摘要：Most musings on the strategic management of new organizational forms¡ªe.g., looselycoupled systems, information-technology-enabled networks, and virtual organizations¡ªexhibit two fundamental research weaknesses. First, the "new organizational formists"are insufficiently grounded in research on old organizational forms and old organiza-tional strategies. Second, most studies of new organizational forms are insufficientlygrounded in data from the new organizational forms they purport to explain. This leadsto a situation in which chroniclers of an important change in organizations are too-oftenignored because they are atheoretical and aempirical. This study of John Brown Engi-neering & Construction's adoption of an explicit information technology strategy providesa specific research context in which to consider three related phenomena. The first phe-nomenon is the continual movement in organizational forms, from firms, to bureaucra-cies, to institutions, and¡ªmost recently¡ªto loosely coupled systems, information-tech-nology-enabled networks, and virtual organizations. The second phenomenon is thecontinued accumulation of strategic options: cost leadership, differentiation, strategicalliances, vertical integration, diversification, globalization, and merger and acquisitionstrategies. The third phenomenon is the notion of "schizoid incoherence," a conditioncommon to sensemakers, decision-makers, and strategy makers in which there arenumerous possible directions to take
