Irp Presentation 21 June 2007

Initial Research Proposal: A Multi-Case Study of Organising, Strategising and ICTs in e-Tailing SMEs in the UK Peter Erdélyi MPhil Upgrade Presentation Information Systems and Innovation Group Department of Management London School of Economics and Political Science

21 June 2007 Supervisor: Edgar Whitley

Research Questions 1. What is the role of ICTs in (the performance of) organising? [What is the nature of organising competence and how is it associated with ICTs?] 2. What is the role of ICTs in (the performance of) strategising? [What is the nature of strategising competence and how is it associated with ICTs?] 3. What are the characteristics of organising and strategising with ICTs in SMEs? 2

Literature Review • Economic strategy research – competence perspective: – Differential organising competence – In search of micro-foundations

• Strategy-as-practice: – Practitioners, practice, praxis – Humanising strategy research

• ICT adoption and characteristics of UK SMEs 3

Literature Review - Evaluation • Competence perspective – Methodological collectivism – Turning away from artefacts

• Strategy-as-practice – Methodological individualism – Limited consideration for artefacts

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Proposed Approach • Methodological relationalism – Latour and actor-network theory, esp. quasiobject – Hutchins’s distributed cognition – Heidegger’s equipmentality and fourfold analysis

• Artefact-oriented ontology – Harman’s interpretation of Heidegger and Latour 5

Conceptual Framework Implications • Study: – Organising and strategising together – Competence through performance – Competence as distributed, accessed locally, associated with artefacts – ICTs as “things,” as opposed to “objects” – Rearrangements in the heterogeneous assembly (quasi-object) 6

Research Design • Multi-case study design: – 4 case studies – Theoretical ‘sampling’ – Literal replication logic

• Case selection criteria: – – – – –

Location Size Successful track record Level of technological adoption Evidence of ICT-related organisational change 7

Potential Case Studies: e-tailing SMEs in South England • Case study 1 – Introduced new CRM solution

• Case study 2 – Launched new website for single product category

• Case study 3 – Recently launched new version of website

• Case study 4 – Launched new website for single product category 8

Empirical Investigation • Unit of analysis: – Episode of ICT-related organisational transformation

• Unit of observation: – Traces of rearrangement in: • Spatial memory (arrangement of artefacts) • Human memory (narrative accounts) • Textual memory (documentary evidence) 9

Data Collection Strategy • Aim: – To trace the quasi-object – To describe role of ICTs within quasi-object

• Organising: – Past, current, and projected arrangements – Actors/actants, performances and associations

• Strategising: – Emergent: making sense of patterns – Deliberate: written and unwritten plans 10

Data Collection Methods • Interviews: – Narrative interviews: historical accounts – Episodic interviews: specific events

• Direct observation: – To describe arrangement of artefacts – To shadow managers and staff

• Documents: – Websites, plans, specifications 11

Expected Contribution • Strategic Organisation: – – – –

strategising vs. organising debate competence vs. performance debate artefacts and especially ICTs in organising/strategising Methodological relationalism

• IS Studies: – ICTs in organising and strategising – Competence and ICT artefacts

• Small Business Management: – ICT-related competences in SMEs 12