This thesis is a collection of four manuscripts linked by the aim of extending strategic alignment thought into the knowledge management domain by explicitly including the concept of knowledge strategy into the discussion of strategic alignment. In the first paper, a set of common knowledge strategy dimensions was synthesized and used to link two existing knowledge strategy typologies. The key finding of the study was that the two typologies operated at different strategic levels, allowing for the creation of portfolios of the lower order types under each higher order type. In the second paper, a model of strategic alignment between business, information system and knowledge strategy was presented and tested using survey data. It was found that the combination of aligned information and knowledge strategies with their associated business strategy resulted in higher performance for defenders, analyzers and prospectors and that the alignment of non-viable strategies led to worse performance than individual non-viable strategies alone. In the third paper, case studies provided examples of alignment and misalignment which were used to populate a framework linking alignment and performance. Four explanations for firms’ location in the model were provided, focusing on appropriate versus inappropriate alignment, conscious versus unconscious misalignment, antagonistic alignment versus misalignment, and strategic alignment versus misalignment. In the final paper, the Strategic Orientation of Knowledge-Based Enterprises (STROKE) instrument was developed to capture the orientation of knowledge strategy employment in firms. During the development process, a new statistic was developed to aid in the validation of card sorts during the scale development step of instrument creation. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-12 16:39:28.315

This research investigates the role of strategic alignment in the success of data warehouse implementation. Data warehouse technology is inherently complex, requires significant capital investment and development time. Many organizations fail to realize the full benefits from it. While failure to realize benefits has been attributed to numerous causes, ranging from technical to organizational reasons, the underlying strategic alignment issues have not been studied. This research confirms, through two case studies, that the successful adoption of the data warehouse depends on its alignment to the business plans and strategy. The research found that the factors that are critical to the alignment of data warehouses to business strategy and plans are (a) joint responsibility between data warehouse and business managers, (b) alignment between data warehouse plan and business plan, (c) business user satisfaction, (d) flexibility in data warehouse planning and (e) technical integration of the data warehouse. In the case studies, the impact of strategic alignment was visible both at implementation and use levels. The key findings from the case studies are that a) Senior management commitment and involvement are necessary for the initiation of the data warehouse project. The awareness and involvement of data warehouse managers in corporate strategies and a high level of joint responsibility between business and data warehouse managers is critical to strategic alignment and successful adoption of the data warehouse. b) Communication of the strategic direction between the business and data warehouse managers is important for the strategic alignment of the data warehouse. Significant knowledge sharing among the stakeholders and frequent communication between the iv data warehouse managers and users facilitates better understanding of the data warehouse and its successful adoption. c) User participation in the data warehouse project, perceived usefulness of the data warehouse, ease of use and data quality (accuracy, consistency, reliability and timelines) were significant factors in strategic alignment of the data warehouse. d) Technology selection based on its ability to address business and user requirements, and the skills and response of the data warehousing team led to better alignment of the data warehouse to business plans and strategies. e) The flexibility to respond to changes in business needs and flexibility in data warehouse planning is critical to strategic alignment and successful adoption of the data warehouse. Alignment is seen as a process requiring continuous adaptation and coordination of plans and goals. This research provides a pathway for facilitating successful adoption of data warehouse. The model developed in this research allows data warehouse professionals to ensure that their project when implemented, achieve the strategic goals and business objectives of the organization.

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Situation faced: Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo, as a subsidiary of Raiffeisen BankInternational AG, providesa wide range of banking products and services to all categories of customers in the private individual and business segments. In the first six months of 2018, the profit of the Bank was 11 Million Euro, being the highest in the banking market. The on-line banking channels has increased significantly and today the customers chose to do more than 80% of transactions through E-Banking, mobile phone,or ATMs. Raiffeisen Bank has started to adopt BPM since 2006 as a systemic and structured approach to analyze, improve, control, and manage processes with the aim to improve the quality of products and services. But, how well is BPM adapted and implemented in the bank, and what is the impact of BPM to the strategic goals? b)Action taken: This paper tackles the problem from two angles. First, a literature review is used to clarify the concept of BPM its scope. Second, semistructured interviews were used to collect data from nine participants covering high positions in Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo. In addition, the Research ffered both an evaluation of the significant aspects of the implementation process, and examinedthe key factors effects on alignment of BPM with organization strategy. c)Results achieved: his study unveils that BPM is well understood and is con-sidered an important practice within the bank. Its implementation is familiar to the top management. Especially, process visualization is a considered a core element within BPM projects. Existing project can further benefit from BPM by applying process ownership and defining responsibilities within the end to end processes in every department were these processes are performed. Moreover, this study collects evidence that strategy objectives can be led by BPM. d)Lessons learned: Experience has taught that there are many challenges whenapplying BPM initiatives. However, once these are applied, they help achieving strategic objectives. Two main challenges of implementing BPM were related to lack of proper IT support and budget needed to cover staff training. This paper recommends that BPM initiatives be strategy driven. It should be treated in a holistic way, including several methodologies like Six Sigma, Lean, and Agile. In this way, the Bank is lead towards thinking how its product or services are delivered to the customers.

An alignment or “fit” between an organization’s objectives and knowledge management (KM) practices should be established in order for the organization to fully utilize its knowledge assets and to derive competitive advantages. The organization should deploy a holistic approach for KM that spans business strategy, information system (IS) strategy, organization culture, and human factors. This research has investigated the strategic alignment between knowledge strategy and business strategy - KMBS-SA and the strategic alignment between knowledge strategy and IS strategy - KMIS-SA in the banking sector among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Using the proposed model, the study explored the impacts of KMBS-SA and KMIS-SA on the organizational performance. The main hypothesis of this research is that knowledge is the main resource in an organization, and by aligning this resource with the business strategy and IS strategy, the alignment will contribute positively on the performance of the organization. The research model was illustrated in two different conceptualizations hypothesizing the different relationships between knowledge strategies, business strategy and IS strategy. The first conceptualization illustrates the KMBS-SA and KMIS-SA, and an investigation on the contribution of theses alignments on the organizational performance. The second conceptualization of the research model aims at investigating the impact of different types or profiles of KMBS-SA and KMIS-SA on the organizational performance. This study examined different alignments between two profiles of knowledge strategy - Aggressive Knowledge Strategy (AKS) and Conservative Knowledge Strategy (CKS), with various types of business strategy according to Miles and Snow’s (1978) strategic typology, and, the alignment of the two profiles of knowledge strategy with various IS strategy based on the STROIS approach by Chan et al. (1997). Using both conceptualizations, the role of knowledge strategy as a moderator or a mediator in the contribution of the business strategy and IS strategy towards the organizational performance was examined. The primary data for this study was collected through a survey of 106 banks from the six Gulf countries: Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Oman. The first overall conclusion demonstrated that there is a strong association between knowledge strategy and business strategy and that KMBS-SA clearly influenced the organizational performance. The second overall result of this research shows that in the context of GCC countries, knowledge strategy received stronger support as moderator of the IS congruence association with performance and that KMIS-SA is the primary determinant of the effectiveness of IS in the GCC banks. From the finding, it is recommended that the GCC banks should take KMBS-SA and KMIS-SA challenge seriously and should consider the alignment implication before moving ahead to implement a strategic plan. Furthermore, the research finding revealed that GCC bank should not ignore the different dimensions of knowledge strategic choices. The banks need to determine different profiles for their knowledge strategy in order to support all aspects of business strategy and IS strategic dimensions that are most important for the organization. They should then direct the organizational knowledge resources to support these profiles. Finally, it is recommended that the banks should define and establish a position in KM in order to oversee the knowledge strategy and KM issues.

Titel: Den strategiska prestationsmätningens utmaningar: En studie i svenska apoteksbranschen   Författare: Anton Greko & Rickard Manneklint   Handledare: Anders Wrenne   Institution: Managementhögskolan, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola   Kurs: Kandidatarbete i företagsekonomi, 15 högskolepoäng   Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera de utmaningar som finns på olika organisatoriska nivåer med att upprätthålla strategisk linjering med hjälp av prestationsmätning och därigenom bidra till förståelsen kring prestationsmätningens roll i strategisk linjering.   Metod: I denna studie har vi använt oss av semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer för att samla in det empiriska materialet, gällande prestationsmätning, strategi och strategisk linjering.   Slutsatser: Denna studie har identifierat ett antal utmaningar på olika organisatoriska nivåer med att upprätthålla strategisk linjering med hjälp av prestationsmätning. På ledningsnivå finns främst utmaningar gällande att ständigt diskutera och ompröva prestationsmåttens relevans även då det kan finnas drivkrafter som motarbetar detta. På operativ nivå finns främst utmaningar i att förse operativa chefer med tid, resurser och verktyg för att följa upp mätningar, leda sina medarbetare och påverka prestationsmätningarnas resultat. / Title: The challenges of strategic performance measurement: A study in the Swedish pharmaceutical industry   Authors: Anton Greko & Rickard Manneklint   Supervisor: Anders Wrenne   Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology   Course: Bachelor’s thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits   Purpose: The purpose with this study is to identify the challenges that exist at different organizational levels to maintain strategic alignment with performance measurement and thereby contribute to the understanding about the role of performance measurement in strategic alignment.   Method: In this study, we have used semi-structured qualitative interviews to collect the empirical data, regarding performance measurement, strategy and strategic alignment.   Conclusions: This study has identified a number of different challenges at different organizational levels to maintain strategic alignment with performance measurement. At a corporate level, there are challenges mainly about constantly discuss and reevaluate the relevance of the performance measures, even though there might be forces that counteract this. At an operational level, there are challenges mainly about providing the operational managers with time, resources and tools to be able to follow up the measurements, lead their employees and affect the results of the measurements.

Information Technology (IT) has emerged as an important issue for the public and private sectors. It has been initially identified as a vehicle in supporting business processes by speeding up the process of decision making and easy access of information as required for the competitive advantage of businesses. Organisations regarded IT as an enabler of their business processes. As IT has grown, its shape and definition have drastically changed from being an enabler of the business processes to become a central and strategic concern within the organisation that drives the business processes. The new IT landscape has made organisations completely dependant on IT for their decision making and effective functioning. The dependence on IT has created a need for unified and effective structures, standards and best practices that ensure the effective execution of business processes using IT. The establishment of IT Governance for institutions of higher learning has created the dual challenges of how IT Governance can work within the culture of inclusiveness and shared decision making while better aligning existing IT structures. These dual challenges vary from one university to another based on the culture of the specific university. This study therefore suggests possible ways that IT Governance can shape an institution of higher learning by strategically aligning the institution’s IT strategy with the overall university strategy through the development of an IT Governance Model. To come up with the said proposed model, qualitative research techniques such as document analysis, observations, interviews, a questionnaire and briefing sessions were used during the research process. The comparative analysis of the case studied was used to identify different IT Governance models adopted by other universities. Literature was reviewed to establish the emerging IT Governance practices established and implemented by different authors. The result from this study is that an IT Governance model specific to WSU has been developed. This model can be used as guiding tool in establishing new IT Governance structures and also modify and improve the existing IT Governance structure of different institutions of higher learning. This model can further be used to guide the development of the institution IT Governance implementation architecture framework.

The purpose of this research was to determine the value derived from leadership development programmes by line managers. This research was useful in that its findings would add value to organizations and learning institutions that offered leadership development programmes. A qualitative research methodology was used. Convenience sampling technique was used as data gathering was based on the researchers personal contacts and their referrals. This technique is known to be the least reliable. But this was taken into account in interpreting the results. Content analysis was used to analyze data. Themes were identified in the literature review upfront and analyzed in the findings as per the priori content analysis technique. Four main themes were identified from the data. The first theme looked at the maturity level of organizations. Feedback on organizations behaviour during a recession was on of the factors used to determine their maturity level. The second theme focused on factors identified as contributing to the failure of leadership development efforts. The third theme discussed factors that result in the success of leadership development programmes. The last theme looked at the value derived by managers from leadership development programmes. Also considering how managers measured this value. The outcomes of the research were largely aligned to the literature review, with few instances where findings did not reveal any evidence to support or dispute some points. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

O setor de telecomunicações tem papel essencial na vida das pessoas e na economia mundial, uma vez que este diminui as distâncias e liga qualquer parte do mundo em questão de segundos. No Brasil este mercado é dominado por poucas e grandes empresas que enfrentam o dinamismo da alta competitividade entre elas, e de outras variáveis de mercado como, por exemplo, a agência reguladora do setor, Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações - ANATEL. Este cenário faz com que as empresas do setor sejam constantemente impactadas pela emergência de estratégias, ou seja, estratégias que não foram previamente planejadas. A agilidade no alinhamento destas estratégias se faz essencial para o sucesso da execução das mesmas e instigou esta pesquisa que buscou entender como o alinhamento de estratégias emergentes é feito em uma operadora de telecomunicações. Baseado em um referencial teórico que aprofundou conceitos de estratégia, estratégia emergente e alinhamento estratégico, este estudo de caso realizado em uma operadora de telecomunicações, através da análise de entrevistas aprofundadas sobre a realidade da empresa detectou que quatro características bastante fortes são as bases para que o alinhamento estratégico aconteça nesta empresa: Ausência de processos estruturados, autonomia dos agentes, priorização da agilidade e pré-disposição ao risco. A descoberta destas características veio de encontro com os objetivos desta pesquisa, que além de investigar e analisar como o alinhamento de estratégias emergentes é feito em uma operadora de telecomunicações, considerando todas as particularidades do setor, também buscava aprofundar conhecimento sobre as práticas do mercado de telecomunicações no que tange o alinhamento de estratégias emergentes, identificar práticas deste mercado que possam contribuir com melhores práticas em outros mercados e averiguar elementos provenientes da experiência prática que possam contribuir com as teorias exploradas. Por fim, em nome do objetivo específico de apontar com base na teoria oportunidades de melhorias práticas, foram estudados quatro modelos teóricos de alinhamento estratégico, encontrando assim qual seria o que melhor para a realidade da empresa. / The telecommunications industry plays a key role in people\'s lives and in the world economy. It reduces distance and connects anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. In Brazil, this market is dominated by a few large companies that face the dynamism of high competitiveness between them, and the dynamism of other market variables as, for example, the sector\'s regulatory agency, the National Telecommunications Agency-ANATEL. This scenario ensures the companies within the telecommunications sector are constantly impacted by the emergence of strategies, i.e. strategies that were not planned in advance. The expeditious alignment of these strategies is essential to the success of their implementation and this fact encouraged this research to investigate and understand how the emerging strategies alignment is done in a telecommunications operator. Based on a theoretical framework that deepened on the concepts of strategy, emerging strategy and strategic alignment, this case study held in a telecommunications operator, through the analysis of in-depth interviews about the reality of the company, detected four strong characteristics that are the basis for strategic alignment to happen in this company: autonomy of agents, absence of structured processes, prioritization of expeditiousness, and predisposition to the risk. The discovery of these characteristics came to meet the objectives of this research. In addition to investigating and analyzing how the emerging strategies alignment is done in a telecommunications operator (considering all the particularities of the sector) this research also sought to deepen knowledge of the telecommunication market practices regarding the alignment of emerging strategies, identification of market practices that can contribute to best practices in other markets, and to find out elements from the practical experience that can contribute to the theories explored. Finally, on behalf of the specific goal that is to indicate based on theory, opportunities of practical improvement, four theoretical models of strategic alignment were studied, finding so which is the best for the company reality

O propósito desta pesquisa foi identificar como uma metodologia para a formulação da estratégia de presença de organizações na internet aborda os enfoques estratégicos e métodos analíticos necessários à compreensão e exploração das arquiteturas de negócios viabilizadas pela plataforma tecnológica da internet (PI). Através de revisão bibliográfica identificou-se que as principais possibilidades trazidas pela PI para as organizações estão relacionadas à facilitação da integração horizontal e vertical, propiciando a formação de redes estratégicas. Uma conseqüência direta é a oportunidade de geração de vantagem competitiva nas três funções das organizações: eficiência operacional, relacionamento com clientes e desenvolvimento de produtos. Para compreensão e exploração destas arquiteturas de negócios viabilizadas é conveniente adotar a perspectiva do modelo de negócios, subdividido nos públicos com os quais a organização mantém relacionamento. Esta unidade de análise congrega as diferentes visões presentes na literatura de estratégia a respeito da criação de valor. As quatro fontes de valor possibilitadas pela PI são: novidade, aprisionamento, complementaridade e eficiência. O estudo de caso da metodologia de Formulação de Estratégia de Presença, da Agência Click, descreveu a abordagem desta metodologia para os enfoques estratégicos e métodos analíticos identificados. / The objective of this research was to identify how a specific methodology of strategy formulation for the Internet addresses the Business Model concept. We see the Business Model concept as a basis for understanding and exploiting the value creation potential generated by the Internet technological platform (ITP). The main possibilities that the ITP offers organizations are related to the reduction of transaction and coordination costs, which facilitates the forming of strategic networks. In order to take advantage of the ITP , one should seek complementarity between the traditional activities of the organization and those based on the new platform, together with an in-depth revision of processes, searching for steps that may be optimized through the ITP. To understand and exploit the value creation potential, it is convenient to adopt the Business Model concept, analyzed from the point of view of each of the organization’s stakeholders. The Business Model as a unit of analysis integrates the different perspectives on value creation that can be found in the theory. The model suggests that the IPT value creation potential depends on four interdependent dimensions: novelty, lock-in, complementarities and efficiency. The case study of the Web Presence Strategy Formulation methodology, by AgenciaClick, an Internet development company in Brazil, describes how this methodology addresses the strategic concepts and analytical methods identified. The business model approach could cover some of the methodology’s gaps.