Shaping the Future: Business Design Through Information Technology

Shaping the Future provides 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; managers must take the lead in setting the competitive priorities for exploiting IT. They must drive technology, not delegate it to specialists or abdicate responsibility for its impact on the organization. Describes the competitive, organizational, economic, and technical aspects of using information technology for business design. 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 capital; positioning the firm's IT platform; and aligning business and technology.

Information technology is recent as it is pervasive on the managerial landscape. Up until very recently, business managers have not had to develop the kind of experience and expertise in information technology that they have in finance, human resources, and accounting. But times have changed and it's imperative that business managers acquire the same levels of expertise in this area if they are to continue to be successful in managing a business. Shaping The Future: Business Design Through Information Technology explores three major factors that determine the impact of information technology on competition in a wide range of industries such as: Sustained competitive advantage coming from having a first-rate platform in place; The active participation of top management (this is essential); and firms must manage the organizational and human side of information technology, using information technology not only to automate the status quo but also to adapt many aspects of jobs, skill requirements, and careers to today's demands. Shaping The Future will insure that these three essential tasks are understood and accomplished by the reader with business management responsibilities. -- Midwest Book Review