1
Globalising Information Systems: An
Actor-Network-Theory Approach
Janna Dekker
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Janna.dekker@student.uva.nl
ABSTRACT
High expectations and great opportunities make globalisation and the potential role of information systems in this more important than ever before. Currently, many projects where information systems are globalised fail due to a lack of knowledge and experience and a neglect of the context. This research takes the first steps into providing the required guidance and help during these projects. Factors with influence on the globalisation of information systems and their connections, retrieved during this research, were used to construct an actor-network and a conceptual framework. During a case study at Heineken NV, the actor-network and conceptual framework appeared to be largely accurate when globalising an information system. The resulting actor-network and conceptual framework are the first comprehensive overviews that can be used during projects where information systems are globalised and are an interesting basis for future research.
1. INTRODUCTION
The world is more interconnected than ever. [52; 53] In 2012, there was a $26 trillion flow of goods, services, and finance globally, equal to 36% of the global GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and it is estimated that this will increase to a $85 trillion flow in 2025. [52] This phenomenon of global interconnectedness is also known as globalisation, which is a global movement of growing interrelatedness between societies and of economically integrating businesses. [13] Globalisation makes it possible for an organisation to induce efficiency in on-going operations, to cope with business risks and to learn, innovate and adapt more effectively. [46] But globalisation has shifted over the last years. [53] Where the flows were primarily between developed countries, is there currently more room for developing countries, where multinational companies drove the global flows, are there currently small enterprises and individuals participating and where innovation flowed from developed to developing countries, are there now flows of innovation in both ways. [53; 77] All these shifts are caused by the same phenomenon: while global trade and financial flows are flattening or declining, digital flows are skyrocketing. [53] In 2014, almost one-third of what global flows contributed to the global GDP was generated by data flows, which is a higher economic impact than the worldwide trade in physical goods. [53] Nowadays, globalisation is characterised by
“intangible flows of data and information”, “exchanges of free content and services” and “instant digital access to information”, in a world where digital infrastructure and transportation infrastructure are equally important. [53]
Information technologies, with their capability to enable new modes of work, new possibilities for communication and new ways of organising without the constraint of time and space, play an important role in this digital era of globalisation. [13; 35; 47; 75] An information system that crosses national boundaries is called a global information system. [44] With global information systems, information can be recorded, analysed and distributed faster and easier than ever before. [34] The collected data can derive from all parts of the organisation and its external environment and, if correctly combined, lead to relevant, up-to-date and precise information at all levels of the organisation, which contributes to its efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness. [34] As being key to the communication of ideas worldwide and to the extension of the scope of control, there are multiple possibilities for the appearance of a global information technology: it can be a product or service that can be offered to global markets, it can function as a trade platform for suppliers and buyers worldwide or it can provide information and social networks without boundaries. [13; 49]
Global information technologies can be used strategically: they can help to gain competitive advantages but also lower competitive disadvantages, for instance because they can improve efficiency and productivity. [34; 43; 47] Kalkan, Erdil and Çetinkaya (2011) even state that the adoption and use of information technologies are crucial to improve global performance or to profit from global market opportunities. [43] Therefore, organisations are increasingly interested in and focused on the possibilities of information technologies in their globalised market. [34; 43; 63] It is important for organisations to stay ahead of the game: the globalised world leads on the one hand to information technologies that substantiate to the coordination of global operations, but on the other hand it has also caused that organisations have to be more global because of the serious competitors on a global scale. [34; 46] In other words, globalisation and its associated global information systems have become the rule rather than the exception for certain businesses and has forced organisations to act globally. [44; 51]
2 However, projects where information technologies are being globalised often result in problems, frustration, delay, disappointment and failure. [31; 36; 57; 77] Outcomes of a project can be unattained goals, unsatisfactory results or information systems that are discarded a year after the implementation, directly after the implementation or even never implemented. [36] These impacts can be extensive: in 2004 an information system project failed at Hewlett-Packard (HP) leading to the financial impact of $160 million and in 2000 a failure at Nike did cost $100 million and led to a 20% decrease in stock price. [31] Failure exists at different levels, partial and total failure, happens at multiple moments, pre-completion, at-completion and post-completion and can have diverse reasons, for example replication failure, when it cannot be implemented in other situations, satisfaction failure, if it fails to satisfy the users, and adoption failure, when the information system is not adopted. [4] Heeks (2002) estimates that one-fifth to one-quarter of the projects in developed countries fail completely and one-third to three-fifths fail partially and for developing countries these estimations are even higher. [36] For instance, at the public sector, 34% of the ICT projects fail completely, 50% partially and only 15% are considered to be successful. [4]
Still, there is no flattering or decline in the globalisation of information systems trend visible. [53] With globalisation there are more opportunities than ever that companies cannot and should not ignore. [34; 46; 53] Important causes of these failures are that organisations lack of the knowledge of how the information technology will affect the organisation, of how to guarantee that the initiative will succeed and of how to regard the context. [4; 31; 57] Guidance could be useful, to demonstrate the opportunities and pitfalls of the development and the information technology itself. [57] A comprehensive overview, that organisations could use before, during and after the globalisation of an information system, could help with and prevent these failures. [57] Therefore, within this research an attempt is made to create a guide that provides such an overview, containing influencing factors and their interrelations.
The main research question is: is it possible to create a comprehensible framework for globalising information systems? A globalisation of an information system is the starting point of this research since it reflects the theme, central question and goal of the research. [28] To answer the main research question, the first step is to disclose and analyse the human and non-human factors that relate to the starting factor, for example the people, organisation, software, computer and communications, hardware and infrastructure standards, et cetera. [28; 74] Thus, the first sub-question is: what are the factors that relate to globalising information systems? Furthermore, the connections of the factors are crucial, thus the connections between the found factors and the effect of the connection are made clear. [28] This results in the sub-question: how are these factors connected? To answer the research questions, two data gathering methods are used. First, a
literature study demonstrates what factors and connections are mentioned in previous research. After, interviews with experts on globalising information systems, are conducted to gather new, confirmative or opposing factors and connections. All found factors and connections are combined into a code network. Next, the code network is converted into an actor-network. Therefore, the third sub-question is answered: what factors and connections can be actors and actor connections? The information of the actor-network has to be readable and guiding so it can be easily used before, during and after projects concerning the globalisation of information systems. This leads to the fourth sub-question: how can the actor-network become more comprehensible? Finally, the accuracy of the actor-network is examined with a case study. The case study is a beer menu card tool project within Heineken, a Dutch multinational that “brews quality beers, builds award-winning brands and is committed to enthusing consumers everywhere.” [38] With this, answers are given to the fifth sub-question: how accurate is the actor-network of globalising information systems?
To generate the actor-network and the conceptual framework, the chosen research approach is according to the qualitative research strategy. Based on its characteristics, the qualitative research strategy suits this particular research better than the quantitative research strategy. Quantitative research is typified by its aim to test a theory, based on the collection of numerical data. [17; 18] Qualitative research on the other hand, focuses on the generation of a theory. [17; 18] The emphasis in the data is on the words instead of the quantification. [17] Qualitative research is favoured to explore not thoroughly researched areas, as is the case with the factors that influence the globalisation of information systems. [24; 56] The focus is on understanding, describing and explaining phenomena by analysing the experiences of individuals or groups, by inspecting the interactions and by considering communications and documents about it. [26; 33] To provide useful guidance and help with the globalisation of information systems, it is crucial to understand the meaning of these situations and of the involved actions, to comprehend the context wherein these actions occur and to recognise the influence the context has on these actions, to unravel the processes of the situation and actions and to develop causal explanations, which are all strengths of qualitative research. [56]
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This literature review was used to clarify what factors have influence on the globalisation of information systems and what their connections are, according to literature. First the diverging view of the functionalist and the interpretive paradigm concerning this topic is discussed. After, the different factors and their connections are examined and divided in a social, an organisational, a technical and a financial category.
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2.1 The impacts: one size fits all?
There are different views on the impacts of globalising an information system. Ardalan (2011) distinguishes a functionalist paradigm and an interpretive paradigm. [6] According to the functionalist paradigm “the broadest impacts of new information technology will be the internationalization of commerce, higher economic growth, better opportunities for cultural representations of all communities, more democratic governments, and stronger global peace”. [6] It is stated that the globalisation of information technology will cause opportunities and risks. [6] First of all, distance and location become insignificant, causing a decrease of required immigration and emigration and a freedom to live in a preferred country but also an inversion of home and office. [6] The size of the firm becomes irrelevant as well. [6] Additionally, the connection to internet for people worldwide will be improved, the received content, products and services will be customised for the individual, the value in niches will be increased, the communities of practice can be established and the spread of new information will be faster. [6] Furthermore the global reach and the local provision will be increased. [6] This signifies that the markets around the world are more accessible for small organisations while offering and monitoring excellent local services worldwide becomes more reachable for big companies. [6] This implies not only that information technologies substantiate the coordination of global operations with information systems, but also that the amelioration of information technology has caused that organisations have to be more global because of the serious competitors on a global scale. [46] Asides from other organisations, also customers have access to the market and the accurate information, with enhanced competition as a result. [6] Risks of globalised information systems are an overload of information, since the human capacity of contemplating information will not increase, and the loss of privacy. [6] Besides experts will become the ultimate scarce resource and a redistribution of wages could occur: earnings of skilled people will grow while they will be reduced for people who perform routine tasks. [6]
The interpretive paradigm sees it differently: “in the international arena no two societies are the same, and the consequences of advances in information technology in a particular society depend on its interrelated key variables: national ideology, government policy-making organisations, information policy, technology, the marketplace, and the information infrastructure”. [6] This implies that the world could and should not become a uniform place with global businesses and global attitudes, where differences between organisations and societies are disappearing. [75] An information system that works well for a certain business unit will not definitely be equally good for other business units. [49] The same information technology can be used in different contexts, cultures and countries to transfer the best practice and procedure to standardise for efficiency and comparability, but this could provoke many difficulties when executed without considering influential factors. [77] Approaching the spread of information technology as a-contextual can induce high risks of local
misunderstanding and frustration when trying to make sense and comprehend a new technology. [8] It is naive to assume that a cultural homogeneity exists, so it is implausible that one solution will be advantageous for a world with differences in social, political, institutional and strategic contexts. [77] The development and usage of information systems involves more than the technical aspects, especially when the information system covers social, economic, institutional, political and/or strategic context. [66] Information technologies need to be modified to socio-economic, cultural and organisational settings. [60] It is about the interaction of hardware, software and system configuration with social, economic and cultural context. [77] One of the main reasons of the high percentage of global information system projects that (partially) fail is the neglect of the context [8; 31; 36; 57]. Thus, the globalisation of information systems should not be considered as a-contextual. [5; 13; 34; 35; 47; 65; 75] For this reason, the interpretive paradigm is the chosen point of view in this research: the functionalist paradigm seems too unilateral for the globalisation of information systems in terms of the influence of context, while the interpretive paradigm regards this as highly important. Based on this decision, the first step was to map out the varying influencing factors in the context of globalising information systems and consider their connections.
2.2 Connected actors
With the interpretive paradigm as the chosen point of view, it is important to find and consider the contextual factors that have influence on the globalisation of information systems. Based on the literature, four categories of factors are distinguished: social, organisational, technical and financial. Factors of these four categories combined provide an overview of the factors that should be taken into consideration when globalising an information system.
2.2.1 Social actors
The first category is social, containing all factors that concern the differences between countries and cultures and the humans involved.
In the literature that focuses on globalisation and information systems, often a distinction is made between developed and developing countries. [1; 8; 9; 12; 32; 36; 41; 60; 61; 63; 66; 71; 75; 76; 77] Due to multiple different contextual factors, other requirements should be considered for developed and developing countries. [60; 61] The International Monetary Fund uses the GDP to determine whether a country is a developed or a developing country. [40] In appendix A, an overview of the status of all the countries can be found. There was a time that researchers wondered if information technologies were important to developing countries. [77] Due to globalisation, research about information technologies in developing countries has most definitely become interesting. [12] The majority of the countries
4 of the world, that has become interconnected as regards to economic, social and cultural aspects, are developing countries. [77] Currently developing countries have a disadvantage, since most of the information technology research about the different requirements is focused on and based in developed countries, especially North American and European countries. [9] But with more than half of the world living in developing countries, the possibilities and the urge to solve problems concerning environment, health, education and infrastructure with information technology is crucial. [77] The phenomenon of information technologies improving development is complex and for positive results collaboration between industry, government and international organisations is required. [77] But, as stated by the interpretive paradigm, information systems are not a-contextual: technologies from developed countries shall need modification and adaptation when implemented in developing countries. [12; 66] Avgerou (2001): “the significance of considering the context of information system innovation in developing countries cannot be overemphasized”. [8] There are different requirements for information technologies all over the world, some concerning the development process, others the resulting information technology. [60; 76] Implementing and using information technologies in developing countries, especially in Africa that is currently seen as the poorest and technologically least developed continent, is not easy and the risk of failure of an information technology is very high. [60] But a lack of successful projects in developing countries could turn information technologies into technologies of global disparity, keeping developing countries digitally divided from developed countries. [36]
According to Walsham (2002) “culture, at its most basic level, can be conceptualized as shared symbols, norms and values in a social collectivity such as a country.” [75] Cultures are complex: in reality a culture exists out of different people with their own conscious and unconscious minds and thoughts. [75] This underlines the concept of cultures being dynamic and emergent. [9; 75] The relationship between culture and the globalisation of information technologies can be seen in multiple ways. [49] First, a deviating national culture is often seen as an obstacle to innovation and a source of resistance when implementing an information technology into a developing country. [9; 49] But local interpretations and necessary modifications are neither obstacles nor sources of resistance: they are caused by the process of appropriating the information technology and could even contribute to the functioning of the organisation. [12] Furthermore, culture can be seen as a victim since information technology can threaten local distinctiveness. [49] Finally, culture can be seen as an outcome, with cultural changes ultimately ensuing changes caused by information technologies. [49] Either way, different cultures treat information technologies differently due to the differences in geographies, histories and languages. [5; 14] Applying information technologies optimally requires an understanding of local meanings and ways of working, but also an
eagerness to participate in the dynamical socio-technical changes that occur there. [77]
The crux is that the information technology should make sense to the people who will use the new information technology, who have to embrace the involved changes and who need to sustain it for the long run. [9; 76] The stakeholders of the development of the information system - the system developers, management and the end-users - should be involved during the entire process: they need to prosecute the project, sustain the project and its outcomes and assure its positive impact. [60] To use the information technology optimally, the human-technological capacity should be put right. [60] Common areas of difficulties are user involvement, user commitment, computer alienation and shortage of information technology knowledge. [60]
The involvement of the users when designing, implementing and using an information technology can be complicated. [60] Nevertheless it is a critical factor for the success of an information technology which should be considered for each information technology. [14; 46] A way of doing this is by creating counter-networks. [77] In counter-networks the knowledge of users, who are normally excluded from existing networks of power and influence, about existing practises is used in new information technologies that will concern them. [77]
Another important factor, that could cause many problems when lacking, is user commitment. [60] The user attitude towards the information system should be positive, they should get to accept and own new information technologies. [14; 57] To confirm user commitment the number of users, the frequency of usage and the perceived satisfaction levels could provide meaningful insights. [77]
Computer alienation is defined as “the socially and psychologically induced subjective state of separation from computers”. [1] By analysing the state of computer alienation of an individual, the attitudes and beliefs toward information technologies can be mapped. [1] The factors stage of country development, computer knowledge, computer experience, education level and responsiveness to computer news are all negatively correlated with computer alienation. [1] Considering technologies as advantageous, computer alienation should be reduced. [1] This is possible when the causes of the computer alienation are recognised and handled. [1] As an example, educational programs can be offered to increase technology awareness and knowledge and thus reduce computer alienation. [1]
Problems can arise when the users are insufficiently skilled or trained. [60] Reading, formal courses and on-the-job facilitation are ways to educate and train people. [75] A similar upcoming
5 problem is the shortage of people with information technology expertise or the ability to manage information technology changes. [14; 60; 61] In fact, system developers in developing countries work under more severe practical constraints but are less trained to deal with them compared to system developers in developed countries. [60]
Another phenomenon is the digital divide: the difference between people concerning the ability to access and use technologies effectively. [77] In 2015, 57% of the four billion people on earth remained offline and only 15% of the world’s population had access to broadband. [53] It is not simply a matter of unavailability for certain groups of people, it is a social, political, institutional and cultural problem that contributes to the ability to access and effectively use information technologies. [77] This also implies that the digital divide cannot be reduced by providing information technologies, the social, political, institutional and cultural problems should be addressed. [77]
2.2.2 Organisational actors
According to Jain (1997) the factors that are relevant for a successful implementation in an organisation are: management support for IS, trained system professionals, proximity of CEO-CIO relationship, user-led initiatives, formalism in software implementation/maintenance, availability of a variety of application development platforms, review of existing processes prior to implementation, dispersed/distributed IS professionals, design scope of major systems, evaluation of the IT department and availability of tele-support. [41]
To fully profit from a new information technology, also the current organisational circumstances have to be analysed and the degree of change with the new information system should be determined. [1; 36; 46] The higher the degree of change, the higher is the risk of failure. [36] Based on the degree of change and its dimensions, the expectations and the implications of the change can be managed. [14] The degree of change is determined by the comparison of the current and new processes, structures, technologies and people, as can be seen in figure 1.
Figure 1: Comparison of current and future information systems. [36] There is a difference between global and local practices. [13; 77] The connection between global and local is a dynamical, two-way relationship where local requirements should not be effaced for
global requirements. [12] Global standards and local needs should be pragmatically balanced. [77] There is a necessity to understand and especially value the local way of working. [77] In practice, for example, several aspects that were considered as dysfunctional by global management appeared to be meaningful in the local context and had to be retained. [66] Furthermore, it appears that the same factors have different influences on global and local projects. [14] It is stated by multiple managers that implementing a global information technology is more complicated than implementing a local information technology. [14] With the globalisation of a local information technology not deterministically leading to beneficial outcomes for economic performance and social change, there is an urge for embedded analysis. [8] In this way, problems that occur in contexts different from the original context can be analysed and limits can be determined. [66] A way of doing such an analysis is the model showed in figure 2, which demonstrates the design-actuality gap and its dimensions. [36]
Figure 2: the design-actuality gap model [36]
With this model, an analysis can demonstrate the level of the match between the local actuality and the global system design. [36] The relevant dimensions are “information (data stores, data flows, etc.); technology (both hardware and software); processes (activities of users and others); objectives and values (the key dimension, through which factors such as culture and politics are manifest); staffing and skills (both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of competencies); management systems and structures; and other resources (particularly time and money).” [36] Gaps between actuality and design are often a cause of project failure. [36] There are two possibilities to minimise a gap, namely by actuality improvisation, where the local actuality is changed in favour of the information system design, and by design improvisation, where the global design is adjusted to the actuality. [36] These improvisations should be seen as generative methods that construct new technologies. [71] In developed countries, the local improvisation can be small and hard to identify while the local improvisation in developing countries are often obvious, due to the greater initial gap between actuality and design in these countries. [36] As stated by Suchman (2002): “the greater the
6 distance - geographical, economic, cultural, experiential - the greater the need for reworking is likely to be.” [71]
Another key factor for successful information technologies is the connectedness of the strategies for the information technologies and the business. [43; 61] Palvia, Palvia and Whitworth (2002) proposed an organising framework with the determinants of key management issues for information systems in a global context, showed in figure 3. [61] The oval at the centre spans the key IT management issue of organisation in a region or a country. [61] The determinants are divided into two categories: country-specific (environmental) and firm-specific factors. [61] The key information technology management issues have influence on the global business and information technology strategy. [61] The political/regulatory issues are caused by the influence of a political system when this includes control and pressure of authorities, poor public data stores and/or a lack of competitive market experience. [61] These issues could influence the level of economic development of the country simultaneously, indicated with the dotted line in the framework. [61]
Figure 3: Key IT Management Issues Framework by Palvia, Palvia and Whitworth (2002) [43]
It is commonly argued that information technology projects are increasingly becoming a managerial challenge instead of a technical challenge. [57] In the end managers select the information technologies, enable the execution of the project and guarantee that the technologies, the capabilities and complements are aligned. [57] A successful information technology itself is easy to replicate, but the correct managerial support is not: here are valuable capabilities gained. [57] A first managerial challenge is top management support. [14] To prevent failure of a project, top management should make it a priority. [14] Financial devotion, presence of leadership and understanding are all part of the required support from top management. [14] Another challenge is the common mistake made by managers to underestimate the resistance of the potential users of the information technology to the change caused by the new technology. [57] It happens often that the benefits of the new information technology are seen by managers, but the employees only fear the consequences of a dictating information technology forcing new processes, changing decision rights and increasing
interdependence. [57] Another severe management challenge, specific for globalisation, is managing the constant balance of globalisation and localisation. [50] Furthermore, computer alienation can also apply to managers. In reality, most managers see the navigation through a constantly changing technology landscape as a burden and tend to take distance of information technology. [57] Finally, there are differences between countries according to information technology management issues. [61] A management solution that works in developed countries does not automatically achieve the same type of results in developing countries. [12] Developed countries have for example mainly strategic issues while developing countries have to manage basic and operational issues. [61]
In general, information technology projects require a lot of time. [66] In a fast-changing world long projects can result in an information technology that has little impact on the current organisational weaknesses. [66] Another challenge is that over these long periods of time the appropriate resources, including money and people, need to be available. [44; 77] Complex global projects require more resources than simpler projects. [14] Also a detailed planning and flexibility during implementation are needed. [12; 14]
Involved IT departments are important influencers as well. [43] These departments are involved and co-responsible for the information technology planning, the quality of the business - information technology alignment, the effectiveness of the software development and the management of communication networks. [43] The employees of IT departments need to judge the potential of an information technology beforehand and develop and manage the information technology in a changing context. [8] Hereby it is important that these employees bear in mind that during a project the changes can be across all layers and they need to judge if the information technology will still deliver the wanted results. [46] Another major activity of most IT departments is the development of information systems. [61] These information systems are a necessity for the survival, the growth and competitive posturing of an organisation. [61] Naturally, the internal functioning of the IT department, called the organisational infrastructure, is important. [43] This includes the formal structure, the processes, the reporting relationships, the support groups and skills. [43] The organisational infrastructure must be optimal if the information technology performance should grow with the expanding globalisation. [46]
McAfee (2006): “An insightful CIO once told me, ‘I can make a project fail, but I can’t make it succeed. For that, I need my [non-IT] business colleagues’.” [57] Likewise, this cooperation should be represented in the cross-functional project team and the communication between all the involved people. [14] Due to the globalisation, the advances in information technologies and the changes in customer's demands, the businesses and the information technologies should both focus on these aspects in
7 their strategies and enforce each other. [43] The information technology management strategies should concentrate on the global changes. [43] The resulting vision on the project and the corresponding goals should be clear from the beginning and tracked during the project. [14]
Lastly, there are differences between organisations that have influence on an information technology. [61] For instance, the business and legal environments can cause complications when globally implementing an information technology. [14] Furthermore, the firm size and the time that a company is globalised have influence on the performance and the application level of information technologies. [46] Also, organisations in dynamic contexts and with externally orientated strategies need to make greater investments in information technologies. [43]
2.2.3 Technical actors
Previously, the focus of information system projects was on developing and establishing a software application and these projects always considered programming or software engineering. Current information technology projects shifted to a focus on how to fit the requirements with prefabricated software. [60]
Information technologies exist out of hardware, software and databases to gather, store and disseminate information. [43] A global information system should be the worldwide information technology backbone via which information can be exchanged. [14] It is crucial that this information can be exchanged worldwide, even in situations with many local customisations. [14] The capabilities of this combination of hardware, software and databases can be improved by integrating, standardising and sophisticating them. [43] During an information systems projects technical problems can occur when the appropriate software evaluation procedures, the suitable software design tools or the communication with software specialists are missing. [14]
Technological infrastructure is the architecture of the information technologies and the procedures to guide and control it of, for example, an organisation or a country. [43] To be able to support the rapidly changing industry demands, it is important that the technological infrastructure of the organisation is flexible, to keep the performance high. [43] This is feasible when the methods are straightforward, rapid and informal. [60] Other hardware related problems are poor national technological infrastructure, inconsistent or low power supply, low quality telecommunications, shortened product life cycles and even the climate: humidity and dust can damage the equipment. [14; 60] For these reasons information technologies should be straightforward, simple and flexible so it functions optimally under infrastructural constraints. [60] In developing countries it is common to find expensive computing equipment unused because of an inadequate power supply or an unavailability of computer parts. [77] For example in Nigeria, companies have to invest a large amount of money to guarantee power supply. [60] To
prevent the neglect of the information technology after the project, it is essential to consider the national technical shortages during the development process. [60] Software related problems are frequently caused by a shortage of experts due to a lack of education, and a shortage of computing equipment, due to the high price. [60]
Another possible cause of problems is the lack of a national information technology policy. [60] A national information technology policy provides social, economic and political guidance for the information technology in that country [60], for example concerning the data export rules and controls [14]. Without this guidance, it is complicated to guarantee the fit of the information technology. [60]
2.2.4 Financial actors
According to McAfee (2006) 51% of the information technology projects turned out to be more expensive than expected. [57] This underlines the necessity of thorough analysis in advance of the project: the more time organisations devote to preparation and planning, the more certain that the budget will not be transcended. [27] With this estimation an organisation can make sense about whether to continue with the project or not. [27] This prevents disappointment: currently 47% of the information technology projects were afterwards reviewed as negative or with low returns. [57] The used expenses and resources must be exceeded by the benefits. [60] Figure 4 shows how the estimated costs, the cost estimation challenges and the solution techniques influence each other. [27] The estimated costs of an information technology project cause challenges. [27] These challenges are countered with solution techniques, specific for that challenge, but with these solution techniques other challenges can arise. [27] Finally, the specific solution techniques have influence on the estimated costs. [27]
Figure 4: Relationships of estimated costs, cost estimation challenges and solution techniques by Daneva (2011) [27]
Interesting data to consider in cost estimation are the project size, the reuse levels, the start and end dates and the cost drivers. [27] There are not only costs during the building and implementation phase, also the running costs, maintenance costs and further development of the system are expenses on the long term that must be covered by an organisation. [60] With thorough cost estimations the affordability of the information technology can be
8 guaranteed. [14; 60] Also, sufficient financial resources can be reserved, preventing problems and disappointment. [14]
Important to realise when globalising an information technology is that there are differences in return on investments between developed and developing countries. [32] This is caused by the low-level information technology investment in developing countries compared to developed countries and the available resources like capital and skilled work force developed countries have at their disposal. [32; 36]
2.3 Summary of the literature review
To analyse the connected factors of an information system, often a distinction between developed and developing countries is made. Based on the literature, four categories are distinguished for the factors: a category with social factors, with organisational factors, with technical factors and with financial factors. At the social category, the themes of the factors are the distinctions between developed and developing countries [1; 8; 9; 12; 32; 36; 41; 60; 61; 63; 66; 71; 75; 76; 77], the culture of a country [5; 9; 12; 14; 49; 75; 77], the digital divide [77], user involvement [14; 46; 60; 77], user commitment [14; 57; 60; 77], computer alienation [1] and the lack of expertise with and knowledge of information systems. [14; 57; 60; 77] Within the organisational category the themes of the factors are the degree of change [1; 36; 46], the design-actuality gap [36], the balance between globalisation and localisation [12; 14; 46], the influence of key IT management issues on global business and IT strategies [61], adequate management [12; 14; 50; 57; 61], detailed planning [12; 14] and sufficient resources [44; 77], the involved IT department [8; 43; 46; 61], differences between organisations [14; 43; 46; 61] and the business IT alignment [14; 43; 57]. The technical category includes the factor themes data exchange [14], technical infrastructure [43] and IT policies [60]. The financial category reflects the factor themes return of investments [14; 27; 60] and the cost estimations [14; 27; 60]. During the interviews with experts the focus is on confirmations of connected factors or new factors. Furthermore, the interrelatedness of these factors is elaborated.
3. INTERVIEWS
To gather new, confirmative or opposing factors and connections relative to the literature review, interviews were conducted with experts on globalising information systems. First the interviewees and the interview structure is discussed. After, the coding methodology is covered in detail. Finally, a summary is provided with the information gathered during the interviews.
3.1 Interviewees
Due to the popularity of the globalisation of information systems, there are many experts working on this subject on a daily basis.
To create a framework that contains all factors that have influence on this topic, only a literature study to define the factors would be unilateral. For this reason ten interviews were conducted with experts from Accenture and their subsidiary Avanade. Accenture is a “leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations.” [2] As a consultancy firm they are hired by other companies to develop and implement technology solutions to improve or facilitate their business. [2] They operate in more than 120 countries and state that they are extremely global but also extremely local: they provide services to clients anywhere they operate by taking local execution and market relevance seriously. [2] Avanade was created by Accenture and Microsoft to “deliver innovative services and solutions to enterprises worldwide using the Microsoft platform”. [7] Typically for qualitative research, the interviewees were selected with the purposeful selection strategy. [56] The interviewees were deliberately selected, based on their expertise in globalising information systems. [56] The division of expertise of the interviewees was as follows:
Four interviews with people that are familiar with the technical aspects of globalising information systems: two developers and two managers of developers.
Two interviews with people that are familiar with the business IT alignment aspects: both at managing positions.
One interview with a person who is familiar with leading all the teams, assignments and project aspects such as finances and planning of a globalising information system project from start to end.
Two interviews with people that are familiar with the social-organisational aspects: both change managers of whom one is skilled at providing trainings.
One interview with a person who is familiar with the social and technical aspects, such as providing trainings about the usage of the tool and the operational part of implementations.
It was required that they were involved in a globalisation of an information system process at the time of the interview and preferably they had experience from similar projects in the past. The goal of this purposeful selection was to acquire a representative group of interviewees instead of random large sample size, to assure that the conclusions represent the situation. [56] There is no specific amount of interviewees that is required. [26] Based on other studies that include interviews, the amount of interviews is 15 +/- 10. [16] Specifically based on the qualitative design used, the amount of interviews should be in the range from three to ten. [26] Time and available resources have influence on the resulting amount of interviews conducted in this research. [16]
3.2 Interview structure
Interviews are preferred here to gather information about understandings, opinions, actions, attitudes and feelings, especially since direct observation is not a possibility. [26; 54]
9 The approach of the interviews and the analysis of the interviews was qualitative. [26]
The aim of the interviews was to gather more insights into the factors that influence the globalisation of an information system process, either about new factors or about factors already mentioned in literature, and to understand how these factors are interrelated. For this reason, the preferred approach was to conduct semi-structured interviews, which is typical for qualitative interviews. [17; 18] In these semi-structured interviews was an outline of covered topics that would be discussed in each interview and of suggested questions, where deviation of the outline was allowed in response to a significant reply. [16; 18; 24] This kept the interviews flexible and allowed space for the interviewees to adjust emphasis on important subjects. [17] Furthermore, the questions were asked in an open question form to ensure that respondents could answer in their own terms, to allow unusual responses to be derived and to not suggest certain kinds of answers. [18] The questions were informant factual questions and questions about normative standards and values. [18] The informant factual questions were about the characteristics of globalising an information system according to their knowledge. The questions about normative standards and values were about their attitudes and beliefs towards the subject. The interview was divided in three subjects: the experience of the interviewee, the possible successes or pitfalls and the factors that influence the globalisation of an information system, according to the interviewee. The question outline can be found in appendix B.
The ethics of the interviews were closely guarded. Each interview started with an introductory statement containing information about the interviewer, the circumstances under which the interview was conducted, the topic and purpose of the research and the selection method of the interviewees. [16; 18; 24; 33] It was also made clear that participation is voluntary and that the interviewees will remain anonymous to protect their privacy. [16; 18; 24; 33] At the end there was an opportunity to ask questions. [16; 18; 24]
3.3 Coding methodology
To analyse the performed interviews and denote concepts that represent the interview data, coding techniques were used. [24] The coding is critical to explain the meaning of collected data. [22] How coding usually follows the scheme from particular data to general theory or assertions is schematically illustrated in figure 5. [67] Based on the generated codes, categories and themes the different interviews were explored. [54]
Figure 5: Codes-to-theory model [67]
Johnny Saldaña’s The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers was used as a guideline. [67] Saldaña (2016) divides the process of coding in multiple stages and demonstrates for each stage multiple coding techniques that can be used combined or separately, depending on your data and the aim of the coding. [67] The following coding stages and belonging techniques are chosen to analyse the interviews with the Accenture and Avanade experts, to ensure the extraction of all possible data:
1. The initial step is the first cycle coding process, where a portion of data, which can be everything from a single word to an entire page, is coded. [15; 16; 58; 67] The goal was to reside patterns, behaviours and interesting issues from the data. [15; 48] During this stage the interviews were analysed with the descriptive coding technique, the process coding technique and the causation coding technique. The descriptive coding technique summarises the topic of the portion of data. [67] This technique is chosen to analyse the basic topics of the interview. [67] The process coding technique is used to imply action in the data. In the end, the framework contains actions that lead to certain preferred or non-preferred outcomes, so focusing on activities is useful. Furthermore, the causation coding technique was used. This coding technique locates causal beliefs in, extracts them from and infers them from the portions of data. [67] With this technique, causal interrelations for a phenomenon can be taken into account when creating the framework. To not miss any interesting information from the interviews this combination of the three techniques was chosen to provide the basic topics involved with globalising an information system, to extract the actions that should or should not be taken to be successful and to expose the causal relations within this topic.
10 2. Eclectic coding was used after the first cycle coding
processes to profile the multiple techniques as a step to proceed towards the second cycle coding process. [67] During eclectic coding the type of the provided code is indicated, in this paper it is in brackets next to the code description. [67] Since the three chosen techniques all contribute to the needs of the framework, but the techniques do differ, eclectic coding was a useful bridge between the first and the second cycle coding process. [67]
3. After each interview a network was created to depict the codes and the relations between the codes. [15; 58] The relations were subtracted from the content of the interview and the causation coding. [24; 58] Each found relation brought structure to the data and was a step closer to understanding the issue of globalising information systems. [15; 33] The networks of the interviews can be found in appendix C.
4. At the moment that all the interviews were conducted, the interviews and their codes were merged into one. With the merged version of all the interviews, the second cycle coding process was executed. During this process, the coded data from the first cycle coding process of all interviews was compared and a meta code was developed: a category label that identifies similarly coded data. [16; 67] This way meaning was added to the organised data. [67] The second cycle coding can be found in appendix D.
5. With the outcomes of the second cycle coding a network was constructed, containing the meta codes and their relations to each other. The network can be found in appendix E.
Atlas.ti, a computer program for qualitative data analysis, was used to perform the first and second cycle coding, the eclectic coding, to generate the interview networks and to merge these networks. This program facilitates the possibility to locate, code and annotate portions of data and to weigh, evaluate and visualise them. [68]
3.4 Overview of the interviews
3.4.1 Steps of global information system projects
Certain components of projects where information systems are developed and globalised are standard. [A] First there is a design phase, after a build phase, then a test phase and thereafter a deploy phase. [A; I; J] Subsequently stabilising, maintaining and improving the global information system are important [A; C; H; J] According to the waterfall approach, these components are sequential and non-iterative. [A] This is aligned with the traditional way of thinking of organisations. [A] During the design phase the most important decisions are made about what the end product will be. [A] The design will be build, what is build will be tested and then it will be deployed. [A] There is a risk that the information system does not or only partially improve what was intended caused by an incorrect assumption about the contributing
value of the designed information system or an inaccurate estimation of how processes work. [A; F] A new functionality has to be preceded by a complete process again, if there even is a possibility to change the information system retroactively. [A] Thus the waterfall approach could cause complexity for the planned time and budget of the project. [A; D] A counterpart of the waterfall approach is the scrum/agile approach. [A; B; D; F; G] Here deploying and building are intertwined, the building is continuing while the information system is already in use. [A] It is a cycle: small parts are build, thereafter tested and deployed and while the building of new parts continues. [A] In this way new functionalities are constantly added. [A; D] When the organisation is focused on fast moving innovation and development, and it is expected that the vision will change once in a while, the scrum/agile approach is preferred due to this flexibility to anticipate, scale up or scale down. [A; D; F] Also feedback on the information system can be taken into account and corrected along the way. [B] On the other side this involves that decisions have to be made constantly about what new functionality will be in the system and which one will not. [B] This is based on the comparison of the added value of the new functionality, which is hard to measure. [B]
When a globalisation of an information system project is started, the first step of the design phase is analysing. [A] The vision has to be determined, the strategy has to be set and the support that IT can offer here has to be considered. [B] Based on this, decisions can be made about the requirements for the information system. [D] For good results the requirements need to be known from the start. [F] Examples of these requirements are the possibilities [G], the level of complexity [B], the ease of use [B], the speed [B], the efficiency [D], the availability [F], the reachability [F] and the quality [A] of the information system. If required, the selection process of an external party that will assist during the project will commence. [G] Based on the methodologies and experiences of the organisations a selection is made. [G] Together the optimal manner of applying these skills during the project will be determined. [G] Besides, the planning of the project has to be discussed and developed. [I] Furthermore, the first steps of determining who the stakeholders are and how to manage them can be made during the design phase. [D] To assure that the information system will be optimal, the relevant stakeholders, for example business representatives of each country, should be involved in the decision making. [J] Another decision that should be made is about the size of the roll-out, which can be in phases or as a big bang. [I] The difference is that with a phased roll-out it starts in a few countries and then expand, while a big bang roll-out means that all the targeted countries will receive the information system at the same time. [I] The advantage of a big bang roll-out is that all the countries are live with the same information system at the same time, so there is a full profit of the system from the start. [I] On the other side, a phased roll-out is easier to oversee. [I]
11 Another pitfall during the design phase is the underestimation of the growth of the system. [F] When an information system gets successful, the performance could reduce. [F] For example the increase of the amount of data could lower the speed of the system. [F] During the design phase the focus has to be further than the starting point: if the usage of the system grows extremely or a large amount of data gets in, will the performance stay the same? [F] So, the data structure and the scalability of the information system need to be considered. [C; F] Moreover, the latency of a spreading information system has to be taken into account. The data has longer travel distances when the information system is running in countries all over the world. [F] This latency variation is important for the required reachability of the information system. [F] The information system has to be accessible from different parts of the world, has to continue working and the data has to be received and send out in the correct tempo. [F] Another aspect that should be examined regarding the potential growth are the people involved in the project. [G] When the project scales up, more people should be for example available to manage the change and communications. [A]
There are two possibilities when building the global information system: custom and off-the-shelf. [D] When chosen for custom, the business requirements and the voice of the customer are important to examine. [D] The developed information system is focused on a niche. [D] Off-the-shelf is often preferred. [D] It is possible that an organisation has specific requirements but usually the requirements are comparable or equal to those of other organisations in the same working area. [D] The quest should be for the best practice. [D] When the information system is build it has to be tested. [A; I; J] This phase consists mainly out of executing test scripts. [I]
For the deployment of the information system a clear strategy should be found. [H] This strategy should take the best way of deploying and the possible growth into account. [H] The higher the amount of customised versions of the information system that exist, the more complex a deployment is. [H] When certain technical aspects of a deployment always have to be passed, automating them increases the efficiency of the deployment. [H] Automated deployments are more consistent, take less time and decrease the error rate. [H] Furthermore it is important that the required technical resources are prepared before the deployment starts. [J] For example the devices, where the information system will be used on, and their settings have to be in order. [J] Additionally there is a non-technical aspect to deploying. [H] The organisation and the users should be completely ready for the usage of the system and the change it brings simultaneously. [H] A user acceptance test could be helpful since it examines whether the business accepts the system and if it matches the expectations. [I]
How the stabilisation, maintenance and improvement of the system works is dependent on the chosen approach of developing: waterfall or scrum/agile. [A; B; D; F; G] With the scrum/agile
approach, in contrast to the waterfall approach, maintenance is carried out at the same time that there are constructions at the information system. [A] The project team should be able to endure this. [A] Important possibilities for improvements could come from the feedback that the users provide. [B] The strength of the scrum/agile approach lies within the fact that this feedback is easier converted to actual enhancements, due to its high flexibility compared to the waterfall approach. [A] It is important that the method of releasing updates is set beforehand. [B] Thought out plans for the way of releasing, the dealing with release issues and how to document them and the preferred quality of the releases lead to stable releases. [B]
Finally support and its composition are important. [C] When support falls away everything stops. [C] If users escalate all their incidents, even the minor ones, to the central support team it possibly collapses. [B; J] Therefore, asides from a central support team, local support is required as well. [H] There are multiple possibilities of local support. [H] This can be a local support team but also, for example, a platform where users can ask each other questions. [B; J] As regards to the local support team is it essential that this team has the required level of knowledge and that they are committed to the information system. [H]
After the go-live of an information system, it is time for the stabilisation of an information system. [D] From then on is it important to evaluate the usage of the information system. [D] After a few years the discipline can fade away or people could have switched jobs, causing a diminishment of knowledge about the information system. [D] This can result in an incorrect or a partial usage of the information system. [D]
3.4.2 Points of attention during the project
3.4.2.1 Complexities of the project
Complexities can arise during all the steps of the process. To start with, the culture of the country where the implementation of the information system takes place needs to be taken into consideration to avoid the manifestation of complexities. [A; B; C; E; G; H; I; J] Obvious cultural differences are the country specific celebrations and holidays [E] and time and language differences [E; H; J]. But also the manners of behaviour that are associated with it [H]: what are the differences between people with different cultural backgrounds [A] and how do people within a culture interact [E]? Other aspects of the culture of a country are the different markets and the different ways of working within these markets. [A; E; G] It is crucial for the success of an information system that it fits all different circumstances. [E] However the ideal information system in one country could consist out of total different functionalities than in another country. [B] Factually it is impossible to make an information system that fits 100% worldwide. [B] These differences in culture can also raise unforeseen obstacles during the project, which makes it important that there is room for flexibility. [H] There are two areas where flexibility is in place. First flexibility within the
12 project is required. [A] The planning should be flexible enough to endure the obstacles. [H] Second the software of the information system should contain certain flexibility. [A; H] The architecture should have a level of flexibility. [A] Easy or automatic code testing can add value during the building of a flexible information system. [A] It is advisable to do a required flexibility analysis during the design phase, to be as prepared as possible for the surprising difficulties. [G]
Not only could the differences between the cultures of countries provoke complexities: also the cultures of organisations are divergent. [G] Each organisation has its own agenda’s, own way of working and own way of thinking. [G] Herein the structure of the organisation is crucial. [B; C; D; E; H] Therefore an important question is: who is making what decisions? [B] An organisation could be decentralised and not top-down driven, what makes it difficult to change processes. [B; H] On the other hand, a centralised structure could minimise the commitment to the information system, since the information system could feel forced and not suitable for them. [H] Another important aspect of the culture of a company is the business IT alignment within the organisation. [A; B; G] The business is seen as the driver and IT as the facilitator, based on the fact that an information system that is not supported by the business is worthless. [A; B] The IT department is considered as a service department that helps to improve the business. [A] It is beneficial when the people that are engaged in the project from the business side sit with the people from the IT side. [G] Otherwise the technical aspect of the information system is unknown for the business side and the way the information system is used in practice unknown for the IT side. [G] Understanding both sides will counteract the loss of knowledge and information. [G] Besides the business structure and the business IT alignment is the management culture of influence at the culture of the organisation. [D] Clarity about the hierarchical structure, the desired direction, the way of working and the approval construction is required. [D; E] An excess of leaders, not communicating leaders or a replacement of a leader could have large consequences for the vision, strategy, budgets and agendas for the project. [D] The first step of a project is to find a global controller who has the ownership of the global information system. [F]
At the employee level complexities can arise as well, often regarding the position of the employee, the extent to which an employee has to change and the extent to which an employee wants to change. [G] This phenomenon will always be present during global information system projects, but it can be restrained by someone or something that overrules individual interests. [G]
3.4.2.2 Pitfalls of the project
There are multiple factors that can lead to successful results but, if underestimated or forgotten, these factors can be pitfalls. First of all, project teams could make or break the globalisation of an information system. In general, a globalisation of an information system project demands one global project team and a local
project team in each country. [I] The global project team leads the project and makes the decisions about the content and the advancements of the project. [I] The local project team is responsible for the implementation in their country. [I] The global project team generally exists out of people from the business, people with knowledge about change and communications and people with IT abilities. [I] When there is an inadequacy of these people within the organisation, consultants can fill the gaps. [I] Normally the local project teams consist of people from the department where the information system is meant for, line managers and if necessary also consultants. [I] The line managers are in contact with the central project team. [I] All the involved people should be not only available but also committed to the project. [G; J] It is essential to have straightforward agreements on the distribution of roles and the responsibilities. [E; J] Furthermore the cohesion of the people should be good, despite the differences in expertise. [F] Positive collaboration is crucial, especially when the implementation is sizable. [B; J] Important to realise is that a high amount of involved people makes it harder to have successful results in a short time. [B] Also the distance of the involved people plays an extensive role. [B] Approachability is crucial: the communication flows should be set up well to prevent global communication problems and costs should not be saved on visiting the local project teams. [B; J] Furthermore it is important to have multiple meetings with the important stakeholders of the project, a steering committee, throughout the project to reflect on the project status and decide on continuation plans. [J]
When the global information system is built and implemented in a large organisation there will be more people involved than only the people from the global and local teams. [G] There will be multiple departments that are influenced by a new information system. [G] To illustrate, a global information system can be initiated and intended for the sales department, but master data, supply chain, finance, marketing, etcetera can be involved in certain ways. [G] This should be taken into account and planned. [G]
The adoption of the global information system is also an important factor for the project. [A; C; H] In reality the information system could mainly or only have advantages on a higher level. [I] But ideally the information system should fit the gap within an organisation: the current situation and way of working within the country should be improved by it. [E; J] The better the information system fits the gap, the easier the deployment will be because it is easier to convince people to use the system. [B; J] The targeted users need to see the advantages and need to be willing to work with the system. [I] They need to feel comfortable with the system, which will only happen if the performance of the user is at least the same or preferably better thanks to the information system. [A] It is a pitfall to forget the end user, which could lead to incorrect usage or no usage at all. [A; H]
To assure the highest fit as possible between the global information system and the local requirements, current processes
