MIT Sloan Management Review

The management literature is full of valuable strategic planning methodologies for information technology (IT).1

In 1989, private labels or store brands accounted for 65 percent of sales of frozen green and wax beans and for 25 percent of sales of liquid bleach but for only 1.1 percent of sales of personal deodorants.

At Vista Elementary School, classrooms look and operate differently from traditional classrooms. Each classroom has five computer terminals for students and a teacher workstation. Students spend fifteen minutes to an hour a day at the terminals, depending on need.

Behold the growth of management consulting: industry revenues worldwide grew from $3 billion in 1980 to $22 billion in 1990.1 Expenditures on such services by U.S. companies grew from about $7 billion five years ago to almost $14 billion in 1991.2

Although a relatively recent development, database marketing (DBM) programs are already forcing important choices by companies, consumers, and legislators.

IMAGINE THE FACTORY OF THE FUTURE. WILL COMPUTER-INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING (CIM) SYSTEMS BE ESSENTIAL PARTS OF THAT FACTORY? Perhaps not, argue the authors, because the assumptions underlying computer-integrated manufacturing are seriously flawed. Flexible technology will not address the causes of manufacturing problems; it may simply institutionalize bad practice. Better to address organizational issues first, then apply flexible technologies as a last resort.

In a time of shortening product life cycles, complex corporate joint ventures and stiffening requirements for customer service, Hewlett-Packard reconsidered its supply-chain management and developed a framework for addressing uncertainty. The author describes several cases in which entire product families were reevaluated in a supply-chain context to impressive effect.

Image assessment and enhancement are essential strategic management tools. Managers must be able to assess their company’s current image or reputation in the marketplace and improve it.