Strategic planning is typically performed by groups of managers. Group support systems (GSS), an information technology designed to improve group work, may therefore have useful application to strategic planning. In this paper, the application of GSS is examined with respect to four dimensions: process support, process structure, task support, and task structure. A GSS may assist the communication aspects of group meetings by providing process support to improve interaction among participants and process structure to direct the pattern or content of the discussion. GSS may also provide task structure, such as structured analysis and modeling techniques, and task support, such as access to important task information. This paper reports on the use of a GSS in the strategic planning processes of thirty organizations. The ability of the GSS to provide process support was found to be the most important contributor to strategic planning success, with task structure and process structure secondary. Task support contributed little. Those organizations that made greater use of electronic communication, structured problem analysis techniques, and structured meeting processes reported greater success.
Strategic management is often performed by groups of managers. By improving the communication process of such groups, strategic management might be enhanced. This paper investigates the application of electronic meeting systems (EMS) technology to support strategic management. Eight cases involving five organizations using an EMS facility are examined to: (1) determine how organizational groups use EMS for strategic management, (2) assess the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the EMS approach to strategic management, and (3) assess the capability of an EMS to address a variety of group process and communication issues in an organizational context. The findings indicate that EMS technology can address a number of the theoretical and practical concerns associated with strategic management meetings involving large heterogeneous groups of managers. Implications for the design of EMS to support strategic management are discussed, and opportunities for future research are identified.