Information Networks and Business Management

ABSTRACT

Informatization occurring in Japanese companies has passed through the era of data processing, the era of individual systems, and the era of integrated systems, and is now welcoming the era of multiple networks. The era of multiple networks entails the interaction of previous networks, with information networks becoming the infrastructure of corporate activities. At the same time, business interface-i.e. procedures surrounding business transactions and interchanged data formats-will become standardized and alliances between economic entities will progress. This will give birth to a new economic paradigm, and powerful changes in business management are drawing closer.

In order to systematically analyze what effects the development of information networks has on companies it is necessary to arrange the various elements of business management within a single framework. To accomplish this we interviewed the managers of 35 companies that are conducting unique management methods. Based on these interviews we constructed the "5S Framework"-strategy, structure, skills, style, and systems-that encapsulates all of the elements present in the interviewed companies, and extracted the conditions that will be necessary for each element in the future.

Japanese companies of the future must have a "strategy" that includes expanding indigenous strengths in order to make a place for themselves within the open business system, while "structurally" they must be slim, self-supporting organizations that are capable of flexible partnerships. These companies must also possess "skills"-information literacy, business design capabilities, as well as human skills such as the ability to empathize with relevant parties. It will also be important that companies' "style" enable them to operate quickly, simultaneously, voluntarily, and parallel to other companies, and to develop synchronicity with organizational members. Additional elements include various "systems" such as an operations system that can stimulate the organization and increase its sustainability, human affairs systems, and information systems. Furthermore, companies will reap great benefits from the development of information networks if they can create a system that will inspire and direct synergistic effects betweenmanagement elements and adapt to environmental changes.