Using IT for Managing Resources in Business Networks A Case Study from the Swedish Furniture Industry

A case study is used in order to analyse information technology's function in managing the complex network of resources that interact behind a specific product and that contribute to a final product ready for use (see, for instance Wedin, 2001). This "product-centred resource network" is analysed by means of a resource categorisation introduced by Håkansson & Waluszewski (forthcoming). Information, about each used resource and performed activity, enters various firms' information systems and information technology (IS/IT), attempting to “mirror” and “translate” the concrete business network. The collected and processed information is moreover used in order to manage and co-ordinate resources and activities in the business network. How the digital information-based, "meta-network" translates the actual relations between resources and activities affects how they are managed and co-ordinated by means of IS/IT. The analysis focuses on activity co-ordination and on resource utilisation with reference to a specific product, by a Swedish furniture manufacturer. The case study maps how the various activities and resources, behind the focal product, are transformed into information, part of which is also translated and interpreted by the computerised IS/IT systems in use. This type of analysis helps to identify the interplay between information, IT and strategy in a network setting (see Snehota, 1990, and Ford et al., 1998). The link between information and concrete resources appears e.g. in the process of “information development”. The case study analysis introduces the notions of “IT-sation”, “informational needs”, “information horizon” and “network embedded information”. These concepts are used in order to investigate possibilities, requirements and limitations of “IT-based” resource management.