Aligning IT Resources for E-Commerce

Abstract

The era of e-commerce requires firms to have a more sophisticated IT alignment model. Now IT strategy and business strategy (r)evolve together while firms’ operating environments change more rapidly. In addition, the use of Web-based systems necessitates more frequent interaction both between IT management and IT users and between firms and their trading partners and customers. Consequently, firms must skillfully strike a balance between current and future business capabilities. They also must constantly readjust business and IT objectives considering their organizational needs and environmental needs. From the perspective of organizational learning loops, this chapter introduces a framework of IT resource alignment model to enable dynamic processes of IT alignment.