Topic 3: Strategy and Competitive Advantage

There are so many gadgets and cool apps being invented everyday. There's not enough time to explore them all. Companies would go bankrupt if they buy or simply explore every tool that comes by. How should a professional make wise decisions about information systems?

We examine Porter's strategy and value chain frameworks, and explore how information systems should be chosen and designed wisely to support an organization strategically.

Learning Aims
Students will be able to:

1. Describe Porter's five forces that determine industry structure
2. Describe Porter's four competitive strategies
3. Explain how organizational strategy determines information systems requirements
4. Describe the value chain 
5. Explain how the value chain determines information systems requirements
6. Describe the relationship between information systems and competitive advantage