An information system profile of the UK manufacturing sector

A survey of the information systems (IS) sophistication of small to medium sized UK manufacturing firms is reported. The survey revealed that manufacturing firms exhibited an intermediate degree of IS sophistication. Typically they were situated in the ‘contagion’ and ‘control’ stages of Nolan's stages of growth model, although a minority of firms were significantly more advanced. Organizational size was found to influence the degree of IS sophistication with larger firms manifesting a more highly developed information processing capacity. The influence of a number of factors on project success was investigated. Companies using their own formal methodologies for software development achieved higher than average rates of success. The degree of awareness of the strategic potential of IT was also positively correlated with success.

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