Strategic Information System Planning has been a very
critical and important management issues for companies to gain
competitive advantages. This research investigated the current
situational analysis of Strategic Information System Planning in
the context of a Malaysian SME. A single case study strategy is
employed in this research to allow an in-depth investigation on the
relationships which contribute the subject understanding. Ward &
Peppard IS/IT strategic model is adopted as a guideline to conduct
situational analysis of the case enterprise. Value chain analysis and
Porter Five Forces Model are used as the tools to evaluate the
phases in situational analysis. Discussion on the current situational
analysis of the case enterprise are divided into three section which
are the internal business environment, the external business
environment and the internal and external IS/IT environment of the
case enterprise. Future research can be conducted in the other
aspect of strategic management of Strategic Information System
Planning such as the strategic choice and the strategic
implementations
INTRODUCTION
Organizations are increasing rely on information
technology (IT) and information systems (IS) as the platform
for competitive advantage [1]. A study by [2] highlighted the
role of IT and IS in supporting the general business strategy
of products or market innovation. The strategic significance
of IT and IS which eventually increase the complexity of
managing IT and IS necessitates organizations to ensure the
IT and IS effectiveness through policies on standards,
privacy and data protection which are all interrelated [3]. The
strategic importance of IT and IS leads to the critical issue of
strategic information system planning (SISP). SISP is the
analysis of information and processes of an organization
which use the business information models to evaluate the
risks and current situations to define the action plan or
implementation that can be used for strategic direction of the
company [4]. Reference [5] summarized SISP as the whole
process in creating organization’s vision and goals with the
strategic use of IT and IS to achieve the maximum benefits
from the resources and to reduce the risk.
Small and Medium Enterprises in Malaysia has
contributed to economic development and Gross Domestic
Products [6]. SMEs were mainly concentrated in the Central
Region, accounting for 37.1 percent. Johor with 10.4
percent, Perak 7.3 percent while Perlis 1.1 percent [7]. An
enterprise is considered as an SME based on annual sales
turnover or number of full-time employees [8]. In the
context of Malaysia, an enterprise is categorized under SME
if the number of full-time employees are not more than 150
or the annual sales turnover not exceeding RM 25 million
for manufacturing, manufacturing-related services and agrobased
industries. However for the services, primary
agriculture and information & communication technology
(ICT) industries, an SME is an enterprise with not more
than 50 full-time employees or with annual sales turnover
not exceeding RM 5 million. Although earlier study has
revealed that Malaysian’s SMEs are incapable to stand the
changes in technology and the demand of global market [9],
recent study have shown the readiness of SME in adopting
e-business, e-commerce and digital technology [10].
Studies have shown that small businesses are lagging in
their Strategic information System Planning [11]. Most of
the small firms implement short term planning or do not
have business plan [12], and is not widespread and do not
fulfill the organisation’s planning objectives [13].
Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a research to analyze
the current situational of Strategic Information System
Planning in the context of a Malaysian SME.