Professor Lorin Hitt

Next Offering: Unknown (historical schedule of every spring will not hold this year)

Overview

The nearly instantaneous transmission and processing of information is changing the structure of entire industries, altering the profitable opportunities available to many firms. In response, many organizations are forced to make substantial changes in the competitive strategies or internal organization as a result of the opportunities created and threats posed by the increasing availability of information. This course is devoted to the study of the strategic use of information. While many of the issues we will discuss are relevant to other disciplines like strategic management, economics or finance we will focus specifically on the role of Information and the closely related role of Information Technology. Within these boundaries, we have three objectives: 1) Cover topics in information management that have a potentially high impact but are not (yet) normally covered by your other courses; 2) Focus on problems unique to information-intensive businesses that you will soon encounter as a consultant, analyst, technologist, or entrepreneur; 3) Encourage you to think about entrepreneurial opportunities in the information economy. While there are plenty of interesting opportunities available, sorting good ideas from bad ideas in the information economy is difficult. One objective of the course is to help you develop informed opinions about what will and will not work, before devoting your attention (your most valuable resource) to pursuing a job or business in this sector. Technology is a central theme of the course (especially information technology), but the course is not about programming or the technology itself. The only prerequisite is a basic understanding of information technology and the strategic use of technology (equivalent to OPIM210). The course is most useful to students who are considering careers in IT or management consulting, technology-oriented investment banking, and IT-related careers in information-rich industries.

What's New for 2008

Well... this course will not be offered in the Spring of 2008 breaking a tradition of a Spring offering every year for the last eight years. Portions of the course will be incorporated into OPIM210, and a redesigned OPIM469 and OPIM669 (probably 0.5 cu) will hopefully become available in 2009.

Course Archive Site

The OPIMx69 course archive is available here.