Despite significant progress in evaluating the productivity payoffs from information technology (IT), the inability of traditional firm-level economic analysis to fully account for the intangible impacts of IT has led to calls for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to measuring IT business value. In response to this call, we develop a process-oriented model to assess the impacts of IT on critical business activities within the value chain. Our model incorporates corporate goals for IT and management practices as key determinants of realized IT payoffs. Using survey data from 304 business executives worldwide, we found that corporate goals for IT can be classified into one of four types: unfocused, operations-focus, market-focus and dual-focus. Our analysis confirms that these goals are a useful indicator of payoffs from IT in that executives in firms with more focused goals for IT perceive greater payoffs from IT across the value chain. In addition, we found that management practices such as strategic alignment and IT investment evaluation contribute to higher perceived levels of IT business value.- 1-

For companies to be more competitive, they need to align their business and IT resources. Enterprise Architecture is the discipline whose purpose is to align more effectively the strategies of enterprises together with their processes and their resources (business and IT). Enterprise architecture is complex because it involves different types of practitioners with different goals and practices during the lifecycle of the required changes. Enterprise Architecture can be seen as an art and is largely based on experience. But Enterprise Architecture does not have strong theoretical foundations. As a consequence, it is difficult to teach, difficult to apply, and does not have true computer-supported tool. This lack of tool is unfortunate as such tools would make the discipline much more practical. This paper presents how system sciences, by defining the concept of the systemic paradigm, can provide these theoretical foundations. It then gives a concrete example of the application of these foundations by presenting the SEAM paradigm. With the systemic paradigm, the enterprise architects can improve their understanding of the existing methodologies, and thus find explanations for the practical problems they encounter. With the SEAM paradigm, architects can use a methodology that alleviates most of these practical problems and can be supported by a tool. 1.

For many companies, the strategic as well as the organizational fit of their information systems is a pivotal factor for staying competitive. At the same time, there is an increasing demand for integrating business processes and informations systems with those of customers and suppliers. The resulting need for organizational changes and the introduction of corresponding information systems is a challenging task. The complexity of the task requires a separation of concerns. At the same time it causes language barriers between various stakeholders, especially between business people and information technology professionals. Enterprise models provide various abstractions that help with the design of corporate information systems which are in line with a company’s organization and its long term strategy. They also promise to provide a common conceptual foundation to foster the communication between people with different professional backgrounds. In this paper we introduce a model for enterprise modelling that is based on an extendable set of special purpose modeling languages, e.g. for describing corporate strategies, business processes, resources or information. The visual languages provide intuitive abstractions for various observers. The languages are defined in metamodels which in turn are specified through a common meta-metamodel. Similar to a specialized technical language, they provide concepts that help with structuring and analyzing a domain according to specific objectives. Since the languages are specified in a semi-formal way, the models allow for the generation of software prototypes. The languages share common concepts which allow for a tight integration of the various parts of an enterprise model. In addition to offering specialized modeling languages, the modeling method also includes examples, case studies and reference models- to promote the re-use of concepts and artefacts. The use of the method is illustrated by an example, where two different partial models are being integrated.

The use of information technology (IT) as a competitive weapon has become a popular clich; but there is still a marked lack of understanding of the issues that determine the influence of information technology on a particular organization and the processes that will allow a smooth coordination of technology and corporate strategy. This article surveys the major efforts to arrive at a relevant framework and attempts to integrate them in a more comprehensive viewpoint. The focus then turns to the major research issues in understanding the impact of information technology on competitive strategy. Copyright 1986 Yannis Bakos and Michael Treacy Keywords: information technology and corporate strategy, information systems applications, management of information systems, competitive information systems. ACM Categories: H.4, H.4.0, H.4.2, K.6, K.6.0

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This paper introduces the concept of netchain analysis. A netchain is a set of networks comprised of horizontal ties between firms within a particular industry or group, which are sequentially arranged based on vertical ties between firms in different layers. Netchain analysis interprets supply chain and network perspectives on inter-organizational collaboration with particular emphasis on the value creating and coordination mechanism sources. We posit that sources of value and coordination mechanisms correspond to particular and distinct types of interdependencies: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal. It is further argued that the recognition and accounting of these simultaneous interdependencies is crucial for a more advanced understanding of complex inter-organizational relations. The paper concludes with an analysis of a set of netchain configuration examples, including buyer-supplier relationships, information technology induced inter-organization collaborations, and the introduction of the “macrohierarchy” organization structure. Key words Network, supply chain, value chain, interdependence, cooperative strategy. 1 We thank the h elpful comments by two anonymous referees. All remaining errors and omissions are our own. 1.

This paper presents a method for enterprise modelling that enhances object-oriented modelling with concepts from Management Science. It includes a framework that provides a set of conceptually integrated partial models, each of which is suited to represent a particular perspective on the enterprise - a strategic, an organizational, and an information system perspective. While the conceptual foundation is provided by a common object model and a corresponding meta object model, the partial models have specialized semantics and provide intuitive notations. An overall process model fosters a coherent coordination of the various activities to be performed during analysis and design. The activities themselves are described in detail referring to the partial models and to analysis and design techniques, some of which are integrated in the overall object model. The framework is accompanied by an integrated tool environment which controls a model's integrity, provides various analysis...

Enterprise models provide various abstractions that help with the design of corporate informa- tion systems which are in line with a company's organisation and its long term strategy. At the same time an enterprise model can be instantiated into a corporate knowledge base. Different from other methods for enterprise modelling, MEMO puts special emphasis on modelling languages. The visual languages provide intuitive abstractions for various observers. Against the background of the requirements imposed by enterprise modelling, the paper presents an extensible framework for specialised modelling languages and their reconstruction for an integrated design environment. The languages are defined in metamodels which in turn are instances of a common meta-metamodel. Similar to a technical language, they provide concepts that help with analysing and structuring a domain with respect to a specific task. The languages share common concepts which allow for a tight integration of the various parts ...

The conceptual modelling of business processes is becoming popular. The number of techniques and tools is growing fast. At the same time, an appropriate framework for understanding the quality of these modelling techniques is lacking. In this paper we report upon the development of a framework for understanding the quality of business process modelling techniques, called the Q-ME framework. The framework defines the elements that constitute a modelling technique and presents a number of quality properties as well as ways to operationalise them. In this paper, the framework is applied to illustrate the quality of the Dynamic Essential Modelling of Organisations (DEMO) business modelling technique. Conclusions are drawn both on the quality of DEMO and