Technological switchbacks: the transition to Western information systems in privatised firms of the former East Germany

Abstract

The work of this paper centres on a study of business organisations of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), whose continued existence after the reunification of Germany was accomplished by management buyout (MBO), rather than through acquisition by Western firms. The goal was to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sudden and total upgrade of information technology and systems enabled (and necessitated) by the end of Eastern Block isolation from the West. The paper reports on 1992 contacts and site visits with four MBO privatised firms and 1999 follow-up contacts and site visits with the two surviving firms of that group. Analyses are presented, which draw on literature devoted to IT transitions and IS implementation. The notion of technological switchback is introduced to characterise the unique circumstances embodied by the situation under study. It involves a necessary and sudden advance in information technological capabilities, which comes at the expense of a significant and undesirable regression in information system effectiveness. Parallels are drawn to the plights of firms in other transitional economies and firms facing emerging ‘technological imperatives.’ Conclusions are elucidated, regarding effective short- and long-term adjustment to such situations.

Keywords:

• IS technology transfer
• IS implementation
• technological discontinuities
• transitional economies

In light of the story to be told in this paper, the editors are pleased to make an exception with regard to the length of this paper.

In light of the story to be told in this paper, the editors are pleased to make an exception with regard to the length of this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert P Marble

About the authors

Robert P. Marble is an Associate Professor of Decision Sciences in the College of Business Administration at Creighton University. His Ph.D. is from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research publications and interests are in the areas of international information systems issues, information systems implementation, and applications of artificial intelligence. He is a long-standing member of the Society for Information Management, the Decision Sciences Institute, the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Mathematical Society, and the Association for Symbolic Logic. Professor Marble has spent numerous years as student, visiting researcher and guest professor at universities in the Federal Republic of Germany. Much of his work for this paper was conducted there, with the kind support of the German-American Fulbright Commission.