MIS 3534-001 – Prof. Min-Seok Pang

Monthly Archives: September 2014

Day 6 – IT Adventures Chapter 8 – reading brief guidelines

  • Why has Mr. John Cho’s request for IT security funding been being denied?
  • Why had Mr. Davies, the former IVK CIO, had to set up a slush fund? How?
  • By “one neck in the noose”, what does Maggie (Mr. Barton’s girlfriend) mean?
  • What’s Mr. Barton’s decision regarding IT funding and what’s his rationale?

 

Day 5 – in-class discussion questions

We will discuss these questions in-class next week.

  • Why does an IT system need maintenance? It does not become rusty! Or does it?
  • On IT Adventures Page 58, it reads “we’ve run closer to 5 to 6 percent of sales on IT spending. Which, by the way, Davies thought wasn’t enough to keep IT assets from degrading over time..” Why does Mr. Davies mean by degrading?
  • If it needs to spend money in maintaining IT systems, how much does a company need to spend on it? What happens with too little spending in maintenance? What happens with too much?

Reading Brief Guidelines for Day 5

Read IT Adventures Chapter 4 and 5 and write ONE reading brief (NOT two) up to 200 words that includes both chapters.

  1. What is the funding mechanism for IT at IVK? What is a chargeback? (Ch. 4)
  2. How have IT portfolio and spending at IVK evolved? (Ch. 4)
  3. Describe the concepts of “Competes vs. Qualifiers” and IT Strategic Grid (Ch. 5)

Day 03 – online discussion questions

  • What would be the core competencies of Toyota?
  • What are most competitive advantages temporal and not sustainable?
  • How has the Internet changed the lodging industry’s profitability?
  • How does a strong “brand” affect the five forces in the lodging industry?
  • Why does Wyndham target on business travelers?
  • Why would it be difficult for other hotel chains to copy ByRequest?
  • Why would it be difficult for other hotel chains to standardize the IT systems across the chain?
  • Why is IT itself not a source of competitive advantages?