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Organizational capabilities are crucial to achieve the objectives. A plethora of maturity models is available to guide organizational capabilities that create a perplexing situation about what stuff to improve and what to leave. Therefore, a unified maturity model addressing a wide range of capabilities is a necessity. This paper establishes that a flexibility maturity model is an unified model containing the operational, strategic and human capabilities.

This paper does a comparative analysis/benchmarking studies of different maturity models/frameworks widely used in the information technology (IT) sector with respect to the flexibility maturity model to establish its comprehensiveness and application in the organization to handle multiple goals.

This study confirms that the flexibility maturity model has the crucial elements of all the maturity models. If the organizations use the flexibility maturity model, they can avoid the burden of complying with multiple ones and become objective-driven rather than compliance-driven.

The maturity models used in information technology sectors are used. This work will inspire other maturity models to adopt flexibility phenomena.

The comparative analysis will give confidence in application of flexibility framework. The business environment and strategic options across organizations are inherently different that the flexibility maturity model well handles.

A choice is put to an organization to see the comparison tables produced in this paper and choose the right framework according to the prevailing business situation.

This is the first study that makes a conclusion based on comparative benchmarking of existing maturity models.

Business performance management describes the processes, methodologies, metrics and systems needed to measure and manage the performance of an enterprise. Traditional performance management systems were based on financial and productivity measures but the alternate measures proposed in last more 25 years have strategic focus and incorporate variety of performance measures such as efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, innovation and employee satisfaction in addition to financial. Globalization and modernization have created a business environment uncertain with associated risks which has necessitated the incorporation of various types of flexibilities such as strategic, technical, operational, information system (IS), etc. Critical success factors and implementation issues also need to be incorporated to succeed. The purpose of this paper is to present the strategic performance management system (SPMS) designed, incorporating flexibility and implementation issues, and its effectiveness empirically validated from Indian oil industry.

Based on literature review and gaps identified, a proposed model of enterprise performance management system incorporating flexibility, critical success factors and implementation issues was developed. Macro- and micro-level factors impacting the effectiveness of the model were identified, and hypotheses were developed and tested empirically from the survey study of Indian oil industry.

The finding met, by and large, most of the research objectives. In total, 7 macro- and 11 micro-level factors came out from the study. The strategy planning, strategy implementation, strategic flexibility (SF), SPMS design, information system flexibility (IF) flexibility, implementation issues and critical success factors, and performance feedback and learning are the macro-level factors impacting the SPMS effectiveness in measuring and managing performance of an enterprise. The SPMS implementation issues have proved to be major driver of effectiveness.

The research like many such researches had limited resources, data availability and bias of respondents. However, the model was statistically validated for its reliability and hypothesis testing. The research has added to literature on SPMS as integrated model incorporated SF, information flexibility and critical success factors. However, the effect of other types of flexibilities such as organizational, operational, HR, marketing, etc., and other stakeholders should also be studied in future research to broaden the findings.

The validated SPMS has practical implications for academics and researchers. Strategic and IF, and critical success factors have been incorporated in the integrated model to take care of business uncertainties so that it is strategically aligned and facilitate in effective SPMS use and implementation.

Though it has no direct social implication but, if adopted for social projects and not-for-profit organizations, it will have social benefits of efficient and effectiveness delivery of social projects and initiatives.

This is an original work carried out by the authors. The validated model along with interpretation is presented.

The distributed corporate networking technology environments of the 1970s and 1980s are gaining new life, only this time the move toward distributed networks is being led by upstart application service providers (ASPs). Organizations of the twenty‐first century are going to be Web‐centric and focus their objectives on agility and cost savings. Pressure to reduce overhead in information technology (IT) pushes these organizations to consider outsourcing. With the use of Internet technology, a new alternative for IT outsourcing has evolved. ASPs allow companies to access and run software applications over the Internet on a subscription basis. By using the Web as an application platform, an enterprise can quickly and easily deploy new systems in response to market changes as well as reap the savings of using a single, standard platform. Recently, there has been a tremendous growth in the number of ASPs. This growth in ASPs has raised several issues and challenges that need to be resolved to realize the potential benefits of ASPs. Discusses the developments in ASPs, outlines the activities of various kinds of ASPs, describes the ASP business models, and examines the issues and challenges facing ASPs for their future success.

Education delivery via electronic media is becoming relevant in Nigeria educational systems, especially the universities. In spite of this, there are hindrances affecting the total acceptability of this technology.

In this paper, we investigated these critical factors by analyzing the questionnaires collected from three sampled universities in Nigeria: private, public and state owned universities.

The results obtained indicated that mass unawareness, low computer literacy level and cost were identified as the critical factors affecting the acceptability of the technology.

Analysis herein has shown the factors affecting the acceptability of e‐learning in Nigeria. The results obtained will assist policy makers by finding solutions to literacy problems in Nigeria.

To develop a fuzzy causal model of enterprise flexibility dimensions in a case study of Indian pharmaceutical industry.

The eight dimensions of enterprise flexibility were identified based on literature review. Fermatean fuzzy decision-making trail and evaluation laboratory (FF-DEMATEL) technique is applied to develop the cause-and-effect interrelationship model among various enterprise flexibility dimensions.

The information technology flexibility, supply chain flexibility, technical flexibility and marketing flexibility are found to be causing/influencing other flexibilities and contributing to overall enterprise flexibilities. Therefore, more attention needs to be paid to develop and sustain them for competitive advantage.

Fermatean fuzzy sets offer more flexibility and more accurate handling complex uncertain group decision making. FF-DEMATEL is a more accurate method to develop inter-dependencies and causal model than ISM, TISM. Ratings from the limited number of decision experts (DEs) from few pharmaceutical firms were done. Future study should take bigger sample of firms and more number of DEs to generalize the findings.

The model will help managers in pharmaceutical industry to prioritize the dimensions of enterprise flexibility to achieve agility, responsiveness, resilience and competitive advantage.

To the best knowledge of the authors, causal modeling enterprise flexibility dimensions using FF-DEMATEL has been studied for the first time in a developing economy context.

The growing dependence on the Internet and related technologies has led to the creation of a new type of warfare, “information warfare” (infowar) which is based on attacking and infiltrating opposing information infrastructures. The chances of information infrastructures being subjected to attacks have increased correlatively with the growth of networked, multinational organizations and e‐commerce. Although challenging, it is becoming extremely important to protect and safeguard information infrastructures from any attack. Info‐war is definitely a concern for most nations due to increased susceptibility of information systems to perpetrators. Many nations have confirmed that their information systems have already been successfully penetrated, introducing a unique and potentially devastating twenty‐first century threat. Discusses the types of info war attacks, proposes a framework for identifying various zones where the info war attack could create damage to information infrastructures, and suggests some mechanisms to safeguard against the info war attacks.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the significance and impact of strategic knowledge management (SKM) practices and organisational change capacity (OCC) in improving strategic thinking and strategic orientation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their contribution in overall improvement of entrepreneurial performance.

Quantitative research methodology using partial least square structural equation modelling with data of 296 sample from the target group as managers and owners from various SMEs in the UK has been used in the study.

The findings suggest that SMEs that invest in SKM and OCC are more proficient at adjusting to fluctuations in the business landscape and develop effective strategies that lead to improved entrepreneurial performance. The study provides evidence that SKM encompasses more than just the acquisition and use of information. It also involves the establishment of a learning and innovation culture that facilitates strategic thinking and direction. Similarly, OCC is not just about implementing change but also about developing the agility and flexibility to adapt to market changes, consumer demands and technology.

According to the research, SMEs may boost their entrepreneurial performance and keep a competitive advantage in the modern, dynamic business environment by investing in SKM and OCC. The capacity of SMEs to implement SKM and organisational change should be encouraged and supported by policymakers and practitioners, who should also offer the necessary tools and assistance to do so.

This study offers a valuable addition to the previously published works on SKM and OCC within SMEs. It offers empirical data that highlights the significance of SKM and OCC in fostering strategic thinking, strategic orientation and ultimately, boosting entrepreneurial performance. The study also highlights the challenges faced by SMEs in implementing SKM and OCC and provides recommendations for overcoming these challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated framework for achieving high organization vitality by exploring the concept of vitality, identifying the effect of some of the important processes on vitality issue, and interrelationships of organization vitalization processes.

This study is based on an integrated approach of exploratory and empirical research. The exploratory phase includes review of literature and secondary caselets study. Total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) method has been used for developing the conceptual framework that reflects the interrelationships between the identified processes; learning, innovation, flexibility, and entrepreneurship with organization vitality. The developed conceptual framework has been tested using empirical research. Regression analysis has been conducted on 78 sample to find the significance of the relationships among the discussed processes.

In this study, initially, a conceptual framework has been developed using TISM. Further, the conceptual framework has been tested through empirical research. This framework can be used as a guiding tool for better implementation of the discussed processes and to achieve high organization vitality considering it in a holistic manner.

This study is limited up to development of a framework that can be further tested on specific industry using empirical data or conducting a detail case study. This study can be taken as a base for developing thinking on vitality and vitalization processes for further research.

The paper highlights the organization vitality concept, integration issue of meta organizational processes, and how the vitality can be achieved by integrating the critical organizational processes. The outcome of this study may impact up to a significant extent by focussing in the right direction and developing some policy or providing direction, considering the results of this study toward achieving high organization vitality.

The developed conceptual framework is a unique contribution in literature on the integration aspect of the processes that are critical for achieving high vitality. This paper explores organization vitality issue and process integration, and opens a gate for future research in this direction.

In the era of multiple global disruptions, firms are finding it to continue their business. MSMEs are impacted more as they have constrained resources. Organizational flexibility has emerged as an organizational and management principle that would help firms stay competitive even in volatile markets. This study aims to present a set of guidelines and insights for MSME managers to implement organizational flexibility in their organizations.

This study uses total interpretive structural modelling to study how the various factors contributing to organizational flexibility behave together. Behavioural theory is used to explain why organizations need to incorporate flexibility, and systems theory of organization is used to explain why an organization needs to have open boundaries.

Organizational flexibility is a principle that may be supported by the systems theory of organization. The study has shown that it is important for MSMEs to have supply chain collaborations to be more flexible. The study also shows pressure from competitors as the key driver that would make a firm more flexible, and that adequate support from management and technological skills are required to drive flexibility in an organization.

Single respondent bias may have occurred in this study. This can be eliminated by interviewing multiple people from the same organization. Further research around the reasoning for linkages can be explored with theory-driven grounded studies.

This study attempts to use a multi-criteria decision-making technique to present insights to managers to help them make their organizations flexible.