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Notes: The article examines the findings from longitudinal case study work conducted in the 1992-96 period in two organizations in the United Kingdom health care and post office sectors. The study highlights the many cultural, political and technical issues that emerge in the strategy and implementation of IT-enabled re-engineering projects. The radical re-engineering perspective and model for change presented by Hammer and Champy (1993) are compared against empirical findings. These suggest that the Hammer and Champy advice contains many limitations. The cases show the specific circumstances in which radical re-engineering can be effective, in managerial terms, but also point to conditions under which a unitary perspective on the organization often cannot address adequately many critical political and cultural issues. Moreover, the case histories point to the dangers of an over reliance on a methodological holism that can rarely be delivered in complex large-scale organizations, given the scale of change envisaged; and the difficulties engendered by over-emphasizing the need for transformation, and ‘starting again’, and downplaying the role of history and continuity in both the study and management of organizational change.

Notes: This article explores theoretical and empirical work on IT strategy formulation. While the managerialist focus upon a structured rational text-book model is common in the literature, it is not supported by empirical research on IT projects in the financial services sector.

Notes: Two large scale IS projects are examined using the differentiators of size, technology and structure. They serve to explain the very different outcomes of the Taurus project and Crest equity settlement system and may therefore provide a basis for understanding other IT applications development projects within the financial services sector.

Notes: In recent years many commentators have addressed the ‘crisis’ in manufacturing industry (Gerwin, 1982; Drucker, 1988, 1990; Hayes and Jaikumar, 1988). Some have offered cross-national comparisons on Japanese and Western management methods and techniques (Kharbanda and Stallworthy, 1991; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1987; Pascale and Athos, 1981) whilst others have concentrated on improving performance in specific fields such as management accounting (Kaplan, 1984; Cooper, 1991) or manufacturing management (Schonberger, 1982; Halt, 1983). Empirical research into managing AMT in Japan and the UK (Currie 1991a) considers some of the broader managerial issues in manufacturing. Cultural differences are common in the areas of investment appraisal, post-auditing of AMT and preventive maintenance policy. For example, in Japan JIT is perceived ‘holistically’ incorporating production management, total quality assurance (TQA) and total preventive maintenance (TPM). This is contrary to the UK in that many large manufacturing companies fail to include TPM in their manufacturing strategies (Currie and Seddon, 1991). There are few management information systems (MIS) which provide an understanding of machine performance using both non-financial and financial information. Focusing on maintenance as a central theme, the paper discusses the development of the Failure And Scheduled Maintenance Analysis (FASMA) system, which offers a practical solution to the problem of collecting and manipulating manufacturing data on the shopfloor (Seddon, 1991a). Essentially, FASMA attempts to interface both the manufacturing and management accounting functions by translating machine performance data into valuable information from which preventive maintenance policy may be improved. Using FASMA to measure machine performance at a major UK automotive manufacturer, machine down-time has averaged 61% each month over a 3-year period. By manipulating this data, performance measurement information may be utilized by management accountants. FASMA thus develops a link between manufacturing and management accounting by providing data on machine performance which can be used for cost analysis within a manufacturing environment. The paper concludes by arguing that manufacturing strategies can only be developed using appropriate management information systems (MIS) designed to enhance functional integration. This will enable a better understanding of how the ‘manufacturing jigsaw’ fits together.

Notes: The growing trend towards information technology (IT) outsourcing is analysed within the UK public sector. The paper first details the research findings on factors influencing the degree of success experienced in a range of IT outsourcing deals. These factors are then utilized as a framework for analysing and discussing two case histories—of selective and large-scale IT outsourcing—drawn from different parts of the public sector. Both demonstrate how distinctive public-sector contexts influence the direction and degree of outsourcing. At the same time they highlight a range of managerial and organizational issues raised by moves towards contractual, core competence forms of organizing. Selective outsourcing is revealed as effective provided key decisions and actions are taken. The large-scale outsourcing case raises a number of critical issues not just for how it can be conducted in public-sector contexts, but also about the efficacy of such arrangements in terms of cost savings, possible over-dependence on a few suppliers, and ability to respond flexibly to changing political requirements and legislation.

Notes: The quest for service excellence and competitive edge by firms result in the constant search for effective process and information systems management methods. The recent emergence of the application service provision (ASP) business model has promised firms remote-access to industry robust business processes and "best of breed" enterprise applications on a rental basis. This paper examines how the ASP business model facilitates business process and information systems improvements in firms through effective process management. This is pursued through a review of relevant literature and empirical evidence gathered from a case study-based investigation in six firms in the UK. By examining the features of remote application and business process outsourcing in the context of business process management, this paper outlines how firms can improve their business and IT performance. Findings from empirical evidence are used to substantiate the arguments and suggest areas for future research.

Notes: Discusses the application service provider (ASP) model, which is emerging as a new form of application outsourcing. At present, the ASP marketplace is largely vendor driven with huge numbers of vendors offering a variety of applications to the customer. These offerings may belong to software applications such as enterprise resource planning, collaborative and vertical industry. Even though there are many benefits attributed to this model suggests that, in order to reap these benefits, customers should evaluate the offerings of the ASPs. Addressing this purpose develops a taxonomy to identify the various ASP offerings and a framework to evaluate the ASP offerings on categories such as security, pricing, integration, service level agreement, and reliability, availability and scalability. Even though this framework is in an early stage of development it intends to present existing customers with performance criteria for evaluating ASP offerings. Concludes that further empirical research needs to be carried out to refine this framework and also to find the relevance of traditional outsourcing literature to this new form of outsourcing.

Notes: This paper embraces the e-business model concept as the unit of analysis for investigating the ASP market. It develops three constructs of the ASP business model: strategic positioning; product/service portfolio; and customer value proposition. Using a case study method, it discusses the findings from four ASP firms; each having attempted to develop a unique ASP business model. The findings suggest the ASP business model is fundamentally flawed as ASP firms fail to provide the customer with an attractive value proposition.

Notes: This paper presents research findings from an in-depth study on the global application service provider (ASP) industry. It explores the potential for Web-enabling enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for small and medium-sized companies on a per-seat, per-month basis. Findings from field research suggest that, while the ASP business model offers many advantages for customers, few companies are prepared to outsource their mission-critical ERP systems to ASPs. This situation has led to many large and small ASP vendors to re-think their strategic business plans, with some high profile failures. Evaluating the situation from a market, organizational and technical analysis of the ASP industry, this paper argues that, while the ASP model is currently immature, the next three years will see the emergence of more clearly defined enterprise ASP offerings from key players in the software and computing services industry.

Notes: Explores the supply-side of the global IT outsourcing marketplace. Argues that companies should seek to understand the strategic positioning of IT suppliers. In recent years, the large IT service providers have made inroads into new vertical markets from health care to e-commerce. They have also expanded their service offerings to include business process outsourcing (BPO), customer relationship management (CRM) and e-business. Explores some of these changes and presents a conceptual framework which captures some of the dynamic changes in the software and computing services industry. These involve mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and partnering.