Does It Matter?


Book Description

Over the last decade, and even since the bursting of the technology bubble, pundits, consultants, and thought leaders have argued that information technology provides the edge necessary for business success. IT expert Nicholas G. Carr offers a radically different view in this eloquent and explosive book. As IT's power and presence have grown, he argues, its strategic relevance has actually decreased. IT has been transformed from a source of advantage into a commoditized "cost of doing business"--with huge implications for business management. Expanding on Carr's seminal Harvard Business Review article that generated a storm of controversy, Does IT Matter? provides a truly compelling--and unsettling--account of IT's changing business role and its leveling influence on competition. Through astute analysis of historical and contemporary examples, Carr shows that the evolution of IT closely parallels that of earlier technologies such as railroads and electric power. He goes on to lay out a new agenda for IT management, stressing cost control and risk management over innovation and investment. And he examines the broader implications for business strategy and organization as well as for the technology industry. A frame-changing statement on one of the most important business phenomena of our time, Does IT Matter? marks a crucial milepost in the debate about IT's future. An acclaimed business writer and thinker, Nicholas G. Carr is a former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review.




Connected Strategy


Book Description

Business Models for Transforming Customer Relationships What if there were a way to turn occasional, sporadic transactions with customers into long-term, continuous relationships--while simultaneously driving dramatic improvements in operational efficiency? What if you could break your existing trade-offs between superior customer experience and low cost? This is the promise of a connected strategy. New forms of connectivity--involving frequent, low-friction, customized interactions--mean that companies can now anticipate customer needs as they arise, or even before. Simultaneously, enabled by these technologies, companies can create new business models that deliver more value to customers. Connected strategies are win-win: Customers get a dramatically improved experience, while companies boost operational efficiency. In this book, strategy and operations experts Nicolaj Siggelkow and Christian Terwiesch reveal the emergence of connected strategies as a new source of competitive advantage. With in-depth examples from companies operating in industries such as healthcare, financial services, mobility, retail, entertainment, nonprofit, and education, Connected Strategy identifies the four pathways--respond-to-desire, curated offering, coach behavior, and automatic execution--for turning episodic interactions into continuous relationships. The authors show how each pathway creates a competitive advantage, then guide you through the critical decisions for creating and implementing your own connected strategies. Whether you're trying to revitalize strategy in an established company or disrupt an industry as a startup, this book will help you: Reshape your connections with your customers Find new ways to connect with existing suppliers while also activating new sources of capacity Create the right revenue model Make the best technology choices to support your strategy Integrating rich examples, how-to advice, and practical tools in the form of "workshop chapters" throughout, this book is the ultimate resource for creating competitive advantage through connected relationships with your customers and redefined connections in your industry.




Strategic Information Management


Book Description

The editors include a wide range of contemporary and classic articles from North America and the UK on key information systems management themes, including IT developments in business and outsourcing information systems services.




Strategic Information Technology


Book Description

Managers and executives know the importance of integrating business strategy and IT strategy for competitive advantage. Strategic Information Technology: Opportunities for Competitive Advantage provides managers and students alike with an understanding and appreciation for the development of business and information technology strategies to yield competitive advantage.




Information Technology and Industrial Competitiveness


Book Description

Information Technology (IT) - the field that links computer and communications equipment and software - is transforming the way modern business is done. Examples of factors leading these changes are: rapidly decreasing costs of computer hardware, government de-regulation, accelerating global competitiveness, an increasing management awareness, and the knowledge of how to employ Information Technology successfully. These have all led to the increase of IT's effects on existing markets, and, in the process, are creating entirely new markets. This book explores a variety of advances in IT by a group of researchers who are at the cutting edge of this research. Moreover, the book examines these innovative developments in terms of the Information Technology field and its effect on modern business. It is becoming increasingly apparent that IT is critical to success in today's competitive marketplace. As a result, this book examines a host of emerging effects at work in these developments and seeks to make sense out of these counter-acting, sometimes multiplicative, effects which can become obstacles for managers who wish to develop competitive applications of IT. These effects and the development of IT are grouped into four general categories in the book: Future Markets, Inter-Organizational Systems, Focused Applications, and Future Strategies.




Information Technology and Competitive Advantage in Small Firms


Book Description

Well structured and coherent, this book examines Information Technology as a strategic asset; covering first principles, reviewing existing theories and methods and testing selected theories using empirical data.




The Effect of Information Technology on Business and Marketing Intelligence Systems


Book Description

Business shapes have been changed these days. Change is the main dominant fact that change the way of business operations running. Topics such as innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership, blockchain, mobile business, social media, e-learning, machine learning, and artificial intelligence become essential to be considered by each institution within the technology era. This book tries to give additional views on how technologies influence business and marketing operations for insuring successful institutions survival. The world needs to develop management and intelligent business scenario plans that suite a variety of crisis appears these days. Also, business and marketing intelligence should meet government priorities in individual countries and minimise the risk of business disruptions. Business intelligence - the strategies and technology companies that use it to collect, interpret, and benefit from data - play a key role in informing company strategies, functions, and efficiency. However, being essential to the success, many companies are not taking advantage of tools that can improve their business intelligence efforts. Information technology become a core stone in business. For example, the combination of machine learning and business intelligence can have a far-reaching impact on the insights the company gets from its available data to improve productivity, quality, customer service and more. This book is important because it introduces a large number of chapters that discussed the implications of different Information technology applications in business. This book contains a set of volumes which are: 1- Social Marketing and Social Media Applications, 2- Social Marketing and Social Media Applications, 3- Business and Data Analytics, 4- Corporate governance and performance, 5- Innovation, Entrepreneurship and leadership, 6- Knowledge management, 7- Machine learning, IOT, BIG DATA, Block Chain and AI, 8- Marketing Mix, Services and Branding.




Developing Strategic Business Models and Competitive Advantage in the Digital Sector


Book Description

Rapid technological advancements have the ability to positively or negatively impact corporate growth and success. Professional leaders and decision makers must consider such advancements when designing and implementing new policies in preparation for the sustainable future of the business environment. Developing Strategic Business Models and Competitive Advantage in the Digital Sector focuses on the application of preemptive planning in the media and entertainment industries to combat an increasingly uncertain future of innovation and competition. With research-based examples and analysis, this book is an essential reference source for academicians, researchers, and professionals interested in learning more about the impact of technology on industry success, including the changes and challenges created by the Internet and electronic media.




Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior


Book Description

There is a strong movement today in management to encourage management practices based on research evidence. In the first volume of this handbook, I asked experts in 39 areas of management to identify a central principle that summarized and integrated the core findings from their specialty area and then to explain this principle and give real business examples of the principle in action. I asked them to write in non-technical terms, e.g., without a lot of statistics, and almost all did so. The previous handbook proved to be quite popular, so I was asked to edit a second edition. This new edition has been expanded to 33 topics, and there are some new authors for the previously included topics. The new edition also includes: updated case examples, updated references and practical exercises at the end of each chapter. It also includes a preface on evidence-based management. The principles for the first edition were intended to be relatively timeless, so it is no surprise that most of the principles are the same (though some chapter titles include more than one principle). This book could serve as a textbook in advanced undergraduate and in MBA courses. It could also be of use to practicing managers and not just those in Human Resource departments. Every practicing manager may not want to read the whole book, but I am willing to guarantee that every one will find at least one or more chapters that will be practically useful. In this time of economic crisis, the need for effective management practices is more acute than ever.