IMPACT OF SERVICES GRIDS ASSIMILATION ON THE LEVEL OF BUSINESS AGILITY - A CONCEPTUAL MODEL IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY

摘要

Over the last few years, Grid computing has gained considerable attention in the industry leading to the vision of a new agile business platform which provides the on-demand access to resources and services, thus facilitating new business models. In this article, we depict the current trend of financial institutions to employ Services Grids in order to increase the level of business agility in terms of a faster response to changing business needs. Since little empirical research has been conducted in this field so far, we conducted a case study in a large German bank that has introduced a Services Grid for risk management. Based on the results of the case study we develop a model and propositions depicting the causal relationship between Services Grids competence and business agility as antecedent of an increased financial performance. As part of our conceptual model, we elaborate on a more detailed measure of business agility.