Corporate Information Strategy and Management examines how information technology (IT) enables organizations to conduct business in radically different and more effective ways. The commercialization of the Internet has created a seismic change in the business environment. New channels of supply and distribution are emerging. New electronic marketplaces and exchanges are being created. The infrastructures of firms and the industries within which they operate have been permanently altered.

This is a fast-moving and global phenomenon. For established companies, the resulting challenges have been deep and pervasive. In many cases, the changes have threatened not just a firm’s competitiveness but also its survival. Executives bear an enormous burden as they attempt to understand the challenges, keep abreast of events, and make intelligent decisions and plans.

The objective of this book is to provide readers with a better understanding of the influence of twenty-first-century technologies on business decisions. The book discusses today’s challenges from the point of view of the executives who are grappling with them. It recounts stories of success and failure, focusing on the issues faced and the decisions made by executives in companies around the world.

The 18 cases and readings presented here are organized in an Introduction, three modules, and a Conclusion. The first module is aimed at understanding the impact of IT on industries, markets, and organizations. It discusses issues of strategic positioning and explains how twenty-first-century IT provides opportunities to alter market/industry structure, power, and relationships. New technologies also enable new organizational capabilities and management/leadership principles. The second module turns the reader’s attention to operational issues at the interface of business and technology as it examines approaches to designing and managing open-standard, networked technology infrastructures. The third module concentrates on leadership and management of IT activities, focusing on the issues that arise at the boundary as four key constituents—business executives, IT executives, users, and IT partners—work together to leverage technology to create a sustainable advantage. The Conclusion summarizes key frameworks, insights, and themes. Additional cases are provided in the final section that enable discussion of the integrated issues that twenty-first-century executives must address.

The material presented here is the outgrowth of field-based research we have conducted at the Harvard Business School since the early 1970s. To Deans John McArthur and Kim Clark we express our appreciation for making the time and resources available for us to complete this work.

Lynda M. Applegate
Robert D. Austin
F. Warren McFarlan