Shaping the Future: Business Design Through Information Technology

This book aims to provide managers with comprehensive and practical advice on their role in managing information technology as a business resource. Business change and technical change fuel each other, and the challenge for management is to get ahead of the curve, not just react to it. Managers must take the lead in setting the competitive priorities for exploiting IT. They have to drive technology, not delegate it to specialists or abdicate responsibiltity for its impact on the organization. This book describes the competitive, organizational, economic, and technical aspects of using information technology for business design. It highlights key management policy decisions, business opportunities, and potential problems in seven areas: competitive positioning through IT: geographic positioning; designing the organization; deploying human capital; managing the economics of information captial; positioning the firm's IT platform; and aligning business and technology. The book offers advice on managing information technology as a business resource and describes the competitive, organizational, economic, and technical aspects of using IT for business design. It highlights key management policy decisions, business opportunities, and potential problems in seven areas.