Jeanne W. Ross

Bio: Jeanne W. Ross is an academic researcher from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Enterprise architecture & Information technology. The author has an hindex of 30, co-authored 86 publications receiving 9156 citations.

IT Governance: How Top Performers Manage IT Decision Rights for Superior Results

Abstract: With its vivid illustrations of the governance systems used by top performers in public and nonprofit sectors, this important book provides the framework and tools necessary to customize an IT governance system.

Enterprise Architecture As Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution

Abstract: Does it seem you've formulated a rock-solid strategy, yet your firm still can't get ahead? If so, construct a solid foundation for business execution--an IT infrastructure and digitized business processes to automate your company's core capabilities. In Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution, authors Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David C. Robertson show you how. The key? Make tough decisions about which processes you must execute well, then implement the IT systems needed to digitize those processes. Citing numerous companies worldwide, the authors show how constructing the right enterprise architecture enhances profitability and time to market, improves strategy execution, and even lowers IT costs. Though clear, engaging explanation, they demonstrate how to define your operating model--your vision of how your firm will survive and grow--and implement it through your enterprise architecture. Their counterintuitive but vital message: when it comes to executing your strategy, your enterprise architecture may matter far more than your strategy itself.

Develop Long-Term Competitiveness through IT Assets

Abstract: How can firms enhance their competitiveness through information technology? After studying IT management practices in various companies, the authors identify three assets that they see as most important to becoming and staying competitive. The human asset is an IT staff that consistently solves business problems and addresses business opportunities through information technology. IT professionals need up-to-date technical skills; an understanding of the business, which comes from client interaction; and the ability to solve problems. The technology asset ? sharable technical platforms and databases ? is essential to integrating systems and making IT applications cost effective. Firms must specify what kinds of data to share, how to store them, where to locate servers, and how to support applications and technologies. They must also establish standards that limit the range of technologies that the IT staff must support. The relationship asset implies the risk and responsibility for effectively applying IT that business and IT must share. Top management must be involved in establishing IT priorities and forming steering committees that set the tone for a cooperative IT-business relationship. Ross et al. discuss the interdependencies among the three assets, using many examples from their study. They suggest that IT and business executives should constantly assess the status of the IT assets in their firms by using the questionnaire provided. Next they should identify an action plan based on their position ? sinking, drifting, luffing, and cruising ? in relation to the competition. A firm's asset base needs to be carefully balanced; building and leveraging IT assets, according to the authors, is an organizationwide responsibility.

Learning to Implement Enterprise Systems: An Exploratory Study of the Dialectics of Change

Abstract: This paper reports on a comparative case study of 13 industrial firms that implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. It compares firms based on their dialectic learning process. All firms had to overcome knowledge barriers of two types: those associated with the configuration of the ERP package, and those associated with the assimilation of new work processes. We found that both strong core teams and carefully managed consulting relationships addressed configuration knowledge barriers. User training that included both technical and business processes, along with a phased implementation approach, helped firms to overcome assimilation knowledge barriers. However, all firms in this study experienced ongoing concerns with assimilation knowledge barriers, and we observed two different approaches to address them. In a piecemeal approach, firms concentrated on the technology first and deferred consideration of process changes. In a concerted approach, both the technology and process changes were undertaken together. Although most respondents clearly stated a preference for either piecemeal or concerted change, all firms engaged in practices that reflected a combination of these approaches.

From the vendor's perspective: exploring the value proposition in information technology outsourcing

Abstract: To date, most research on information technology (IT) outsourcing concludes that firms decide to outsource IT services because they believe that outside vendors possess production cost advantages. Yet it is not clear whether vendors can provide production cost advantages, particularly to large firms who may be able to replicate vendors' production cost advantages in-house. Mixed outsourcing success in the past decade calls for a closer examination of the IT outsourcing vendor's value proposition. While the client's sourcing decisions and the client-vendor relationship have been examined in IT outsourcing literature, the vendor's perspective has hardly been explored. In this paper, we conduct a close examination of vendor strategy and practices in one long-term successful applications management outsourcing engagement. Our analysis indicates that the vendor's efficiency was based on the economic benefits derived from the ability to develop a complementary set of core competencies. This ability, in turn, was based on the centralization of decision rights from a variety and multitude of IT projects controlled by the vendor. The vendor was enticed to share the value with the client through formal and informal relationship management structures. We use the economic concept of complementarity in organizational design, along with prior findings from studies of client-vendor relationships, to explain the IT vendors' value proposition. We further explain how vendors can offer benefits that cannot be readily replicated internally by client firms.

A resource-based perspective on information technology capability and firm performance: an empirical investigation

Abstract: The resource-based view of the firm attributes superior financial performance to organizational resources and capabilities. This paper develops the concept of IT as an organizational capability and empirically examines the association between IT capability and firm performance. Firm specific IT resources are classified as IT infrastructure, human IT resources, and IT-enabled intangibles. A matched-sample comparison group methodology and publicly available ratings are used to assess IT capability and firm performance. Results indicate that firms with high IT capability tend to outperform a control sample of firms on a variety of profit and cost-based performance measures.

Review: information technology and organizational performance: an integrative model of it business value

Abstract: Despite the importance to researchers, managers, and policy makers of how information technology (IT) contributes to organizational performance, there is uncertainty and debate about what we know and don't know. A review of the literature reveals that studies examining the association between information technology and organizational performance are divergent in how they conceptualize key constructs and their interrelationships. We develop a model of IT business value based on the resource-based view of the firm that integrates the various strands of research into a single framework. We apply the integrative model to synthesize what is known about IT business value and guide future research by developing propositions and suggesting a research agenda. A principal finding is that IT is valuable, but the extent and dimensions are dependent upon internal and external factors, including complementary organizational resources of the firm and its trading partners, as well as the competitive and macro environment. Our analysis provides a blueprint to guide future research and facilitate knowledge accumulation and creation concerning the organizational performance impacts of information technology.

Assimilation of enterprise systems: the effect of institutional pressures and the mediating role of top management

Abstract: We develop and test a theoretical model to investigate the assimilation of enterprise systems in the post-implementation stage within organizations. Specifically, this model explains how top management mediates the impact of external institutional pressures on the degree of usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. The hypotheses were tested using survey data from companies that have already implemented ERP systems. Results from partial least squares analyses suggest that mimetic pressures positively affect top management beliefs, which then positively affects top management participation in the ERP assimilation process. In turn, top management participation is confirmed to positively affect the degree of ERP usage. Results also suggest that coercive pressures positively affect top management participation without the mediation of top management beliefs. Surprisingly, we do not find support for our hypothesis that top management participation mediates the effect of normative pressures on ERP usage, but instead we find that normative pressures directly affect ERP usage. Our findings highlight the important role of top management in mediating the effect of institutional pressures on IT assimilation. We confirm that institutional pressures, which are known to be important for IT adoption and implementation, also contribute to post-implementation assimilation when the integration processes are prolonged and outcomes are dynamic and uncertain.

Shaping agility through digital options: reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms

Abstract: Agility is vital to the innovation and competitive performance of firms in contemporary business environments. Firms are increasingly relying on information technologies, including process, knowledge, and communication technologies, to enhance their agility. The purpose of this paper is to broaden understanding about the strategic role of IT by examining the nomological network of influences through which IT impacts firm performance. By drawing upon recent thinking in the strategy, entrepreneurship, and IT management literatures, this paper uses a multitheoretic lens to argue that information technology investments and capabilities influence firm performance through three significant organizational capabilities (agility, digital options, and entrepreneurial alertness) and strategic processes (capability-building, entrepreneurial action, and coevolutionary adaptation). We also propose that these dynamic capabilities and strategic processes impact the ability of firms to launch many and varied competitive actions and that, in turn, these competitive actions are a significant antecedent of firm performance. Through our theorizing, we draw attention to a significant and reframed role of IT as a digital options generator in contemporary firms.

Review: the resource-based view and information systems research: review, extension, and suggestions for future research

Abstract: Information systems researchers have a long tradition of drawing on theories from disciplines such as economics, computer science, psychology, and general management and using them in their own research. Because of this, the information systems field has become a rich tapestry of theoretical and conceptual foundations. As new theories are brought into the field, particularly theories that have become dominant in other areas, there may be a benefit in pausing to assess their use and contribution in an IS context. The purpose of this paper is to explore and critically evaluate use of the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) by IS researchers. The paper provides a brief review of resource-based theory and then suggests extensions to make the RBV more useful for empirical IS research. First, a typology of key IS resources is presented, and these are then described using six traditional resource attributes. Second, we emphasize the particular importance of looking at both resource complementarity and moderating factors when studying IS resource effects on firm performance. Finally, we discuss three considerations that IS researchers need to address when using the RBV empirically. Eight sets of propositions are advanced to help guide future research.