Using Group Support Systems to Improve the New Zealand Economy Part II: Followup Results

In 1991, a series of computer-assisted, industrywide planning meetings were held in New Zealand to develop opportunities for enhancing the country's competitiveness in world markets. The short-term results of these meetings are reported in [16]. This paper presents the results of a followup study based primarily on interviews with participants one to two years after their meeting. The action plans and participants' implementation activities are reported as well as their opinions, in retrospect, of the role of the meetings and the impact of electronic meeting technology. The followup results show that the electronically assisted meetings promoted interorganizational learning, and were effective catalysts of industrywide change in situations previously characterized by dysfunctional conflict.