Journal of Information Technology

This paper focuses on local adaptations, referring to the significant or subtle changes local firms make in their local business processes and rules in order to fit with a generic application system, and to the changes they make in the features of a generic application system. Local adaptations are therefore bidirectional in nature. Although several studies stress the importance of local adaptations for the overall success of information technologies (IT) used across locations, more research is needed regarding what kind of local adaptations are required for a particular generic application system to work well in particular localities. The nature and extent of local adaptations are still poorly understood. This paper provides a concrete illustration of a historically situated local adaptation: the case of Veiling Holambra. This Brazilian cooperative has imported a generic auction marketplace model from Holland and adapted it to local conditions, to succeed in a globalized and competitive flower market. Using concepts drawn from studies on globalization, cross-cultural implementations, and IT-based organizational change literature, we put forward three propositions that help to explain the success of local adaptations. The results of our case study indicate that the immigration of Dutch people was critical for bringing knowledge of cooperative structure and flower production to Holambra and led to a relatively small design-use gap. The ability to take local, contextual requirements into account without neglecting the ‘generic’ knowledge led to the successful implementation of the generic auction model. This mutual influence was particularly enabled by the Brazilian culture of improvization.

Information technologies can transform an organisation's capacity to act effectively and achieve its performance aims. This theoretical paper presents a framework, adapted from the work of the semiotician A.J. Greimas, for qualitatively analysing this shaping of organisational behaviour and effectiveness around the use of IT. This framework permits various forms of capability or constraint in organisational action to be distinguished, in terms of the functional capacities of IT systems or key dimensions of social structure. A multi-faceted consideration of positive and negative outcomes of IT-based activities is thus supported. The use of this framework is demonstrated through brief case examples that illustrate its utility in providing a dynamic perspective on organisational performance and alignment in the use of IT. This theoretical framework equips IS interpretive studies to analyse the shaping of IT-based organisational activity from a standpoint of structures of behaviour or significance in a context of purposeful action.

Information Technology enabled Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a growing phenomenon, yet little research has been conducted to understand the factors that determine its appropriateness for organisations and what capabilities they should seek in potential suppliers. A multi-perspective approach to the BPO decision, encompassing the transaction, the organisation and its context, is proposed and a set of supplier capabilities to deliver upon it is outlined. A case study of outsourced call centres in Australia, based upon interviews with three suppliers and three clients, suggests such a multi-perspective approach is useful but that the interaction between the factors shaping the BPO decision is more complex than envisaged. The case also suggests that a common set of capabilities is sought from suppliers – though it is narrower than first proposed.

‘It's only a web site. What could be so difficult about that?’ This quote is from the cafeteria of a start-up business funded by a North American retailer, after the disastrous ‘Black Friday’ of 2000, during which its web site experienced systemic failure. This case describes the dynamics, complexities and consequences of fast tracking an e-business start-up. This consumer electronics retailer created one of the most visited retail web sites, from concept to operation in 6 months. Market analysts were predicting a major increase in online sales while consumers were adopting the Internet at a rate faster than any previous technology. Meeting the multi-channel demands of the dynamic and competitive environment required operational balance, stability, innovative flexibility, organizational fit and the alignment of resource capabilities with technology. This case challenges the reader to comment on how a large company positioned itself and integrated the necessary competencies to compete successfully in a developing market by establishing a spin-off operation, separate from the main company.