MIS assignment

1. Why is it important for business strategy to drive organisational strategy and IS strategy?
What might happen if business strategy was not the driver?
Simply put, organizational strategy is a clear definition of how the organization needsto change – over time - in order to be able to deliver the strategy of the enterpriseand an actionable plan of how to make the transformation. This requires both thethinking and analysis to compare current state to desired state and define the gap,and the execution capabilities to make the requisite changes happen.Developed and implemented effectively organizational strategy enablescompanies to convert strategic intent into sustainable and high performanceresults.
Therole of information systems in providing competitive advantage and the frequent need for business re-engineering that accompanies adoption of new technology are discussed. Strategic IT planning and the evaluation process toensure proper alignment of technology to business goals are also explained. Global IT issues are also considered.
so it is important for business strategy to drive organisational strategy and IS strategy.
Business Strategy - is concerned more with how a business competes successfully in a particular market. It concerns strategic decisions about choice of products, meeting needs of customers, gaining advantage over competitors, exploiting or creating new opportunities etc.business strategy models should not: just be statements of intent; come across like a political speech; have concrete meaning only to management; concern themselves with events far in the future or have little relevance to today.
so if business strategy was not the driver, it might make the business fail.
2. Consider a traditional manufacturing company that wanted to take advantage of the Internet and the Web. What might be a reasonable business strategy and how would organisational and IS strategy need to change?When a traditional manufacturing company wants to take advantage of the Internet and the Web, its business model changed from traditional business to e-commerce business. in order to make the business sucessfully,E-commerce provides many new ways for businesses and consumers to communicate and conduct business.The information strategy also would has a big change. Online implementation need the hardware to support and proper software to make the online process work. It also need a wide network so others can view the information abt this organization. The database would be some different than before, because it is through internet, the record was automatically done by the proper procedure.
3. What does this tip from Fast Company mean: “The job of the CIO is to provide organisational and strategic flexibility”?
Office of the CIO in support of the campuswide IT process:
· Communications· Financial Planning· Project Management· Security, Privacy and Policy s. Assistance Strategic Technology Acquisition
Some of these services correspond to departments in the Office of the CIO, but they are presented here as services to the campus IT community instead of as organizational unit
Reference:
[1]organizational strategy , from World Wide Web:http://www.charlesmore.com/cms/files/So_What_is_Organizational_Strategy_Anyway_ID35137.pdf
[2]information systems strategy,from World Wide Web:http://www.u21global.edu.sg/portal/corporate/docs/PDAFS/771_17logos_v3.pdf
[3]business strategy,from World Wide Web:http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/what_is_strategy.htm
[4]CIO,from world wide web:http://technology.berkeley.edu/cio/services/

The importance of IS Strategy Triangle and its relationship

1. The Information Systems Strategy Triangle is a simple framework for understanding the impact of IS on organizations. From the Information System Strategy Triangle, we can see that the IS strategy triangle consists of Business Strategy, Organizational Strategy and Information Strategy. A Business Strategy is a well-articulated vision of where the business seeks to go and how it expects to get there. It is the form by which a business communicates its goals. Organizational strategy is concerned with envisioning a future for your family business, creating value in the eyes of your customers, and building and sustaining a strong position in the marketplace. Information Strategy means the hardware, software, application, database, procedure, people, network.

As we know, the Successfully firms’ business strategy drives both their organizational and IS strategies. It means that they must seek to balance business, organizational, and IS strategies. IS Strategy is affected by the other strategies a firm uses. Organizational and Information Strategy are then dependent upon the Business Strategy. Changes in any strategy requires changes in the others to maintain balance (rubber band!). Business, IS and organizational strategies must be constantly adjusted. IS strategy always involves consequences on business and organizational strategy [1].

Since the business strategy drives both Organizational and Information strategy, it keep a key role in the IS Strategy Triangle. If the business strategy doesn’t drive the other strategies, the triangle will become unbalance. That is, the balance among the three strategy would be broken, and it may lead to the failure of an organization. And the organizations are hard to be successful in businesses without the balance in IS Strategy Triangle.

2. If a traditional manufacturing company that wanted to take advantage of the Internet and the Web, the business model of the company has changed from the traditional to E-commerce manufacture. Electronic markets allow cooperating competing companies to control how a market in a certain business area operates. This can have strategic implications due to way this manipulates the environmental threat and opportunities. Internet commerce has the potential to replace traditional sales channels in both the business-to consumer and business-to-business sectors. In addition e-commerce can generate new business opportunities, for instance the sale of electronic content has provided a new channel for the distribution of music, and it may be argued, provided a different product. Overall, the business model has changed, so the operation of the organization also would be changed.

As a business strategy is developed it should be used to inform the strategies of the departments that make up the organization, in this way the Organizational and IS strategy of a company would be influenced by the business strategy. When a company wants to change its business model from traditional to E-commerce, the Organizational and IS strategy will also change following the Business Strategy so that the IS Strategy Triangle can keep balance. Adoption of e-commerce strategies implies that new technologies must be mastered and new ways of working will be encountered. An organization must analyze the requirements and ensure that it can meet them so that the organization can have a high success in its business.

3. The Chief Information Officer (CIO), whose position is providing strategic direction, planning, oversight, delivery and accountability for information technology (IT) activities. This position requires an individual to roll up their sleeves and contribute while leading the IT function within the organization. Key areas of responsibility include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling company information technology functions. The Chief Information Officer will serve as the primary point of contact, Kiewit's technology head, and report to the Senior Vice President of Operations and Administration. The incumbent will work with technology to provide a strategy for driving the company's Business Plan and effectively communicate the strategy throughout the organization [2].

Since the Respondents said they needed to be more involved in vision setting, organizational strategy and communication, in addition to the advice they provide to the business on technology, the CIOs considered application development and integration as potential areas for cost reductions, while intelligence and analytics were not considered as important. And they also believe that application development and integration are still significant areas of focus for achieving cost reductions and securing overall value. However, Knowledge, intelligence and analytics, on the other hand, are not considered priorities. According these, the CIOs of Fast Company suggested the business strategy and organizational strategy and declare that the job of the CIO is to provide organizational and strategic flexibility.

Reference:

1. M.A. Dorenbos, The Information Systems Strategy Triangle, Available at: http://fhict.fontys.nl/es/MScModules/Isom/Shared%20Documents/Sheets/Chapter+1_Info+Stg+Triangle%5B1%5D.ppt ( Access on February 20, 2009)
2. Omaha N.E (January 23, 2009), [Posted 2009/01/23 ]EXECUTIVE CONSTRUCTION JOBS, Chief Information Officer (CIO), Available at:
http://www.constructionexecutive.com/constructionjobs/2037/Chief-Information-Officer-(CIO).html (Access on February 20, 2009).

Importance of the IS Strategy Triangle

The Information Systems(IS) Strategy Triangle is a simple framework which relates business strategy with IS strategy and organisational strategy. That is to say, the IS Strategy Triangle consists of business strategy, organisational strategy and information strategy.

As we know, a successful firm should have its own aims and plans. To this point, it is that successful firms have an overriding business strategy that drives both organisational strategy and IS strategy. As business strategy is the foundation of successful business. Because the decisions made regarding the structure, hiring practices, and other components of the organisational strategy, as well as decisions regarding applications, hardwares, and other IS components, are all driven by the firms' business objectives, strategies, and tactics. Meanwhile, successful firms carefully balance these three strategies----they purposely design their organisation and their IS strategies to complement their business strategy.

A strategy is a plan. A business strategy is a well-articulated vision of where a business seeks to go and how it excepts to get there. It is a form by which a business communicates its goals. Therefore, we can say, the business strategy is the leader and guider among these three strategies. If it is not the driver, then only the other two will go to the wrong way so that the firm will get failure in its business. There is no doubt that the IS Strategy Triangle will be not the correct and perfect strategy objectives. If only the three strategies do their right job, the firm will achieve competitive advantage among the competitors.

Organizational strategy and information strategy must complement each other. They mustbe designed so that they support, rather than hinder each other. If a decision is made tochange one corner of the triangle, it is necessary to evaluate the other two corners to ensure that balance is preserved. Changing business strategy without thinking through the effectson the organizational and IS strategies will cause the business to struggle until balance isrestored. Likewise, changing IS or the organization alone will cause an imbalance.


Considering a traditional manufacturing company that wanted to take advantage of the Internet and the Web, positioning for speed, one of the New 7-S's framework (D'Aveni), might be a reasonable business strategy. Because to offer an alternative to these third-party Web sites, GE Medical Systems reacted as quickly as possible to bring GEMedicalSystems.com online with services specifically designed for the Internet. For example, the Web site allowed medical technicians to download and test software for upgrading their MRIs. If pleased atthe end of the 30-day trial period, these customers could buy the upgrade. The Web site also enabled GE Medical Systems to monitor the productivity of its customers’equipment in real time via the Web, to provide personalized capacity managementanalysis, and to offer the services of its specialists to remedy mechanical problems that they observed. These services created 'superior stakeholder satisfactionand' and 'shifted the rules of competition' in their industry.

Organisational strategy includes the organisation's design as well as the choices it makes to define, set up, coordinate and control its work processes. IS strategy is the plan an organisation uses in providing information services. IS allows a company to implement its business strategy and is also a function of competition (Wiley, 2008). Therefore, the organisational strategy and IS strategy need to change their design, choices and plans to the firms.


“The job of the CIO is to provide organisational and strategic flexibility” means that Fast company is a full-color not-quite-monthly (10 issues per year) business magazing that reports on innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design and social responsibility. The chief information officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of information technology within an organization. The CIO typically reports to the chief financial officer and in IT-centered organizations to the chief executive officer （Hexun， 2009）.




References：
[1] Wiley. (2008) The Information Systems Strategy Triangle. [online] (cited 18 February 2009). Available from
.
[2] Hexun. (2009) CIO accepts new concepts and technology. [online] (cited 18 February 2009). Available from <>.

Strategy Triangle

1. A business strategy is a well-articulated vision of where a business seeks to go and how it expects to get there. It is the form by which a business communicates its goals. Management constructs this plan in response to market forces, customer demands, and the organizational capabilities. Market forces create the competitive situation for the business. Some markets, such as those faced by airlines, makers of personal computers, and issuers of credit cards, are characterized by many competitors and a high level of competition such that product differentiation becomes increasingly difficult. Other markets, such as those for package delivery, automobiles, and petroleum products, are similarly characterized by high competition, but product differentiation is better established. Customer demands comprise the wants and needs of the individuals and companies who purchase the products and services available in the marketplace. Organizational capabilities include the skills and experience that give the corporation a currency that can add value in the marketplace.
Successful firms have an overriding business strategy that drives both organizational strategy and IS strategy. The decisions made regarding the structure, hiring practices, and other components of the organization strategy, as well as decisions regarding applications, hardware, and other IS components, are all driven by the firm’s business objectives, strategies, and tactics. Successful firms carefully balance these three strategies – they purposely design their organization and there IS strategies to complement their business strategy.
Business strategy drives organizational strategy and IS strategy. The organization and it’s IS should clearly support defined business goals and objectives. Organizational strategy must complement business strategy. The way a business is organized either supports the implementation of its business strategy or it gets in the way. IS strategy must complement business strategy. When IS support business goals, the business appears to be working well. IS strategy can itself affect and is affected by changes in a firm’s business and organizational strategies. Moreover information systems strategy always has consequences – intended or not – on business and organizational strategies.
If the business strategy was not the driver, the triangle will become unbalance.

2. Marketing Strategy and E-Commerce Introduction With the rapidly advancing technologies that are occurring in modern business, organisations are required to be ready, and able to adapt within their ever-changing environment. It is true across all diverse industries that in order to stay competitive, organisations must be able to utilise the various tools that technology has to offer. Technological factors have been of growing importance, particularly in recent years. A major factor involved in these technology issues is the use of the Internet as a major issue to modern organisations. The Internet has been rapidly growing since it's inception and is now commonly used in all sectors of societies, in all corners of the globe. The Internet has quickly become one of the most valuable assets in modern technology, and as such, is developing as an integral part of modern commerce. As with past technologies, the Internet will have future technological advances develop from its own growth.. so the organization and IS strategy should according to the current social environment and the technology development to change the traditional way.

3. The chief information officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of information technology within an organization. The CIO typically reports to the chief financial officer and in IT-centered organizations to the chief executive officer. In military organizations, they report to the commanding officer or commanding general of the organization. While the military CIO is the steward for IT issues, CIO can accord the current technology, economic and social environment to adjust the strategy which the company using now. So CIO can provide organisational and strategic flexibility in order to make the company following the social, technology and economic change.



Reference:
[1] Home > Free Essays & Book Reports > Marketing > Marketin Strategy In E-Commerce, http://www.freeessays.cc/db/29/mul54.shtml Access on 17 Feb

The Information Systems Strategy Triangle

1.The information system strategy triangle is a simple framework for understanding the impact of IS on organizations.. A busniess strategy is a well-articulated vision of where the business seeeks to go and how it expects to go there, it is the form by which a business communicates its goals. Successful firm's business strategy drives both their organizational and IS strategies, all decisions are driven by the firm's business objectives, they must seek to balance business, organizational and IS strategies.

Business strategy involves the goals, objecttives, strategies and tactics of an organization, which is the fundamental strategy that makes the organization to operate, all the decision are made followed by the business strategy. There are two business strategy framework, Porter's Generic Strategies Framework and Hyper-competition and New 7-S's framework.Porter's competive advantage strategies: Cost leadership;Differentiation;Focus cost leadshiper and Focus differentiation. Remember that a companies overall business strategy will drive all other strategies. Porter defined these competitive advantages to represent various business strategies found in the marketplace. The 7 Ss are useful for determining different aspects of a business strategy and aligning them to make the organization competitive in the hypercompetitive arena. General Managers cannot afford to rely solely on IS personnel to make IS decisions.Business strategy drives IS decision making.Changes in IS potential should trigger business reassessments (i.e. the Internet)[1].

The organizational strategy(structure, hiring, operation,process) and information strategy(hardware, software, dabatase,network,tec) are all based on how the business strategy decide. The business strategy drive the overall operation of the organization, any changes in organizational and IS strategy should look back on the business strategy, and the changes should not avoid the process of business startegy. The strategy triangle helps to balance business, organizational, and information strategy.

If the business strategy doesnt drive the other strategies, the balance among the three would be broken, and it may go the wrong way of strategy and lead to the failure of an organization. If business strategy lose the driver role, the organizational and IS would out of the control, and the decision made may not based on the business strategy. In that situation, the organization is in a lose environment which easily fail the business. So the tight and correct relationship among the three strategies is an important role in successful business.

2.When the company wants to shift its business from traditional to online, the objectives of the organization should be changed. Doing business using internet need the technology that allow the business operate. And the strategies also should be changed, some old ones that related to traditional sales should shift to how to slaes through the internet, in this process, some online business tactics would be useful in processing and online sales. In this stiuation, e-commerce should be a reasonable strategy for the organization, make use of the internet and change some fundamental business strategies to operate online. And it will bring lots sompetitive advantages by operating business through the internet.

As the business shift to the internet, the structure of the organization should have changes, some of the staff should help to maintain the online process. In this case, the organization may should hire some technique people who are good at this aspect. The business model has changed, so the operation of the organization also would be changed. The process of the new business would be faster than before.

The information strategy also would has a big change. Online implementation need the hardware to support and proper software to make the online process work. It also need a wide network so others can view the information abt this organization. The database would be some different than before, because it is through internet, the record was automatically done by the proper procedure.

When a company wants to change its business model from traditional to online, the overall strategy should be changed. But the most important is that the triangle must be balabce, make the business strategy drives the organizational and information strategy.

3.The chief information officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of information technology within an organization. The prominence of the CIO position has risen greatly as information technology has become a more important part of business.More recently CIOs' leadership capabilities, business acumen and strategic perspectives have taken precedence over technical skills. It is now quite common for CIOs to be appointed from the business side of the organization, especially if they have project management skills.

As information technology and systems have become more important, the CIO has come to be viewed in many organizations as a key contributor in formulating strategic goals. Usually, a CIO proposes the information technology an enterprise will need to achieve its goals and then works within a budget to implement the plan. Typically, a CIO is involved with analyzing and reworking existing business processes, with identifying and developing the capability to use new tools, with reshaping the enterprise's physical infrastructure and network access, and with identifying and exploiting the enterprise's knowledge resources.

Referece

[1] Keri Pearlson & Carol Saunders, Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach, The Information Systems Strategy Triangle

The relationship between Three Strategies

Successful firms' business strategy drives both their organizational and IS strategies. From the Strategy Triangle, we know that business strategy means the goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics of the company; organizational strategy means the stucture, hiring,operations, and process during the implementation of that company's business strategy; IS strategy consists of hardware, software, application, database, procedure, people, and network of the company. That is, organizational strategy and IS strategy can make the business strategy develop well. As soon as a company establishs its targets in businesses, it will take various measurements to achieve the purposes. At that time, the company will develop its business stucture and implement some operations. During these processes, information system also play an important role. Whether hardware or software, both of them can help the businesses.

Furthermore, the business strategy drives organizational and IS strategy means that the contents of these three strtateies are not conflicting, they are should be consistent. In other words, as long as organizational and IS strategy are drived by business strategy, the status of organizational and IS strategy in businesses will be incarnated. Obviously,when the company achieves its business strategy, it also gets its organizational and IS strategy. So, if the company want to be successful in its business, its business strategy should drive its organizational and IS stratgy. Business Strategy drives all other strategies. Organizational and Information Strategy are then dependent upon the Business Strategy.These three strategies make the company develop businesses more integrate.

If the company's business strategy was not the driver for its organizational and IS strategy, then the businesses will not be successful. When the business strategy was not the driver, these three strategies will have no relationships and be independent, which is not good for company. For example, if the organizational and IS strategy are not drived by business strategy, even if the company achieve its business strategy, it does not mean it also achieve its organizational and IS strategy. Sometimes, the company will change the original business strategy to drive its organizational and IS strategy, and the original business strategy maybe wasted time and money. At that time, the company cannot get the real successful in its businesses. In a word, if the business strategy was not the driver, the company is hard to be successful in businesses.

When a traditional manufacturing company wants to take advantage of the Internet and the Web, its business model changed from traditional business to e-commerce business. In order to lower costs and improve efficiency, taking advantage of the Internet and Web is a good choice for traditional manufacturing company.

Inevitably, the business strategy also should be change from traditional business. After the company use Internet and Web to manage its businesses, the business strategy not only mention the company's traditional goals, but also should include the Information transformation of the company[1]. For example, one of the objectives in business strategy should be related to manage data, and change the traditional method for managing data. About Information transformation, it also can be the main strategy and goal for that company.

Certainly, with the changed business strategy, organizational and IS strategy also need to change. After the company use Internet, all activities and businesses will implemented online. At that time, the target of organization strategy is online transaction. On the other hand, the IS strategy should be change to more advanced, or develop new technology. For that traditional manufacturing company, taking advantage of Internet and web is a competitive advantage. So its organitional and IS strategy must be consistent with the advanced technology.

The CIO is Chief Information Officer, whose position is providing strategic direction, planning, oversight, delivery and accountability for information technology (IT) activities. This position requires an individual to roll up their sleeves and contribute while leading the IT function within the organization. Key areas of responsibility include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling company information technology functions [2].

As we know that IS becomes more and more important in business activities, that is, CIO is the manager of IS. "The job of the CIO is to provide organisational and strategic flexibility" means that CIO can provide organizational and strategic flexibility, because CIO manage IS. Information System can impact the business strategy and organizational strategy in some way. According to the changing information, CIO can suggest the business strategy and organizational strategy, and also can make the strategy more flexibly.

Reference:

[1] "E-commerce". Retrieved February 15, 2009, from World Wide Web: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/70444345.html

[2] "Chief Information Officer". Retrieved February 15, 2009, from World Wide Web: http://careerlink.com/9/9/4/8/po/000981f.htm