Introduction to Strategic Management

Strategy
Strategy is all about setting direction - not just for the organization but also in the hearts and minds of employees and customers. Strategy in turn will define the organization, remove complacency and focuses effort towards the achievement of financial and strategic objectives.

Strategic Management
The systematic analysis of the factors associated with customers and competitors

(the external environment and the organization itself (the internal environment to provide the basis for maintaining optimum management practices. The objective of the strategic management is to achieve better alignment of corporate policies and strategic priorities.

External Environment

Mission

SWOT nalysis

Goals

Strateg y

Internal Environment

Plannin g

Feedback and Control

Implementatio n

Introduction to Information Technology

!e use the term information technology or "T to refer to an entire industry. "n actuality, information technology is the use of computers and software to manage information. "n some companies, this is referred to as #anagement "nformation Services (or #"S or simply as "nformation Services (or "S . The information technology department of a large company would be responsible for storing information, protecting information, processing the information, transmitting the information as necessary, and later retrieving information as necessary.

Strategic Management of IT
$ Today in many organizations information technology ("T is playing a strategic role and has become more important than it was before for the business strategy. #oreover aligning "T with business strategy is a major concern for many "T leaders. $ %ased on the above construct we have found in the research literature that Strategic #anagement of "T is mainly concerned with "T Strategic &lanning(by including in this dimension the "T ac'uisition and implementation dimension and Strategic use of "T(by including in this dimension the "T environment (scanning dimension .

IT Strategic Management Process

Scanning- "t helps a firm in determining which technology has been used by
competitors and what has been desired for themselves.

&lanning and (ontrol- "ts helps a firm to decide by which source and for what
purpose technology has been ac'uired, controlling the budget and processing.

)c'uisition and "mplementation * "ts helps in ac'uiring the technology from

best possible available sources and implementing it within the framewor+ .

Strategic ,se- "t helps a firm to use the "T as per the prescribed strategies made by
the (hief -xecutives.

Recent Trends In IT
Semiconductor Technology
-normous improvements in the performance of integrated circuits and cost reductions brought about by rapid miniaturization have driven much of the advances in "T. ) related trend is the migration of computing into other devices and e'uipment. This is not a new trend.automobiles have been major users of microprocessors since the late /012s.but as semiconductor chips become more powerful and less expensive, they are becoming increasingly ubi'uitous. )lso, new capabilities are being added to chips.

Information Storage

3is+ drives and other forms of information storage reflect similar improvements in cost and performance. )s a conse'uence, the amount of information in digital form has expanded greatly. -stimates of the amount of original information (excluding copies and reproductions suggest that information on dis+ drives now constitutes the majority of information. "ncreasingly, much of this information is available on-line..

Networking
The third trend is the growth of networ+s. (omputers are increasingly connected in networ+s, including local area networ+s (4)5 and wide area networ+s (!)5 . #any early commercial computer networ+s, such as those used by )T# and airline reservation systems, used proprietary systems that re'uired specialized software or hardware (or both . "ncreasingly, organizations are using open-standard, "nternet-based systems for networ+s. )s people have been able to interconnect and share information with each other, the value of "T has increased.

Applications of IT
) fourth trend is the ever-increasing array of applications that ma+e "T more useful. (omputers were originally used primarily for data processing. )s they became more powerful and convenient, applications expanded. !ord processing, spreadsheets, and database programs were among the early minicomputer and &( applications. 6ver the past two decades, innovations in software have enabled applications to expand to include educational software, des+top publishing, computer-aided design and manufacturing, games, modeling and simulation, networ+ing and communications software, electronic mail, the !orld !ide !eb, digital imaging and photography, audio and video applications, electronic commerce applications, groupware, file sharing, search engines, and many others. The growth and diversity of applications greatly increase the utility of "T, leading to its further expansion.

SM of IT
IT Dashboards

$-xecutive 7iews $%usiness metrics 7iews $Service 4evel 7iews .$6perational #etric 7iews

Challenges in strategic management IT

(loud strategies 8 solutions "T #aturity %ig 3ata )nalytics )pplication #odernization
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 Security and 9overnance:;is+:(ontrol #anagement "T Strategies ;6" %usiness &rocess 6ptimization:"nnovation 9reen "T:Sustainability "T Talent #anagement "T (ulture )sset 4ac+ of time constraint %udget constraints 4ac+ of ade'uate staff experience 4ac+ of expertise of customers The "nformation -xplosion problem The options overload problem Support for ,bi'uitous (omputing -nvironment
.

!" of challenges in SM of IT in #ealthcare Sector in Sweden$

%b&ecti'es and Methodology

$;esearch 6bjective< *The objective is to analyze the path to strategic alignment in the healthcare sector in Sweden. $ #ethodology *"mplementing =The >our (?s@ model for analyzing the path to strategic alignment. *Aualitative (through interviews in organizations from Stoc+holm health care sector and 'uantitative(survey in BCD organizations acting in Swedish healthcare sector, documents, reports regarding e-health strategy in Sweden

The ( C)s model *eiss and Anderson+,--(. model

The main element of the public healthcare sector

Sweden has a decentralized healthcare sector with B2 county councils and B02 municipal councils as principals and care providers. Their responsibilities as principals includes the provision of ade'uate care services and the re'uirement to develop 'uality assurances and finance of all care activities

/usiness Strategy
$The business strategy in the healthcare sector is presented in the 5ational strategy for ehealth in Sweden (B22E .

$9oal-The overall goal is to provide ade'uate health and medical care services. $6bjective-The principal actors in the medical and healthcare sector must ta+e up a common position on strategic issues crucial to the continued development, renewal and improved efficiency of Sweden?s healthcare services. "T should be used as a strategic tool at all levels in the healthcare sector.

IT Strategy
$The +ey issues of the "T Strategy in healthcare sector according to 5ational strategy for ehealth in Sweden (B22E are< *%ringing laws and regulations into line with extended use of "(T. *(reating a common information structure. *(reating a common technical infrastructure. *>acilitating interoperable, supportive "(T systems. *>acilitating access to information across organizational boundaries. *#a+ing information and services easily accessible to citizens. $"n aligning the "T strategy with business strategy the main role is played by (are lin+ which is an organization for national cooperation and coordination concerning the development of "T and use of "T in Swedish Fealthcare center.

Results
The results of the interviews and online survey using the =D(?s@model <

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$"T has a clear direction stated in the national e-healthcare strategy in which (are lin+ is playing a coordination role of "T projects development and "T strategy implementation. There are also "T standards that are emerging cross functions within the organization. $The connections between "T strategy and %usiness &lanning are loo+ing more to achieve operational excellence rather than a partner that can create value. 6n the other hand the "T managers from (are lin+ are committed to have good liaisons and good partnership with people from different departments of Swedish healthcare organizations. $The communications inside the organizations from healthcare sector are loo+ing to build relationships as partners. #oreover there is a +nowledge transfer between these organizations through different training initiatives. $;egarding cross functional integration we have noticed that there is a willing for change of organization?s business processes. >urthermore the level of "T innovation is encouraged mostly internally but also externally with the partners and customers.

Conclusions
"n summary the analysis of the path to strategic alignment using the D(?s model < $The Swedish healthcare sector has a clear direction on using "T strategically. $The officials have shown a good level of commitment to achieve this goal and the goal has been communicated well throughout the organization. $There is also a cross functional integration in the healthcare sector since the +nowledge and information are shared among different departments and is a positive attitude concerning "T innovations. $"n achieving of a good level of strategic alignment (are lin+ has played and is still playing an important role for the strategic alignment of "T with the business strategy by acting in our perception li+e a (hief "nformation 6fficer in the healthcare sector. $) challenge coming out of this research will be to analyze the cultural effects on strategic alignment in healthcare sector from Scandinavian countries.

Abstract
Today information management technology faces two major related challenges. 6ne is to tame the information and options explosion that are upon us. )nother is to support 11

the information needs in the ubi'uitous environments that are being created. These two challenges have received considerable attention from various segments of information management technology research community. Some of the subjects of research have been addressed sufficiently, while other subjects still re'uire considerable research. "n this paper, " review and analyze the challenges, and offer some directions for some of the subjects of research, so as to help marshal the creative energies of the corresponding segments of the research community for faster solutions to the challenges.

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