Impact of Competitive Strategy and Information Technology Maturity on Firms’ Strategic Response to Globalization

Abstract:

Recently the globalization of competition has caused many firms in the financial services industry to integrate their information systems. Based on a selective review of literature from strategic and information management disciplines, a model is developed to study the finns’ strategic response to Europe 1992 and Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreements. According to a survey of 213 managers, this study finds that competitive strategy, infonnation technology (IT) maturity and size influence: firms’ perceived increase in IT investment. Further, this study fInds that the degree of IT integration within finns is a primary detenninant of finns’ willingness to use IT as part of their strategic response to globalization. It suggests that the new competitive strategies will be increasingly technology-based global initiatives that are affected by the finns’ IT maturity.

Key Words and Phrases:

• globalization
• Europe 1992
• Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreements
• firms’ strategic response to globalization
• information technology investment
• competitive strategy
• information technology maturity

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jahangir Karimi

Jahangir Karimi is Associate Professor of Information Systems at the College of Business, University of Colorado at Denver. He received his Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Arizona, Tucson in 1983. During the academic year 1993-94 he was on sabbatical leave at the University of Hong Kong, Department of Computer Science. His research interests include information technology management in national and international environments, information systems modeling, analysis and design, software engineering, and telecommuting. He has published in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Systems and Software, Communications of the ACM, and a number of conference proceedings. He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Computing Society, and the Society for Information Management.

Yash P. Gupta

Yash Gupta is the Dean of the College of Business, University of Colorado at Denver. He previosuly held teaching positions at the University of Louisville and the University of Manitoba. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Bradford, England. He has published in numerous journals, including International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Operational Research, Computers and Operations Research Decision Sciences, International Journal of the Production and Operations Management Society, IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Information Systems Research, and the Journal of Manufacturing Systems. In a recent study, he was ranked number one scholar in the country in terms of the contributions made to the field of production and operations management.

Toni M. Somers

Toni M. Somers is Associate Professor and Interim Chair of Finance and Business Economics at Wayne State University. She obtained her M.B.A. from Bowling Green State University and her Ph.D. from the University of Toledo. Dr. Somers has published in many journals including IEEE Transactions in Reliability, European Journal of Operational Research, and INFOR. Her current research interests include manufacturing strategy and total quality management. She is a member of DSI, POMS, and INFORMS.