ng and management strategy. The terms are becoming somewhat confused, in that, where enterprises which have competitive advantage are clustered within a country, that country may be said to derive a competitive advantage (Porter 1989, Adcock et al 1993, Soh et al 1993). Another matter that creates difficulties has been the marked tendency to discuss competitive strategy predominantly in terms of leadership, or 'first-mover' status. The sufficiency of this approach is overdue for careful examination. It is entirely tenable for an organisation to intentionally defer aggressive moves, and instead consciously seek 'second-mover' or 'late-adopter' status. Circumstances in which senior executives may judge this to be the appropriate strategy include where: no significant strategic advantage will arise, e.g. because: othe technology is not sufficiently mature; or othe area is not conducive to the available technology; second-mover advantages will exist; or the organisation's resources and/or focus are committed to other projects or programs, and could not be diverted, or could not be diverted with sufficient advantage. A particularly surprising weakness of the existing literature is its inapplicability to organisations which are not subject to powerful market-based competitive forces, such as not-for-profit enterprises, public sector agencies, and associations which are intentionally monopolistic, including industry and professional associations. This is so marked that some definitions of the term 'strategic IS' are restricted to systems that "confer a unique, sustainable, or otherwise significant advantage" (Ciborra 1991). For organisations of this kind, it is important that strategic information systems theory be re-conceptualised to stress 'strategy' rather than 'competition', and show strategy in a competitive environment as a special (if very important) case. Customers of not-for-profits, of the public sector and of associations have an i...
