The role of information systems in organizational capabilities in small and medium industries

Dissertation for Master's Degree

(M.A)

Field: Public Administration

Trend: Transformation

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the role of information systems in creating organizational capabilities in small and medium industries of Kaveh Industrial City in 2013. This research was applied in terms of purpose and descriptive and survey in terms of data collection method. The statistical population of the research included 200 managers and computer operators in the companies of Kaveh Industrial City, of which 132 people were considered as the sample size using Cochran's formula and simple random sampling method. The method of data collection was based on a researcher-made questionnaire with 64 questions. The reliability of the questionnaire was obtained using Cronbach's alpha method for all dimensions above 0.7.  Content validity was also used to test the validity of the questionnaire, for which the questionnaires were approved by industrial activists and academic experts. The analysis of the information obtained from the implementation of the questionnaires was done through SPSS software in two descriptive (mean, frequency, cumulative percentage, etc.) and inferential (K-S test (Kolmogrov-Smirnov), Pearson correlation test and T test). The results of the research showed that information systems have a positive and significant role in organizational capabilities (based on data, process, data) in small and medium industries in the industrial towns of Kaveh city. Also, the findings showed that the indicators of organizational capabilities in the three levels of data, process and data do not have the same importance.

Key words: information systems, organizational capabilities, data, process, Kaveh Industrial City

Introduction

In the new era when organizations, products, relationships and activities and their business in general have become virtual and electronic, and the changes have become so intense that the lifespan of technologies and products has been minimized. Creating and maintaining sustainable competitive advantage by relying on traditional and old capabilities and competences is not enough for the successful presence of the organization in the competitive environment and markets. This requires new measures and turning to new competencies that are based on information and communication systems. Creating and transferring information and establishing communication in this way are the most important features of a successful organization in the business environment. It seems that companies can have a successful and continuous presence in this environment that has competence and informational and communication capabilities and by relying on them, they create valuable competitive advantages and by using these advantages correctly and timely, they make it stable and bring excellent performance.

Researchers have recently used a resource-based approach to measure how much information systems can create a competitive advantage for a company compared to its competitors. they stay Based on this point of view, it can be stated that the information systems that are used to show the disproportion differences in the company's resources are considered effective factors in achieving a competitive advantage for organizations. Therefore, in this chapter, the general aspects of the research will be discussed. For this purpose, the research problem will be stated first, and then the importance of the research topic will be described and explained. In the following, the hypotheses and objectives of the research are stated and finally the variables and components of the research are defined as theoretical and operational concepts.

1-2. Statement of the issue

The development of countries is one of the inevitable necessities that the world today accepts as an inevitable destiny, and one of the most important and basic goals of an individual, group, organization and society can be the comprehensive development of the country. Today, the turbulent nature of global trade has made the production, industry and product market sectors face many challenges. These challenges require the organization to strengthen its base in this unstable environment by using new management systems and implementing them in practice and to achieve success with continuous progress. Small and medium-sized companies have a special place in the industry due to their unique characteristics. Examining and recognizing the competitive advantage and competitiveness of small and medium industries in each country is a fundamental step in understanding the current and future industrial situation and explaining long-term planning (Behramzadeh, 2007).Many developing countries hope to quickly create jobs in small and medium-sized companies to solve the unemployment crisis, such hopes are not baseless, but are based on the fact that small and medium-sized companies have always created many jobs in both developed and developing countries. For example, in India, 80% of all manufacturing jobs are created in small and medium enterprises. In Eastern and Central Europe, about seven million entrepreneurs are trying to change the command economy of the post-communist model to an economy based on the free market.

The ability of an organization to deal with today's business environment, which observes rapid and fundamental changes, will determine its survival and position. These changes are likely to significantly increase the competitive pressure to attract customers and revenue among organizations. Since organizations make various strategic decisions for their survival and success, their ability to exploit the potential of solutions based on information systems in order to strengthen the strategic vision will play a decisive role in the success of the organization. This requires that the strategies of the information systems and the capabilities of the organizations are aligned to a large extent. Therefore, it is necessary for the organizations to act differently than before for their survival and progress. Especially, organizations should look for new sources of competitive advantage and use new forms of competition, which itself requires a clear understanding of the nature and dynamics of competition (Zabihilherami, 2010). The emergence of information and communication systems has completely changed the nature of work and life. In the new era, all activities have become electronic in nature. In other words, we live and work electronically. Although a long time ago (even before the development of information and communication technology), organizations had to create competitive advantages in order to survive and continue life in the field of competition, but this process did not have the complexity of the present time. Previously, the organization was able to create a value for the customer that was original, rare and unimitable by its competitors, and could be easily managed by the organization, and in this way it achieved a stable competitive advantage in the market, which was the cause of its success for a long time. It has minimized technologies and products. Creating and sustaining a competitive advantage by relying on traditional and old capabilities and competences is not enough for the successful presence of the organization in the competitive environment and markets. This requires new measures and turning to new competencies that are based on information and communication systems. Creating and transferring information and establishing communication in this way are the most important features of a successful organization in the business environment. It seems that companies can have a successful and continuous presence in this environment that have competence and information and communication capabilities, and by relying on them, they create valuable competitive advantages, and by using these advantages correctly and timely, they make it stable and bring excellent performance.

Researchers have recently used a resource-based approach to measure how much information systems can create a competitive advantage for a company compared to its competitors. they stay Based on this point of view, it can be stated that the information systems that are used to show the disproportion differences in the company's resources are considered effective factors in achieving a competitive advantage for organizations (Arfanjad et al., 2013). Lado and Zhang[1] (1998), stated that expert systems, which are known as one of the classifications of information systems, foster the development and application of knowledge and create a type of mutual relationship with organizational capabilities. Organizational capabilities are the characteristics that people have and use in an appropriate and stable manner to achieve desired performance. Core capabilities are knowledge, skills, attitudes and observable behaviors that lead to excellence in the workplace. In another definition, ability is a measurable human capacity that is suitable for performance and can include knowledge, skill or single ability, a personal characteristic or clusters of characteristics (Kochran, 2009, p. 38).