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IB370-15 Managing Strategy in the Digital Era

Department
Warwick Business School
Level
Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader
Jochem Hummel
Credit value
15
Module duration
10 weeks
Assessment
30% coursework, 70% exam
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry
Introductory description

This is an elective module available for WBS and non-WBS students.

Due to digitalization of the economy the role of information technology and information systems in business organisations is changing rapidly. Students will learn to think strategically about information systems and how to avoid the worst pitfalls of organisational information technology and systems. This entails 1) understanding what does strategy and competitive advantage mean, 2) learning to identify the competitive potential of information technologies in different contexts, and 3) recognising key management issues to be addressed in organisational information technology and systems with respect to business strategy. The module explores these three dimensions with respect to several key information technology and systems management topics.

Module web page

Module aims

Due to digitalization of the economy the role of information technology and information systems in business organisations is changing rapidly. Students will learn to think strategically about information systems and how to avoid the worst pitfalls of organisational information technology and systems. This entails 1) understanding what does strategy and competitive advantage mean, 2) learning to identify the competitive potential of information technologies in different contexts, and 3) recognising key management issues to be addressed in organisational information technology and systems with respect to business strategy. The module explores these three dimensions with respect to several key information technology and systems management topics.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module takes place as one three-hour session per week. The sessions typically consist of a lecture, group work and a plenary in discussing a case study on the weekly topic. The module covers key IS/IT management topic from a strategic perspective such as:

  • Strategy and competitive advantage
  • Knowledge and information asset management
  • Sourcing and cloud computing
  • Information security and privacy
  • Digital platforms and ecosystems
  • The execution of IT projects
  • Current hot topics (e.g. sharing economy, business analytics and future technologies)
Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • An understanding of the role of information and information systems in business organisations.
  • An increased understanding of the role that IT can play in business by applying concepts and frameworks form the course in the context of real business scenarios.
  • An insight into the strategic management issues associated with the planning, development and implementation of IT/IS in organisations.
  • Analyse various real-life technologies using theories of strategy.
Indicative reading list

Core textbook
Peppard, J. & Ward, J. 2016. The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy (4th Edition). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. – for 2018-2019 we use the 2002 book.

Articles and other readings
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Kim B. Clark. 1997. Managing in an Age of Modularity. Harvard Business Review 75(5): 84–93.
Barney, Jay. 1991. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage. Journal of Management 17(1): 99–120.
Bharadwaj, Anandhi, Omar A. El Sawy, Paul A. Pavlou, and N. Venkatraman. 2013. Digital Business Strategy: Toward a next Generation of Insights. MIS Quarterly 37(2): 471–482.
Brown, John Seely, and Paul Duguid. 2000. Balancing Act: How to Capture Knowledge without Killing It. Harvard Business Review 78(3): 73–80.
Carr, Nicholas G. 2003. IT Doesn't Matter. Harvard Business Review, May 2003.
Ciborra, Claudio U., and Rafael Andreu. 2001. Sharing Knowledge across Boundaries. Journal of Information Technology 16(2): 73–81.
Constantinides, P., Henfridsson, O., & Parker, G. G. 2018. Introduction—Platforms and Infrastructures in the Digital Age. Information Systems Research, isre.2018.0794.
Feeny, David P., and Leslie P. Willcocks. 1998. Core IS Capabilities for Exploiting Information Technology. Sloan Management Review 39. Available here
Ghazawneh, A., & Henfridsson, O. 2013. Balancing platform control and external contribution in thirdâparty development: the boundary resources model. Information Systems Journal, 23(2): 173–192.
Hansen, Morten T., Nitin Nohria, and Thomas Tierney. 1999. What's Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge? Harvard Business Review 77(2): 106–116.
Long, Johnny. 2005. Google Hacking for Penetration Testers. Available from: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-europe05/BH_EU_05-Long.pdf
Long, Johnny. The Google Hacker's Guide Understanding and Defending against the Google Hacker. Available from: http://pdf.textfiles.com/security/googlehackers.pdf
Oh, Onook, Rajarshi Chakraborty, and H. R. Rao. 2009. "An Exploration of Unintended Online Private Information Disclosure in Educational Institutions across Four Countries," 1–11. Tacoma, WA: IEEE, 2009. Available from: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=5342606(Search "IEEE Xplore digital library" through University of Warwick Library).
Porter, Michael M. 2001. Strategy and the Internet. Harvard Business Review, 2001, 60–78.
Tiwana, Amrit, Benn Konsynski, and Ashley A. Bush. 2010. Platform Evolution: Coevolution of Platform Architecture, Governance, and Environmental Dynamics. Information Systems Research 21(4): 675–687.
Willcocks, Leslie. 1992. IT Evaluation: Managing the Catch 22. European Management Journal 10(2): 220–229.
Willcocks, Leslie, and H. Margetts. 1993. Risk Assessment and Information Systems. Available from: http://sdaw.info/asp/aspecis/19930042.pdf
Yoo, Y., Henfridsson, O., & Lyytinen, K. 2010. Research Commentary—The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research. Information Systems Research, 21(4): 724–735.
Zittrain, J. 2006. The Generative Internet. Harvard Law Review, 119: 1974–2040.
Zuboff, S. 2015. Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30(1): 75–89.

Subject specific skills

Explore the details of a specific technologies online.

Transferable skills

Present an analysis of the impact of a particular technology on competitive advantage.
Analytical writing.

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 10 sessions of 2 hours (13%)
Seminars 9 sessions of 1 hour (6%)
Private study 48 hours (32%)
Assessment 73 hours (49%)
Total 150 hours
Private study description

Private Study.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group D5
Weighting Study time
Group Report (15 CATS) 30% 22 hours
Online Examination 70% 51 hours

~Platforms - AEP


  • Online examination: No Answerbook required
Feedback on assessment

Feedback via My.WBS.

Past exam papers for IB370

Courses

This module is Optional for:

  • UIBA-MN34 Law and Business Four Year (Qualifying Degree)
    • Year 3 of MN34 Law and Business Studies Four Year (Qualifying Degree)
    • Year 4 of MN34 Law and Business Studies Four Year (Qualifying Degree)
  • UECA-3 Undergraduate Economics 3 Year Variants
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L100 Economics
    • Year 3 of L116 Economics and Industrial Organization
    • Year 3 of L116 Economics and Industrial Organization
  • UECA-4 Undergraduate Economics 4 Year Variants
    • Year 4 of L103 Economics with Study Abroad
    • Year 4 of LM1H Economics, Politics & International Studies with Study Abroad
    • Year 4 of LM1H Economics, Politics & International Studies with Study Abroad
  • UECA-LM1D Undergraduate Economics, Politics and International Studies
    • Year 3 of LM1D Economics, Politics and International Studies
    • Year 3 of LM1D Economics, Politics and International Studies
  • Year 3 of UIBA-MN31 Undergraduate Law and Business Studies
  • UIBA-MN32 Undergraduate Law and Business Studies
    • Year 3 of MN32 Law and Business Studies (Four-Year)
    • Year 4 of MN32 Law and Business Studies (Four-Year)
  • Year 5 of UIBA-MN37 Undergraduate Law and Business Studies (Qualifying Degree) with Intercalated Year
  • UIBA-MN35 Undergraduate Law and Business Studies with Intercalated Year (3+1)
    • Year 3 of MN35 Law and Business Studies with Intercalated Year (3+1)
    • Year 4 of MN35 Law and Business Studies with Intercalated Year (3+1)
  • Year 5 of UIBA-MN36 Undergraduate Law and Business Studies with Intercalated Year (4+1)
  • USTA-G300 Undergraduate Master of Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics and Economics
    • Year 3 of G300 Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics
    • Year 4 of G300 Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics

This module is Unusual option for:

  • UPHA-V7ML Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 3 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 3 of UESA-HN12 BEng Engineering Business Management
  • Year 3 of UESA-HN15 BEng Engineering Business Management
  • Year 4 of UESA-HN13 BEng Engineering Business Management with Intercalated Year

This module is Option list B for:

  • USTA-Y602 Undergraduate Mathematics,Operational Research,Statistics and Economics
    • Year 3 of Y602 Mathematics,Operational Research,Stats,Economics
    • Year 3 of Y602 Mathematics,Operational Research,Stats,Economics

This module is Option list G for:

  • UPHA-V7ML Undergraduate Philosophy, Politics and Economics
    • Year 2 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 2 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)
    • Year 2 of V7ML Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Tripartite)