From Control to Drift : The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures

An insight into the issues surrounding information infrastructure implementation in global corporations. The author suggests that the economics of standards and increasing returns be joined with the perspectives from the social studies of science and technology to provide a fresh view of the management of IT in global corporations.

Firms are investing considerable resources to create large information infrastructures able to fulfil their varied information-processing and communication needs. The more the drive towards globalization, the more such infrastructures become crucial. The ''wiring'' of the corporation should be done in a way that is aligned with its corporate strategy -- it is global and generates value.This book presents six in-depth case studies of large corporations -- AstraZeneca, IBM, Norsk Hydro, Roche, SKF, and Statoil -- which offer a rich picture of the main issues involved in information infrastructure implementation and management. Far from being a linear process, the use of the information infrastructure is in fact an open-ended process, in many cases out of control. Current management models and consulting advice do not seem to be able to cope with such a business landscape. This book provides the reader with interpretations and theories tha can foster a different understanding and approach. Thus, the economics of standards, complexity theory, and actor-network theory are harnessed to penetrate the issues emerging from the case studies and to generate a new conception of the information infrastructure that is relevant both for researchers and practitioners.