So, when we look closely at the topic of IT and the global manager, Cash et al. (1988) advise that misalignment of information technology with global business strategy can severely hamper a firm’s efforts to seek global pre-eminence. However, for the same reason, a good example would be a decentralized financial services firm catering to globetrotting customers who can find it very difficult to enlist the support of its foreign subsidiaries in a worldwide customer database.
Why is that? This is likely because subsidiary managers are more likely to be reluctant to endorse an integrated corporate solution for fear that in the short run, it would adversely impact their earnings and, in the long run, reduce their autonomy. So, what do global IT business managers learn from this – that harnessing IT on a worldwide scale presents management with huge problems that are far more challenging than those encountered in sharing systems across domestic divisions.