Abstract

Small-medium enterprises (SMEs) have been negatively affected by financial crisis and managers try to deal with the environmental uncertainty. They make efforts to increase innovation and competitive advantage, so IT executives develop IS focusing only on technical issues and ignoring SMEs’ strategy. The most important challenge which SMEs face and led to the failure of IS plans is the lack of strategic planning. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to indicate the phases of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) which contribute to a greater extent of success. Data were collected from IS executives in Greek SMEs. Factor Analysis is performed on the detailed items of the SISP process and success constructs. Findings indicated that IS executives are not aware of analyzing the external IT environment and evaluating opportunities for IS development. Furthermore, they do not formulate IT strategies and priorities, so they cannot anticipate risks and crises.

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Information Systems Strategy and Strategy-as-Practice: Planning Evaluation in SMEs

Small-medium enterprises (SMEs) have been negatively affected by financial crisis and managers try to deal with the environmental uncertainty. They make efforts to increase innovation and competitive advantage, so IT executives develop IS focusing only on technical issues and ignoring SMEs’ strategy. The most important challenge which SMEs face and led to the failure of IS plans is the lack of strategic planning. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to indicate the phases of Strategic Information Systems Planning (SISP) which contribute to a greater extent of success. Data were collected from IS executives in Greek SMEs. Factor Analysis is performed on the detailed items of the SISP process and success constructs. Findings indicated that IS executives are not aware of analyzing the external IT environment and evaluating opportunities for IS development. Furthermore, they do not formulate IT strategies and priorities, so they cannot anticipate risks and crises.