The impact of family harmony on family SMEs' performance: the mediating role of information technologies

PurposeWith the increasing digitalization processes taking place in different industries, the success of family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) appears to be more under threat than for any other types of organizations, especially when information technologies (ITs) are not adequately used and managed. To grow and increase the chances of survival, family SMEs need more than ever IT. Stemming from agency theory, the aim of this article is to understand whether family harmony impacts the performance of family SMEs and to what extent IT mediates this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe research follows a quantitative approach, based on a sample of 182 family SMEs. Structured equation modeling, through SmartPLS, was employed to validate the research model.FindingsThis study’s main findings suggest that family harmony positively impacts firm performance and that IT governance and strategy mediate positively this relationship.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the relatively limited number of respondents limits the degree of representativeness of all family SMEs. Replicating the research with a larger number of respondents could strengthen the findings. Second, this study is limited to French firms and future research could extend the findings by looking at cross-country comparisons.Practical implicationsFamily SMEs are encouraged to link their IT governance with their IT strategy in order to increase their organizational performance. A favorable family harmony will make it easier to choose and implement a richer IT strategy and put in place an adequate IT governance function.Originality/valueThis research offers an enriched knowledge of the roles of family harmony and technological innovation in family SMEs and IT contexts as significant predictors of organizational performance. It contributes to family firm theory through the identification of three determinants of family SMEs' performance.

Demand Chain Strategy and Chinese Firm Performance

The purpose of this research is to enhance the extant understanding of the information technology (IT)-strategy relationship. The study aims to test the robustness of the relationships among the concepts of IT analytic capability, demand chain strategy, and firm performance besides investigating the interaction effects of product life cycle (PLC) management on the IT-strategy relationship. Based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and the research paradigm of “capability-strategy-performance,” 300 Chinese fashion firms were surveyed to collect data by Demand Chain Research Institute of Shanghai University. In order to test the hypothetical relationship in the conceptual model, valid questionnaires from 185 firms were collected in this study, and the effective rate reached 61.7%. Findings suggest that IT analytic capability associates positively with demand chain strategy, and PLC plays a moderation role between IT analytic capability and demand chain strategy. The findings further support the link between demand chain strategy and better firm performance. This study contributes to existing information systems and operation management literature by the above effects in the retail context. Overall, these results reflect recent business and transformation changes from supply chain strategy to demand chain strategy for the Chinese fashion industry.

Why and how informatics and applied computing can still create structural changes and competitive advantage

PurposeIn the new digital age, enterprises are facing an increasing global competition. In this paper, we first examine how Information Technology (IT) can play an important role in giving significant competitive advantage in the modern enterprises. The business value of IT is examined, as well as the limitations and the trade-offs that its applicability faces. Next, we present the basic principles for a successful IT strategy, considering the development of a long-term IT renovation plan, the strategic alignment of IT with the business strategy, and the adoption of an integrated, distributed, and interoperable IT platform. Finally, we examine how a highly functional and efficient IT organization can be developed.Design/methodology/approachOur methodological approach was based to the answers of the following questions: 1. Does IT still matter? 2. What is the business value created by IT along with the corresponding limitations and trade-offs? 3. How could a successful IT Strategy be build up? 4. How could an effective? T planning aligned with the business strategy be build up? 5. How could a homogenized and distributed corporate IT platform be developed? and finally, 6. How could a high-performance IT-enabled enterprise be build up?FindingsThe enterprises in order to succeed in the new digital area need to: 1. synchronize their IT strategy with their business strategy, 2. formulate a long-term IT strategy, 3. adopt IT systems and solutions that are implemented with elasticity, interoperability, distribution, and service-orientation. 4. keep a strategic direction towards the creation of an exceptional organization based on IT.Originality/valueThis paper is original with respect to the integrated approach the overall problem is examined. There is a prototype combined investigation of all perspectives for an effective enforcement of IT in a way that causes acceleration in competitive advantage when conducting business.

It’s Practice. But is it Strategy? Reinvigorating strategy-as-practice by rethinking consequentiality

In this essay we revisit the radical agenda proposed by strategy-as-practice scholars to study strategy as it emerges within people’s practices. We show that, while much progress has been made, there is still a dominant focus on articulated strategies, which has implications for what is seen as strategic. We anchor our argument in the notion of consequentiality – a guiding yet, ironically, constraining principle of the strategy-as-practice agenda. Our paper proposes a deeper understanding of the notion of strategy as ‘consequential’ in terms of both what is important to a wider range of actors and also following the consequences of these actors’ practices through the patterns of action that they construct. In doing so, we offer a conceptual and an empirical approach to reinvigorating the strategy-as-practice agenda by inviting scholars to take a more active role in field sites, in deciding and explaining what practices are strategic.

Perencanaan Strategis SI/TI Menggunakan Metode Ward and Peppard di Institusi Pendidikan (Studi Kasus: SMK Bina Nusantara Ungaran)

Business competition in this fast-paced information age has become very tight. especially in the field of education. Thus the organization must have a business strategy that is very mature in order to face the competition. The application of information systems and technology has become one of the most influential business strategies for staying in competition. Bina Nusantara Vocational School has implemented an information system and technology, but apparently it has not run optimally because some parts have not yet implemented an information system. In this study discusses how to plan an IS / IT strategy using ward and peppard methods with supporting analyzes such as Value Chain Porter's, SWOT, and McFarlan's Strategic Grid. Which produces a portfolio of IS / IT that is aligned with the vision and mission and roadmaps of its implementation to support the business processes that are run and make the Bina Nusantara Vocational School excel in education.

Strategic Planning IS/IT TO Improve Business Competitiveness in Public Hospital

Hospital competition is getting tighter, making good hospital strategic planning very important so that the Hospital can survive to develop better in a changing environment. Today's competitive advantage cannot be separated from Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT). IS / IT in hospitals is currently used as a tool to create and develop innovative products, systems, and services for hospitals. The problem that occurs today is a large number of IS / IT that is made without looking at the financial side of the Hospital, thus making a number of uses of IS / IT not optimal in Hospital operational and business activities. Based on these problems, IS / IT strategic planning that also considers financial capability is needed. In this research, IS/IT strategic planning that takes into account the financial aspects is achieved using the approach of Ward and Peppard combined with Cost-Benefit Analysis. Value Chain and Critical Success Factor (CSF) analysis methods are used to analyze the current internal condition of the Hospital. Meanwhile, PEST and Porter's Five Forces analysis used external business analysis of the Hospital. The results of this study are in the form of IS business strategy recommendations, IS/IT management strategies, IT strategies, IS application portfolios, and IS/IT investment roadmaps compiled based on costs and benefits. There are 25 IS strategy recommendations, the IT strategy recommends 14 proposals to support the IS strategy based on the cost-benefit, and the IS / IT management strategy recommendations consist of 16 suggestions to support the IS strategy and IT strategy.

Cost-effectiveness of antiviral treatment in adult patients with immune-tolerant phase chronic hepatitis B

ObjectiveThe cost-effectiveness of antiviral treatment in adult immune-tolerant (IT) phase chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients is uncertain.DesignWe designed a Markov model to compare expected costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of starting antiviral treatment at IT-phase (‘treat-IT’) vs delaying the therapy until active hepatitis phase (‘untreat-IT’) in CHB patients over a 20-year horizon. A cohort of 10 000 non-cirrhotic 35-year-old patients in IT-phase CHB (hepatitis B e antigen-positive, mean serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA levels 7.6 log10 IU/mL, and normal alanine aminotransferase levels) was simulated. Input parameters were obtained from previous studies at Asan Medical Center, Korea. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) between the treat-IT and untreat-IT strategies was calculated.ResultsFrom a healthcare system perspective, the treat-IT strategy with entecavir or tenofovir had an ICER of US$16 516/QALY, with an annual hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence of 0.73% in the untreat-IT group. With the annual HCC risk ≥0.54%, the treat-IT strategy was cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of US$20 000/QALY. From a societal perspective considering productivity loss by premature death, the treat-IT strategy was extremely cost-effective, and was dominant (ICER <0) if the HCC risk was ≥0.43%, suggesting that the treat-IT strategy incurs less costs than the untreat-IT strategy. The most influential parameters on cost-effectiveness of the treat-IT strategy were those related with HCC risk (HBV DNA levels, platelet counts and age) and drug cost.ConclusionStarting antiviral therapy in IT phase is cost-effective compared with delaying the treatment until the active hepatitis phase in CHB patients, especially with increasing HCC risk, decreasing drug costs and consideration of productivity loss.

An IT strategy development framework for small and medium enterprises

© 2017, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. We design and evaluate an IT strategy development framework for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The framework’s objective is to provide a theoretically grounded, empirically validated, uncomplicated, and accessible framework to develop an IT strategy for an SME. The framework is a social artifact whose purpose is to guide the design of two other artifacts: an IT strategy process and an IT strategy plan. We rely on design science research, combined with action research, to design, apply, evaluate, and refine the framework in a specific SME in the sales industry. People responsible for managing the IT in an SME can use the framework to design or refine their IT strategy, in order to make better-informed IT strategy decisions, to improve the utilization of their SME’s usually scarce IT resources, and ultimately increase their IT’s business value contribution. We also gain an enhanced understanding of IT strategies’ role in SMEs and provide methodological implications for social artifact design.