11th Pacific-Asia Conference on Information Systems 50. Alignment and IT Project Value Maximization Benoit A. Aubert 2 HEC Montreal and CIRANO benoit.aubert@cirano.qc.ca Simon Bourdeau HEC Montreal (Ph.D. Student) and CIRANO simon.bourdeau@hec.ca Abstract 3 This paper presents a case study of successful ERP implementation in two phases. The second phase included significant efforts to align the business strategy and organizational structure along with the information system components. These efforts enabled the organization to complete its alignment cycle by integrating its IT infrastructure and processes with the organizational infrastructure and processes, as well as fitting business strategy with the new infrastructure and processes and to reap the maximum value. Keywords: ERP Implementation, Strategy, Structure, Organizational Change Introduction Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems introduce changes on a scale that is larger than most other systems. They link various components of the organization and modify its structure by deploying standardized processes and data models which can lead to higher efficiency and significant cost savings (Soh, Kiwn, and Tay-Yap, 2000). This paper investigates the adjustment dynamic between an ERP system and the other components of the organization. By documenting over two years the strategic and structural components of the organization, as well as the IS implementation activities, the process of adjusting strategic, structural, and system components is explained. Results show that it is important to complete the alignment cycles (i.e. strategic alignment) in order to collect maximum value. There has been significant work in the IS field on strategy and structure. Some key elements are reviewed in the following section. After an overview of the methodology followed, the case is briefly described. The last sections present the analysis and the main conclusions. Theoretical background Several researchers have looked at the strategic contribution of information systems (IS). Earl (1989) offered insights on how to manage IS strategically. More recent efforts have refined early insights and showed that information systems could enhance organizational flexibility and lead to increased performance (Zhang, 2006). The relationship between information technology (IT) structure and strategy has been investigated for a long time. Tavakolian (1989) used the Miles and Snow (1978) strategic typology to investigate the impact of strategy on structure. There were several efforts linking the structure of the organization with the IS structure. Authors argued that when the organization structure and the IT structure were matching, performance increased (Gwynne, 2 Benoit Aubert is also Adjunct Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The research was financed by the CEFRIO and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada