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BUSI 620: Strategic Information Systems September 13-17, 2006
Prof. Chris Dellarocas
4341 Van Munching Hall 301-405-6715 cdell@umd.edu

Course Description: Technology has become an indispensable resource of today’s organizations. It is difficult to think of an industry that has not been affected – sometimes profoundly and painfully – by technological change. What’s more, the accelerating pace of technological evolution means that these changes will occur ever more rapidly. Being able to operate effectively in an environment of rapid technological change has, thus, become a prerequisite for 21st century managers. To succeed in such environments, managers must be directly involved in a number of important decisions that involve technology investments, adoption and governance; they must become as adept in dealing with technology as they have traditionally been expected to be in dealing with people. This course is designed for general managers and not for teaching technology details or for creating technical managers. Hence no prior technical knowledge is either assumed or required for this course. Course Objectives: Our objectives are to provide you with frameworks and examples that will help you handle successfully the most important technology-related decisions faced by today’s top executives. Specifically, in this course you will learn: 1. How technology relates to an organization’s strategy and other resources 2. How technology can transform entire industries, and what this might mean to your organization. 3. How to assess the potential of an emerging technology. 4. How to reason about technological investments: what technologies to invest on, when to invest and how much money to spend on them. 5. How to successfully adopt a new technology: how to assess its likely impact on the organization, how to plan and execute implementation and change management. 6. How to govern your organization’s technological resources: what decision rights should reside with whom,...