Gaining the benefits of integrated manufacturing technology - just who benefits and how?

Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) technology is regarded as a key to competitive advantage, yet research has revealed a range of organizational and management problems which prevent many organizations gaining advantage. This paper explores the value of a strategic approach to CIM implementation, which has been proposed as a means of overcoming such problems. Drawing on case material the paper examines implementation as a social and political process, in which strategic objectives are sometimes obscured by functional, professional and individual interests. In conclusion, the paper argues for the development of more politically and socially informed models of strategy and CIM development.