NBA 600 Strategic Role of Information Technology
Fall 2007
Johnson School, Cornell University

Professor: Dan Huttenlocher
Office: 346 Sage

Brief overview:

This course addresses how Information Technology (IT) – particularly the Internet and the Web – can be used to gain or maintain strategic competitive advantage. We focus on when IT is strategic versus being a necessary cost of business, across a range of different industries. Our strategic analysis is at both the firm and industry levels. A particularly rich set of examples are in the digital goods industries such as music, video, books and periodicals which are undergoing large technology-driven shifts in the competitive landscape. We consider both historical developments in these areas, where the outcome is clear, as well as current ongoing trends.

Course Syllabus:

1. Oct 15	Intro and course overview, Fedex and strategic use of IT
2. Oct 17	When is IT strategic?	Nicholas Carr, IT Doesn't Matter, Harvard Business Review, May 2003, summarized in HBS Working Knowledge, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3520.html Metcalfe article in response to Carr, MIT Technology Review, http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=13630&ch=infotech
3. Oct 22	The Internet and the Economics of Networks	Legg Mason research note, http://www.leggmason.com/funds/knowledge/mauboussin/MaubExplNtwkEcon_1104_Final.pdf
4. Oct 24	Internet and Strategy	HBS Working Knowledge summary of “Strategy and the Internet”, Michael Porter, Apr 2001, http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/2165.html Fast Company review article by Keith Hammonds on Porter’s “Strategy and the Internet”, Feb 2001 - http://www.fastcompany.com/online/44/porter.html Rethinking Strategy in a Networked World (or Why Michael Porter is Wrong about the Internet), Strategy+Business, Third Quarter 2001, Don Tapscott, http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/19911
5. Oct 29	Digital Goods	How Encyclopedia Britannica Was Blown To Bits http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=807 Versioning Information, Chapter 3 in Varian and Shapiro “Information Rules”, 1999.
6. Oct 31	Digital Music and Video	The Recording Industry is Trying to Kill the Goose That Lays the Golden Egg http://www.bricklin.com/recordsales.htm Taste Sharing, Gartner/Harvard Law, December, 2005, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/uploads/511/11-ConsumerTasteSharing.pdf YouTube Finds Signing Rights Deals Complex, WSJ Nov 2006, http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116251872110312135-w4glA07qujno__GPVX9S5HQtiJ4_20071102.html
7. Nov 5	Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Darknets	The DRM Debate, http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB115047057428882434-MUsR0YpdgWWx3dA5V_E7llNqZoM_20070620.html?mod=blogs The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution, Biddle et. al. 2002 ACM Workshop on Digital Rights Management, http://crypto.stanford.edu/DRM2002/darknet5.doc
8. Nov 7	Online Retail: “Bringing Customers Inside” and “Long Tail”	Amazon Business week article http://www.businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_51/b3863115_mz063.htm?tc The Long Tail, Chris Anderson, Wired, October 2004, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html
9. Nov 12	Search, Keyword Ads and Beyond Google	Google AdWords, Lesson 1a and Lesson 1c http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/18911.html http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/text/18719.html Technology Review, “Beyond Google: Collective Searching”, Mach 2006, http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/wtr_16526,258,p1.html
10. Nov 14	Online Communities and Social Networking	MySpace, Facebook and Other Social Networking Sites, Knowledge@Wharton, May2006, http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1463 In Facebook, Investing in a Theory, NYT, Oct 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/04facebook.html
11. Nov 19	IPxx and Digital Communication	Time Warner VOIP Growth Slows http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=109726&print=true Cellphone Straitjacket is Inspiring a Rebellion http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/technology/12cell.html
12. Nov 26	Open Source	Goldman Sachs report, “Fear the Penguin”