Alignment of virtual enterprise, information technology, and performance: an empirical study

Abstract

Functional-level strategic planning should align with and support business-level strategies. Alignment of strategies is presumed to be a positive contributor to business performance just as misalignment is presumed to be a negative contributor. These presumptions should be true for all types of business environments. This study develops and tests these presumptions by examining managers’ perceptions of strategy. Drawing on both virtual enterprise (VE) and information technology (IT) literature, this research compares how these managers’ perceptions of the amount of emphasis their firm places on different aspects of business-level VE strategies and how the amount of functional level information technology support for each aspect of VE strategy are aligned. Based on a sample of matched pairs of general managers and operations managers from 196 organisations, hypotheses relating the alignment of virtual enterprise, information technology, and business performance are tested. The moderating effects of the years of association between the operations manager (OM) and the general manager (GM) were also examined. The results support the hypotheses that years of association between the GM and OM moderates the relationship between business performance and the alignment of operations managers’ and general managers’ of perceptions of the amount of emphasis their firm places on different aspects of business-level VE strategies and how the amount of functional level information technology support for each aspect of VE strategy.

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