Information Technology Strategy

This class explores how traditional firms and startups use information technology (IT) strategically while focusing on the use of IT rather than the details of the technology. The object is to understand how IT enables new strategies and how existing strategies adapt to IT innovations. Technologies that improve firms' ability to gather, distribute, and process information affect (1) how important business functions (or value activities) are performed, (2) individual firms structure and value chains, and (3) how firms interface and interact.

The class examines these issues from a number of perspectives:

• How is specific IT, e.g., the Internet, databases, online payment systems, and mobile communications, used to create value?
• How do different tasks and functional areas, in particular operations and marketing, employ IT?
• What business models, markets, and strategies do IT developments improve and make possible, e.g., online procurement, supply chain management, and types of B2C and B2B commerce?
• What are the best ways for firms to jointly optimize IT, their organizational structure, and their supply chain?
• How does IT's use differ across industries ranging from those based on pure information to complex manufacturing?

Course syllabus (HTML)