MIS580 Week 6

1
MIS580 - Week 6
Adapted from Information Systems Management In
Practice 6E McNurlin Sprague and Michael
Matthew Visiting Lecturer, GACC, Macquarie
University Sydney Australia
2
Brief summary

• Chapter talks about how you can plan short and
  mid-term, but strategic is long-term

3
Sense-and-Response Approach

• Why IS planning is so difficult?
• Business Goals and Systems Plans Need to Align
• Strategic systems plans need to align with
  business goals and support those objectives
• Technologies are Rapidly Changing
• This is one possible way to deal with time of
  change
• Let Strategies Unfold Rather Than Plan Them
  (Microsoft case)
• Many small experiments (Figure 4-6)
• Formulate strategy closest to the action (Skandia
  case)
• Employees who interact daily with customers,
  suppliers and partners
• Guide Strategy-Making with a Strategic Envelope
• Top management set the parameters for the
  experiments ( a strategic envelope), and then
  continually manage that context
• I am curious to see what your interviews say
  about if this is how firms are planning strategic
  systems
• Seems kind of like giving up on strategic
  planning to me

4
Strategic Models

• 1. Nolans stages
• This model is a precursor to what we will look at
  in week 11 at a societal/market level.
• Basically, there are windows where bold
  strategies are more common (Stage 1 and 2
  Initiation and Contagion)
• Old ways are seen as limited
• People arent sure what to make of the new yet
  and could adopt new
• My take on this
• For the market
• Early times are time of dreaming big
• Network externalities arent there
• People are receptive to adopting new ideas
• Mass market can be reached
• Risks are highest and so are rewards
• Would seem that being aware of where your tech is
  in the stages suggests what type of strategy is
  easier to justify

5
Strategic Models 2. Critical Success Factors

• Popular planning approach that can be used to
  help companies identify information systems they
  need to develop / improve
• Used to determine factors critical to accomplish
  corporate objectives and corresponding measures
• Can be used to identify IS plans that need to be
  developed
• For each executive, CSFs are the few key areas of
  the job where things must go right for the
  organization to flourish (suggested fewer than 10
  per executive)
• In your project, should discuss how the strategic
  system enables one or more of these factors

6
Strategic Models 3. Competitive Forces Model

• 3 strategies for dealing with these competitive
  forces
• Differentiate product and services - make them
  better in the eyes of the consumer
• Be the lowest-cost producer
• Find a niche

The why The what to do about it
For the project, may find it helpful to identify
if your tech either helps deal with a threat or
enable a strategy and to frame in Porters model
7
Strategic Models 4. Value Chain Analysis

• Five primary activities that form the sequence of
  the value chain
• Inbound logistics receiving and handling inputs
• Operations converting inputs to the
  product/service
• Outbound logistics collect, store, and
  distribute the product/service to buyers
• Marketing and sales the means/incentives for
  buyers to buy the product/service
• Service enhancements/maintenance of the value of
  the product/service
• Again, if it is helpful, frame where your tech
  provides value in the value chain

8
Strategic Models 5. E-Business Value Matrix

• To prioritize projects, a balanced portfolio
  approach is suggested
• Every IT project is meant to be placed into one
  of four categories to assess its value to the
  company (Figure 4-10)
• Frame where your tech provides value. Use this
  category scheme to help in prioritization section
  of document, discuss its relative importance and
  risk.

Newness to world
9
For Project

• Identify which if any of the aforementioned
  models/strategies are relevant for your client
  firm
• Include this analysis in your project document
• Generally, these models help with prioritization
  issues and belong in that section of the project.