Information Technology Reference
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primarily based upon the lack of clarity regarding potential benefits of this type of
architecture. Various IT success models [6], SOA business value frameworks [2, 7]
and SOA value drivers have been identified [8]. Yet a thorough literature review dis-
played that most empiric publications focus on either enhancing SOA and Web service
concepts or exploring their adoption in practice [9]. It has been argued that an invest-
ment into SOA often cannot be properly evaluated because value potentials of this
investment have not been made visible enough [10], in addition
the consideration of risk
is virtually absent in research on the returns on IT investment, even though the risks are widely
recognized [11].
2 Research Design
This paper aims to empirically investigate SOA investment-decision making practices
in large Austrian companies from a finance perspective, i.e. the underlying investment
criteria rather than exploring organizational SOA effects [12], business process impli-
cations [13] or setting up a business case including detailed benefits and costs [14].
We also intend to examine the consideration of lag effects, i.e. the timing of IT in-
vestment decisions
1
, which have been neglected in past literature reviews
[15].
A total
of six public and private companies (semi-structured interviews with 2 interviewees
per case) have been analyzed and coded by 2 different interviewers from January to
March 2010. After independent within-case and cross-case data analysis using an
inductive approach [16], common patterns and experiences among the selected com-
panies have been identified. Derived from the considerations explained so far, the
research questions for this case study can be formulated as follows:
1.
What is the strategy and expected business impact behind SOA initiatives?
2.
What investment methodologies and investment criteria (qualitative and quantita-
tive) are being applied by leading Austrian companies to evaluate initial and con-
tinuous SOA investments?
Based on a thorough literature review and the nature of the research questions, case
study research for has been selected as the appropriate form of methodology [17],
which needs to instantiate well-defined models before the data collection begins [18]
and data collection methods used for this research had to follow a well-structured
conceptual framework for this IT business value research [19], which is depicted in
Figure 1. The categories covered include SOA strategy, investment evaluation, which
Fig. 1.
Case Study Framework
1
For an overview of the numerous models and valuation methods we refer to Frisk (2007) [20].
