1. Chapter 10
Global IT Strategies

2. Chapter Objectives
study the global aspects of information technology (IT) strategy
study various issues and difficulties in implementing distributed and global IT strategies
understand the relationship between IT strategy and market dimensions
understand IT strategy from the perspective of managing and enhancing global potential and value creation
study the dynamic components of IT strategy required for global environment
understand the process and requirement for transition from local to global
study how to build more secure and reusable environment for global operations
understand technology requirements for global organizations

3. Introduction
There is a need to manage technology differently because of the spread and large variations it has experienced during globalization.
Different business strategies are required as the scope of business, penetration, location, and the area covered change, which further creates the need for an appropriate IT strategy.
Globalization perceives the world as one big market place. This notion of a boundary-less world is expected to produce dramatic changes in key markets, major competitors, and IT products.
In global environment, the information highways make information available across the globe and replicating the style and production processes has become easier.

4. IT strategies in global environment

5. Global IT Strategy
Global strategy is about competing and doing business in global environment, creating qualitative and quantitative advantages, handling the issues in a global environment, and enabling efficient information management (IM) and decision-making in the global scenario.

6. Global product lifecycle and IT strategies
IT entry strategy: The IT strategy can handle overall global positioning and decide when to enter, where to enter, and how to enter
IT investment strategy: Since the IT investment strategy is closely tied up with the business strategy and is also about the ROI, there is always a need to balance between investment innovation and investment in meeting the immediate business goals
IT expansion strategy: IT expansion strategy is about expansion on the technology front, business offering front, and on the overall business horizon.
IT penetration and built-in strategy:Strategically, the penetration in the desired market segment can be achieved through IT
IT strategy for termination: An IT strategy needs to be designed even for the graceful exit of a part of the product, version of the product, or the overall business  

7. Parameters of Global Strategy
Free trade: This is a market model where goods and services flow across and within countries without any obstacle or hindrance. Free trade and liberalization encourage globalization and are important components of global strategy of the organization.
Competition: The competition equation is completely different in global environment. Understanding the global competitive forces and positioning the organization and technologies is also an important part of the global strategy.
Management: The management of resources, technologies, and infrastructure in a global environment is completely different from that in a local environment. The distributed resources and infrastructure communication among different parts and with customers are important components of global strategy.

8. Global forces Vs local forces
Degree of global involvement and IT strategy: The global involvement includes penetration and an understanding of the global market.
Centre of action and business: In a global business, though there is a centre of action at a particular place, all other sub-centres and business units are equally important. In a truly global business every market is of great value and IT should empower the system to handle it effectively, because it has to drive the business to every corner of the globe.
Dynamic structure: Though the market is a dynamic place, when it comes to local markets, the environment and the policies may make it static to some extent. A truly global market involves continuous changes in competitive forces and business environment.
Knowledge management: In global market, there is always a change in KM requirements. IT strategies and IT-enabled infrastructure should enable the KM and decision-making. ‘Knowledge acquisition’ and ‘knowledge-base creation’ along with ‘making knowledge available for decision-making’ are part of the IT strategy.

9. Global scenario decision-making factors

10. Difference between local and global strategies
··        Difference in culture: In a local market, the cultural difference and the difference in their perception of looking at the product is limited. But in global markets there can be vast differences between cultures and behaviours.
Spread of market: In a local market, the market is small and reaching the customers with conventional network is possible.
·        Intense competition: The competitive parameters may vary. In some cases, it may be more intense in local environment while in other cases it may be more intense in global environment.
·        Unknown variables: In a global environment, there are more unknowns than in a local environment. The unknowns relate to terms of rules, regulations, competitions, and cultures.
·        Compatibility issues: There is a high level of diversity in global environment which gives rise to distributed environment. This leads to more compatibility issues in global environment.

11. Approaches Internationalization
The focus of these internationalization approaches is to develop an appropriate balance between global integration and local responsiveness — effectively meeting local demands while capitalizing on worldwide efficiencies and advantages. It has indeed led to many different formulations in global strategies among firms.
A common global strategy needs to be designed to efficiently accommodate local add-ons for increasing the efficiency of local responsiveness.
To succeed in the global environment, there is a need for a distinctive competence and a local flavour so as to overcome the liability of the foreign tag.

12. Internationalization Indicators

13. Globalization and Competitive Advantage

14. Factors to be considered for location selection
– National resource conditions: What are the major resources that the product requires? Where are these available at low cost? What are the IT resources and infrastructure required? Apart from the physical resource, the transportation needs are to be considered before the decision-making. And in the case of IT the skilled resource availability should also be taken into account. 
– Firm-specific advantages: The entry and exit load in the country. To what extent is the company’s competitive advantage based on firm-specific resources and capabilities, and are these transferable?
– Tradability issues: Can the product be transported at an economic cost? If not, do trade restrictions exist? In such a scenario, the production must be close to the market. Further, the futuristic requirements and cost-effectiveness over a considerable period of time — preferably a major portion of the product life cycle has to be considered. International strategies need to consider local national conditions and how to make the best use of the same.

15. Global Management

16. Mapping between components and Global Strategy
IT infrastructure
Global infrastructure
Communication systems
Global communication system
Knowledge infrastructure
Global knowledge infrastructure

17. Global Competencies

18. Global IT Strategy wheel

19. Decision-Making in Global Environment

20. IT Strategy for Global Market: Objectives
-    selection of technology
-    acquisition of information available globally
-    positioning the technical role
-    building and use of global infrastructure
-    penetrating the market
-    knowledge management
-    decisions about global resource management
-    model and technology use to maximize profits
-    technology and technology positioning based on competitive advantage

21. Global Strategic Initiatives

22. IT Security strategies in global environment
-  Making data, information, and knowledge available to the proper person at the right time.
- Protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure or legible interception.
- Safeguard the accuracy and completeness of information and software delivered across the globe.
- Make information and vital IT services available when required at all the places.
- Provide information and services with a high level of efficiency.

23. Global Strategy phases

24. Strategic KM in Global Organizations
Global account management : Managing the global account involves lot of IM and decision-making. IT strategies need to cater to this very important aspect. Global account management includes services, technology, financials, and response time. The IT strategies need to support effective decision-making and information handling for the global account management.
Global alliances, issues, and IT strategies: If the speed of growth is very high, it is necessary to have strategic alliances. The strategic alliance should be done with business objectives in mind. The IT strategies should de devised to minimize issues in strategic alliances. The typical issues in strategic alliances are the structural forms, not meeting the expectation, technology integration difficulties, and heterogeneous cultures.
Managing global innovative processes: Innovation is the key of all strategies. In the global environment, the organization has to face different situations, deal with different people, and use new technologies.

25. Global IT Management

26. Summary
A real global organization is one which has global presence, uses global resources optimally, and has truly penetrated the global market. Microsoft, Philips, and Siemens are examples of some of the global organizations.
Global presence and various global success factors are enabled with IT. Proper KM, culture, alignment, and customer understanding are some of the driving factors that need to be taken care of to become successful in the global environment. Global dimensions of IT strategy use IT strategically to build a real and successful global organization.
There are different IT-strategic requirements such as innovation, flexibility, accessibility, penetration, and KM. Further, IT strategies need to focus on optimizing the benefits of globalization such as cost cutting, minimizing uncertainties, 24×7 support, better service for the customer, and ultimately increasing the stake holder’s returns
IT strategies in global environment deal with the strategic use of IT and information at various places to make available a framework for an organization to work and succeed in the global environment. IT and global strategies require to respond to the changes in the market place quickly and thus need to be agile.

27. End of Chapter Ten