter Gottschalk
Keyword(s):  
Business Strategy ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Good Method ◽  
Specific Productivity ◽  
It Strategy ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Full Life Cycle ◽  
Strategy Process ◽  
Explicitly Correlated ◽  
The Individual

Chapter IV defines the macromodel for achieving business/IT alignment. This chapter defines the detailed methodology for each step of the IT strategy process. First, the business strategy process must be methodical and able to clearly show the linkage between corporate strategic intents and the respective specific business functional plans for realizing the intents. For example, for a specific productivity goal defined for the corporation, the respective initiatives planned for sales and marketing, and those for supply chain management must be clearly linked and explicitly correlated in a “cause-and-effect” manner. A good method invented by Norton and Kaplan called strategy map is an effective tool for this purpose. This chapter reviews the basic principles of IT strategy. It briefly discusses various models used to analyze or describe disparate parts of strategic alignment. These strategic alignment models are contrasted with our end-to-end alignment model for defining and executing business-aligned IT strategy. It shows that our model has integrated all the individual disparate alignment elements proposed by these models. Further, it shows our model has addressed some key requirements which have either not been considered or only partially considered by some of these models. The main strengths of our model compared to previous work are twofold: (a) it addresses all alignment elements in an integrated fashion to make them meaningful and useful for practitioners; and (b) it addresses the full life cycle of strategic alignment from direction setting to strategic outcome monitoring and ongoing feedback loop for self-adjusted alignment (aided by architecture principles and IT governance).

How does business-IT strategic alignment dimension impact on organizational performance measures

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aboobucker Ilmudeen ◽  
Yukun Bao ◽  
Ibraheem Mubarak Alharbi
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Content Type ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Despite the conceptual, empirical and theoretical advances in alignment–performance relationship, there is a limited research on the alignment dimensions and organizational performance measures. Though strategic alignment is believed to improve organizational performance, the purpose of this paper is to develop conjectures for understanding how different alignment dimensions influence organizational performance measures. Design/methodology/approach The data were acquired from 161 senior IT and business managers paired responses in China and were analyzed by using a structural equation modeling technique. Findings The hypothesized relationships are largely supported. Thus, quality-oriented strategic alignment dimension has a significant relationship with all performance measures. Contrary to expectations, both product and marketing-oriented strategic alignment dimensions do not show a significant impact on financial return. The marketing-oriented strategic alignment dimension also has an insignificant relationship with operational excellence. Practical implications This study suggests that the business–IT alignment can be dimensioned to better combine business strategy and IT strategy. Hence, managers can focus specific alignment dimension instead of entire strategies of a firm for a better decision making. Originality/value Findings suggest guidance for formulating combined business and IT strategic alignment into dimensions and proposing insightful and practical implications.

scholarly journals The impact of environmental uncertainty on business–IT alignment: A study in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amitha Padukkage
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Environmental Uncertainty ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Alignment Process ◽  
The Impact

<p>Despite the widely held belief that organisational performance can be enhanced through the alignment of information technology (IT) and business strategy, alignment remains a top concern for IT and business executives. This means that the challenges of attaining strategic alignment have not been overcome. Environmental uncertainty, in particular, is one of the key challenges to achieving strategic alignment.  Organisations continually adapt their strategies due to rapid changes in the market, technology and regulations. Either the business strategy changes and the IT strategy has to adapt to remain in alignment, or new IT emerges and business and IT strategies have to be revised to seize opportunities. Changes in the regulations can also have a significant impact on organisational strategy. Uncertainty increases the difficulty of understanding the environment and places executives in a challenging situation with regard to strategic decision making. It is thus important for executives to develop an understanding of the effect of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment.  This issue has received little attention in the alignment literature. The literature presents mixed arguments on the effect of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment. There is literature which explain the implications of the antecedents of strategic alignment; however, it does not consider these antecedents in the context of a highly uncertain environment. Hence, the objective of this research is to identify the extent of the impact of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment and to determine how this affects the impact of other antecedents.  This research adopts a post-positivist approach. Using the perspectives of the resource-based theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm, a conceptual model is presented which examines the impact of antecedents and environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment. Three antecedents – shared domain knowledge, relationship management, and prior IS success – were selected as key antecedents. Environmental uncertainty was also proposed as an antecedent. This research assumes that the effect of these antecedents on strategic alignment is mediated by two managerial practices: communication and planning connection. Based on data collected from 212 organisations in Sri Lanka, the conceptual model is tested against the research objective. As a developing country, Sri Lanka has a highly turbulent environment and thus provides a suitable setting in which to examine the impact of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment. Partial Least Squares structural equation modelling is used to test the conceptual model.  The results reveal that environmental uncertainty has a positive impact on strategic alignment and that it is mediated by managerial practices. All the antecedents were also found to have a positive effect on managerial practices. As a managerial practice, planning connection has the stronger influence on strategic alignment, while communication plays a contingent role in the alignment process. Moreover, organisation size also has an influence on the alignment process. The relative influence of antecedents and environmental uncertainty differs between SMEs and large organisations. This suggests that the mechanisms used to attain strategic alignment vary by organisational size.  The findings contribute to the literature and practice of strategic alignment in several ways. One of the contributions is the introduction of environmental uncertainty as an antecedent to strategic alignment and the identification of the influence of three sources of uncertainty: market uncertainty, technological uncertainty and regulatory uncertainty. Another contribution is a theoretical explanation of the strategic alignment process using the resource-based theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm. Further, this research extends the validity of the alignment process to a developing country context. From the practitioners’ point of view, this research provides valuable guidance about aligning IT strategy with business strategies in an uncertain environment. Moreover, this research provides prescriptive insights for attaining business–IT alignment for both SMEs and large organisations.</p>

scholarly journals The impact of environmental uncertainty on business–IT alignment: A study in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amitha Padukkage
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Environmental Uncertainty ◽  
Managerial Practices ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Alignment Process ◽  
The Impact

<p>Despite the widely held belief that organisational performance can be enhanced through the alignment of information technology (IT) and business strategy, alignment remains a top concern for IT and business executives. This means that the challenges of attaining strategic alignment have not been overcome. Environmental uncertainty, in particular, is one of the key challenges to achieving strategic alignment.  Organisations continually adapt their strategies due to rapid changes in the market, technology and regulations. Either the business strategy changes and the IT strategy has to adapt to remain in alignment, or new IT emerges and business and IT strategies have to be revised to seize opportunities. Changes in the regulations can also have a significant impact on organisational strategy. Uncertainty increases the difficulty of understanding the environment and places executives in a challenging situation with regard to strategic decision making. It is thus important for executives to develop an understanding of the effect of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment.  This issue has received little attention in the alignment literature. The literature presents mixed arguments on the effect of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment. There is literature which explain the implications of the antecedents of strategic alignment; however, it does not consider these antecedents in the context of a highly uncertain environment. Hence, the objective of this research is to identify the extent of the impact of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment and to determine how this affects the impact of other antecedents.  This research adopts a post-positivist approach. Using the perspectives of the resource-based theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm, a conceptual model is presented which examines the impact of antecedents and environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment. Three antecedents – shared domain knowledge, relationship management, and prior IS success – were selected as key antecedents. Environmental uncertainty was also proposed as an antecedent. This research assumes that the effect of these antecedents on strategic alignment is mediated by two managerial practices: communication and planning connection. Based on data collected from 212 organisations in Sri Lanka, the conceptual model is tested against the research objective. As a developing country, Sri Lanka has a highly turbulent environment and thus provides a suitable setting in which to examine the impact of environmental uncertainty on strategic alignment. Partial Least Squares structural equation modelling is used to test the conceptual model.  The results reveal that environmental uncertainty has a positive impact on strategic alignment and that it is mediated by managerial practices. All the antecedents were also found to have a positive effect on managerial practices. As a managerial practice, planning connection has the stronger influence on strategic alignment, while communication plays a contingent role in the alignment process. Moreover, organisation size also has an influence on the alignment process. The relative influence of antecedents and environmental uncertainty differs between SMEs and large organisations. This suggests that the mechanisms used to attain strategic alignment vary by organisational size.  The findings contribute to the literature and practice of strategic alignment in several ways. One of the contributions is the introduction of environmental uncertainty as an antecedent to strategic alignment and the identification of the influence of three sources of uncertainty: market uncertainty, technological uncertainty and regulatory uncertainty. Another contribution is a theoretical explanation of the strategic alignment process using the resource-based theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm. Further, this research extends the validity of the alignment process to a developing country context. From the practitioners’ point of view, this research provides valuable guidance about aligning IT strategy with business strategies in an uncertain environment. Moreover, this research provides prescriptive insights for attaining business–IT alignment for both SMEs and large organisations.</p>

The Chief Information Officer and Chief Financial Officer Dyad in the Public Sector: How an Effective Relationship Impacts Individual Effectiveness and Strategic Alignment

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt Schobel ◽  
James S. Denford
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
Chief Information Officer ◽  
Chief Financial Officer ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Technology Governance ◽  
Information Technology Governance ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Knowledge Intensive

ABSTRACT Within the domain of Information Technology Governance (ITG), the study of Chief Information Officer (CIO) relationships has historically focused on the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Top Management Team (TMT). Within knowledge-intensive, publicly funded, and not-for-profit organizations, the specific relationship between the CIO and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a critical pairing, which impacts both individual effectiveness and strategic alignment. Findings from multiple case studies suggest that while the CIO and CFO pair are similar to other TMT relationships in many ways, their perceptions of the other's strategic role within the organization is a key differentiator that can lead to effective or adversarial relationships with individual and firm-level outcomes. The research model in this paper suggests that when the relationship is positive, both individual role effectiveness and strategic alignment improve.

Concepts of Strategic Alignment of IT and Business

2013 ◽  
pp. 168-191
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Strategic Alignment ◽  
Strategic Information ◽  
Strategic Information Systems ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Strategic Information Systems Planning ◽  
Systems Planning ◽  
Information Engineering ◽  
Information Systems Planning

This chapter begins by explaining the purpose of strategic information systems planning, which is followed by describing three commonly adopted methodologies. They are known as “business systems planning,” “strategic systems planning,” and “information engineering.” In addition, the six broad process dimensions that characterize the activity of strategic information systems planning are discussed. In order to provide an understanding of what is meant by alignment, the basic concepts are presented and some established principles discussed. In essence, the primary and secondary functions in alignment for a business are explained, including the purpose it serves, how optimum alignment occurs, and when. Some proposed models for strategic alignment are reviewed to provide an understanding of the different types of strategic activities that are involved, and their flow and relationships with each other for interaction. By demonstrating how each model works based on a given set of conditions, the key to achieving strategic alignment for a business is established. The strengths and limitations of each of the models are stated. In particular, the model proposed by Henderson and Venkatraman (1990), the Strategic Alignment Model (SAM), is described in detail to explain how it works. It is explained in the context of four fundamental domains of strategic choice, with each having its own underlying dimensions. In essence, SAM has been developed for conceptualizing and directing the emerging area of strategic management of IT in terms of two fundamental characteristics of strategic management. They are strategic fit (the interrelationships between external and internal components) and functional integration (integration between business and functional domains). These fundamental characteristics are defined with respect to four different perspectives of alignment. Further, three dominant domain types are introduced together with appropriate illustrations of their application. Finally, case studies are presented to show how companies with a technology vision can achieve enormous business success through applying strategic IT alignment and indeed become global players. The chapter concludes with a summary of the main points covered on the concepts of strategic alignment of IT and business.

A Conceptual Model for Aligning IT Valuation Methods

2012 ◽  
pp. 182-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gilbert Silvius
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Selection Model ◽  
Valuation Methods ◽  
It Alignment ◽  
Valuation Method ◽  
Business And It Alignment ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between IT and value is complex and often disputed. Researchers and practitioners have created numerous models and valuation methods to capture this value. Although payoffs from IT investment are a function of strategic alignment, most of these models do not address the alignment of business and IT as a factor that influences or creates value. This paper explores the role of business and IT alignment in the valuation methods of IT assets and investments. It focuses on the impacts resulting from the use of IT assets, considering the function and nature of the impacts. It also explores the alignment of IT valuation and business strategy. The paper is concluded with the construction of a comprehensive selection model that provides guidance for aligning the IT valuation method with the specific characteristics, impacts and organizational context of an IT asset or investment.

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