Strategic IS planning practise in Croatia
Organizational and managerial challenges
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Mario Spremic*, Ivan Strugar
University of Zagreb, Graduate School of Economics and Business, Department of Information Science and
Business Computing, Trg J.F. Kennedya 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Received 15 December 2000; received in revised form 14 April 2002; accepted 15 April 2002
Abstract
In recent years, the role of information technology has grown in importance. Thus, strategic IS
planning is evolving into a key part of a company’s strategic business plan. This paper presents the
results of a survey on the strategic IS planning practices of Croatian companies. The results of the
survey are compared with similar surveys in Slovenia and Singapore. In Croatia, companies’ IT is still
considered just a tool for automation of present business processes, completely neglecting the
challenging role of IT as a competitive resource in the market place. The research findings indicate that
the source of this problem comes from lack of knowledge and interest in IT from top management
structures of Croatian corporations. Thus, significant efforts must be taken by management to develop
a new hybrid manager profile. Certainly, this type of manager must get additional knowledge in
strategic business planning and IT management.
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2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved