The Business Strategy Perspective on the Development of Decision Support Systems

Abstract

This article examines the support that information systems may provide to the strategy process in business organisations. Being the process through which organizations make decisions for their future, strategy is very important in organisations. Early enough, systems that supported decision making were developed. In the mid of 1980s a new stream of information systems aimed at addressing the specific needs of executives. However, these systems used to serve as general purpose systems for top management needs and did not focus on the business strategy process per se. There is plentiful evidence that these systems do not, in fact, meet the expectations of business strategists. Based on a literature survey in the field of business strategy, this article identifies the needs of the business strategy process, demonstrates the shortcomings of current approaches in the development of information systems that support strategic decision making and proposes implications for the development of information systems that support business strategy.