An Empirical Investigation of Factors Influencing the Success of Customer-Oriented Strategic Systems

Abstract

A case research strategy was utilized to study first-mover strategic systems which companies had built and offered to their customers in support of a primary product or service. The study investigated eleven systems to discover the factors which enabled or inhibited the following outcomes: developing a first-mover customer-oriented strategic system (COSS); achieving a high level of adoption of the COSS by customers; obtaining competitive advantage from the COSS. In general, the findings supported previous research in the IS implementation and strategic systems literature. Factors that are related to the successful implementation of information systems and the competitive environment of the firm were associated with systems that were developed and introduced to the market first. Factors that are related to the adoption of innovations and information systems and to successful product marketing were associated with high adoption. There were several findings which had not been previously reported in the literature. Early adoption of the system was inhibited by poor support for the sales force and poor quality pilot tests. Long-term penetration was inhibited in cases where the champion lost direct control over the COSS. Competitive advantage was not achieved by any system which had spent less than three years in the market or by those which did not achieve high long-term adoption.