Track Chair: Frantz Rowe, University of Nantes

It is time to consider IT architectural decisions as part of the firm´s strategic intent, and thus a major factor in setting the practical range of business strategies a firm can implement in the short term without jeopardizing possibilities of evolution in the long term. Positioning strategic architecture as an essential management choice requires rethinking IS governance. Strategic IS changes the organisation and its products, services and internal procedures, thus leading the organisation towards new organisational designs and behaviours. The objectives and the features of the IS portfolio have been changing such that its aim is not only to lower costs and facilitate management control but also to increase strategic organisational effectiveness, learning and innovation. Three trends have become apparent: 1) rapid innovation of new information technologies; 2) ideas and concepts about information itself; and 3) extensive development of new organisational forms and business strategies. Accordingly, the focus of this track will be on understanding the fundamental organisational conditions and forces enabling the generation and development of competitive strategy through IS. Moreover, this track will consider how ambiguous definitions and intra-organisational conflict about the role and meaning of IS inhibit its development as a strategic resource in the firm.

Suggested topics:

-	Best practices in strategic global IS management
-	IS evolution and mergers
-	The impact of organisational and IS emergence upon strategy
-	IT policy, standards and strategy
-	The strategic IS agenda for the next decade
-	IS management and strategy formulation
-	Enterprise system integration and business strategy
-	Top Management, IT Management and the articulation or realisation of ICT/IS choices
-	IS strategy, enactment and conflict
-	Organisational dynamics and IS integration approaches