Information Sytems Management issues in Hong Kong: A Contingency Analysis and Comparison with the United Kingdom

This paper reports on a study to examine the information systems (IS) issues perceived as important by Hong Kong (HK) business and IS managers and identify whether these differ greatly from findings in the United Kingdom (UK). In order to do so the study replicates the research study reported in 1994 in the UK by Galliers et at, compares findings and then extends the study by case study analysis. The results suggest that there are variations on perceived issues of importance which can be attributed to cultural contexts but these are less significant than the differences found between managers in different industries. The results of the case studies suggest that several firms which are highly dependent upon Information Technology (IT) have very different concerns and approaches from the "run-of-the- mill" organisations either in HK or UK. This suggests that IS strategy and issues affecting IS effectiveness vary not so much because of culture but in relation to the nature of an industry and its dependence on IT. The conclusion of this study, therefore, is to suggest that rather than address problem issues identified "collectively", companies must seek to study problems related to their specific industry environment. This also implies a direction for future research studies of this nature.