The relationships among types of information systems, levels of environmental turbulence and performances of international business firm

The Problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among types of information systems, levels of environmental turbulence and performances of international business firms.;Methods. A correlational study was conducted, and 51 executives from the manufacturing industries in the U.S.A. and Malaysia were chosen for interviews and mailed questionnaire. Independent Chi-square calculations were performed on the survey data to indicate the perceived differences of the respondents regarding the levels of turbulence of the external business environment between the two countries and in support of financial performance. Correlations were used to assess the linear association between levels of environmental turbulence, financial performance, and information system capabilities of the firms. Analysis of variance (followed by Scheffe tests) were used to assess the central tendency between the financial performance and informations system characteristics for the two countries.;Results. The first research question, which asked about the relationship between levels of environmental turbulence, and financial performance, was supported with correlation coefficients which were statistically significant at the.05 level of confidence. The second research question, which asked about the relationship between financial performance, and information system capabilities, was supported with correlation coefficients which were statistically significant at the.05 level of confidence.;Results of the study supported the premise that levels of environmental turbulence, and information system capabilities are directly related to financial performance of the international business firms.