Dynamics of Organizational Multi-Level Business-IT Alignment: A Case Study of Haier

Abstract

Abstract:

Based on theory of complex adaptive systems, this study bring forward a multi-level business and IT alignment (BITA) model, conducte a longitudinal case study of Haier Group, and analyze the dynamic process and emergence mechanism from individual-level to strategy-level BITA in dynamic environments. The results suggest that:(1) Internal (e.g., business strategy, management pattern, firm scale, and relationship between business and IT executives) and external (e.g., national policies, competitive environments, and emerging information technologies) factors influence dynamics of Haier Group's BITA; (2) In the dynamic environments, effective communications and interactions between business and IT executives play antecedent roles in realizing strategy-level alignment; (3) During the process of firms' development, firms can keep steady growth through long periods of evolutionary changes, while they can break former unaligned pattern and seize fleeting business opportunities through short periods of revolutionary changes. Based upon practical implications from Haier Group's case study, this paper provides some managerial guidelines for Chinese firms to realize dynamic BITA.

Key words: business-IT alignment, dynamics, complex adaptive systems, Haier Group, case study

Wang Nianxin, Jia Yu, Ge Shilun, Su Xiang. Dynamics of Organizational Multi-Level Business-IT Alignment: A Case Study of Haier[J]. , 2016, 28(7): 261-272.

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