How strategies happen: An investigation of the decision to upgrade CAD/CIE in architectural, engineering, and construction firms

The architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has a very powerful competitive tool--computer-aided design/computer-integrated engineering (CAD/CIE)--in its hands. However, the potentials and problems generated by the use of computers are more complex than most companies realize. Although firms acknowledge the connection between the processes used to develop business strategy and the outcome of that strategy, until now a framework for describing the actual strategic decision-making process did not exist. Traditional views on strategy formation and strategic decision making explain only partially the decision to upgrade CAD/CIE. In the typical approach, strengths and weaknesses are assessed, opportunities and threats are evaluated, then mission, objectives, and strategy are defined. On the other hand, the writing on decision making in organizations is broad and fuzzy; it addresses the possibility of a variety of processes, but tends to remain at the theoretical level. This dissertation is about the decision-making process used by AEC firms in upgrading their CAD/CIE systems. It investigates the CAD/CIE upgrade decision in view of these alternate theories and attempts to integrate the strategy and organizational literatures. Three objectives have guided this research: (1) understand how the initial urge for upgrading CAD/CIE develops; (2) describe how the decision-making process proceeds; and (3) determine how existing firm resources influence the process. The investigation has drawn data from an extensive background literature review as well as a series of case studies. The cases were selected from a group of mature AEC firms, all of whom had long experience with CAD and had made strategic decisions regarding CAD/CIE in the recent past. Four decision factors--impetus, risk, timing, and technology--developed during the course of the investigation provided a useful framework for understanding the strategic decision-making process. Many dynamic elements, such as the importance of clients, champions, and technical competence, emerged during the course of the study. The investigation helps to create the foundation of a knowledge base of strategic issues within the AEC industry. Its overall finding is that strategic decisions spring from many sources external to the strategy formation process, some rational and many random.