The Strategic Dimensions of Information Systems Capability: case studies in a

developing country context

(1996)
This research addresses the issue of how organisations can build capabilities to acquire, deploy
and sustain computer-based information systems (IS).
With the application of information technology dramatically altering the strategies, structure, and
processes of organisations, capabilities in acquiring and deploying IT-based information systems
are considered critical to organisational success. It is often presumed that firms have similar
capabilities to conceptualise, acquire, and deploy computer-based information systems.
However, they have been shown to exhibit disparate capacities to successfully implement such
systems.
The concept of information systems capability is introduced and refers to an organisation's
capacity to effectively orchestrate the processes of acquiring, deploying and sustaining
computer-based information systems to support its strategic and functional objectives.
Emphasising the evolutionary and resource-based perspectives of the firm, the research stresses
the firm-specific, cumulative, and path-dependent nature of organisational IS capability.
Three dimensions of IS capability are identified. These are routines, resources, and contexts.
Routines refer to the IS-related processes and practices of the organisation. Resources are its
endowments. Contexts reflect the environmental factors influencing IS investment opportunities
and decisions. Capabilities develop through a prescient understanding of the environment, the
strategic acquisition and deployment of IS resources and the establishment of effective routines.
Researchers are concerned about the persistence of ineffective information technology transfer
and diffusion in developing countries. This research seeks to explicate the concept of information
systems capability by drawing on examples from a developing country context. Through case
studies and surveys done in Zimbabwe it explores organisational efforts to develop IS capability.
The findings of the case studies confirm the significant impact of macro-contextual and
organisational factors on capability building. A framework for IS capability building is proposed.

The Impact of Inter-Organisational Information Systems on Organisational

Flexibility
(2008)
The objective of this thesis is to explore the impact of inter-organisational information systems
(IOS) on the flexibility of organisations. Since IOS involve interaction and cooperation between
different organisations, the concept of flexibility is viewed not only as a characteristic of an
individual firm, but also as a property of the interaction between firms.
This study proposes an interpretive approach to explain the multifaceted concept of flexibility. A
synthesised research framework, based on 'web models' and 'soft systems thinking' theoretical
perspectives, enables us to examine flexibility as being embedded in and influenced by the
organisational/ inter-organisational context. In the proposed framework, flexibility is presented
not only as the ability of the organisation/ business network to respond to environmental
disturbances, but also as its capability to evolve and to change over time.
An exploratory case study undertaken in a grocery retail-supply chain in Greece forms the basis
of our argument. Both our understanding and analysis of the empirical data are based on the
proposed framework.

The Role of Information Systems in Islamic Banking: an ethnographic study

(2005)
Banks exist because of their ability to achieve economies of scale in reducing asymmetry of
information between savers and borrowers. Banks are dealers of information and their
intermediary role makes them important to an economic system. Banking as we know it today is
governed by a capitalist philosophy.
However the last two decades have witnessed a significant growth of a banking practice, ie
Islamic banking, which is based on the principles of the Islamic religion. The Islamic banking
system came into existence to fulfil the economics needs of Muslims who are supposed to lead
their lives according to shariah guidelines.
This research studies the practice of Islamic banking from an information systems perspective.
More specifically, the focus is on if and why the role of information systems differs in Islamic
banks. Information is no less important to conventional banks but how is the role played by
information systems different in and for Islamic banks?
I studied the existing practice of Islamic banking primarily by borrowing concepts from the work
of Berger and Luckman's (1996) 'Social construction of reality: a treatise in the sociology of
knowledge'. This was complemented by notions of 'culture' and religion', and they were
employed to understand the current practice of Islamic banking.
The research adopted an interpretive approach using an ethnographic case study technique to
gather information accompanied by other methods of data collection to have data triangulation.
Islamic banks have their own well-defined culture and because this research is interested in how
culture affects information creation I have selected ethnography as the preferred method of data
collection and analysis.
This research endeavour primarily focuses on the 'role of information systems within the industry
of Islamic banking', where role represents the responsibilities assigned to the concept of
information within the research context highlighting the social construction of information. I
have explored the issue of transparency within the industry of Islamic banking and the role that
information plays in enhancing its process. The findings indicate strongly that the role of
information in Islamic banks differs culturally in terms transparency in the relationship between
the bank and its customers.
Information Systems and Organisational Change: the case of flexible
specialisation in Cyprus
(1999)
This research examines the relationship between organisational change and information systems
development in the case of an effort to implement flexible specialisation in Cyprus. In the centre
of this research are the inter-organisational relationships developed in the flexible specialisation
initiative and the role IT played in the formation of such relationships. I examine successively
the kind of organisational changes that take place and the driving force(s) of such changes.
In order to study and analyse such a complicated socio-economic phenomenon I adopted an
interpretive epistemology. Analysis of the empirical work draws mainly from theories
concerning information systems while insights are drawn from disciplines that have studied
organisational change and the concept of flexible specialisation in particular, such as industrial
economics, geography and organisational theory.
The research method followed is a multiple case study analysis. One case study was conducted in
Emilia-Romagna and provides a point for reference for the cases of flexible specialisation in
Cyprus, which is the main focus of the research. The case study in Cyprus was conducted over a
period of three years, while the case study in Emilia-Romagna was done at one particular point
in time.
The key contribution of this research is the suggestion that the use of information and
communication technologies depends on the complexity of the inter-organisational activities,
rather than causing them, as the information systems literature tends to suggest. Furthermore, the
case study demonstrates the significance of institutional and cultural factors for the non-
emergence of inter-organisational complexity, and the subsequent limited role attributed to IT in
the flexible specialisation experiment.

"Management Information System" Banking Research OR Case on Banking OR Study in banking sector
filetype:pdf site:.edu

impediment