Management information systems issues of the 1990s in the Republic of China: An industry analysis

Abstract

Most surveys of management information systems (MIS) issues are conducted on a macro level, reporting the average ranking of issues in one country, and sometimes comparing it with that of another country. This paper reports results of a survey that identified the key MIS issues of the 1990s faced by 297 organizations in the Republic of China (Taiwan). The results are presented not only on a macro level, but a comparison is made between the entire sample and four major industries: electronics, public organizations, financial services, and information services. The paper presents the top 15 MIS issues for the entire sample. Significant differences between each industry group and the entire sample are then identified. Most notable are: public organizations place more weight on IS strategic planning, telecommunications, distributed systems, information architecture, CASE and organizational learning. Large financial services firms place more weight on IS personnel issues, insufficient human resources, software development productivity and end-user computing. Small financial services firms place less weight on competitive advantage, IS personnel issues and user participation. Information services firms place more weight on systems friendliness and telecommunications. Finally, small electronics firms place less weight on information architecture and data resources. © 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd.