Tales from the Crypt: a narrative study of IT consultants and organising in the dotcom era

Seminar, 15 October 2004, 3-5pm

Magnus Bergquist, Göthenburg University
Jan Ljungberg, Viktoria Institute, Göthenburg

Abstract

In the late 90s a great expansion was experienced in the IT sector. Fast growing IT firms and web bureaux gained extremely high quotations in comparison to their 'real' business value. With the internet and the web as the most important driving force, a new mind-set was proposed for the new economy, replacing bureaucracy with entrepreneurship, tangibles with intangibles, stability with change, productivity with entertainment, and rationality with emotions.

To compete in this emerging arena and to take large shares of a foreseen future market, firms had to grow. Web bureaux had a genuine marketing competence, but lacked the competence needed for complex technical projects. Traditional IT consultants lacked competence in marketing and web design or were at least considered by the market to do so; they just didn't get the jobs. This led to acquisitions and mergers where web companies bought IT consultants, and sometimes the other way around. Mergers and acquisitions were a general strategy to increase market shares in a 'winner takes it all' logic.

Around the year 2000 the dotcom companies ran into trouble, the foreseen market didn't take off and many firms went bankrupt. There are many proposed explanations for the dotcom crash: the internet as the basic building block in new business models isn't in isolation sufficient; other possibilities include mergers leading to uncontrolled growth, and significant numbers of inexperienced young managers.

In this seminar the speakers will focus on the problems that resulted from mergers between firms with totally different views on what it means to organise IT business. The mergers often led to cultural clashes in how to organise IT projects, including different ways of managing, organising, working, collaborating and experiencing the organisation, but also implicit practices like dress code, attitudes, lifestyle, norms and values. The experiences of these failed acquisitions and mergers provides important knowledge of the practices and problems of what organising IT businesses means. This seminar will report on a narrative study aimed at capturing these experiences.

This seminar is part of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded ICTs in the Contemporary World: work management and culture series and is open to the public. UK PhD students are particularly encouraged to participate and their travels costs are subsidised. For more information about support for doctoral students email e.s.keys@lse.ac.uk.