IT STRATEGY and POLICY PLANNING

Information technology, over the last 50 years or so, has played a major role in the way we do many activities. More and more IT is playing a role as a driver of change in business, education, government, and may organizations. This course is designed to educate the prospective managers in:

• Understanding "what is IT?"
• How IT is related to organizations and their businesses
• The financial aspects of IT and valuation methods
• How to use IT as a strategic weapon and how to implement strategies
• How to come up with IT policies that generate business process innovations

...plus more....

This is an elective course offerer under E-Business Management Program. However, MBA students International Relations Master Program students can also take this course. In the past majority of the students taking this course has been MBA students.

Course oveview:

The course is targeted to a general manager, consultant, or administrator class, not only in careers related to IT, but also careers which may benefit from the IT services, such as strategic planners, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and executives.

Information Technology (IT), despite being around for close to half a century, still is not well understood by business executive or government administrators -- often the role of IT is neglected or misunderstood. The recent examples from a Japanese bank demonstrate the management痴 disregard of its IT resources which caused the bank to suffer huge monetary losses and loss of trust. While one bank suffers, you hear a story from another bank about how its top executives harnessed the enormous power of its IT resources to turn around its bankrupt business model into a billion-dollar profit making machine. Such IT-oriented examples of successes, failures, and lost opportunities are abound in all kinds of businesses, from financial services, manufacturing, and sales, to government services, health care, and education plus more.

The companies and organizations traditionally had relied on real assets such as factories, sales outlets, branch offices, workers, and the cash flows as the main components of their business. The emergence of computers has added a new asset to this traditional business model. While computers and other networking hardware have become part of the real assets, an intangible asset, which is the data and information, has created a very challenging environment for the executive hierarchy to manage. Today, with the spread of globalization, managing IT assets, creating value, and controlling risks while inventing IT strategies and policies are as challenging as the very survival for many companies, organizations, and governments.

Prerequisite:

It is assumed that students who take this course have familiarity or have strong interest in Information Technology. A basic familiarity of IT technical terms, such as Internet, LAN, Database, OS, Software, Hardware, is required.

• Identification of IT assets and Business Models
• The Networked Economy and Strategic Framework
• Value Proposition Path Method and Cash Flow Analysis
• Framework for Deriving IT Strategy
• Using Strategy Maps and Strategy Implementations
• IT Valuation Models
• IT Policies

Teaching Method:

The course is being offered as a practical course that can be applied in real situations. The professor, first, present the general theoretical framework that would help students to understand how to use IT as a strategy that would help the sustainability of a company or an organization. Students learn how to use the formula-based financial analysis in order to connect with IT and to use IT to increase efficiencies, cut down costs or increase effieiencis.

A visit to a company to discuss how they use IT as a business strategy

While professor uses some of cases written by him, geographic based cases written by other business school professors are also used. The students are required to use the learned theoretical framework to analyze a case and present a justification of proposed IT strategies. Students are also asked to produce Strategy Maps, especially taking into IT aspects.

Texts:

The main material used for the class include:

• Cases and notes prepared by the professor
• Cases covering IT applications from Japan, USA, China, India, and other countries and different applications, such as financial, infra, marketing, management.
• Corporate Information Strategy and Management: Text and Cases・by Lynda M. Applegate, Robert D. Austin, F. Warren McFarlan, (6th Ed. ISBN: 0072456728), 2003.
• Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, (ISBN: 1591391342), 2004

Past Field Trip Slides:

Spring 2008, Field Trip to Toyota in Nagoya

Spring 2009, Field Trip to Toyota in Nagoya

Unsolicited comments form past students who had taken this course:

** "(Professor was) very knowledgable"

*** "It is a new course, but it is a good course... interested in IT, should take this course"

To sign-up for the course, send e-mail to: ofcgsim@iuj.ac.jp