Survey results linking an innovative strategy (IS) within an organization to perceived customer values, with attention to mediating factors, are analyzed in this paper. The mediating factors are CIO leadership and organizational climate.

The conclusions are not surprising. A positive association was found between an innovative business orientation and customer value, and a positive association was also found between an IS and an innovative business orientation. The authors came to three conclusions about mediators: (1) an organization’s innovative orientation mediates the influence of an innovative IS strategy on customer value; (2) the leadership role of the CIO positively moderates the association of an innovative orientation and an innovative IS strategy; and (3) an organizational climate encouraging creativity also positively moderates the association of an innovative orientation and an innovative strategy.

The major contribution of the paper is empirical confirmation of these conclusions. The conclusions are important because information technology is moving from being an enabler of company strategy to a basis for competitive advantage in producing customer value. It appears that CIO leadership was more influential than organizational climate in building the relationship between IS and company strategies.

The survey is based on 56 received responses from executives in the US and 109 responses from executives in India. The list of references given is exceptionally long. The statistical analysis of the data is thorough, but the presentation seems wordy. The paper does point out fruitful areas for further research such as determining the specific qualities of a CIO effective in fostering the bridge between innovative strategy and business strategy.