Abstract
Information technology (IT) infrastructure deserves serious attention from both the practitioner and academic communities, especially concerning the factors for IT infrastructure flexibility. The issue of flexibility is viewed as a critical aspect of IT infrastructure, because organizations are faced with an ever-increasing rate of change in their business environments. One effort most business sectors have made to prepare for this change is the trend toward mass customization. Recently, many organizations have embraced mass customization in an attempt to provide unique value to their customers in a cost-efficient manner.The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate a sequential relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility, mass customization, and business performance. The process involves an investigation of the critical factors for IT infrastructure flexibility, along with the firm's mass customization and business performance indicators. The findings of this study provide evidence that integration and modularity of an organization's IT infrastructure facilitate the organization's effort to accommodate mass customization. Additionally, the flexibility of the IT personnel, the human component of IT infrastructure, and mass customization directly affect the organization's business performance.
- Barua, A., Kriebel, C. H. and Mukhopadhyay, T. (1995). "Information Technologies and Business Value: An Analytical and Empirical Investigation," Information Systems Research, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 3--23.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Barua, A. and Mukhopadhyay, T. (2000). "Information Technology and Business Performance: Past, Present, and Future," in Zmud, R.W. (Ed.), Framing the Domain of IT Management: Projecting the Future Through the Past, Cincinnati, OH: Pinnaflex Education Resources, pp. 65--84.Google Scholar
- Boynton, A. C., Victor, B. and Pine, B. J. (1993). "New Competitive Strategies: Challenges to Organizations and Information Technology," IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 31, No.1, pp. 40--64.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Broadbent, M. and Weill, P. (1997). "Management By Maxim: How Business and IT Managers Can Create IT Infrastructures," Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 77--92.Google Scholar
- Broadbent, M., Weill, P., O' Brien, T and Neo, B. S. (1996). "Firm Context and Patterns of IT Infrastructures," Proceeding of the Seventeenth International Conference on Information Systems, pp. 174--194.Google Scholar
- Byrd, T. A. (2001). "Information Technology, Core Competencies, and Sustained Competitive Advantage," Information Resources Management Journal, Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 27--36. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Byrd, T. A. and Turner, E. D. (2001). "An Exploratory Analysis of the Value of the Skills of IT Personnel: Their Relationship to IS Infrastructure and Competitive Advantage," Decision Sciences, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 21--54.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Byrd, T. A. and Turner, E. D. (2000). "An Exploratory Analysis of the Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility Construct" Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 167--208. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Chau, P. Y. K. and Tam, K. Y. (1997). "Factors Affecting the Adoption of Open Systems: An Exploratory Study," MIS Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 1--24. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Chan, Y. E., Huff, S. L., Barclay, D. W. and Copeland, D. G., (1997). "Business Strategic Orientation, Information Systems Strategic Orientation, and Strategic Alignment," Information Systems Research, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 125--150.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Chang, S. C., Yang, C. L., Cheng, H. C. and Sheu, C. (2003). "Manufacturing Flexibility and Business Strategy: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium Sized Firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 83, No. 1, pp. 13--26.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Chin, W. W. 1998. "The Partial Least Squares Approach to Structural Equation Modeling," in Marcoulides, G. A. (Ed.), Modern Methods for Business Research, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., pp. 295--336.Google Scholar
- Computerworld. (September 6, 1999). "Mass Customization."Google Scholar
- Davenport, T. and Linder, J. (1994). "Information Management Infrastructure: The New Competitive Weapon," Proceedings of the Twenty?Seventh Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Hawaii, pp. 885--896.Google Scholar
- Duncan, N. B. (1995). "Capturing Flexibility of Information Technology Infrastructure: A Study of Resource Characteristics and Their Measure," Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 37--57.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Duray, R., Ward, P. T., Milligan, G. W. and Berry, W. L. (2000). "Approaches to Mass Customization: Configurations and Empirical Validation," Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 18, pp. 605--625.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Family Circle. (1995). "Two-In-One Swimsuit", Vol. 108, No. 8, p. 38.Google Scholar
- Gilmore J. H. and Pine B. J. (1997). "The Four Faces of Mass Customization," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, No. 1, pp. 91--101.Google Scholar
- Gooding, R. Z., and Wagner III, J. A. (1985). "A Meta-Analytic Review of the Relationship Between Size and Performance: The Productivity and Efficiency of Organizations and Subunits," Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 30, pp. 462--481.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Hall, R. W. (1983). Zero Investments, Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.Google Scholar
- Hayes, R. H. and Jaikumar, R. (1988). "Manufacturing's Crisis: New Technologies, Obsolete Organizations," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 66, No. 5, pp. 77--85. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kahn, B. E. (1998). "Dynamic Relationships with Customers; High Variety Strategies," Academy of Marketing Science Journal, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 45--53.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Kettinger, W. J., Grover, V., Subanish, G and Segars, A. H. (1994). "Strategic Information Systems Revisited: A Study in Sustainability and Performance," MIS Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 31--58. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Kotha, S. (1995). "Mass Customization: Implementing the Emerging Paradigm for Competitive Advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 16, pp. 21--42.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Lee, D. M., Trauth, E. M. and Farwell, D. (1995). "Critical Skills and Knowledge Requirements of IS Professionals," MIS Quarterly, Vol. 19 , No. 3 , pp. 13--39. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Lei, D., Hitt, M. A. and Goldhar, J. D. (1996). "Advanced Manufacturing Technology: Organizational Design and Strategic Flexibility," Organization Studies, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 501--23.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Magretta, J. (1998). "The Power of Virtual Integration: An Interview with Dell Computer's Michael Dell," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 76, No. 2, pp. 72--84.Google Scholar
- Marion, L. and Kay, E. (1997). "Customer of: Next Market Paradigm," Software Magazine, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 38--50. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Mata, F. J., Fuerst, W. L., Barney, J. B. (1995). "Information Technology and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based Analysis," MIS Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 487--505. Google ScholarDigital Library
- McKay, D. T. and Brockway, D. W. (1989). "Building IT Infrastructure for the 1990s," Stage by Stage, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 1--11.Google Scholar
- Meredith, J. (1986). "Automation Strategy Must Give Careful Attentions to the Firm's Infrastructure," Industrial Engineering, Vol. 18, pp. 68--73.Google Scholar
- Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric Theory. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
- Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (1998). "Better Business - One Customer at a Time," Journal of Quality and Participation, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 3--37.Google Scholar
- Pine, B. J. (1996). "Serve Each Customer Efficiently and Uniquely," Business Communications Review, January, pp. 2--5.Google Scholar
- Pine B. J. (1993). Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
- Pine B. J., Peppers, D. and Rogers, M. (1995). "Do You Want Your Customers Forever?," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 73, pp. 108--119.Google Scholar
- Pine, B. J., Victor, B. and Boynton, A. C. (1993). "Making Mass Customization Work," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 71, pp. 108--119.Google Scholar
- Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
- Reich, B. H. and Benbasat, I. (1990). "An Empirical Investigation of Factor Influencing the Success of Customer-Oriented Strategic Systems," Information Systems Research, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 325--347.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rockart, J. F., Earl, M. J. and Ross, J. W. (1996). "Eight Imperatives for the New IT Organization," Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 43--54.Google Scholar
- Ross, J. W., Beath, C. M. and Goodhue, D. L. (1996). "Develop Long-Term Competitiveness Through IT Assets," Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 31--42.Google Scholar
- Sabherwal, R. and Chan, Y. E., (2001). "Alignment Between Business and IS Strategies: A Study of Prospectors, Analyzers, and Defenders," Information Systems Research, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 11--33. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Schilling, M. A. (2000). Toward a General Modular Systems Theory and Its Application to Interfirm Product Modularity," Academy of Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 312--334.Google Scholar
- Small, M. H. (1999). "Assessing Manufacturing Performance: An Advanced Manufacturing Technology Portfolio Perspective," Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 99, No. 6, pp. 266--277.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Swamidass, P. M. and Newell, W. T. (1987). "Manufacturing Strategy, Environmental Uncertainty and Performance: A Path Analytic Model," Management Science, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 509--524. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Teresko, J. (1994). "Mass Customization or Mass Confusion?," Industry Week, Vol. 243, No. 12, pp. 45--48.Google Scholar
- Vickery, S., Calantone, R. and Droge, C. (1999). "Supply Chain Flexibility: An Empirical Study," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 16--24.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Vorkurka, R. J. and McCaskey, Jr., D. W. (2001). "Coping with the Changing Business Environment - A Model For Enterprise Integration," Hospital Material Management Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 36--41.Google Scholar
- Weill, P. (1993). "The Role and Value of Information Technology Infrastructure: Some Empirical Observations," in Banker, R., Kaufman, R., Mahood, M. A. (Eds.), Strategic Information Technology Management: Perspectives on Organizational Growth and Competitive Advantage, Middleton, PA: Idea Group Publishing, pp. 547--572. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Weill, P. and Broadbent, M. (1998). Leveraging the New Infrastructure: How Market Leaders Capitalize on Information Technology, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Zipkin, P. (2001). "The Limits of Mass Customization," Sloan Management Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 81-87.Google Scholar
Index Terms
- An empirical study of the relationships between IT infrastructure flexibility, mass customization, and business performance
Recommendations
Impact of information technology infrastructure flexibility on mergers and acquisitions
Although mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are a common strategy to reduce costs and pursue growth, the variance in returns from M&A is very high. This research examines how information technology (IT) infrastructure flexibility affects M&A. We use a ...
Inside the adaptive enterprise: an information technology capabilities perspective on business process agility
Recent innovations in utility computing, web services, and service-oriented architectures, combined with a growing array of IT skills, have improved firms' ability to be more agile in responding to change. Using the resource-based view of the firm, ...
Business Analytics/Business Intelligence and IT Infrastructure: Impact on Organizational Agility
This is an empirical research investigating the impact of business analytics (BA) and business intelligence (BI) use, IT infrastructure flexibility, and their interactions on organizational agility. Synthesizing the systems theory and awareness-...
Comments