Routine reconfiguration in traditional companies' e-commerce strategy implementation: A trajectory perspective

This study explores the roles of routine reconfiguration in traditional companies' e-commerce strategy implementation. Drawing on the conceptualization of ''routine as trajectory'', in which routines are viewed as trajectories of interdependent actions through which organizations accomplish much of what they do, we investigate the interactions between the components of a trajectory, i.e., the trajectory projection, trajectory scheme, and trajectory action. A case study was conducted on the largest Chinese home appliance manufacturer attaining an e-commerce capability. Three roles of routine reconfiguration and their underlying mechanisms were identified. The study's theoretical contribution and practical implications and future research directions are discussed.

[1]  Omar El Sawy,et al.  IT-Intensive Value Innovation in the Electronic Economy: Insights From Marshall Industries , 1999, MIS Q..

[2]  M. Feldman,et al.  Issues in empirical field studies of organizational routines , 2008 .

[3]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[4]  Shan Ling Pan,et al.  The Dynamics of Implementing and Managing Modularity of Organizational Routines During Capability Development: Insights From a Process Model , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[5]  Danny Miller,et al.  Momentum and Revolution in Organizational Adaptation , 1980 .

[6]  M. Hannan,et al.  Structural Inertia and Organizational Change , 1984 .

[7]  Robert A. Burgelman.  Strategy as Vector and the Inertia of Coevolutionary Lock-in , 2002 .

[8]  Ming H. Hsieh,et al.  A dual-level analysis of the capability development process: A case study of TT&T , 2006 .

[9]  C. Prahalad,et al.  To revitalize corporate performance, we need a whole new model of strategy. Strategic intent. , 1989, Harvard business review.

[10]  Varun Grover,et al.  E-commerce and corporate strategy: an executive perspective , 2003, Inf. Manag..

[11]  D. Hoffman,et al.  How to acquire customers on the Web. , 2000, Harvard business review.

[12]  G. Pisano,et al.  Disrupted Routines: Team Learning and New Technology Implementation in Hospitals , 2001 .

[13]  M. Feldman,et al.  Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change , 2003 .

[14]  M. Venkatraman.  It-enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition , 1994 .

[15]  F. Sultan,et al.  Placing Trust at the Center of Your Internet Strategy , 2000 .

[16]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Doing interpretive research , 2006, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[17]  Martha S. Feldman,et al.  Resources in Emerging Structures and Processes of Change , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[18]  A. Strauss.  Social Organization of Medical Work , 1985 .

[19]  William J. Kettinger,et al.  Strategic aspirations for net-enabled business , 2004, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[20]  J. Anand,et al.  Spillovers across organizational architectures: The role of prior resource allocation and communication in post‐acquisition coordination outcomes , 2012 .

[21]  Anselm L. Strauss,et al.  Continual Permutations of Action. , 1993 .

[22]  Rajkumar Venkatesan,et al.  A Customer Lifetime Value Framework for Customer Selection and Resource Allocation Strategy , 2004 .

[23]  D. Teece,et al.  The Dynamic Capabilities of Firms: an Introduction , 1994 .

[24]  H. Weiss,et al.  Routinized behavior in organizations , 1985 .

[25]  C. K. Prahalad,et al.  THE DOMINANT LOGIC: RETROSPECTIVE AND EXTENSION , 1995 .

[26]  Nicolaj Siggelkow.  Persuasion with case studies , 2007 .

[27]  Jacques Delacroix,et al.  Cosmetic, Speculative, and Adaptive Organizational Change in the Wine Industry: A Longitudinal Study , 1991 .

[28]  Jennifer A. Howard-Grenville.  The Persistence of Flexible Organizational Routines: The Role of Agency and Organizational Context , 2005, Organ. Sci..

[29]  B. Pentland.  Building Process Theory with Narrative: from Description to Explanation , 1999 .

[30]  A. Strauss,et al.  The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research aldine de gruyter , 1968 .

[31]  F. Damanpour,et al.  Organizational innovation and performance: The problem of "organizational lag." , 1984 .

[32]  David Obstfeld,et al.  Creative Projects: A Less Routine Approach Toward Getting New Things Done , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[33]  Markus C. Becker,et al.  Schumpeter, Winter, and the sources of novelty , 2006 .

[34]  Seong-Jong Joo,et al.  Relationship between Organizational Change and Failure in the Wine Industry: An Event History Analysis , 1998 .

[35]  Richard Whittington,et al.  Exploring Corporate Strategy , 1988 .

[36]  E. P. Michael.  Strategy and the Internet. , 2001 .

[37]  J. Michael Pearson,et al.  Electronic commerce adoption: an empirical study of small and medium US businesses , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[38]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  e-Commerce Metrics for Net-Enhanced Organizations: Assessing the Value of e-Commerce to Firm Performance in the Manufacturing Sector , 2002, Inf. Syst. Res..

[39]  Barney Tan,et al.  Demystifying case research: A structured-pragmatic-situational (SPS) approach to conducting case studies , 2011, Inf. Organ..

[40]  Roopa Raman,et al.  Power Differentials and Performative Deviation Paths in Practice Transfer: The Case of Evidence-Based Medicine , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[41]  C. Gilbert.  Unbundling the Structure of Inertia: Resource Versus Routine Rigidity , 2005 .

[42]  T. Amburgey,et al.  Organizational Inertia and Momentum: A Dynamic Model Of Strategic Change , 1991 .

[43]  Hau L. Lee,et al.  Winning the Last Mile of E-Commerce , 2001 .

[44]  M. Feldman.  Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change , 2000 .

[45]  T. Orbuch,et al.  People's Accounts Count: The Sociology of Accounts , 1997 .

[46]  K. Eisenhardt.  Building theories from case study research , 1989, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[47]  Andrew B. Whinston,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of Net-Enabled Business Value , 2004, MIS Q..

[48]  Andrew P. McAfee,et al.  Invertir en la TI que sí hace una diferencia competitiva , 2008 .

[49]  A. Langley.  Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data , 1999 .

[50]  B. Pentland,et al.  Organizational Routines as Grammars of Action , 1994 .

[51]  Maurizio Zollo,et al.  Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities , 2002 .

[52]  Brian T. Pentland,et al.  The (N)Ever-Changing World: Stability and Change in Organizational Routines , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[53]  Vallabh Sambamurthy,et al.  Shaping UP for E-Commerce: Institutional Enablers of the Organizational Assimliation of Web Technologies , 2002, MIS Q..

[54]  L. Bollen,et al.  Investing in the IT That Makes a Competitive Difference , 2009 .

[55]  M. Tushman,et al.  Organizational Evolution: A Metamorphosis Model of Convergence and Reorientation , 1985 .

[56]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  The Emergence of Interpretivism in IS Research , 1995, Inf. Syst. Res..

[57]  Christoph Zott,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND THE EMERGENCE OF INTRAINDUSTRY DIFFERENTIAL FIRM PERFORMANCE: INSIGHTS FROM A SIMULATION STUDY , 2003 .

[58]  Harbir Singh,et al.  Evolving communication patterns in response to an acquisition event , 2011 .

[59]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges , 2007 .

[60]  Enno Siemsen,et al.  Decay, Shock, and Renewal: Operational Routines and Process Entropy in the Pharmaceutical Industry , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[61]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[62]  Scott F. Turner,et al.  A Balancing Act: How Organizations Pursue Consistency in Routine Functioning in the Face of Ongoing Change , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[63]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Innovations and organizations , 2020, Organizational Innovation.

[64]  Michael D. Myers,et al.  A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems , 1999, MIS Q..

[65]  J. March,et al.  A Behavioral Theory of the Firm , 1964 .

[66]  E. W. T. Ngai,et al.  A literature review and classification of electronic commerce research , 2002, Inf. Manag..

[67]  Ritu Agarwal,et al.  Evolving Work Routines: Adaptive Routinization of Information Technology in Healthcare , 2011, Inf. Syst. Res..

[68]  Dovev Lavie,et al.  Capability Reconfiguration: An Analysis of Incumbent Responses to Technological Change , 2006 .

[69]  C. Gersick,et al.  Habitual routines in task-performing groups. , 1990, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.