H2: The greater the autonomy for situational analy- sis, the greater the effectiveness of IS planning for the subsidiary.
Strategy conception deals with identifying major IT objectives, identifying opportunities for improvement, evaluating the opportunities, and identifying high-level IT strategies. Of the five phases, it perhaps requires the greatest insight and creativity [90]. Creativity thrives in an environment of autonomy [91].
Greater subsidiary autonomy would inspire owner- ship of the objectives, opportunities, and strategies, and therefore commitment to their high quality, which in turn, would result in greater planning effectiveness. On the other hand, parental control of strategy conception might stifle creativity, and create the sense that the objectives, opportunities, and strategies belong to the parent. As a result, subsidiary managers would be less committed to their realization, and planning would be less effective. Thus, we hypothesize: