POST GRADUATE PROGRAMME IN MANAGEMENT

Academic Year 2018-2019 | Term VI

A BUSINESS MANAGER’S ROAD MAP TO IDENTIFYING STRATEGIC INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Credits: One

Course instructor: Professor. S. Sakthivel

Email: ssakthi@bgsu.edu | Phone: 1.419.353.5152

Consultation hours: To be decided

Course Introduction:
Since information technology (IT) is expensive and advances rapidly, a firm needs to invest in IT
wisely. IT that can increase the firm’s competitive advantage and IT that can support business
strategies provide the most value. This course provides a road map to identifying such IT.

Course Objectives:
At the end of the course, a student should be able to
1. identify the value that IT can provide to an individual firm
2. analyze the firm’s industry structure and its value chain to identify IT that can provide most value
to the firm
3. evaluate the return on investment in such IT and make a business case for each investment.

Pedagogy:
Readings from books and articles, lecture, class discussion of cases, and projects

Course material:
A handout will be provided with the needed concepts and tools.
The entire course will use a case called Fine Coating Inc. The case is free to students.
Two reference books are recommended:
Managing and Using Information Systems, 4th Edition
Keri Pearlson and Carol Saunders
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-470-34381-4

And

Productivity Paradox by Henry C. Lucas

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Course prerequisites:
Students must have taken a course on Management Information Systems, and be familiar with the
uses and applications of various information technologies in business.

Evaluation scheme:
Evaluation Component Type (Individual/Group) Weightage Remarks, if any
Class discussion Individual 5%
Quiz (2) Individual 20%
Project Group 40%
Final Examination Individual 35%

Attendance requirement:
100% attendance is required for the course. A student not meeting the attendance requirement will
not get credit for the course. Under specified exigent circumstances, the program committee can
waive off attendance up to 25%.

Session-wise course outline:

Please provide session-wise details, in the following tabular format, of the topics you intend to cover in
this course. There will be 6 sessions of 90 minutes each. The 7th session will be for conducting end term
exams, if any
Session Topics covered Case (if Pre-class readings
Number any)
1 Review of information Explore and study established and new
technology pre-requisites. information technologies such as AI and
Big Data. Research on your own
2 IT Concepts such as information Notes
intensity and strategic grid
needed for strategic IT planning
3, 4, 5, 6 Industry Structure Analysis to Fine 1. Notes
identify Strategic IT. Coating 2. Reference books
Value Chain Analysis to identify Inc. 3. Case Analysis
IT to support business strategies.
Use of SWOT analysis in
identifying IT of value.
Evaluation of ROI for chosen IT.
Relationship between IT
strategies such as IT outsourcing
and strategic IT.
Strategic IT and project
management
Evaluating ROI and making a
business case for investment
7 End-Term Exam. Entire course materials

Additional references:
Additional readings will be provided.

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Any other information:
None specific

About the instructor:

Dr. Sachi Sakthivel obtained a PhD from Syracuse University, NY, and has a BSEE and an
MBA degree. Before joining the PhD program, he worked in the systems area for about eight
years in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, India. While at BHEL, he was a visiting faculty at the
Regional Engineering College (now NIT), Tiruchirappalli for five years. Dr. Sakthivel has been a
professor of MIS at Bowling Green State University, USA for more than 32 years. He has served
as a visiting professor in the National University of Singapore and in the Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras during his sabbatical leaves from the USA. He has also been an IT advisor
in the USA for about 20 years. His research interests include offshore IT outsourcing, software
economics, and systems development methods. He is an Associate Editor of the American
Journal of Business.