IT STRATEGY COURSE
COURSE OBJECTIVE
The goal of this course is to help the student become skilled in the creation of value through the
management of information and information technology.
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Professor David E. Pingry, McClelland Professor of Management Information Systems and Economics
READINGS
Course materials (including readings, cases and spreadsheets) are listed below and will be available
from two sources:
 Harvard Business Online – marked with $
 Other articles - marked with @
COURSE OUTLINE
CLASS
TOPICS
Class 1
Introduction and Overview
Class 2
IT Framework
Class 3
Information Economics
Class 4
Information Economics
Class 5
Class 6
Information Economics
Information Economics
ASSIGNMENTS
$ (optional) Information Technology Management From 19602000 (Nolan)
@ Mastering the Three Worlds of Information Technology
(McAfee)
@CRM Alignment Case (Pingry)
@CRM Spreadsheet (Pingry)
@An Unusual Way to Run a Ski Business (Freedman)
$Harrah’s (Case 1)
@Six Decisions your IT People Shouldn’t Make
@IT Doesn’t matter (Carr)
@Modeling the ‘IT Value Paradox’ (Thatcher and Pingry)
@What Determines IT Spending Priorities (Hoon, Pingry, and
Thatcher)
@Investing in IT makes a competitive difference (McAfee and
Brynjolfsson)
@Beyond Valuation: “Options Thinking” in IT Project
Management (Fichman, Keil, and Tiwana)
Class 7
Information Economics
Class 8
Information Economics
Class 9
Decision Support/Business
Intelligence/Analytics
@A Theory of DSS Evaluation (Marsden and Pingry)
Class 10
Decision Support/Business
Intelligence/Analytics
@Competing on analytics (Davenport)
@CRM Done Right
@Preventing the Premature Death of Relationship Management
@Avoid the Four Perils of CRM
Class 11
Decision Support/Business
Intelligence/Analytics
$Business Intelligence Software at SYSCO (Case 2)
Class 12
Economics of Design
@Science of Design (Simon)
IT Strategy Course, Pingry, Page 1 of 2, 3/3/2016
Class 13
Class 14
Economics of Design
Economics of Design
Class 15
Midterm Examination
Class 16
Organizational Alignment and
Boundaries
Class 17
Organizational and IT
Alignment: Structure and
Boundaries
Class 18
Organizational and IT
Alignment: Structure and
Boundaries
Class 19
Organization and IT Alignment:
Incentives and Contracting
Class 20
Organization and IT Alignment:
Incentives and Contracting
Class 21
Organization and IT Alignment:
Incentives and Contracting
Class 22
Class 23
@Generating an optimal information system: PMAX-SDLC and
the redirection of MIS research (or how to help Joe eat salmon)
(Marsden and Pingry)
Organization and IT Alignment:
Incentives and Contracting
Organization and IT Alignment:
Incentives and Contracting
Class 24
Organization and IT Alignment:
Incentives and Contracting
Class 25
Intellectual property, open
source, privacy, standards etc.
Class 26
Intellectual property, open
source, privacy, standards etc.
Class 27
Summary and Overview
Class 28
Final Examination
@The Nature of the Firm (Coase)
@Electronic Markets and Electronic Hierarchies (Malone,
Yates, and Benjamin)
@Electronic Markets Hypothesis Redux: Where are We Now?
(Glassberg and Merhout)
@Managing the Knowledge Supply Chain: An Organizational
Learning Model of Information Technology Offshore
Outsourcing (Cha, Pingry, and Thatcher)
@Principal Agent Spread Sheet
@The Cost of High-Powered Incentives:
Employee Gaming in Enterprise Software Sales (Larkin)
@Managing J Pierrepont Finch (Isaac and Pingry),
@JP Finch Spreadsheet
$Strategic Outsourcing at Bharti Airtel Limited and Strategic
Outsourcing at Bharti Airtel Limited. One Year Later. (Case 3)
@ Research Commentary: Introducing a Third Dimension in
Information Systems Design – The Case for Incentive Alignment
(Ba, Stallaert, Whinston)
@Software patents: the good, the bad, and the messy (Thatcher
and Pingry)
@Privacy, Economics, and Price Discrimination on the Internet
(Odlyzko)
CASE DISCUSSION AND PRESENTATION
Cases are an important aspect of this class, but to be successful it relies on active and meaningful
participation of class members. Everyone should read and be prepared to discuss the assigned case. A
list of relevant discussion questions will be made available. Your two page write-up should specifically
respond to these questions. During the discussion, you should be prepared to participate and present
your analysis of these issues. Many of the issues in the case do not have a definitive answer. What is
important is a logical analysis leading to some clear insight and recommendation, where appropriate.
IT Strategy Course, Pingry, Page 2 of 2, 3/3/2016