Information Technology & Systems

SUMMARY: IT has become an integral part of every organization. It has enabled organizations to expand into new international markets, diversify their business profiles, and come out with new and innovative products and / or services.

With customers spread globally and having local needs, it has become vital for organizations to adapt to 'glocal'strategies. Using IT, organizations are now able to design products globally to meet the requirements of local customers.

The growing importance of IT in various fields of business has also led to the emergence of IT-enabled services (ITeS). The Global Management Information System (GMIS) is a sub-discipline of the information systems which involves managing of information systems globally.

Managing IT globally is therefore a challenging and difficult task. It is also different from managing it at the local and national levels. Christopher A. Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal have proposed four basic global business strategy models that companies use to manage their businesses and compete in the global arena.

These strategies are multinational strategy, global strategy, international strategy, and transnational strategy. Based on these strategies, four different approaches can be applied for managing IT in the global business environment.

Organizations can manage their business operations as independent operations, by managing them from the headquarters, by supporting them through intellectual cooperation, or by integration.