Online discussion questions – Feb 23

Published February 23, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

Any real-life example where senior management in a business firm does not work for the interest of the shareholders?
Any real-life example of IT failures due to management problems, rather than technical problems? (other than Target and Healthcare.gov)
Mr. Barton was the last presenter at the board meeting. What does it tell to the senior management team at IVK?

Online discussion questions – Feb 18

Published February 18, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

Any examples of public goods? (other than what we discussed in-class – defense, fresh air, public park, street light, police, fire dept.)
Any examples of Prisoner’s Dilemma?
If you are a professor, how would you make sure that everyone in a group project works hard and no one free-rides?

Published February 16, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

There is only one person at IVK who knows how the internal IT prices are calculated. What would be the risks? How could he/she abuse the system?
Why is the slush fund at IVK problematic from the perspective of managerial (cost) accounting?
If you’re Mr. Barton, how would you make the case for new security project funding to business unit managers?

Published February 11, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

Why does cloud computing enable experiments and facilitate innovation?
Data in the cloud – who owns data? The vendor or the client?
Does open source software have higher quality than closed properietary software. Why or why not?
What would be the examples of “Wisdom of Crowds”?

Published February 9, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

On 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?
What are the cases in which IT systems need to be maintained?
What are the cases in which news IT systems need to be developed?
What are the examples of IT systems that have high strategic impacts but not operational dependency?
What are the examples of IT systems that have high operational dependence but not strategic impacts?

Published February 6, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

What would be the intangible (hard-to-quantify) costs with SFO SAFE project (other than what we discussed – training, employee adjustment, work disruption)?
How would you quantify the benefits in reduced security risks from SFO SAFE? How would you put a dollar figure on it?
How would you quantify the benefits in improved service employee training from OTISLINE? How would you put a dollar figure on it?

Published February 2, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

How could we justify such a large amount of investments in e*Logsitics or ByRequest?
What are the risks in the current security system at SFO?
What are the risks in SFO from the current manual, inefficient processes in managing airport employee credentials?
What could be the WORST-CASE scenarios in SFO?

Published January 30, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

What are other examples of franchising (like McDonalds or Hilton hotels) that you know of?
Why would it be difficult for other hotel chains (e.g. Hilton, Marriott) to let hotel property owners or operating companies to hire full-time ByRequest managers with discretionary budget and managerial freedom to provide personalize services?
Why would it be difficult for other hotel chains to force property owners or operating companies to share customer information?
What are other examples in which successful companies achieve core competencies using IT?

Published January 28, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

Does the Internet only destroy the profitability of the lodging industry? Is there any way for this industry to improve their profitability using the Internet?
What is the role of a ByRequest manager at a Wyndham hotel? Why is this role important?
Can we think of similar personalized service strategy in any other company or other industry?

Published January 26, 2015 | By Min-Seok Pang, Ph.D.

What’s your core competency? Do you have something that you can do better than anyone else?
What is the core competency of a company that you know? Is it valuable and inimitable?
In an industry you are familiar with, which company is playing in Cost Leadership strategy? Who’s in Differentiation? Who’s in Focused?