It is clear that CNs have to be able to manage the technological
complexities of their IS, while ensuring generation of
added value to business processes. This can only be achieved
if there exists alignment between business and IS/IT, a concept
that became stronger in the 1990s thanks to the Strategic
Alignment Model (SAM) proposed by Henderson and
Venkatraman (1993). Although the theory suggests that there
should be a strategic fit between the internal and external
domains of both business and IT, and that there should also
be a functional integration between business and IT, in reality,
the implementation of the alignment is quite complicated
to carry out, due to the fact that the studies, models and/or
frameworks developed for this purpose are scarce, and their
utility is often not validated in the real world.