MIT Sloan Management Review

In an overview of the future role of the IT organization, the authors examine the business and technological changes that are effecting change in many IT units. They cite eight imperatives in which IT organizations must excel in order to succeed. Additionally, they examine the evolving key of IT managers: ensuring that all line managers understand the potential of IT and how it can be used to implement business strategies effectively.

Assessing the value of information technology (IT) has never been easy. Delayed benefits, unintended uses, business changes, and hidden support costs inhibit meaningful evaluation of individual IT investments. This was true when most investments were focused on the support of a single business process or functional area.

As the corporate sponsorship of sports events has grown, so too has the practice of ambush marketing. Is the practice legal and ethical? How can a legitimate sponsor counteract the effects of an ambusher?

The three communities of executives, engineers, and operators do not really understand each other very well. A lack of alignment among the three groups can hinder learning in an organization.

The persistent U.S. trade imbalance may have two causes: a declining manufacturing base and the shift of the U.S. economy toward services. Correcting the imbalance will require a substantial commitment to expand America’s manufacturing base.

How to understand the various techniques for improving organizations, identify the relationships among them, and merge them so that they become complementary rather than competitive.

To shift toward high-quality service strategies, managers must adopt training and recruiting policies that compensate for institutional barriers to human resource investment.

A continuum of strategies shows that while some industries favor customization and some foster standardization, others mix the two in their products, processes, and customer transactions in intriguing ways.