Adapting to Survive: Lessons Learned from an Investigation into the Effects of Contextual Change on Information Systems

In an effort to create shareholder value in the new frontier opened by a world but volatile economy, organizations have long ago realized that processes, structure and control procedures have to be reconstructed anew. It follows that information systems should be approached not as static artifacts but as dynamic entities able to model the ever-changing organization. In this paper we report of a case study investigating the effects of privatization on the systems of an industrial organization. Our findings illustrate the vulnerability of information systems in turbulent environments, provide insight into the causes of misfit due to contextual change, and establish flexibility as a success variable of contemporary information systems.

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