The Strategic Role of Business Intelligence in the Extended Enterprise: BI Configurations for Control Affordances in Outsourcing

This study examines the impact of business intelligence in the extended enterprise. Specifically, we develop propositions about how BI contributes to the way firms can leverage outsourcing relationships for operational performance improvement and two strategic ends: mastery of uncertainty and development of strategic resources and capabilities. Drawing on a set of control theories from the organization theory, economics, and accounting domains, we explain that BI changes the possibilities for the extended enterprise by introducing new control affordances. We operationalize business intelligence as a set of "BI elements" rather than as a unitary construct, in order to propose configurational theory in which the strategic, tactical, and operational benefits of outsourcing can be realized through different BI configurations. This is research-in-progress and we are currently seeking data for a pilot test.

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