Adequacy of information technology governance in Zimbabwe's mining sector : the case of Maranatha Ferrochrome (Pvt) (LTD)

Abstract

The decline in Zimbabwe economy from 1998 to 2008 had an adverse effect on the business ventures, not sparing the ferrochrome industry. This led to reduction in production. On the after math of economic recovery, ferrochrome prices went down which forced a number of mines to close shop, in the face of rapid advancement in technology and the inclusion of IT governance as a King III chapter of good corporate governance for the first time in 2009. This research wishes to investigate the factors that led to production stoppage in line with Information Technology. The research objectives are to discover if there is adequate IT governance for sustainability in the ferrochrome industry with a special emphasis in Maranatha Ferrochrome Limited. The research adopted a phenomenology approach because it permits analysis of qualitative data, which provides in-depth understanding and meaning to events. Self-administered questionnaires were used as the main data collection tools, although small interviews were sought to get further understanding on responses. The research study discovered that Maranatha Ferrochrome has high use of IT products and services, but there is little control in terms of the management of the IT assets. The research also found out that there was no IT department and an IT policy, or accommodating IT frameworks at the company. In addition the research discovered that there was little in place for disaster recovery planning and that there was over reliance on outsourcing of IT services with little or no reporting on IT importance to the company. Last the research discovered that Maranatha Ferrochrome was not practising industry best practices in terms of IT management and governance, which implies that there is inadequate IT governance at the company. The researcher recommends that Maranatha Ferrochrome should reform it conduct on IT governance, and benchmark their organization against the standard of published institutes, such as the Institute of IT governance and the Institute of Directors South Africa. It is also vital that the company creates an IT governance system that has the input of all levels of corporate hierarchy.