The influence of infrastructure flexibility on the relationship between innovative capability, human and growth : a study of high technology business in Gauteng

Abstract

The ‘innovation imperative’ - a salient demand on organisations to outclass their competitors in services rendered, products generated, as well as the channels of delivery - or face elimination, is a motivator behind the level of competitiveness in today’s global economy. As a result, innovation and the advent of technology has been a central and wide-ranging theme in academic research. In the recent past, business growth has been attributed to the mere development of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. Contrary to that notion though, more and more authors are referring to the flexibility of IT infrastructure as a cornerstone for optimal business operations and a response mechanism to changing organizational needs (MacKinnon, Grant, & Cray, 2008). Given the failure of the formal and public sector to absorb the growing number of job seekers in South Africa, increasing attention has focused on growth enterprises and their potential for contributing to economic growth, job creation and innovation (Herrington et al., 2009). The researcher sampled firms occupying the high technology spaces within Johannesburg as Information Communication Technology (ICTs) have permeated every facet of the contemporary organisations’ value chain, thus generating an automated grid of interrelated applications and information for business processes (Kohli & Melville, 2009). The study found that operational firm performance would improve if organisations were to make investments in IT infrastructure flexibility and exploit the human capital and innovative capability at their disposal