ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY AS THE CRITICAL FACTOR IN INFORMATION SYSTEM SUCCESS

Gerald E. Evans
Neil Morton
The University of Montana
ABSTRACT
Which is the more important factor in gaining sustained competitive advantage: implementation of information technology or organizational changes to take advantage of technology? A stratified sample of large, medium, small and tiny business that had recently implemented new information technology for the purpose of gaining or sustaining competitive advantage within their industry was utilized. The owners and/or managers of these businesses were asked to describe the technology implemented and to judge whether any competitive advantage derived was due primarily to the technology itself or due to the organizational changes instituted to take advantage of the technology. The results revealed that slightly less than twothird (Almost 60%) of the respondents reported that the competitive advantage derived was due mostly or entirely from organizational change. Additionally, the source of competitive advantage was analyzed according to Michael Porter’s model of five strategic forces. The results of ordinal regression indicate that specific technologies’ contribution to competitive advantages were those that increased buyer’s power, increased supplier’s power, and reduced the attractiveness of substitute products.