Conclusions, Discussion, Recommendations

In this chapter a final discussion will be presented following four case studies that have been carried out with respect to company IT standards using an initial and an enhanced conceptual model. The initial model focussed on the control of using IT standards whereas the enhanced version incorporated selection and implementation, besides their usage. Furthermore, control was modified into management and governance with the objective of focussing on opportunities to influence process performance to realize intended business benefits. In the next sections the business benefits identified in the case studies will be discussed, as well as whether these hold in a more general sense also. The structure of this chapter is as follows. First a summary and the conclusions of this research will be provided. Than, the contributions to theory and practice will be discussed including the generalizability of the findings and the limitations of this research. This chapter is concluded with recommendations for further research.