The Strategic Management of IT Investment Decisions: A Research Note

SUMMARY The concept that Information Technology can be used as part of an organization's strategy changes its role in the organization. Whilst investments associated with current or ‘more of the same’ computer systems are proposed by the DP manager, requests for investments associated with the use of IT as a competitive weapon come from a much wider audience. Since the size of the investment may be large and its potential impact on the organization profound there is a need to objectively analyze and manage such investments at the strategic level. Sophisticated models exist in the literature (Butler, 1988; Porter, 1988; Marsden, 1988; Synott, 1987) and there is much research to support the view that IT and corporate strategic models need to be aligned (Feeney & Brownlee, 1986; Haffenden, 1988 and Brewer, 1987). However the results from in-depth interviews with highly placed managers suggest that the decisions are based on more informal processes and that there exists differing views on the relationship between IT and corporate strategies.