Using Information Technology for Strategic Advantage

Information Technology For Management 5th Edition

Turban, McLean, Wetherbe
Lecture Slides by A. Lekacos,
Stony Brook University
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1
 Learning Objectives
• Describe ways of interpreting the strategic impact of information systems.
• Describe IT-enabled strategies that companies can use to achieve competitive advantage
in their industry.
• Describe information technology skills and resources as they relate to the achievement of
sustained competitive advantage.
• Explain the four-stage model of information systems planning, and discuss the importance
of aligning information systems plans with business
• plans.
• Describe information requirement analysis, project payoff and portfolios, resource
allocation, and project planning.
• Discuss the meaning and importance of IT alignment.
• Identify the different types of IT architectures and outline the processes necessary to
establish an information architecture.
• Discuss the major issues addressed by information systems planning.
• Distinguish the major Web-related IT planning issues and understand application portfolio
selection.
2
 Strategic Information System
Any information system--EIS, OIS, TPS, KMS--that changes the
goals, processes, products, or environmental relationships to help
an organization gain a competitive advantage or reduce a
competitive disadvantage.

• Competitive Advantage
• An advantage over competitors in some measure such as cost,
quality, or speed
• A difference in the Value Chain Data
• Improving Core Competency
• Employee productivity
• Operational efficiency

3
Strategic Information System
Continued

The goals, processes, products, or environmental

relationships that help an organization gain a competitive
advantage or reduce a competitive disadvantage.

4
 Strategic Management

Strategic management is the way an organization maps or crafts

the strategy of its future operations.
Strategy Evaluation & Development
Mental Map

Needs
Analysis Strengths
A Weaknesses • SWOT Analysis

High
D C • Product Life Cycle
G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6
Low High
Opportunities Threats
Preference

Low
B • Quality Preference
Demand
Management

Competitive $
E Advantage SCOPE

• …
Position,
Product

pr
ce
Capabilities, Cost-

od
pla

uc
Differentiation,

t
Quality Curve, target
Substitutions market
Sustainability Company

pr
om

e
ARC,

ic
ot

pr
io
n
Coordination,
Incentives,
Value Chain Explorer-Exploiter
Creation/Capture,
PIE, Supplier,
Strategy
Buyer
Scope, Goals,
Competitive
Advantage,
Logic

Competitors
Competition
Competitive
&
TY
Niche Life Cycle, Market

N
Oligopoly Structure, Behavior,
Dominant
I
TA E
Monopoly Barriers to Entry

ER
F C
UN CHAN
G
Introductory Growth Maturity Decline
Stage Stage Stage Stage

Total
Market
Sales
January 2002
S M T W T F S
Time 1 2 3 4 5
Early Early Late
Innovators Laggards 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Adopters Majority Majority Implement 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Time 27 28 29 30 31

&
G H
Market growth rate

"The
Chasm"
? Stars
Action
Technology Adoption Process

Exit Cash
Strategy Cows Strategy Statement Performance
Relative market share

5
 Information Technology –
Supports Strategic Management

 Innovative applications: Create

innovative applications that provide direct
strategic advantage to organizations.
 Competitive weapons: Information
systems themselves are recognized as a
competitive weapon
 Changes in processes: IT supports
changes in business processes that translate to
strategic advantage
 Links with business partners: IT links
a company with its business partners effectively
and efficiently.
6
Information Technology– Supports
Strategic Management (Continued)

 Cost reductions: IT enables companies to

reduce costs.
 Relationships with suppliers and
customers: IT can be used to lock in
suppliers and customers, or to build in
switching costs.
 New products: A firm can leverage its
investment in IT to create new products that
are in demand in the marketplace.
 Competitive intelligence: IT provides
competitive (business) intelligence by collecting
and analyzing information about products,
markets, competitors, and environmental
changes . 7
 Competitive Intelligence

One of the most important aspects in developing a competitive

advantage is to acquire information on the activities and actions
of competitors.

• Such information-gathering drives business performance

• by increasing market knowledge
• improving knowledge management
• raising the quality of strategic planning

However once the data has been gathered it must be

processed into information and subsequently business
intelligence.
Porters 5 Forces is a well-known framework that
aids in this analysis.
8
 Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

The model recognizes five major forces that could endanger a

company’s position in a given industry.

• The threat of entry of new competitors

• The bargaining power of suppliers
• The bargaining power of customers (buyers)
• The threat of substitute products or services
• The rivalry among existing firms in the industry

External Competitive Forces

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Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

Competitive Forces

10
Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

Competitive Forces

11
We develop a Competitor Analysis

First Competitive Force

What Drives them?

What are they Doing and can do?
What are their strengths & weaknesses?
Is Competition intense?

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We Analyze the Entry Barriers

Second Competitive Force

If nothing slows entry of competitors
competition will become intense.
Incumbent Reaction?
What Actions are required to build market
share?
Production Process?
13
We Analyze the Substitute Products

Third Competitive Force

Products or services from another industry

enter the market
Customers becoming acclimated to using
substitutes
Is the substitute market growing?

14
We Analyze the Supply Chain

Fourth & Fifth Competitive Forces

The Suppliers
The Buyers
Who controls the transaction?

Each element adds value – question who

captures it?
15
 Generic Strategies
Developing a Sustained Competitive Advantage

Analyzing the forces that influence a company’s competitive position

will assist management in crafting a strategy aimed at establishing a
sustained competitive advantage. To establish such a position, a
company needs to develop a strategy of performing activities
differently than a competitor.

 Cost leadership strategy: Produce products

and/or services at the lowest cost in the
industry.
 Differentiation strategy: Offer different
products, services, or product features.
 Niche strategy: Select a narrow-scope segment
(niche market) and be the best in quality,
speed, or cost in that market.
16
 Generic Strategies
Developing a Sustained Competitive Advantage
(Continued)

 Growth strategy: Increase market share,

acquire more customers, or sell more products.
 Alliance strategy: Work with business partners
in partnerships, alliances, joint ventures, or
virtual companies.
 Innovation strategy: Introduce new products
and services, put new features in existing
products and services, or develop new ways to
produce them.
 Operational effectiveness strategy: Improve
the manner in which internal business
processes are executed so that a firm performs
similar activities better than rivals.
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 Generic Strategies
Developing a Sustained Competitive Advantage
(Continued)

 Customer-orientation strategy: Concentrate on making

customers happy
 Time strategy: Treat time as a resource, then manage it
and use it to the firm’s advantage.
 Entry-barriers strategy: Create barriers to entry.
 Lock in customers or suppliers strategy: Encourage
customers or suppliers to stay with you rather than going
to competitors.
 Increase switching costs strategy: Discourage customers
or suppliers from going to competitors for economic
reasons.

Our goal is to perform activities differently than a

competitor. Those activities can be linked in a Value
Chain Model.
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 The Value Chain
According to the value chain model (Porter, 1985), the activities conducted
in any organization can be divided into two parts: primary activities and
support activities.

 Primary activities are those activities in which

materials are purchased, processed into
products, and delivered to customers. Each adds
value to the product or service hence the value
chain.
 Inbound logistics (inputs)
 Operations (manufacturing and testing)
 Outbound logistics (storage and distribution)
 Marketing and sales
 Service
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 The Value Chain (Continued)

 Unlike the primary activities, which directly add value to

the product or service, the support activities are
operations that support the creation of value (primary
activities)
 The firm’s infrastructure (accounting, finance, management)
 Human resources management
 Technology development (R&D)
 Procurement

The initial purpose of the value chain model was to analyze the internal
operations of a corporation, in order to increase its efficiency,
effectiveness, and competitiveness. We can extend that company
analysis, by systematically evaluating a company’s key processes and
core competencies to eliminate any activities that do not add value to
the product.

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 The Value Chain (Continued)

Secondary Activities

Value

Primary Activities

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 The Value Chain (Continued)

Secondary Activities

Value

Primary Activities
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 The Value Chain (Continued)

Phone Fax Transactional

Int ernet Systems

Item Retrieval
Brand & Model EDI/ XML
UPC
Model No. POS

Internal
Order Entry
MFG No. Service Cash
Construction
SKU EDI Internet
Check
Charge(Bank, T&E, House, Finance)
Alternate Units Transm
issions
Transaction Posting Cash Posting
Automatic
Accessories Invoice/Credit Memo

Cash Receipts
Generic Items Order Entry Screen
Item Key 1
Text 199.95
Windows POS Deposits
item2 2
Instructions 189.99 Retrieval
Order Entry Deposits
Service Deposits
Trade-in's Construction Deposits
Internet Deposits
Catalog Items End of Month
Statements

Ticket
Pricing Exception
Packages Tables YES Customer Stmt
Ticket Customer Accepts NO
Pre-Built (actual) To Delivery
Customer Stmt
Customer Stmt
Pre-Built (phantom) Accounting

Selling Tools Out of Stock Accounts Receivable

Features Substitution
Messages Hot Items

Drop Ship
Hot Items
Best Sellers
Notes
Special Order
Alternate Locations
Open Order
Backorder
E-Billing
Customer History
Installation WO's Standard Orders

Blanket Orders
E-
Receiving Operation
(Wholesale Division)

Catalog, Phone, Internet Sales PaymentsReceived Uncosted File

Merchandise Invoice

Customers
Delivery Ticket Marked Pick
Ticket Expense Invoice
Three-way
Match

Picking Ticket
Order Fulfillment

Pick Ticket
MIT^%T$$
Accounts Payable File

Scheduling

From POS
Disbursement File
Delivery Ticket sent to
Delivery Department
Delivery Process
Accounts Payable
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 The Value System
A firm’s value chain is part of a larger stream of activities, which
Porter calls a value system. A value system includes the suppliers that
provide the inputs necessary to the firm and their value chains. This
also is the basis for the supply chain management concept. Many of
these alliances and business partnerships are based on Internet
connectivity
are called interorganizational information systems (IOSs)

 These Internet-based EDI systems offer strategic benefits

 Faster business cycle (PO to Receiving)
 Automation of business procedures (Automated Replenishment)
 Reduced operational costs
 Greater advantage in a fierce competitive environment

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Sustaining a Strategic Information System (SIS)

Strategic information systems are designed to establish a profitable and

sustainable position against the competitive forces in an industry. Due to
advances in systems development it has become increasingly difficult to
sustain an advantage for an extended period. Experience also indicates
that information systems, by themselves, can rarely provide a sustainable
competitive advantage. Therefore, the major problem that companies
now face is how to sustain their competitive advantage.

 One popular approach is to use inward

systems that are not visible to competitors.
These proprietary systems allow the company
to perform the activities on their value chain
differently than their competitors.

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Strategic Resources And Capabilities

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Strategic Resources And Capabilities

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IT Planning – Critical

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 IT Planning — A Critical Issue for
Organizations
IT planning is the organized planning of the IT infrastructure and
applications portfolios for all levels of the organization.
Corporate IT planning determines the IT infrastructure which in turn
determines what applications end users can deploy. Aligning the goals of the
organization and the ability of IT to contribute to those goals can deliver
great gains in productivity to the organization.
• IT PLANNING APPROACHES
• Business-led approach: The IT investment plan is defined on the basis of the
current business strategy.
• Method-driven approach: The IS needs are identified with the use of techniques
and tools.
• Technological approach: Analytical modeling and other tools are used to execute
the IT plans.
• Administrative approach: The IT plan is established by a steering committee.
• Organizational approach: The IT investment plan is derived from a business-
consensus view of all stakeholders in the organization

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 IT Planning — A Critical Issue for
Organizations Continued
A four-stage model of IT planning that consists of four major activities.

• Strategic IT planning: Establishes the relationship between the overall

organizational plan and the IT plan.
• Information requirements analysis: Identifies broad, organizational
information requirements to establish a strategic information architecture
that can be used to direct specific application development.
• Resource allocation: Allocates both IT application development resources
and operational resources.
• Project planning: Develops a plan that outlines schedules and resource
requirements for specific IS projects.

The four-stage planning model is the foundation for the development of a

portfolio of applications that is highly aligned with the corporate goals and has
the ability to create an advantage over competitors.

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 IT Planning — A Critical Issue
for Organizations Continued
An applications portfolio is the mix of computer applications that the
information system department has installed or is the process of developing
on behalf of the company.

The applications portfolio

categorizes existing, planned,
and potential information
systems based on their
business contributions.

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 Strategic Information Technology
Planning - Stage 1
The first stage of the IT planning model identifies the applications portfolio
through which an organization will conduct its business. This stage can
also be expanded to include the process of searching for strategic
information systems (SIS) that enable a firm to develop a competitive
advantage. This involves assessing the current business environment and
the future objectives and strategies.

• IT Alignment with Organizational Plans: The primary task of IT

planning is to identify information systems applications that fit the objectives
and priorities established by the organization.
• Analyze the external environment (industry, supply chain, competition) and the
internal environment (competencies, value chain, organizational structure) then
relate them to technology (alignment).
• Alignment is a complex management activity whose complexity increases in
accordance with the complexity of organization.

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 Strategic Information Technology
Planning – Methodologies
Several methodologies exist to facilitate IT planning.
• The business systems planning (BSP) model, developed by IBM deals with
two main building blocks which become the basis of an information architecture.
• Business processes
• Data classes
• Stages Of It Growth Model, indicates that organizations go through six stages
of IT growth
• Initiation. When computers are initially introduced.
• Expansion (Contagion). Centralized growth takes place as users demand more
applications.
• Control. In response to management concern about cost versus benefits, systems
projects are expected to show a return.
• Integration. Expenditures on integrating (via telecommunications and databases)
existing systems
• Data administration. Information requirements rather than processing drive the
applications portfolio.
• Maturity. The planning and development of IT are closely coordinated with business
development 33
Strategic Information Technology
Planning – Methodologies Continued

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 Strategic Information Technology
Planning – Methodologies Continued

• Critical success factors (CSFs) are those few things that must go right in
order to ensure the organization's survival and success. Critical success factors vary
by industry categories—manufacturing, service, or government—and by specific
industries within these categories. Sample questions asked in the CSF approach are:
• What objectives are central to your organization?
• What are the critical factors that are essential to meeting these objectives?
• What decisions or actions are key to these critical factors?
• What variables underlie these decisions, and how are they measured?
• What information systems can supply these measures?

• Scenario planning is a methodology in which planners first create several

scenarios, then a team compiles as many as possible future events that may
influence the outcome of each scenario.

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Strategic Information Technology
Planning – Methodologies Continued
Critical success factors (CSFs)

36
 Strategic Information Technology
Planning - Stage 2 Information Requirements Analysis
The second stage of the model is the information requirements analysis,
which is an analysis of the information needs of users and how that
information relates to their work. The goal of this second stage is to ensure
that the various information systems, databases, and networks can be
integrated to support the requirements identified in stage 1.
• Information requirements analysis in stage 2 is a more
comprehensive level of analysis. It encompasses infrastructures
such as the data needs (e.g., in a data warehouse or a data
center), requirements for the intranet, extranet, and corporate
partners are established.
• Identifies high payoffs IT projects which will produce the
highest organizational payoff.
• Provides an architecture that leads to a cohesive, integrated
systems that offers the most benefit

37
Strategic Information Technology
Planning - Stage 3 Resource Allocation
Resource allocation, the third stage of the IT planning model, consists of
developing the hardware, software, data networks and communications,
facilities, personnel, and financial plans needed to execute the master
development plan as defined in the requirements analysis phase.

Allocation is a difficult and in many cases a political process.

• Difficult since opportunities and requests for spending far
exceed the available funds.
• Difficult since some projects and infrastructures are necessary
in order for the organization to stay in business.
• Another major factor in resource allocation is employing
outsourcing strategy.
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Strategic Information Technology
Planning - Stage 4 Project Planning
The fourth and final stage of the model for IT planning is project planning.
It provides an overall framework within which specific applications can be
planned, scheduled, and controlled. Additional emphasis is placed on vendor
management and control it the organization will outsources some of the
requirements.
We have to understand what we are going to do
We need to know the start and end dates
We need to know the resources
We need to know the tasks

Various tools exist for planning and control:

• PERT & CPM
• Gantt Charts
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 IT Planning — Information Technology
Architectures
Information technology architecture refers to the overall structure of all
information systems in an organization.
• This structure consists of applications for various management levels
• operational control
• management planning and control
• strategic planning
• Applications oriented to various functional-operational activities
• Marketing
• R&D
• Production
• Distribution
• It also includes infrastructure
• Databases
• Supporting software
• Networks

40
 IT Planning — Information Technology
Architectures Continued

Different organizations have different IT infrastructure requirements. Two

general factors that influence infrastructure levels are information intensity
(the extent to which products or processes incorporate information) and strategic
focus (the level of emphasis on strategy and planning). Firms with higher levels of
these two factors use more IT infrastructure services,

• Industry. Manufacturing firms use fewer IT infrastructure services than

retail or financial firms.
• Market volatility. Firms that need to change products quickly use more IT
infrastructure services.
• Business unit synergy. Firms that emphasize synergies (e.g., cross-selling)
use more IT infrastructure services.
• Strategy and planning. Firms that integrate IT and organizational planning,
and track or monitor the achievement of strategic goals, use more IT
infrastructure services.

41
 IT Planning — Information Technology
Architectures Continued
Each organization has its own particular needs and preferences for
information. Therefore, today’s IT architecture is designed around business
processes rather than traditional departmental hierarchy.
• Architectural choices are:
• Centralized computing: puts all processing and control authority within one
computer to which all other computing devices respond.
• Distributed computing: gives users direct control over their own computing
by providing a decentralized environment
• Blended computing: a blend of the two models
• End-user configurations (workstations):
• Centralized computing with the PC functioning as “dumb terminals” or “not
smart” thin PCs.
• A single-user PC that is not connected to any other device.
• A single-user PC that is connected to other PCs or systems, using a
telecommunications connections.
• Workgroup PCs connected to each other in a small P2P network.
• Distributed computing with many PCs fully connected by LANs via wireline or
Wi-FI. 42
 IT Planning — Planning Challenges

Information technology planning gets more complicated when several

organizations are involved, as well as when we deal with multinational
corporations.
• Planning for Interorganizational Systems (IOS) involving several organizations
may be complex. Those involved with hundreds or even thousands of business
partners is extremely difficult. IT planners in those cases should focus on groups of
customers, suppliers, and partners
• IT Planning for Multinational Corporations face a complex legal, political, and
social environment, which complicates corporate IT planning. Therefore, many
multinational companies prefer to decentralize their IT planning and operations.
Thus evolving into local systems.
• Other Problems for IT Planning
• Cost, ROI justification
• Time-consuming process
• Obsolete methodologies
• Lack of qualified personnel
• Poor communication flow
• Minimal top management support

43
 Global Competition

Many companies are operating in a global environment. Doing business in

this environment is becoming more challenging as the political environment
improves and as telecommunications and the Internet open the door to a
large number of buyers, sellers, and competitors worldwide. This increased
competition is forcing companies to look for better ways to compete globally.

 Global dimensions along which management can globalize

 Product
 Markets & Placement
 Promotion
 Where value is added to the product
 Competitive strategy
 Use of non-home-country personnel - labor
Multidomestic Strategy: Zero standardization along the global
dimensions. Global Strategy: Complete standardization along the
seven global dimensions.
44
IT Planning — Web-based Systems
Strategic planning for Web-based systems can be viewed as a subset of IT
strategic planning. However, in many cases it is done independently of IT
planning. E-planning mostly deals with the EC infrastructure uncovering
business opportunities and deciding on an applications portfolio that will
exploit those opportunities.

• E-planning is usually less formal

• E-planning must be more flexible
• In e-planning more attention is given to:
• applications portfolio
• risk analysis, the degree of risk in Web-based systems can be high
• strategic planning issues such as the use of metrics (industry standards)
• strategic planning must integrate, e-business and knowledge management
• The Web environment is very turbulent

45
 IT Planning — Web-based Systems

Continued

46
 Managerial Issues
• Sustaining competitive advantage. As companies become larger and more
sophisticated, they develop sufficient resources to quickly duplicate the successful systems of
their competitors. For example, Alamo Rent-a-Car now offers a frequent-renter card similar to the
one offered by National car rental.
• Importance. Getting IT ready for the future—that is, planning—is one of the most challenging
and difficult tasks facing all of management, including IS management. Each of the four steps of
the IT strategic planning process— strategic planning, information requirements analysis,
resource allocation, and project planning—presents its own unique problems. Yet, without
planning, or with poor planning, the organization may be doomed.
• Organizing for planning. Many issues are involved in planning: What should be the role of
the ISD? How should IT be organized? Staffed? Funded? How should human resources issues,
such as training, benefits, and career paths for IS personnel, be handled? What about the
environment? The competition? The economy? Governmental regulations? Emerging
technologies? What is the strategic direction of the host organization? What are its key
objectives? Are they agreed upon and clearly stated? Finally, with these strategies and objectives
and the larger environment, what strategies and objectives should IS pursue? What policies
should it establish? What type of information architecture should the organization have:
centralized or not centralized? How should investments in IT be justified? The answer to each of
these questions must be tailored to the particular circumstances of the ISD and the larger
organization of which it is a part.
47
 Managerial Issues

• Fitting the IT architecture to the organization. Management of an organization

may become concerned that its IT architecture is not suited to the needs of the organization.
In such a case, there has likely been a failure on the part of the IT technicians to determine
properly the requirements of the organization. Perhaps there has also been a failure on the
part of management to understand the type and manner of IT architecture that they have
allowed to develop or that they need.
• IT architecture planning. IT specialists versed in the technology of IT must meet with
business users and jointly determine the present and future needs for the IT architecture. In
some cases, IT should lead (e.g., when business users do not understand the technical
implications of a new technology). In other cases, users should lead (e.g., when technology is
to be applied to a new business opportunity). Plans should be written and published as part of
the organizational strategic plan and as part of the IT strategic plan. Plans should also deal
with training, career implications, and other secondary infrastructure issues.
• IT policy. IT architectures should be based on corporate guidelines or principles laid out in
policies. These policies should include the roles and responsibilities of IT personnel and users,
security issues, cost-benefit analyses for evaluating IT, and IT architectural goals. Policies
should be communicated to all personnel who are managing or directly affected by IT.

48
 Managerial Issues
• Ethical and legal issues. Conducting interviews for finding managers’ needs and
requirements must be done with full cooperation. Measures to protect privacy must be taken.
In designing systems one should consider the people in the system. Reengineering IT means
that some employees will have to completely reengineer themselves. Some may feel too old to
do so. Conducting a supply chain or business process reorganization may result in the need to
lay off, retrain, or transfer employees. Should management notify the employees in advance
regarding such possibilities? Other ethical issues may involve sharing of computing resources or
of personal information, which may be part of the new organizational culture. Finally,
individuals may have to share computer programs that they designed for their departmental
use, and may resist doing so because they consider such programs their intellectual property.
Appropriate planning must take these and other issues into consideration.
• IT strategy. In planning IT it is necessary to examine three basic strategies: (1) Be a leader
in technology. The advantages of being a leader are the ability to attract customers, to provide
unique services and products, and to be a cost leader. However, there is a high development
cost of new technologies and high probability of failures. (2) Be a follower. This is a risky
strategy because you may be left behind. However, you do not risk failures, and so you usually
are able to implement new technologies at a fraction of the cost. (3) Be an experimenter, on a
small scale. This way you minimize your research and development investment and the cost of
failure. When new technologies prove to be successful you can move fairly quickly for full
implementation.
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