Learning, Working, and Innovation: A Case Study in the Insurance Industry

The worldwide environment in which strategic information technology (IT) initiatives are deployed is changing. Increasingly, these IT investments are intended to produce not only internal operating efficiencies and cost savings but also external market outcomes. The linkage between IT investments and business value is critical in the service sector for industries, such as financial services, transportation, and retailing, where IT is an integral part of the products and services delivered to customers. Using case study research data from six large North American companies and recent theory as our guide, this paper identifies ways in which information systems (IS) organizations can become more innovative by using learning as the bridge between working and innovation. To illustrate the findings, we present data from a case study at Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, a large, multinational North American insurance company.

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