Résumé en anglais

The globalization of business reflects the view that most companies have to compete in a borderless environment. Challenges and opportunities are tremendous especially in the European Community, where profound changes have been experienced (common currency, restructuring of Eastern Europe, etc.). The European companies have to compete in an increasingly competitive global market. They have to undergo the continuous threats of new entrants and substitute products and the strengthening bargaining power of all their business partners, within or beyond the European frontiers (Kalika, et al., 2003). In this context, the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage requires dramatic business process changes, moving toward more flexible and agile structures. Strategic alliances and partnering can support and enable these transformations, via joint ventures, knowledge exchange, outsourcing, etc. Such arrangements can help companies (the small ones, as well as the giants) to target customers once beyond their grasp.Historically, the role of IT in the organization has evolved. It has been treated for a long time as a “cost center” or an expense rather than a strategic weapon (Alter, 1995). Since the 1980’s, this role has been recognized as “strategic” (Porter and Millar, 1985). It has been considered as an enabler to achieve competitive advantage. For some 20 years now, the assumption that technology based information systems (IS/IT) provide a crucial support to operational and strategic business processes has been widely accepted (Luftman, 1996; Ward and Griffiths, 1997). However, empirical evidence that provides a good correlation between IS/IT alignment with business strategy and organizational performance is still needed. As stated by Sabherwal and Chan (2001): “empirical research on the performance implications of this alignment has been sparse and fragmented”.