Organizational and Strategic Flexibility
Organizational and Strategic Flexibility
Why is it important for business strategy to drive organizational strategy and IS strategy? What might happen if the business
strategy was not the driver?
2. In 2015, the NFL decided to hand out Microsoft Surface tablets to all coaches for use during games, and there are reports that in the future, they will add HoloLens devices to provide augmented reality.18 A HoloLens device is a high‐definition, head‐mounted display that allows coaches to see the plays with text and animation superimposed right on the live images. If the NFL simply handed them out without making any other formal changes in organizational strategy or business strategy, what might be the outcome? What unintended consequences might occur?
3. Consider a traditional manufacturing company that wants to build a social business strategy. What might be a reasonable business strategy, and how would organization and IS strategy need to change? How would this differ for a restaurant chain? A consumer products company? A nonprofit?
4. This chapter describes key components of an IS strategy. Describe the IS strategy of a consulting firm using the matrix framework.
5. What does this tip from Fast Company mean: “The job of the CIO is to provide organizational and strategic flexibility”?19
K E Y T E R M S
apps (p. 27) blue ocean strategy (p. 24) business model (p. 20) business strategy (p. 21) collaboration (p. 28) cost leadership (p. 22) creative destruction (p. 24) differentiation (p. 22)
dynamic capabilities (p. 24) engagement (p. 28) focus (p. 22) hypercompetition (p. 23) Information Systems Strategy
Triangle (p. 18) innovation (p. 28) IS strategy (p. 26)
managerial levers (p. 25) mission (p. 19) organizational strategy (p. 25) red ocean strategy (p. 24) social business strategy (p. 27) strategy (p. 19)
18 Sean Michael, “NFL Teams Will Use Surface Pro 3s in 2015 and May Use HoloLens in the Future,” WinBeta (August 7, 2015), http://www.winbeta. org/news/nfl‐teams‐will‐use‐surface‐pro‐3s‐2015‐and‐may‐use‐hololens‐future (accessed August 21, 2015). 19 “Technology: How much? How fast? How revolutionary? How expensive?” Fast Company (March 2002), http://www.fastcompany.com/44651/ technology‐how‐much‐how‐fast‐how‐revolutionary‐how‐expensive (accessed August 21, 2015).
c01.indd 29 11/26/2015 6:19:40 PM
http://www.winbeta.org/news/nfl%E2%80%90teams%E2%80%90will%E2%80%90use%E2%80%90surface%E2%80%90pro%E2%80%903s%E2%80%902015%E2%80%90and%E2%80%90may%E2%80%90use%E2%80%90hololens%E2%80%90future%20
http://www.fastcompany.com/44651/technology%E2%80%90how%E2%80%90much%E2%80%90how%E2%80%90fast%E2%80%90how%E2%80%90revolutionary%E2%80%90how%E2%80%90expensive
30 The Information Systems Strategy Triangle
Lego has long been an industry leader in children ’ s toys with its simple yet unique building block‐style products. A Danish carpenter whose family still owns Lego today founded the privately held company in 1932. But by 2004, the company found itself close to extinction, losing $1 million a day. A new CEO was brought in, and within fi ve years sales were strong, profi ts were up, and naysayers who felt the new strategy was going to fail were proved wrong. In fact, sales, revenues and profi ts continued to be strong. Revenues grew from 16 billion Danish krone (DKK) in 2010 to over 28 billion DKK in 2014, and in the same period, profi t almost doubled from 3.7 billion DKK to 7 billion DKK.
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
