[8] 2002 e-business-strategies-for-virtual-organizations

e-Business Strategies for Virtual Organizations
would seem reasonable to assert that an SISP activity (including
the notion of everyday thinking and reflection about IS/IT) to
support the ever-maturing strategic business network over time
is important. Furthermore, it is asserted that in current climes,
IS/IT may itself be the enabling mechanism by which collaboration
at a strategic, tactical and operational level is made possible.
Arguably therefore, SISP for strategic business networks is an
important activity.
4.5.3 IT implications of network and
alliance planning
When considering the SISP required for strategic business
networks, internal and external IT environments must also be
considered. Figure 4.6 could thus be repeated, simply replacing
‘business’ with ‘IT’. Thus, it is asserted that organizations A, B,
and C each individually possess an IS/IT maturity and legacy
which they bring to the strategic business network. As a network
business strategy emerged, so too did a network IT strategy,
requiring additional IT investments for all parties, and all
requiring changes to the individual internal IT environments.
These changes were not simply technological: in all three
agencies the most significant changes that emerged had to do
with rethinking the use, exchange and management of information
with a view to improving service to parties caught up in
domestic violence affairs. Issues to do with the compatibility of
the respective IT technical infrastructures, compatibility of
management attitudes to IS/IT, and stages of maturity with
respect to IT needed to be addressed here. So too did the use of
and reliance on consultants, as individually the organizations
had had very different histories and experiences in this regard.
4.6 Coopetition: the new (name of the) game in
town
72
In this book we talk of an emerging nexus of business ideas as
alliances, strategic business network, strategic partnerships and
so on. But one area of new business thinking stresses a type of
cooperation called coopetition, the notion of deliberately dealing
with and supporting a business rival. This works in many forms,
from strong to weakly competing parties joined, and for varying
time frames. Let us think in terms of this construct.
In much of modern business theory, emphasis is laid on the
value of aggressive competition as one of the key forces that