Title: Industry patterns of agility: a study of the role of Information Systems and Information Technology as an antecedent of strategic agility within European organisations

Authors: Anders Ekman, Duncan Angwin

Addresses: Celeris AB, Djupdalsvagen 7, S-192 51 Sollentuna, Sweden. ' Warwick Business School, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

Abstract: As globalisation opens up local markets for global competition, Information Systems and Information Technology (IS/IT) make it increasingly simple to elicit, process and transfer complex data anywhere instantly. Taken together, globalisation and IS/IT radically increase the complexity and turbulence of most industries, putting increasing demand on the flexibility and responsiveness (strategic agility) of incumbent organisations. This study addresses to what extent IS/IT act as an antecedent of organisational agility. At this end, a quantitative perspective was employed using a 33-variable 5-point Likert scale survey instrument where variables were grouped according to a 4D construct representing the four strategic dimensions of agile competition by Goldman, Nagel and Preiss (1995). A condensed version of the survey was pretested by 24 attendees at a European IT conference whereas the full survey was taken by 145 members of a European IT user group. The study makes the following contributions: (1) A validated and calibrated research instrument that can be used to diagnose and benchmark IS/IT leverage within organisations, (2) An overview and a graphical presentation of IS/IT leverage within European sectors and regions, measured along the four strategic dimensions of agile competition and (3) Empirical support for the viability of Goldman, Nagel and Preiss|s (1995) agility definition.

Keywords: strategic agility; information systems; information technology; statistical analysis; agile systems; globalisation; Europe.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2007.015837

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2007 Vol.2 No.4, pp.360 - 375

Published online: 24 Nov 2007 *

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