آیا فناوری اطلاعات قادر به تنوع بخشی سود آور می باشد؟بررسی تجربی

Investments in information technology (IT) are now a major part of corporate investment, and the management of IT is essential to performance. In general, IT is expected to have performance effects when it is judiciously used to complement existing corporate capabilities. In this research, we examine how IT can complement diversification strategy. Using hypotheses and measures suggested by information processing theory and the theory of corporate strategy, testable hypotheses are derived to examine how IT can complement diversification. Results suggest that spending on computer technology significantly complements a strategy of unrelated diversification. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The role of information technology (IT) in the modern corporation can hardly be overstated. Based on the US Department of Commerce's “Survey of Current Business,” IT investment has increased at the average rate of 7.4% per year in constant dollars from 1960 to 2003, and spending on IT now consumes over 40% of the capital investment of firms. More importantly, “information technology changes the way you compete” (McFarlan, 1984). For example, banks that adopted ATM's earlier enjoyed significant first mover advantage and associated profitability (Dos Santos and Peffers, 1995). And the effects even extend to entire industries, as IT enables the reshaping of industry boundaries (Sampler, 1998). For example, the introduction of IT to the London stock exchange in 1986 eliminated trading functions and dramatically reduced the profitability of most financial institutions (Hayter, 1993). The management of information technology is of increased importance to scholars and managers. Prior research in technology management has been sparse, however, while research in the MIS literature has suggested that the significant effects of IT occur when IT is effectively adapted to organizational needs and matched with suitable organizational changes. In short, the effect of IT is contingent upon management. One contingency that has not been examined, to the authors’ knowledge, is corporate strategy. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how information technology can be matched to diversification strategy to contribute to corporate performance. Information processing theory is used to suggest contingencies for the effect of IT on diversification strategy to suggest hypotheses for testing. Examining a dataset of Fortune 500 firms, the results show that matching IT to diversification strategy does affect firm performance.

From this research it appears that IT is a critical resource whose skillful use and deployment can yield performance effects in diversification. Further research is desirable to identify other processes that can enable the complementary application of IT and corporate or business-unit strategy. Investments in coordination and control, broadly defined, have made possible the vast expansion of the scale and scope of the modern firm, and such investments have been essential to strategy. The expansion of General Motors under Sloan's management and DuPont's ownership in the 1920's was in part made possible by Donaldson Brown's introduction of the DuPont formula, relating margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage to return on equity. “It was on the financial side that the last necessary key to decentralization with coordinated control was found.” (Sloan, 1990; 140ff) More broadly, the introduction of the multidivisional structure, with its separation into divisions and the use of staff management, made possible the multidivisional corporation (Chandler, 1962). These were information technologies of their time, and judicious use of them yielded superior returns. We simply update that list to include the management of computer-based information technology as a necessary tool for firm expansion and strategy into the 21st century.