An empirical study of IS planning characteristics among industries

In recent times, there has been an increased awareness among organizations of the potential of information technology and the use of information systems planning to exploit this potential and use information systems effectively. Prescriptive studies indicate that some industries have greater potential for exploiting information technology than others and therefore differ in their planning characteristics. In this study we explore the differences in IS planning characteristics among various industry groups. The study collected data on 12 IS planning variables in various industries using a large scale field survey of senior IS executives. The results indicate that some IS planning characteristics such as IS planning resources, IS resources, role of IS in the organization, extent of business domain analysis, contribution to organization's performance, and implementation success vary significantly among industry groups. Other planning variables such as top management and user involvement, planning effectiveness, information input to planning, and the use of a steering committee do not significantly differ among industry groups. On an overall basis, it was found that firms in insurance, banks, retail, and publishing tend to lay greater emphasis on most IS planning characteristics, and firms in utilities and oil industry do not lay much emphasis on IS planning characteristics.