An empirical study of the relationships between IT infrastructure flexibility, mass customization, and business performance

Abstract

Information technology (IT) infrastructure deserves serious attention from both the practitioner and academic communities, especially concerning the factors for IT infrastructure flexibility. The issue of flexibility is viewed as a critical aspect of IT infrastructure, because organizations are faced with an ever-increasing rate of change in their business environments. One effort most business sectors have made to prepare for this change is the trend toward mass customization. Recently, many organizations have embraced mass customization in an attempt to provide unique value to their customers in a costefficient manner.The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate a sequential relationship between IT infrastructure flexibility, mass customization, and business performance. The process involves an investigation of the critical factors for IT infrastructure flexibility, along with the firm's mass customization and business performance indicators. The findings of this study provide evidence that integration and modularity of an organization's IT infrastructure facilitate the organization's effort to accommodate mass customization. Additionally, the flexibility of the IT personnel, the human component of IT infrastructure, and mass customization directly affect the organization's business performance.

Dimensions of information technology infrastructure flexibility in improving management efficacy of construction industry perspective: A conceptual study

“…Additionally, the combination of having both technical infrastructure and human infrastructure in IT is proven by few studies that it enhances competitive advantage with their importance is found to be positive to the organisations' flexibility (Byrd and Turner, 2001;Chung et al, 2005;Fink and Neumann, 2007). Hence, Zainon and Salleh 7251 this paper can safely state that ITIF will improve effectiveness in construction organisations, as well as enhancing competitive advantage.…”

“…This fact has been examined by few researchers namely Ness (2005), Masrek andJusoff (2009), Chung et al (2003), and Chung et al (2005).…”

“…As many researchers have addressed the impact of ITIF towards IT effectiveness, they agree that ITIF is a significant factor towards the effective delivery of IT services and solutions and it provides a powerful and viable approach to delivering efficacious IT solutions and services to the business (Butler Group, 2006b;Chung et al, 2005;Chung, et al, 2003;Masrek and Jusoff, 2009;Ness, 2005;Sääksjärvi, 2000;Sriprasert and Dawood, 2002). Additionally, the combination of having both technical infrastructure and human infrastructure in IT is proven by few studies that it enhances competitive advantage with their importance is found to be positive to the organisations' flexibility (Byrd and Turner, 2001;Chung et al, 2005;Fink and Neumann, 2007).…”

“…The ability to easily reconfigure any technology component with no major overall effect is known as modularity (Byrd and Turner, 2000;Duncan, 1995;Masrek and Jusoff, 2009;Schilling, 2000). It relates to the degree to which IT software, hardware, and data can be either effortlessly diffused into the infrastructure or easily supported by the infrastructure (Chung et al, 2005). Consequently, software application can be more manageable when routines are processed in separate modules.…”

“…This is because, upgrading or adopting new technology consumes large investment, and if they do so, they have to bear a risk towards the failure of upgraded or new adopted IT. Additionally, the findings also reported that construction managers are concerned about how the workers will respond to the addition of IT because they are not willing to invest in adding a technology assistance department at present (Hewage et al, 2008 In academic journals as well, there has been an increasing interest in measuring the ability of IT to handle changes as it is the particular characteristic in IT infrastructure which has a critical impact on the enterprise's ability to use IT competitively (Allen and Boynton, 1991;Byrd and Turner, 2000;Chung et al, 2005;Chung, et al, 2003;Davenport and Linder, 1994;Duncan, 1995;Gibson, 1993;Masrek and Jusoff, 2009;Rockart et al, 1996;Weill, 1993).…”