The third step-integration-is designed to enable the MNC to begin conceptualizing information as a "strategic weapon." The purpose of integration is to create an INFO structure that can accommodate the MNC's need to communicate and control the complex INFRA structure of physical, human, and monetary resources around the globe. In the words of James L. McKenney and Warren McFarlan, the goal of this step is to "bring the islands that make up an archipelago of information-office automation, telecommunications, and data processing-under integrated control 1
Before these islands of information technology can be merged into a coherent whole, the MNC must merge data processing (DP) and office automation, at both the headquarters and subsidiary levels, into an integrated information system. Once this task has been accomplished, the MNC must link the numerous resident ISs into a global information system. In his book Competing in Time, Peter Keen describes the process as a movement "from vision to policy to architecture." 2
Vision is a picture of the future-an easily understood statement about a practical and desirable (though not necessarily fully predictable) goal. It evolves from answers to such questions as
What is happening in our industry and around its edges? What makes us special? What must we do to remain so? Who is our competition now? What style of organization do we want to be? How can we run our business better?
Policy is a set of mandates and directives from the top of the firm, specifying "how we do things around here." It addresses questions of authority and accountability. The following policy questions have to be answered explicitly:
What pace and degree of change-business, organizational, and technical-are we ready to accept?
What is our planning horizon? How should the business case for building the long-term infrastructure be made? How should it be funded?
What range of future business services should be anticipated in the technical architecture? What are the criteria for selecting vendors, given the relative importance of integrating some, most, or all of the components of the information technology base?
Who defines, coordinates, and monitors standards?
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