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STRATEGY FORMULATION METHODOLOGIES

MICHAEL S. SCOTT MORTON

November 1986

CISR WP No. 149 Sloan WP No. 1845-86 90s WP No. 86-028

¢

1986 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Center for Information Systems Research Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Strategy Formulation Methodologies

Michael S. Scott Morton Sloan School of Management, M.I.T.

Premises

The short

topic of formulating a strategy is a hard one to address in a space of time. Concepts that help with strategy formulation are

evolving of

one

clear

and information technology itself is changing, so the impact on

the

about

other is complex.

the

the

substance

the

world

underlying

of

and

the

the

way

assumptions before beginning to address

question. it

As such, it seems important to be

There are some basic beliefs about

operates

which

underlie the arguments

developed in this paper.

The

first

strategies

of

are

premises

is

that

information

technology (I.T.)

most effective when they are developed in the context

of

business

to

know where the organization is headed before one begins to work on

the

question

and corporate strategies.

Thus a critical first step is

of what a sensible direction for the use of information

technology should be.

II

-2Such

an

explicit, statement

the

"rational

one

to use.

the

years,

Science decision Simons

terms,

in

Decision

"intelligence,"

interactive it

seems

this

published

in

1960.

In this view

solve

alternatives

"design" and "choice" being the three

phases. useful

In

In to

light

of

work

since

Simon's

add a fourth step namely "action."

model an organization, or an individual, first defines

problem,

would

one of the earliest was Herbert Simon in his New

Management

publication

the

This model has been espoused by a series of authors over

making is thought of as falling into a series of phases.

principle

Thus

actor" model of the organization is the most effective

perhaps

of

of strategy assumes implicitly that

that that

is' clarifies

it, then creates alternatives that

particular problem, then selects the best of these

following which they go through implementation, that is,

a set of actions are taken.

This work

"rational

that

is

formulation. research, as

it

actor" going

paradigm implicitly underlies much of the on

in

corporate

strategy

and

strategy

The 'rational actor' paradigm dominates the writing and

particularly

relates

in the area of methodologies and even more so

to information technology since many who work in this

area come out of an engineering and science background.

However, equally

well

example, follow

there

there a

primarily

the

are

several

activity

that

alternative

models

which describe

takes place in organizations.

For

is a large group of managers who seem to successfully

problem-solving

process

which basically acts first, based

on intuition, then examines the results in an intuitive way

-3-

and

if

senses

through

to

a

next

decision

making

second.

Such

on.

results

seem

set

actions.

the

of

action

to be good.

comes

In

first

They then cycle back

this view of management and

the

analysis

comes

a view turns the standard methodologies for strategy

upside down and there is little prescriptive or normative

formulation writing

the

for

managers or academics with this view of the world to act

the

In

comments

follow,

that

the

rational

actor model is

dominant but is not in any way meant to be exclusive.

second premise that underlies this paper is that the need for

The an

explicit

of

an

that

view of the organization's strategy is necessary because

increasingly

external environment.

turbulent

The premise is

next decade is more likely to be one of "economic war" than

the

"economic

It seems

peace".

overcapacity

discontinuities;

that in

we

are

industry,

entering

an

increasingly

era

global

expectations both of the quality of products and

competition,

rising

services

well as expectations as to one's standard of living.

indeed

as we

are

management

the

entering systems

If

a period of continuing economic change then and

ways

of

doing

business

that will be

in such a period of change will be different from those in

successful past.

the

of

is assumed that incremental "business as usual" will

It

not be adequate in the years ahead.

Although years of

than

these

social,

the pace of change is assumed to be higher in the coming it

was in the '60s and '70s, it is not assumed that most

changes

are

I.T.

related.

In fact, quite the reverse;

political, global economics, and technologies such as genetic

l1

-4-

engineering

are

enables

organization

they

the

occur

argued

technology

example,

activities

in

South

and

to

the

way.

Information

However,

facilitating

technology

to facilitate and mediate these changes as

information

for

added

organizations.

and impact on the organization.

that

change,

driving

live

Africa

As an aside, it could be

facilitates

television

a

faster

coverage

in

rate of

America

on

has undoubtedly increased the awareness

political pressure for America to respond in some

by

and

change

large,

or

information

technology seems to be

enabling it to happen rather than driving it

in a causal way.

A

third

several external second

premise

levers

by

world

imperative. they

occur

that

an

which

and

premise,

is that information technology is merely one of an

organization adjusts to changes in the

in management practices. there

Strategy

is to

no

As is suggested in the

assumption

of

a

technological

be effective has to be driven by ideas as

to informed capable managers.

On balance, it is unlikely

effective strategy will be driven by the technology in a way

that brooks no alternatives.

than

The

fourth premise is that strategy formulation is more of an art

a

science and to be effective it should be the province of line

management.

Hence;

formulation. differently

If in

the

resulting

and

others

the

built-in

difficulty

of

I.T.

strategy

corporate strategy formulation is an art practiced

different strategy

scarcely

at

organizations by different managers and if is articulated in some firms in great detail all,

then clearly there is no "science" of

-5-

It is an observable fact that good strategic

formulationl

strategy

is all

strategic

management

is

capabilities

among

general

traditionally

not

information

are

and

the

information

have

technology field.

correspondingly those who understand the often

are

technology

uninformed

of

the

corporate

to be effective there needs to be a shared process

Hence

strategy.

of

out

technology

information

of

come

managers

Line

managers.

I.T.

of

knowledge

the

of

lack

the

scarcity of good

this

of

top

who know their corporate strategy are often ignorant of

those

Hence,

On

rare.

too

management

strategy formulation.

This is hard since both bodies of knowledge

changing rapidly and to some extent one is asking art and science

to mix constructivelyl

Definitions and History

Terminology and

information that

I.T.

for

many management terms have widely different

that

people.

different

to

definition

field such as management is woefully undefined

a

out

it turns

meanings

in

of

purpose

the

(I.T.)

technology only

is not

are two terms which require

There this

paper.

The most important point is

itself.

There

computers.

The first of these is

is no

way

clean

of

categorizing I.T. but it consists of at least of the following:

1.

-

Computers information these through

computers technology.

are of course a central component of There

is a

full smorgasbord of

[1] ranging from large mainframe computers all the way to

the

recently

arrived

personal

computers

l1

-6-

even

the

and

Together

form.

micro computers, that exist in chip

smaller,

mainframes

to

information

that

spectrum

this

with

exists

micros,

is available

wealth

the to

an

from

computers

of

of

and

data

organization

in an

electronic form.

2.

telecommunications has only recently begun to be

-

Telecoms

as

recognized of

part

a

partner

full

with the computer itself as

main structure of information technology.

the

The

range of telecom options can be thought of as follows:

External

Internal

Broad Be

Narrow E

In

world

telecommunications

an

which

part of the

are

organization. must

deal with,

is the additional complexity of having both public and

there private is

cells

four

these

to

addition

networks

hard

computer

to

available to fill each of these cells.

capture

the

powerful

difference

between

It a

that

is isolated, and what the computer becomes in

of

the user when it is linked into a network and

the

hands

has

flexible

access

other organizations.

to

information,

other

computers and

-7-

3.

White as

Collar

office

thought

the

standard tools

letters,

such

and

could be

such

as

as writing paychecks

done

are

Here

with

information

a computer-based workstation for

Similarly, there are workstations for

worker.

clerical

support

clerical

tasks,

well-structured

technology

Tools - these are commonly known

partial robotics for clerical workers.

as

typing

and

and

automation

of

routine,

Productivity

workers

that

with management support systems in various forms.

deal

1986,

in

Typically

in

the form of computer-based terminals

managerial

these take the form of decision support

systems and executive support systems [2, 3].

4.

Blue

Collar

Productivity

Tools

- the most obvious case of

blue

collar

productivity

tools

are

factory many

automation.

and related

However, it is interesting that a great

other professional workstations are now being installed the prime purpose is for the production of the service

where

These

itself. machine

tools

terms

of

workstations and

are

used

by

humans

not by

are closely related to the shop floor in

computer-aided However

engineering. such

robotics

design

and

computer-aided

there are other interesting examples

as loan officers in banks evaluating loan possibilities

through the use of an interactive work station.

5.

Smart

Products - in addition to the above four categories of

information technology

technology into

the

there product

is

also the inclusion of the

itself.

Thus

we have in a

-8-

modern

car

anti-skid

several

computers

in

the car to control fuel,

brakes as well as information supposedly useful to

the driver in terms of computed fuel consumption, etc.

The

important

information important that

point to make in the context of this paper is that

technology are

must

the

is

other

only

four

partially

computers.

Equally

categories of information technology

be thought of when one thinks about formulating strategies

for I.T. in the context of a corporate strategic move.

of

The

second

this

paper

hundreds

of

or

that on

Some

of

strategy

strategy

and

central range future,

There are literally management

examples are Strategic Management:

in

the

A New View of

Policy and Planning by Dan Schendel and Charles W. Hofer [4]

Hax and Nicolas Majluf [5].

these

itself. strategic

more recently Strategic Management:

Arnoldo of

is

books

literature. Business

definition which is important to make for the purpose

kinds

of

books

An Integrative Perspective by

This article assumes the content

is well

understood

to the reader.

The

point is that strategy is not long range planning, if by long

planning starting

we

mean this

laying from

the

out

the step by step path into the

present

and

assuming incremental

progress of existing businesses and markets.

The

original

Greek word from which strategy comes means "the art

of the (military) General."

-9-

For

the

formulation to

position

the

reality

and

the

purposes

this

here,

can

be

translated into strategy

being about how to create an appropriate mission, and

as

organization to accomplish this mission in light of

the

its internal strengths and weaknesses, its customers

of

environment.

external

Strategy

formulation is concerned

about the desired positioning of the firm and how to get there.

If

one

at business strategy historically one can see five

looks

phases in the development of the field up to the present time.

1.

An

early

phase

desirability landmark

merely

of

book

functionally

range

long

made

established

a

planning.

strong

(marketing,

based

for the first time the

case

Steiner [6] in his

for

making explicit a finance, etc.)

production,

plan that covered several years into the future.

2.

By

the

early

business

1970s

planning

the interest had shifted to a focus on To oversimplify this point of view,

[7].

basically one of executives giving top down guidance

it

was

to

the organization and bottom up plans then coming from the

division

and

functional

levels.

These

were

then

put

together for an overall corporate plan.

3.

The by [8].

third

was that of portfolio planning as espoused

phase

Bruce

in his 1970s book on Portfolio Planning

Henderson The

corporation

essence as

a

of

series

this of

approach separate

was

to

strategic

see

the

business

-10-

units

(SBUs)

markets

which

and

their

needs

appropriate

the

corporation.

These

and

balance

of

relative

and large had independent products,

missions.

cash

reality

by

growth

in

the

market

possibilities to identify an of

sustainable

to

position

looked at in terms of

portfolio

maximum

Important

were

this

SBU's given the growth

point

of

view

for

the

was the

vis-a-vis the competition and the

growth potential of the markets served.

4.

Industry stage Here the

structure

in

the

and

generic strategies [9] was the next

evolution strategy formulation methodologies.

the analysis was focused on the competitive position of firm

in

industry.

the The

context premise

different

structures

understand

these

of was

and

before

the

infrastructure

that

of

its

as industries have very

dynamics

identifying

it

is

the

important

to

possible generic

strategy appropriate for the firm itself.

5.

The

fifth

strategic which

and

most

recent

phase

in

the

evolution

of

planning is focused on a value chain [10] approach

turns

organization.

the

attention

back

to

the

inside

of

the

This technique analyses the internal steps by

which an organization adds value to its product or service.

The there suspect

point has

to

note

with all of these various approaches is that

been a steady progression of ideas. that

we

have

reached

any

kind

of

There is no reason to end

point

in this

-11-

progression purposes

and

for

change. that

which

This

will

strategy

in

light

strategy

of

the turbulent environment the

formulation

must

be

undertaken will

in turn will demand newer techniques and new concepts

prove powerful in helping organizations to formulate their in

formulation strategy

indeed

an

effective

way.

is a moving

formulation

to

Thus it can be seen that strategy

target,

and

this

suggests

that linking

changing information technology is going to

require unusual effort and flexibility.

Conceptual Frameworks

If

strategy

follows

that

answer. as

a

creative line management task then it

is no formula or technique that will produce an it is possible to use frameworks and methodologies

of stimulating ideas, aiding consensus among management, and

generally

helping to maintain perspective.

It is frameworks from the

two of the phases mentioned above that appear to be particularly

valuable IT

there

However

ways

last

is indeed

as a way of stimulating powerful creative methods of linking

use

for

suggested

the

ways

corporate of

strategic

looking

thrusts.

There are a host of

at the linkage that have come out of the

major business schools of the last five years [11].

At internal

its core, strategy formulation inevitably involves analysis of strengths

opportunities. problem.

This

and

weaknesses

is a

fundamental

and

external

equation

threats

and

in any strategic

III

-12-

it

As

an

example

is

possible

developed

in

book

was

he

literature draw it

of a framework being used to stimulate creativity

to

focusing

to

technology.

used

This

known

Porter framework that he

Review.

is

used

within

is

suggestive

the

Industrial

In this particular

Organizations

the framework itself.

to

has

most

Business

generate

well

look

been

visible

economic

He then proceeded to

of the framework for corporate strategy.

be

the

on

establish

also

perhaps

the

his book Competitive Stratecy [12].

implications can

take

However,

at the implications for information

done

article

by a number of academic authors; is

by

McFarlan

in the Harvard

Arguably it is the process by which this framework the firm that is its principle value.

The framework

and

has some useful categories but there is no way to

"answers"

unless it is creatively and knowledgeably used by

experienced line managers.

Using of

Porter's

forces

it

is

opportunities with

a

others the

small by

come

buyers

possible to go through the four areas and identify each.

group

In some organizations this is done formally

of

dimension up

(i.e.,

customer

diagram (Figure A) of the major categories

line

managers including an I.T. person, in

different combinations of the line and staff.

"buyer"

might

their

in

basic

an

needs,

with its

Focusing on

of Porter's diagram, for example, the company an

idea

customers)

for an electronic linkage between its and

itself.

The linkage gives the

ability to directly choose items that most closely match the

process

product to the customer.

also

markedly

speeds up delivery of the

-12AFIGURE A

THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS

BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS

BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS

1:

Q THREAT OF SUBSTITUTE PRODUCTS

11

-13-

A

example of a conceptual framework that has proved to be

second

effective for understanding the strategic opportunities inherent

very

the

internal aspects of the organization is the use of the "value

chain."

One of the first published references to its use occurred in

1980

a

in

as

(SPA), of

a

its

clients to

chain.

classes

found

it

based on the "value added

latter analysis is management's

critical

book

concept

and

leverage

points

in the value

(Competitive

Advantage, 1986) drew

expanded its application.

The value

a product activity, the

support

to

those

percent

of

cost

organization's

makes

the

to those

goods direct

Figure B shows the two

customer.

directly associated with the process of and services and those that are necessary Organizing this "value chain" as a

steps.

leads to insights and provides a way of focusing on

that

steps

offer

the initial stages of what it does through to the

from

of of

in, as it adds value to its product or service

engages

"manufacturing"

also

most

This

Porter's

the

it moves

delivery

that

analysis

the

SPA

work by SPA was not followed up in the academic

early

to

organization

those

application,

is a pictorial representation of the sequence of activity the

chain

as

the

until

attention

both

practical

leverage."

to

This

literature

In

is, on the cost of the value adding steps) and one based

as

judgement

work that Strategic Planning Associates

consulting firm in Washington, DC, did with some

[13].

added

"value

some

utilize

(that

cost"

of

strategic

effective

on

result

cost

clearly

account

structure.

for

a

large

proportion of the

Such steps very often are the ones

the greatest potential for I.T. application. it

clear

which

steps

might

be

linked

Such a view to

other

-13A-

FIGURE 1

INTERNAL: The Value Added Chain

Management Support:

Accounting! Legal Personnel

R & D PURCHASING MANUFACTURING

MARKETING

omputer

DISTRIBUTION SELLING SERVICE

11

-14-

organizations chain

in be

might

joint ventures, or perhaps which piece of the value all together and contracted out to somebody

removed

else.

To

repeat

made above, the concepts are merely vehicles

a point

management to discuss the potential of their businesses and hence

for

information technology might be used.

where

is

step

one on

dependent

that is much less dependent on hard costs and much more informed judgement.

management's

Value added leverage

to those steps in the "value chain" where management feels the

refers

has

organization

a

advantage

unique

greatest

leverage

unimportant

relatively

or

where

there

is the most

For example, an oil company arguably gets

form of leverage.

powerful its

The value added leverage

from

finding

oil in the first place.

It is

efficiently it manages the manufacturing

how

delivery process if it is in fact sitting on huge supplies of low

and

In this case, the exploration stage in the "value chain"

oil.

cost

is the

one

with

the

greatest

leverage, although its costs may be

proportionately small.

These

two

particularly think

about

changed,

as

frameworks useful

(industry

because

structure

and value chain) are

together they force the organization to

how it does its business and ways in which that could be well

as

explicitly

variables which impact the firm.

forcing

attention on the external

-15-

Both

these

of

"electronic

strategy.

points

powerful been

some

itself.

use

by

to

managers jobs,

the

having

an

impact

that

on

suggest

corporate

particularly

most

well

methodology

known

of

these is Rockart's

which was developed initially

in planning their information needs [14]. the

in the

by

overshadowed

is

the process of thinking through strategy

The

managers

success

initial

one of the major ways

frameworks

on

Factors

be

technology may be utilized there has also

which work

Success

Critical

of

domain

use

of

the

information as

technique

systems

has

Its been

a mechanism to get

think

through what are the critical dimensions of their

ones

to

which

they

must

pay

undivided

attention.

if

an organization can agree on those things that must be

uniquely

well for it to be successful it has gone a long way in

Obviously, done

at

useful

formulation

for

beyond

to

seems

technology

However,

then, encourage thinking about

view,

which

integration"

information

which

of

points

identifying its strategic thrusts.

Recent

work

of

managers share.

assumptions get

to

that

and

sharing

numerous

of

what

adds the

a

__

He has shown it is important to get at the the

critical success factors in order to

really

and

thinking

definitive

needs

creativity

to

be

done

to move the

organizations

to

be

by

managers.

The

CSF

process that results in articulating

organization's direction.

changed behavior [16, 17].

______

[15] has built on the foundation that

These two conceptual frameworks are being used

forward.

stimulate

methodology

underlie

core

the

organization to

Henderson

established by identifying the Critical Assumption Set that a

Rockart group

by

analytically

These have been shown in useful and to result in

-16-

There yield more

is another perspective which is being explored and seems to

a

different

pervasive

This

third

fundamental first

of

research these who

this

he

book

same

that

obvious

been

of

done done

by

streams

the 1950s and 1960s.

the

of The

Alfred Chandler, a business In

thesis that an organization's strategy

as it changes, the organization adjusts its Although this point is regarded

Leavit

produced

an

article

[19]

At about the based

on an

of the organizational behavior literature and studies that

it and

At

in

important

important book in the early '60s [18].

to that point. could

sets of forces.

was

two

it is nonetheless a powerful point.

Harold

(in

employs,

In this article he established a case be

thought

of

not

some the

the

organizations

information e.g.,

ways people

its in

and

technology

telephone,

time, it

in fundamental research.

as

consisting of four

These were the tasks that the organization strategy), the organization the

organization

the technology that is utilized.

technologies, etc.

were

an

organization

structure

case

out

work

and,

accomplish

skills,

arose

that

wrote

time

done

an

to

in the first two analytical frameworks.

is the

today

time,

important has

those

to match the new strategy.

evaluation had

insights that are in many ways wider and

developed

over

structure as

than

of

framework

historian,

changes

set

this

was

so

materials,

and their

The technology in this

much as it was any of the manufacturing

process,

a novel and powerful way of viewing

had the added advantage of being well grounded

-17-

In of

to Chandler and Leavit there was also at this period

addition

time

strategy lists

development

the

but

"scenario"

school

of

corporate

the heart of their work was the idea that the external

at

could most usefully be examined in context of its social,

environment political, influence

the

school developed both methodologies and check

This

[20].

of

economic

and

technical components.

Their work had a big

in the '60s but fell out of favour until its recent revival

[21].

If

three streams of work are combined together one arrives

these

at the diagram given below.

EXrtERAL

SOC:O - COO

This diagram [24] recognizes that an

tC^*GAIt,

/

~[

O~

tetOWCaL rC.OLOGICA.

S~muCUm!

[~v~mOtoot

AC,*ott curt

j \\TEY

t[W ORG4 ST ·

PPO CTEESS

I

//0CES

COLOGY

, o

can

organization in

a

state

strategy,

dynamic

be thought of as a set of forces existing equilibrium.

On the one hand you have its

the mission it wishes to accomplish, and all the tasks that that mission.

make

up

more

importantly

structure

~""""~"'~""""""~"'-'

of

usefully

/

become

-

You also have its organization structure and,

perhaps, alive

and

the

corporate

vibrant.

culture

that

makes

the

You also have the people, and

-18-

only the people themselves, but the roles they are being asked to

not

For

play.

that

are

available,

defined

systems

the

the

of

information

technologies as

the budgeting, and the control

planning,

All these sets of forces exist in an

does its business. which

environment

economic

head

well as the informal processes that represent the way the

as

external

the

Holding all these four forces together are the

processes;

organization

consists

factors.

technical

and

of

the

social,

political,

These changing factors can impact

of the sets of organizational forces although principally of

one

any

particularly

previously.

management

becomes

he/she

fourth major set of forces are the technologies

The

manufacturing.

when

than

individual

different

as head of marketing becomes a very

a person

example,

course they are reflected in the strategy of the organization.

In be

to be a force in its own right and it certainly has a direct

seen

to

mechanism

the

gave

ordering

situation

where

competitors terminal

competitive

sustainable

advantage

in the

AHS took information technology, gave its customers a

cost

customer and

An

Supply (AHS) [22] and its choice of a

and allowed the customers to order directly from AHS.

terminal,

quality

them

give

place.

market

their

Hospital

is American

example

gave

strategies that are available to an organization.

the

on

impact

of this diagram then, information technology can

context

the

quicker

and

response

and higher

the ability to know more about its customers,

AHS

patterns both

savings

This

and

parties

their

tastes.

gained.

The combination was a

It was also true that AHS's

had a hard time breaking through the barrier of installe)

systems

to

sell to these customers.

There are hundreds of

-19-

of

experience

whole if

likely

Similarly, if the

is inconsistent with the

that

Such an outcome is made even more

processes

and reward schemes continue to

old ways of doing business and not the new. attempt

that

any

thinking

very

carefully

would

fail.

will

seen

be

culture are inconsistent with

of peoples' expectations then it is likely

management

the

the

reflect

organization

the reality

the

and

culture the

in

people

the

impact this technology

of technology assumes a set of skills and attitudes

vision

strategic

clearly

which

is likely to come to nothing.

it

then

idea

this

In addition, there are

corporate

and

structure

organization

accomplished.

One can have the best idea in the world but if the

linkage.

strategy

be

forces

of

sets

other

three

to

strategy

the

enabling

for

hold

is merely

technology

the

strategy,

the

for

force

driving

major

suggests, the external environment is the

diagram

this

as

However,

advantage.

competitive

for

uses

I.T.

similar

of

[231

examples

to

strategies

without

about the implications that such a strategy

structure,

the

I.T.

formulate

Thus it can

the

and the processes, is

people,

likely to fail.

An origin

expanded of

in

involving

15-20

corporate

sponsors

the

impact

information processes,

-1II1--_1I_.

of this line of thinking was the conceptual

project at the Sloan School of Management at MIT called

a

Management

on

_iaPI_

version

1990s [24].

the

faculty

at

the

This is a five year research program Sloan

School

together

with

ten

of

who are giving MIT $5 million to conduct research information

technology strategy,

Xli--llll_--^. ..._

per

se

technology. but

the

Our concern is not with

impact it will have on the

structure, people, and human resource practices

-20-

in

Our sponsors consist of three manufacturing firms,

organizations.

British

Service

Revenue namely

and

BellSouth,

papers

in

are the

although

of

series

the

public

conferences

and working conferences.

papers domain

remain

and

are

limited

ideas

and conclusions become better formed.

there

has

and

in

been

many

of

Internal

The research program is in its third year and is

and MCI. a whole

producing

the

Ltd., Digital Equipment Corporation,

Computers

International

and

involved in information technology

firms

four

Young,

Arthur

Express,

American

organizations,

Motors, and Eastman Kodak, three service

General

Petroleum,

available

from

The MIT'

to the sponsors until the Already it is clear that

a major impact on organizations as a result of I.T. the

most

successful

cases

this

impact has gone

straight to the core of the way they do their basic business.

The Future

The the

impacts

of

information

technology which the researchers in

1990s program are finding would not be of such major significance

if it were not for the fact that there is no indication that changes are

slowing down.

That is, the external environment shows every sign

Management in the 1990s Research Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management 1 Amherst Street Cambridge, MA

02139

(617) 253-0585

-21-

of

continuing

to

experience

major

changes

over

the next several

years.

These changes will in turn demand that organizations adapt to

them.

Such

adaptation

can

technology.

information

be

This

facilitated by the creative use of is itself continuing to

technology

Recent technological breakthroughs suggest that the changes

change.

will affect some areas in major ways.

The

of

first

continuing

drop

architecture

these in

have

machine

at

hardware/software domain.

the

plus

costs

developments

The

in software

in machines that have now fallen below a

For example in 1986 it is possible to buy a "LISP"

around

particularly

in

hardware resulted

threshold.

cost

is

the

suitable

level which can deal with languages

$15,000

for qualitative knowledge and its manipulation

and be coupled with a knowledge base of a usefully realistic size.

The in

second

is conceptual in nature.

Herbert Simon

the 1950s first raised the idea of heuristics and its place in the

field

of Artificial Intelligence.

work

by

many

able

knowledge

of

so-called

do

so

"expert

to

concepts

in to

concept

used

have got us to the point [25]

very

which

limited

This

has

resulted

in

the

are an interesting development in

of

However,

systems" and artificial intelligence can be

"expert "expert

domains and therefore are of marginal

strategy over the next ten years.

corporate

build of

systems"

experts.

But to the extent they replace human judgement they can

only

importance the

that

researchers

acknowledged

field.

the

Since then there has been a lot of

it is possible to capture and work with judgemental qualitative

where

_

breakthrough

support

systems"

(ESS).

These

take the

"expert systems" but apply them to an interactive system

_I_1XII___II____

Ih1

-22-

a manager very much in the loop in a crucial part of the

leaves

that

decision making process.

The

breakthroughs

conceptual an

software

for

drop

cost

in

the

directly

the

for

the

[26].

information

in

time gives us the tools to attack

first

qualitative

data

from

passage

This

with

working

of

challenge

information

judgemental

in the early 1960s to

the 1970s to knowledge in the 1980s is of fundamental opens

and

significance

build

to

of the hardware has resulted in an economically viable

which

combination

one

system" coupled with the enormous

support

"expert

allow

that

another

up

class

of problems for which an

organization must have an effective strategy.

"knowledge

This

last

the

over

touched

been

scarcely

repetitive

tasks

activities

of

on

viable

together and tasks

organization.

telecommunications

that

it

credit

more been

have

well

the

do

have

understood,

routine,

with the transaction processing

More recently we have begun to work

has

The advent of low

allowed us to link remote sites

of

inventory

things.

routine risk a

tightly with the organization. affected

entry,

order

day-to-day

components

workers

and capture transaction processing data closer to the source

integrate

payroll,

the

an

help to

knowledge

We have done a lot with computers

far.

to

have

that

since

physical manufacturing process via robots.

the

cost

thus

years

25

matters

era"

of

a

have been largely clerical, such as control

and

keeping track of the

More judgemental areas such as assessing

possible

complicated

However, the

loan

candidate or configuring the

customer order do not yield to the old

-23-

and

concepts work

with

hardware architecture that we have had to

"sequential"

thus

far.

The and

heuristics,

capturing

at

architectures"

science

new

the

of knowledge engineering,

availability

of

"parallel

prices offer the tools that will allow

reasonable

us to increasingly deal with these judgemental areas.

Given

the

technology

continuous

challenge

managers

of

firms

and

an I.T. strategy is tricky.

of

in the It must

both

getting

In addition, it involves

the I.T. professionals and the line

thus

far

From the evidence we

in the 1990s program, it would appear that

have

used

I.T. successfully are the ones who have

starting

such

a

which

dialogue.

In

order

to

get this

succeeded

in

effective

dialogue it appears that one way to start, is to start.

certainly

seems

those of

who

clear

that

the

-I

business

It

world is not waiting for

are slow to begin this process as is evident from the host

corporate

The 1990s it appears will continue to be a

takeovers.

time of change.

1_1__1_( _11____

environment

engage in a constructive dialogue.

to

collected

the

the

the management of change.

with

effectively

have

formulation

the

in

line managers thinking creatively and it must involve dealing

involve

the

changes

·

____

-24-

References 1.

Scott Morton, Michael S. "Decision Support Systems - Emerging Tools for Planning," TIMS-ORSA Conference Proceedings, New Orleans, May 1979.

2.

"Chief Executives Define Their Own Data Rockart, John F. Needs," Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1979, pp. 81-93.

3.

Keen, P.G.W. and Scott Morton, Michael S. Decision Support An Organizational View, Addison Wesley, Boston, HA, Systems: 1978.

4.

Schendel, D. and Hofer, C.W. Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning, Little Brown and Company, Boston, MA 1979.

5.

Hax, A.C. and Majluf, N.S. Strategic Management: Integrative Perspective, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1984.

6.

Steiner, 1969.

7.

Strategic Planninq Lorange, Peter and Vancil, Richard F. Systems, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1977.

8.

Henderson Henderson, B.D. Cambridge, MA, 1979.

9.

Porter, Michael.

Competitive Strategy, Free Press, NY, 1980.

10.

Porter, Michael.

Competitive Advantage, Free Press, NY, 1985.

11.

"Information and Treacy, Michael E. Yannis J. Bacos, A Research Prospective," Strategy: Technology and Corporate MIS Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 1986.

George

W.

Top Management Planning, MacMillan & Co.,

on Corporate Strateqy, Abt Books,

Beaty, Cynthia M. and Ives, Blake. "Competitive Information Sysetms in Support of Pricing," MIS Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 1, March 1986. "IS Redraws Competitive J.I. and Kousynski, B.R. Cash, Vol. 63, No. 2, Review, Business Harvard Boundaries," March-April 1985. "The Information System as a Ives, B. and Leamoutz, G.P. Competitive Weapon," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 12, No. 12, December 1984. "Information Technology Changes the Way McFarlan, F. Warren. You Compete," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 62, No. 3, May-June 1984.

-- ···---------

·-- ··--·--

,,-··

;;-·-·-----;·--;-

-25-

Competitive Strategy, Free Press, NY, 1980.

12.

Porter, Michael.

13.

Strategic Planning Associates, Inc. Commentaries, Washington, DC, 1981.

14.

"Chief Executives Define Their Own Date Rockart, John F. Needs," Harvard Business Review, Vol. 57, No. 2, March-April, 1977.

15.

Henderson, J.C., Rockart, J.F. and Sifonis, J.J. "A Planning Methodology for Integrating Management Support Systems," CISR Working Paper 116, MIT Center for Information Systems Research, Cambridge, MA, September 1984.

16.

"A Primer on Bullen, Christine V. and Rockart, John F. Critical Success Factors," CISR Working Paper 69, MIT Center for Information Systems Research, Cambridge, MA, June 1981.

17.

"Engaging Top John F. and Crescenzi, Adam D. Rockart, Management in Information Technology," Sloan Management Review, Vol. 25, No. 4, Summer 1984.

18.

Chandler, Alfred D. Cambridge, MA, 1962.

19.

"Applied Organizational Change in J. Harold Leavitt, Industry," in Handbook of Organizations, Rand-McNally, Chicago, IL, 1965.

20.

The "Learning to Design Planning Scenarios: Wack, P.A. of Royal Dutch Shell," unpublished manuscript, Experience Harvard Business School, March 1984.

21.

Lorange, Sumantra. 1986.

22.

"The Fortune. pp. 56-61. 1982,

23.

"Merrill Lynch Quacks Like a Bank," October 20, 1980, Fortune. pp. 134-144.

Jr.

"Beyond the Portfolio,"

Strategy and Structure, MIT Press,

Morton, Michael S., and Ghoshal, Scott Peter, Strategic Control, West Publishing, St. Paul, MN,

Hard-Selling

Supplier

to the Sick," July 26,

The Computer Moves "Foremost-McKesson: Week. Business Distribution to Center Stage," December 7, 1981, pp. 115-122. 24.

Rockart, John F. and Scott Morton, Michael S. "Implications of Changes in Information Technology for Competitive Strategy," Interfaces, Vol. 14, No. 1, January-February, 1984.

25.

Morton, Michael S., Malone, T.W. and Luconi, F.L. Scott "Expert Systems: The Challenge for Managers," Sloan Management Review, Summer 1986.

-26-

26.

"Knowledge-based Davis, R. 4741, February 28, 1986.

Systems," Science, Vol. 231, No.

Bobrow, D.G., Mittal, S. and Stefik, M.J. "Expert Systems: Perils and Promise," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 29, No. 9, September 1986.