Role of access to 'real-time' information in the survival of enterprises

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The rise of the network economy had a resounding impact on the world economy. Business remainstransfixed between choosing between hierarchical organizational structures suited to a control andcommand mindset or transforming to an organizational structure intent on sensing and responding.Flexible and adaptive enterprises are more suitable to an increasingly volatile business environment.Current business trends worldwide seem to point in this direction. This may be an indication of the wayin which organizations strive to avoid running the risk of business insignificance. Driven by businessvolatility, organizational structures are turning increasingly to naturally occurring 'organizations' toconstruct their own malleable versions. The redesign of an organizational structure is as important asreviewing information flows, optimizing technology and most importantly, finding the right type ofemployee to set the wheels of a real-time enterprise (RTE) in motion. Any discussion pertaining toreal-time will touch on time. A reflection on hierarchical organizations highlights their stability, but alsotheir inflexibility and sufficing information practices. It then becomes clear that the new businessdirection in an intensely competitive environment will have little tolerance for any measure oforganizational rigidity. But how driven and fast can information really be processed and still enhancethe value of an enterprise? The RTE is not a fully automated enterprise. Its employees may be lessinvolved in its everyday tasks, but remain part of its decision-making process. To what degree doesthe RTE business model then facilitate value-adding information processing by both automation andmanual interventions? Do limits exist where speed and time wastage in business are concerned? Isspeed at all costs the only concern of the RTE?The aim of this paper is to answer these questions conceptually. Cognizance was taken of the impactof the volatile business environment on organizational structures influencing the currentunderstanding. The highlighted business trends are based on recently published global andauthoritative industry papers, business analyses and academic interpretations. Some of the bestmaterial was sourced from professional journals discussing the infinite angles of real-time information.Castells's work on the network society proved to be extremely valuable to gain a holisticunderstanding. The latest developments were obtained from well-established research companies.During the investigative phase of this paper, the author encountered one thesis on real-timeinformation focusing on information technology. It was evident that more research is required toanswer the questions posed.The eventual findings were in line with the complexity and scope of the subject. The current demandsof a global network economy necessitate agile and adaptive networked enterprises, not hierarchies.Roles are becoming more important than positions in the organizational transition phase to anetworked, flat structure. A failure to start with such a transformation programme will result in a failureto survive in a fiercely competitive global business environment. It was clear that the RTE isdependent on the establishment of a balance struck between business entities in their interactionswith one another as parts of a whole, replete with conditions and requirements. It is only in this sensethat access to real-time information could be seen as a differentiating factor in global business.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University