Transition to Market Economy through Information Systems and Organizational Learning: A Case of Sava Company

Abstract

The transition to a market economy has been painful, if not fatal, for many companies in the post- socialist Central and Eastern European countries. The case of the Slovenian Company Sava, presented in this paper, is remarkable not only due to its highly successful transition from a socialist Company operating in a protected market to a privatized Company competing in the free, global market, but also due to the ways in which it achieved such a transition. Our case study shows that the key to Sava’s successful transition (1995-2005) was its reliance on organizational learning enabled and supported by information systems (IS). Sava’s transformation provides a ’natural laboratory’ for exploring and extending theories about the role of IS in supporting organizational learning under conditions of radical organizational, social, economic, and political change. The objective of the paper is twofold: a) to propose a theoretical interpretation of the role of IS in organizational learning in companies in transition economies by drawing from theories generated and tested in the context of developed western economies, and b) to demonstrate how such interpretation can expand our understanding of the relationship between IS and organizational learning beyond its traditional western context.