Information Systems Management

6 Urbanizing the Inter-organizational Information System

The Fundamentals

1. 1) Inter-organizational territory is complex because of the multitude of stakeholders involved.
2. 2) Inter-organizational information systems can be either extended or cooperative information systems.
3. 3) Inter-organizational urbanization directly addresses issues to do with shared protocols, free software, standardization and collaborative working.

6.1. Inter-organizational territory

As we saw in Chapter 4, a territory implies the existence of borders. These borders are regularly called into question by transformations of the territory (and/or of neighboring territories). Consequently, the spatiality of territory is generally perceived as a build-up of multiple levels. Ongoing globalization processes call for a review of territorial boundaries and levels.

We might think that the concept of territory is in a way obsolete. Territory is indeed challenged by the development of networks. People, organizations, materials and capital are thus becoming increasingly mobile. This mobility reduces the scope of the concept of a territory with specific resources. However, borders have not disappeared completely. They are coming back in an even more aggressive way, because borders are becoming the territory’s one remaining institutionalized element. Consequently, a territory can become a guarantor of identity. As such, movements in the territory are supposed to be checked at the border. At the same time, differences ...