Student guide Faculty of Engineering A.Y. 2010/11

Aim and Syllabus of the Course Why are companies of any kind are investing huge amounts of money in IT and still executives and employees are often complaining about the usefulness of their computers? Does it really make any sense to say that "IT is a strategic weapon for your business", as we read every day in the ads from IT vendors? Top Forbes world leading companies either belong to the IT industry or base their success on their IT investments: is there any magic in the way they manage IT? The goal of this course is to introduce students to the strategic impact of IT investments in organizations. At the end of this course, students will be able to identify the aspects of the business and the IS function that limit or leverage the effect of IT initiatives with respect to the achievement of a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). This course focuses on the debated issue of the strategic relevance of IT. The topic is presented through an overview on the research that deals with the so called “IT paradox”, the contradiction between the amount of investments in IT and the related (apparent) lack of results achieved. The course refers to models belonging to the literature of strategic management and organizational theory to build the conceptual framework enabling the understanding of the paradox. The framework is then discussed through a managerial perspective to develop a pragmatic approach to the strategic use of information systems. The course is grounded on a selection of academic papers and makes vast use of from-the-field examples. Students will be involved in small-groups discussion on mini-case studies.

Evaluation The coursework will be delivered through a class blog where the students will perform on-line discussion about readings assigned by the teacher. Students will be asked to deliver: · in-class participation (counting at least 20% of the final grade) · assignments (counting at least 50% of the final grade) o 2-3 individual on-line discussions (approximately half page) about mini case studies and short articles assigned by the teacher. These readings will be assigned at about 20%, 40% and 60% of completion of the course. Students will be assessed according to the competence they will show on the main topic of each reading and their critical thinking ability; o one home assignment (approximately 6-8 pages) that will be composed in groups of 2-3 students: each student will give an individual oral presentation and that will be presented and discussed in class at about 70% of completion of the course. · a final written exam (counting no more than 30% of the final grade)