Abstract
This paper investigates the role of tangible IT infrastructure assets –the portfolio of specific applications to which a firm endows itself – in enabling organizational agility and business performance in the context of SMEs. Building upon past literature, we regroup tangible IT infrastructure assets into three categories: IT for flexibility, IT for innovation, and IT for integration. Each category includes a series of specific technologies (i.e., CNC, CAD and ERP). We theorize that tangible IT infrastructure assets positively influence organizational agility and business performance. We employ a survey methodology to test the proposed hypotheses. One hundred and twenty-six manufacturing SMEs completed the survey. The results support the hypothesized relations. This research complements previous research that has studied intangible abstract constructs as antecedents of organizational agility, it confirms the results of past research examining the agility-business performance link, and it addresses the scarcity of strategic IS research in SMEs.
Recommended Citation
Ortiz de Guinea, Ana and Raymond, Louis, "TANGIBLE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE ASSETS AND ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY: AN INVESTIGATION OF MANUFACTURING SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES" (2019). MCIS 2019 Proceedings. 22.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/mcis2019/22