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PurposeTo elaborate a methodology enabling organizations to define their strategic processes among other processes.Design/methodology/approachA case study approach has been chosen due to the nature of this research. Case study research method is qualitative method but it can be positivist. The mix of techniques is appropriate and some degree of quantification is necessary. Three high‐level steps are designed and these steps are developed in the managerial holding companies (research case study).FindingsBecause of limitations on budget and time, organizations are able to define the processes which are critical to achieve organizations' goals. This methodology has a holistic view in organizations by using balanced scorecard framework.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is based on a single case. Generalization based on this case should be interpreted cautiously and a limitation of the case study should be kept in mind. Furthermore, the strategy of the research case is a competitive strategy and the strategic processes are chosen according to this strategy. They may be changed based on other strategies. In interpreting the result, these limitations should be kept in mind.Originality/valueDefining the strategic processes helps organizations to use their resources based on their objectives. This paper presents a methodology that improves the ability of organizations in managing and directing their resources efficiently.

Purpose
A multitude of factors influence the information technology outsourcing (ITO) decision. Organizations must systematically evaluate these factors prior to making the ITO decision. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth analysis toward understanding the critical factors in affecting ITO decision in the context of e-banking services.


Design/methodology/approach
The effect of technological, organizational, and environmental attributes on e-banking services outsourcing decision were investigated in this paper. The study was carried out using the quantitative research methodology based on a survey of 23 banks. The partial least squares technique was utilized as the method of data analysis.


Findings
The results of the data analysis illustrated that nine out of 11 assumed factors (i.e. perceived complexity, perceived cost, service observability to the client, cultural fit between client and supplier, perceived loss of organizational knowledge, prior outsourcing experience, external pressure, market volatility, and suppliers' power) influence the outsourcing decision of e-banking services. The findings also confirmed that the nature of the service and client IT capabilities did not exert any influence on the outsourcing decision.


Originality/value
The study is among the first kind of ITO decision research which empirically investigates the effect of service observability, cultural fit, perceived loss of organizational knowledge, external pressure, market volatility, and suppliers' power amongst other factors on the ITO decision. The findings from this study provide insights for the banks and service providers to better understand the factors affecting the outsourcing decisions of e-banking services in contexts of less developed countries. Implications based on a specific situation of the Iranian banking sector is also proposed.

Implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is a complex, lengthy and expensive process which usually faces serious challenges and failures. Thus, it is necessary to perform a readiness assessment at the initial stage of an ERP implementation project to identify weakness areas which may encounter the project with failure. This paper proposes a new framework for assessing readiness of an organization to implement the ERP project on the basis of McKinsey 7S model using confirmatory factor analysis. Through this method, the construct of ERP readiness is proposed based on 7 dimensions namely "structure", "strategy", "systems", "skills", "style/culture", "staff", and "shared values/ superordinate goals". Using the framework, the current situation of the organization can be determined and necessary changes can be made prior to system implementation. The proposed framework is then applied to 2 real Iranian banking cases and the advantages of the framework over available frameworks are illustrated.

PurposeThe main aim of the present study is to propose a framework for selecting an appropriate electronic business (e‐business) model in managerial holding companies with a chain structure acting in the area of the automobile industry.Design/methodology/approachThis is an applied study conducted as a survey and case study. First, the factors affecting selection of an appropriate e‐business model in managerial holding companies with chain structure in auto industry are identified through a survey and by testing hypotheses. Then, these factors are measured as a case study in Iran Khodro Co. so that the appropriate e‐business model can be determined for this managerial holding company with chain structure.FindingsIn this study, 18 different factors were identified for the five main criteria in identifying e‐business. Using the survey conducted in the statistical sample, only three factors of internal and external integration of human resources, flexibility, and decentralization in the responsibilities were identified as less important factors in identifying an appropriate model of e‐business in managerial holding companies with chain structure in automobile industry.Research limitations/implicationsOne limitation of the study was lack of sufficient managerial holding companies with a chain structure in the Iranian automobile industry, so that only two companies of Iran Khodro and Saipa possess holding and chain structure. Thus, generalization of the results of this study to the whole society must be done with great care in association with more researches.Originality/valueThis study, expanding and operationalizing a conceptual model, tries to identify the set of determining factors in selecting appropriate e‐business models in the managerial holding companies with a chain structure in the automobile industry.

This paper presents a review of 81 research articles published between 1996 and 2013 on the impact of information technology on lifestyle. Our findings indicate that the number of investigations into the impact of IT on various areas of everyday life, increased considerably during this period, given that 63 percent of the articles were published between 2010 and 2013. From these articles, eight dimensions emerged which were classified by IT and lifestyle experts. Moreover, theme analysis was applied to all contents extracted from the various articles, leading to an eight-sided lifestyle model. The domains are: health, learning, social, work and environment, energy, art, spiritual life, and miscellaneous. A comprehensive list of papers with classifications is presented.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present a methodology which defines best strategic practices for business process redesign (BPR).Design/methodology/approachA total of 29 best practices are studied and evaluated from the literature. The philosophy of TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method is applied in recognizing the alignment of best practices with the organization strategy. The indicators of cost, time, quality and flexibility are used as the criteria to measure the degree of alignment of best practices with organization strategy. The proposed method is tested in a case study of the registration process at a university.FindingsThe recent investment failures in BPR projects show that the relation between best practices and organization strategies should be highly considered. It is indicated that process redesign can meet organization strategies through recognizing and implementing best strategic practices.Research limitations/implicationsConsidering the fact that pundits working in the field of BPR are not accessible, the previous published findings and results have been used in this research.Practical implicationsOwing to the limitations on budget and time, organizations are able to consider only those best practices which play a critical vote in helping them to achieve their goals. Best strategic practices list provides managers and business analysts with a precious resource in BPR projects.Originality/valueThis paper presents a new methodology for introducing best strategic practices for BPR. A strategic best practice is a new term in the BPR literature.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to define the strategic processes or processes with strategic nature of investment companies (ICs). This goal is achieved by proposing a methodology for selecting strategic processes among the processes of ICs based on the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework and the statistical analysis.Design/methodology/approachTen leading Iranian Investment Companies (ICs) were selected whose processes represented those in the field. Through administration of a questionnaire, the processes under study were ranked based on their degree of contribution to the IC's strategy.FindingsThis paper defines the common ICs' processes based on surveying the literature review. By using the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework, ICs are able to define the processes which are critical in achieving organizations' objectives. These processes are ranked based on company strategy using a statistical survey which finally leads to defining strategic processes. Determining strategic processes in business process reengineering (BPR) is of great importance owing to time and budget limitations.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is based on multi case studies. It therefore has its limitations which should be taken into consideration in interpreting and/or generalizing the results obtained from the study. The paper is partially based on previous findings of a literature review. Furthermore, the strategy considered in this study is a competitive one and the strategic processes are chosen according to this strategy which can be changeable. In interpreting the result, these limitations should be kept in mind.Originality/valueDefining the strategic processes for ICs helps them to allocate their resources to the processes which directly contribute to the company's strategic goal. This paper builds a portfolio of ICs' processes highly related to organization strategic goals. Therefore, these processes are the appropriate candidate in BPR project investment.

The Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems require huge investments while ineffective implementations of such projects are commonly observed. A considerable number of these projects have been reported to fail or take longer than it was initially planned, while previous studies show that the aim of rapid implementation of such projects has not been successful and the failure of the fundamental goals in these projects have imposed huge amounts of costs on investors. Some of the major consequences are the reduction in demand for such products and the introduction of further skepticism to the managers and investors of ERP systems. In this regard, it is important to understand the factors determining success or failure of ERP implementation. The aim of this paper is to study the critical success factors (CSFs) in implementing ERP systems and to develop a conceptual model which can serve as a basis for ERP project managers. These critical success factors that are called "core critical success factors" are extracted from 62 published papers using the content analysis and the entropy method. The proposed conceptual model has been verified in the context of five multinational companies.

Social network sites (SNSs) such as MySpace, Facebook, and Youtube have attracted millions of users, many of whom have integrated these sites into their daily practices. There are hundreds of SNSs, with various technological affordances, supporting a wide range of interests and practices. However, the impact of SNSs is increasingly pervasive, with activities ranging from economic and marketing to social and educational. Among the wide impacts of social network sites, they are, anecdotally, becoming increasingly important in today's businesses. Thus, the purpose of this study is to present a literature review of and classification scheme for research works in business impacts of SNSs, with the aim of clarifying the ways SNSs impact businesses. The review covers 28 journal articles published from 2000 to 2011 and a few months of 2012. The 28 articles classified SNS applications in businesses into six distinct categories: the "marketing and advertising," "knowledge management," "social capital," "relationship management," "e-commerce," and "economic model." The findings reveal that "marketing and advertising" were the most frequently category has been considered in the literature. This review provides a source for discovering business impacts of social network sites and will help to simulate further interest in the area.

Selecting the appropriate IT outsourcing (ITO) strategy is important for firms in general and banking institutions in particular to achieve expected benefits, but it remains complex, risky and lengthy process for clients to select the appropriate ITO strategy. Previous academic efforts to support ITO decision incorporated a limited number of factors, which is over-simplification of multi-faceted real world problems. In this paper, after doing in-depth literature review for identifying influencing factors on such ITO decisions, a model with an application of Fuzzy TOPSIS based approach is proposed to rank and prioritize the alternatives. Throughout this study, the authors use data from a real banking case to run the model for supporting outsourcing decision for five ATM, POS, tele-banking, mobile, and internet-banking services. The proposed model can help ITO decision makers advance their decision making process, especially where parameters involve uncertainties and hardly can be assessed by human judgment.