Systems development for global manufacturing

An increasing number of manufacturing businesses are moving towards global operations, with a manufacturing presence in most of the world's major regions. The use of information technology and business systems as a strategic weapon can be seen as a basis for achieving this end. This paper describes the combination of business strategy and information technology within a manufacturing company required to support the goal of globalisation. The company described in this paper is involved in the manufacture of large engineering structures which are exported to many locations around the world. The paper identifies the issues that challenge organisations as they strive to achieve competitive advantage in today's uncertain global markets. Conceptual solutions are offered in the forms of a strategic framework and strategic capabilities architecture. The strategic framework details all the organisation's global business strategies and methodologies, and the strategic capabilities architecture acts as an implementation tool to enable these strategies.