Maximizing the Value and Strategic Alignment of Business Intelligence at a Mature Medium-Sized Manufacturing Organization

There have been past research studies which have shown the benefits of business intelligence. The subjects of these past studies were typically large organizations. These past studies also typically looked at business intelligence in the financial, service or technology industries. This research studied the application of business intelligence within a medium-sized organization. The subject of this action research was a manufacturer who has served the plastics industry for over six decades. The purpose of this research is to fill a gap by studying the value and benefits a medium-sized mature manufacturing organization can achieve through the application of business intelligence. A new methodology of concurrent micro cycles in action research was also introduced in this research. Concurrent micro cycles in action research includes the characteristic of having multiple simultaneous action cycles of varying sizes. The varying sizes of the cycles support both small and large action cycles to be injected into a subject organization.