Aligning Strategic Orientation with Information Resources

Abstract

In today’s digital society, technology-based resources are emerging and changing far more rapidly than organizational systems and structures. While information management is critical to strategy at both the formulation and implementation stages, strategic decisions often must be made quickly, and with less rationality than is desirable. This paper provides an analytical framework based on the types of information needed for specific strategic orientations. The proposed framework, or information resource matrix (IRM), integrates the strategy typology of Miles and Snow (1978), the uncertainty dimensions of Milliken (1987), and the decision-making model of Simon (1963). The IRM identifies a firm’s information needs for a given strategic orientation. Using the IRM, managers can tailor information systems to fit their strategic information needs.