Professor Lorin Hitt

Next Offering: Fall 2007 (Monday-Wednesday 12-1:30)

Overview

The shift in the economy from the industrial era to the information age has profound implications for the management of the modern enterprise. Firms are experimenting with new types of products, production processes, organizational structures, and competitive strategies that have been enabled by the use of information technology (IT). In this “information economy”, there is tremendous demand for managers that can combine technical skills with business insight to create value for their organizations using IT, whether they work in the information systems function or elsewhere. This course provides a broad-based introduction to strategic use of information systems focusing on three interrelated themes: technology, organization, and strategy. While the course provides some basic training in information technology concepts, the emphasis of the course is thinking about how information technology can be applied to designing new organizations and implementing corporate strategy. There are no prerequisites except for a general interest in both business and technology issues. The course is suitable for students interested in careers in consulting, technology-oriented investment banking, as well as students interested in management careers related to information technology.

What's New for Fall 2007

I will be undertaking a significant course redesign to better reflect modern IT management issues. This will include reducing the amount of basic technology, and more emphasis on outsourcing and information strategy (pricing information goods, electronic markets, open source and intellectual property). The core material on basic IT strategy and IT and organzations will largely remain the same. A draft of the syllabus has been posted below (it will be updated, but probably not with any major changes).