Improving the Applicability of Environmental Scanning Systems: State of the Art and Future Research
ISBN
978-3-642-24147-5
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2011-09-22
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Nuettgens, Markus
Gadatsch, Andreas
Kautz, Karlheinz
Schirmer, Ingrid
Blinn, Nadine
Research Team
IWI1
Abstract
The 2008/2009 economic crisis provided a sustainable impulse for improving environmental scanning systems (ESS). Although a rich body of knowledge exists, concepts are not often used in practice. This article contributes a literature review addressing six findings for ESS design to become more applicable than the state of the art. They are structured by the elements of information systems (IS) design theories. Addressing the lack of a sound requirements analysis, our first finding proposes 360-degree ESS for executives managing a company task and presents how to select just the most important scanning areas to keep focus. Three other findings cover the IS model perspective focusing on a better grasp of weak signals: define concrete indicators and use IT to identify relevant cause-effective-chains, leverage IT to automate day-to-day routines and monitor the variety of indicators movements, and-as a fourth finding-leverage expert experience with an impact matrix and translate indicators impact into a balanced opportunity-and-threat portfolio. From the methods perspective on ESS, we propose to more closely incorporate scanning results into executives decision-making process by generating cenarios from a set of environment assumptions as well as to use retrospective controls to continuously update the ESS and collaborate to share the scanning findings in day-to-day work.
Language
English
HSG Classification
not classified
Refereed
Yes
Book title
Governance and Sustainability in Information Systems - Managing the Transfer and Diffusion of IT. Proceedings of IFIP WG8.6 International Working Conference
Publisher
Springer
Publisher place
Hamburg
Volume
LNBIP
Start page
207
End page
223
Pages
17
Event Title
IFIP WG 8.6 Working Conference Hamburg
Event Location
Hamburg
Event Date
22.-24.09.2011
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
214352