Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 2. Competitive Advantages of Green IT
Dimensions of Value
Description of Benefits
Infrastructure •
Reduction of liabilities
Green technologies may address long-term issues such as risks of resource depletion, product liabilities, pollu-
tion, and waste.
•
Social and health benefits
Green technologies benefit the ecosystem and the environment of communities in which companies operate.
Usage/operational •
Cost reduction
Green technologies offer the opportunity to drive down operating costs by exploiting ecological efficiencies
•
Revenue enhancement
Green technology creates possibilities for revenue enhancement, because it allows the companies to enter the
growing market for environmental products and technologies and may expand the market segment, particularly to
green customers.
•
Quality improvement
Green technologies reinforce the environmental management philosophy. Moreover, technology assessment al-
lows quality concerns to be incorporated in the very early stages of selecting product and production technologies.
Strategic •
Supplier ties
Manufacturing for the environment and design for disassembly actively involves suppliers in corporate
decision-making, in turn strengthening supplier ties
•
Competitive edge
Competitive advantage accrues directly from cost reductions and revenue improvements resulting from
environmental technologies. Environmental technologies also offer companies the potential to create unique and
inimitable strategies.
•
Public image
Green technologies are good for public relations and corporate image.
•
Regulation compliance
Green technology solutions allow companies to comply with the environmental regulations and establish a
firmer footing with regard to environment environmental and product liabilities.
•
Competitive landscape
Green technologies allow firms to remain competitive in global markets, reduce costs and production times,
and enhance strategic flexibility.
(Adapted from Shrivastava 1995)
that different environmental management prac-
tices may result in different types of competitive
advantage (Christman, 2000).
strategies and objectives (COBIT, 2000). Among
the various definitions of IT governance, we ad-
opted the definition of IT governance developed
by Van Grembergen (2000) and Weill (2004), as
these definitions encompass the IT governance as-
pects from a strategic viewpoint. Van Grembergen
(2000) defined this as “the organizational capacity
to control the formulation and implementation of
IT strategy and guide to proper direction for the
purpose of achieving competitive advantages for
the corporation”. Weill (2004) defined IT gover-
nance as “the framework for decision rights and
accountabilities to encourage desirable behavior in
the use of IT”. According to the relevant literature,
IT governance includes IT-business alignment,
decision-making process, and competitive ad-
vantages, and we defined IT governance as
“the
IT GOVERNANCE AND IT
BALANCED-SCORECARD
IT governance is a component of corporate
governance and is tasked with providing the
organizational structures that enable the creation
of business value through IT, the assurance that
the corporate resources have been allocated to the
right projects, and the existence of adequate IT
control mechanisms (Van Grembergen, 2000). IT
governance provides the structure linking IT pro-
cesses, IT resources, and information to enterprise
