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Designed to be handed out after discussion of the (C) case.

Provides a conceptual framework for understanding business process redesign and change management.

Describes a decision that SMD management made to implement an MRP II system in its 38 plants. Raises the issues that needed to be addressed to enable the implementation, and is positioned so the students can develop a detailed implementation plan.

Describes the organization and IT environment that Bruce Hasenyager found when he arrived at Chemical Bank. Goes on to explain his decision for implementing Lotus Notes as an "indispensable" management tool. Software is available: Order No. 9-196-701 (Windows version) or 9-196-702 (Macintosh version), $20.00 (educ. $10).

Provides a context for the evolution of information technology in business organizations, explains the emergence of information as an important resource to be managed, and provides a framework for assessing the strategic potential of information in the firm.

Relates the expert system's pilot phase of implementation.

Information is a critical resource in the information economy and Information Technology (IT) enables information to be managed as a strategic resource. However, IT is extremely complex and fast-changing. As a result, the general manager cannot leave IT decisions strictly to IT technologists and cannot hope to be technically competent to make the "right" IT decisions for the firm. This dilemma is resolved by the construction of an "IT architecture"--the bridge between strategy and technology.

The setting is a food manufacturing company that has stumbled in terms of its historic growth and profit achievements. In trying to recapture its momentum, the president has used information technology as one element in his program of transition. The case focuses on the strategic problem and setting, the use of information technology for organizational change, and the associated implementation problems.

No industry relies more on information than banking does, yet Continental, one of America's largest banks, outsources its information technology (IT). Continental executives, eager to focus on the bank's core mission of serving business customers, decided to outsource one after another in-house service--from cafeteria services to information technology. While conventional wisdom holds that banks must retain complete internal control of IT, Continental bucked this argument when it entered into a ten-year, multimillion-dollar contract with Integrated Systems Solutions Corp. Continental is already reaping benefits from outsourcing IT. Most important, Continental staffers today focus on their true core competencies: intimate knowledge of customers' needs, and relationships with customers.

Provides a thorough overview of the company's 1990 and 1991 reorganizations and the resulting demand for information technology in lower levels of the organization. Closes with a discussion of Frito-Lay's most recent information technology projects, Explorer and Navigator.

Describes five years of development in a centralized data processing activity serving a highly decentralized corporation. Data processing manager discovers that a major software system conversion is a full year behind schedule, and subsequently makes several managerial and organizational changes. Raises issues of leadership style, human resource management, conflict, and organizational change.

Singapore is well on the way to becoming the first fully networked society, in which all homes, schools, businesses, and government agencies will be interconnected to an electronic grid. Through development of a superior infrastructure and world-class transportation and materials-handling facilities, Singapore has created an extremely attractive environment for multinational business on all levels. The ability of any country with few natural advantages to bring itself to the forefront of technological and economic competitiveness holds important lessons for other countries and organizations. However, Singapore's astounding achievement is due in large part to governmental control.

SunLife Assurance Co., a large life-insurance firm, wishes to provide a greater degree of computer support for its sales agents. A program to encourage agents to acquire laptop computers for use in selling had been established for some time. However, only a few agents had taken advantage of the program. The company decided to develop a new system, termed Maestro, which would provide a suite of tools to help agents perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively. The tools would be made available to agents using laptops; also, agents were charged a fee for the software by the company. The development of the new tools was handled by the individual marketing group, not by the MIS function. Initial rollout of the new system has been only partially successful, and the director of individual marketing is concerned about how to improve the acceptance and adoption of the system by agents in the future.

In January 1988, Colby Chandler, Kodak CEO, created the Corporate Information Systems (CIS) and appointed Katherine Hudson head. She at once became the first head of IT and first woman corporate vice president in the company. Throughout 1989, Hudson inaugurated a series of organizational initiatives that not only would dramatically change the IT function within Kodak, but would rock the industry. She outsourced data center operations, telecommunications services, and personal computer support to IBM, DEC, and Business Land, respectively. Case presents the complexities in managing information systems through partnerships.

Alliant has been a leader in the health care industry in implementing total quality management. After five years, however, they do not have much to show for their efforts except a "foundation" of quality attitudes and processes. The case discusses their plans to "jump start" the quality program by implementing a new information systems strategy. Teaching purposes: Implementation issues in total quality management and the role of I/T in executing strategic change.

KPMG Peat Marwick executives needed to decide whether to fund full development of "The Shadow Partner," the name coined to describe a worldwide information network that would link all KPMG professionals to each other and to a wealth of data bases and information services. Partners, by sharing and gathering information through the network, would be able to use the entire company's knowledge and experience to serve clients. Many partners felt that implementation of the shadow partner was vital, as clients had greater demands and competition in the accounting industry had escalated. Other partners questioned the necessity of the shadow partner. The firm had committed to establishing a technology committee to investigate shadow partner design and cost. Since the firm was a partnership, the partners eventually had to decide whether, and to what extent, to support shadow partner implementation.

During the next decade, computers and televisions will give way to "telecomputers" that will not only receive but also store, manipulate, create, and transmit digital video programming. These technologies will transform business. But this vision is being held back by the telecommunications infrastructure, which is not keeping up with the power of computers. The solution is a system of fiber-optic cables reaching every home and business in the country. Business must push for a new regulatory climate that will allow these new technologies to proliferate.

This case series describes a company grappling with organizational change through information technology. National Mutual Life Association vies for Australian insurance industry leadership with its long-time competitor. It has purchased an expert system called Client Profiling, developed in the United States, that will allow its extensive field force to perform financial planning. The system should aid agents in making multiple and increased dollar-value sales. Its use will require more time from agents and clients and will change traditional modes of selling. This case describes National Mutual and the Australian insurance industry, and details its decision to purchase the expert system and the formulation of its implementation strategy.

Relates the expert system's pilot phase of implementation.

Implementation is about to move into the limited deployment phase.