Module 4: Strategic Management
GCOM 7810 & 7840 (9 credit hours)
This module provides a point of integration for materials from throughout the program to help students develop a deeper understanding of how to create business value through the management of IT. Rooted in the strategic issues surrounding information technologies, the module explores the financial, leadership, marketing, and innovation issues that emerge when developing technologies that have the potential to change a firm’s competitive position.
Through readings, classes, and projects, students will develop skills in discovering, describing, and securing management support for new IT-based initiatives operating within an organization’s existing environment. Although IT has the potential to enhance operational efficiency, in this module we focus instead on identifying opportunities that are more transformational in nature. Projects of this sort have the potential to impact how an organization pursues its strategic goals and in some cases may also suggest shifts in strategy to pursue opportunities that are compatible with the firm’s resources and capabilities.
Upon completion of Module 4, students will be comfortable in the role of internal IT entrepreneur – someone who can see how developments in information technologies can open up new strategic possibilities for how their organizations choose to compete and who can package those ideas in compelling ways.
Topics include:
- Strategic positioning and industry analysis
- Strategic management of technology and innovation
- IT strategy and networked business strategy
- CIOs, strategic leadership, and IT governance
- Managing disruptive technologies
- Management control systems and performance measurement
- Market research and market analysis
- Financial statement analysis for managers
- Financial forecasting and financial valuation
- Leadership and social network analysis
Projects include:
The culminating team project in the program, the Capstone Strategic Project, challenges students to deeply understand the strategy of a specific enterprise and the role information technology plays in defining, enhancing, and implementing that strategy. Teams build contacts with their project enterprise and develop a business case for a strategic business initiative that builds on its existing strategy to create a new and sustainable source of enterprise value. “Strategic,” in this context, does not mean finding a way to do the same thing more cheaply. Rather, students’ projects have implications for revenue building, competitive repositioning, significant increases in market share, and internal reconfiguration of operations and cost structures, or will otherwise directly relate to and support the enterprise’s strategy.