Enterprise Architecture as an Instrument of Strategic Control

Enterprises compete in high dynamic and fast changing markets. Reacting quickly and flexibly to market changes is a crucial competitive advantage for an enterprise. Therefor premises of strategic planning and achievement of strategic goals have to be controlled permanently and in a systematic way. Strategic control which is part of strategic management monitors premises of the corporate strategy and the environment of the enterprise in order to evaluate whether the strategic positioning is still appropriate or whether the strategy has to be adopted due to changes in constraints. This paper shows how the enterprise architecture of an enterprise can be used as an instrument of strategic control. Strategic control is characterized by a high demand on information. Hence one needs to know where needed information is to gather. Enterprise architecture which is enriched by results and information of strategic management process is a helpful instrument in delivering information respectively the source of gathering information used in strategic control. In particular for each enterprise architecture layer a proposal is given how strategic control can be supported.