Strategic Management of IT – Fall 2014

MIS 3534-001 – Prof. Min-Seok Pang

Looking a Volunteer for presentation

Next week, we will need one volunteer to present this BusinessWeek article. This is a great article for any MIS major to read.

How Target Missed Warnings in Epic Hack of Credit Card Data” – Bloomberg BusinessWeek

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-13/target-missed-alarms-in-epic-hack-of-credit-card-data

Leave a comment or send an email to the Instructor to volunteer. A waiver for one reading brief and participation points will be given.

Day 7 – IT Adventures Chapter 9 – brief guidelines

  • What does Mr. Barton want to tell to members of the IVK board of directors? What’s his message?
  • How did his presentation go at the board meeting? Did the board make any decision regarding IT or Mr. Barton?

Don’t forget read the slides on pages 150-153. Your brief doesn’t need to cover “Thursday, June 14, 5:38 p.m” section (page 147-149), but please do not skip to read.

Day 6 – Cost of IT (II) – online discussion questions

  • As the CIO of IVK, how would you convince business unit heads to come up with funding for the IT security fix?
  • How would you calculate a probability and potential damages in IT security breach?
  • Any examples in Tragedy of Commons?
  • Any examples in Public Goods in our life?
  • Any examples in Prisoner’s Dilemma in our real-life?
  • What would be a problem in Volkswagen of America’s IT funding decision process?

Day 6 – Cost of IT (II) – in-class discussion questions

  • Who controls the IT budget at IVK?
  • On what basis do the business units at IVK pay for IT?
  • Who at IVK knows how the internal IT prices are calculated?
  • Why had Mr. Davies, the former CIO, had to set up “slush funds”?
  • The slush funds are technically…. what?
  • Why is Mr. John Cho requesting an immediate funding on IT security?
  • Why has the request for IT security funding kept being denied?
  • Suppose that business unit heads completely understand the urgent need for IT security fund and the risks and consequences from IT security failures? Will they still pay for IT security willingly?
  • What’s the consideration and decision of Mr. Barton in terms of IT budget funding and controls?
  • What does Maggie, Mr. Barton’s girlfriend/consultant, mean by “one neck in the noose”?

Do not leave a comment in this post. Online discussion questions will be posted after the class.

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)