The antecedents of IT-business alignment in manufacturing firms

Aligning information systems to business strategy is regarded as one of the most important issues in the MIS field. Successful IT strategic alignment means developing and sustaining a mutual relationship between IT strategy and business strategy - a relationship that benefits both parties. Aligning IT and business strategy is the key underlying determinant that must be addressed in order to guarantee high levels of return on IT investments. Focusing in the process approach toward alignment, this paper examines the underlying factors that can enhance the strategic alignment between IT strategy and business strategy. A theoretical model consisting these factors is developed. To empirically test the model, the data is collected using a sample of 1,012 CEOs of manufacturing companies in Australia. Two factors of management support and ICT capabilities were identified to have significant impact on alignment. Results also did not show a significant association between size and alignment indicating of the importance of alignment regardless of size in manufacturing sector