Abstract

The extension of IT-related change from particular organisational settings of user organisations to a broader, complex, multi-actor socio-economic environment, has shifted the attention of scholars studying IT in Organisations towards the study of the broader IT marketplace. There is however controversy on how choices on technology adoption and implementation as well as choices affecting the formulation of inter-organisational networks are made within such a complex, uncertain and challenging environment. What are the key relationships between players acting at various organisational echelons and in various parts of the networked enterprises? Are they based on formal, discursive criteria or are they a result of tacit knowledge, trust and ‘strong ties’? Also, what is the ‘logic’ or the driving force behind the formulation of such relationships? Is it a collaborative spirit or an antagonistic attitude based on opportunism? Based on the Agora of Techno-Organisational Change concept, which refers to the broader IT marketplace and the way it is shaped, we examine the case of a long-term relationship between an IT firm and a bank in Greece. This case provides some answers to the questions above. Findings suggest that the logic that drives the shaping of the IT marketplace lies with the actor and in that sense there are multiple logics expressed by different actors’ viewpoints, while relations of competition, collaboration, long-term or ad hoc are all existing possibilities within the broader IT marketplace. However, there can be shifting configurations of such viewpoints depending on the influence of critical factors shaping products, services, transactions and IS-development practices in the IT-marketplace. Such critical factors observed in the case studied are the tendency towards outsourcing / insourcing or the degree of customisation and/or in-house development as opposed to standardisation and package-oriented solution technologies.

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