Davies Firing and Bartons Hiring - Essay Example

Conversely, Barton himself was hired as a function of the belief that he could inject some fresh blood and new perspective into the way that the organization operates.  Because the same tired techniques had been tried over and over under Davies’ leadership with little to no effect, Barton was ultimately viewed as a way in which a blank slate could be created and the organization could move forward from a fresh point without the baggage that Davies engendered.

1. Why is it often so difficult to assign a quantitative value to the return on an IT investment?

This is because IT touches so many different aspects of the firm in somewhat imperceptible ways.  Whereas the effect of a new marketing strategy can be uniformly measured, the effect of procurement of new and more efficient IT systems and the integration of a greater level of IT expertise within the field means that the overall synergy that is created is difficult to narrow down to but a few statistics and figures.  Moreover, when one realizes the rate of expenditure as compared to the rate of return, this too is problematic because the rate of return on investment is not immediately or rapidly realized.

2. Use examples to support or refute the "IT Doesn't Matter" contention.

Ultimately, it does matter because functions of IT are removed, the organization itself would necessarily come stumbling to a halt.  An example of this can be seen in the way that a firm would no longer be able to support a key data package that is necessary for operational effectiveness.  With such an integral and key component of the firm no longer operations, how business is conducted is necessarily reduced; thereby reducing the competitive advantage of the firm and the total outreach and scope that it could hope to appeal to. 

4. Where does your firm fall on the "strategic grid" presented on pp. 77-78? If you're not working, select a firm and describe its position on the grid.

With regards to my current firm, this can best be described as an IT situation that is strategic.  Rather than providing a support function or merely aiding the organization in developing a product, my firm provides a hands-octave approach to IT such that it must act and react to an evolving marketplace as a function of continually providing the firm with a competitive advantage within the given market.

5. Can we generalize the percentages of "competes" versus "qualifiers" applications?

I would argue that although these terms can ultimately be used to help reveal whether functions of IT are static or competitive, the fact of the matter is that just as with question number 2 above, seeking to identify core percentages of “Competes” versus “Qualifiers” can oftentimes lead one to miss the point that an individual function of IT has originally been set up to perform.   Moreover, even though a static or “qualifier” function of IT may be engaged, this does not necessarily mean that it cannot secondarily improve the ability of the firm to compete.  Likewise, competitive functions of IT are not only competitive and can of course assist in day-to-day mundane features of how the firm/organization seeks to integrate its overall efficiency and product with the end customer.  Although these terms can of course be useful in determining the very basic core competencies that a firm should seek to engage with, they are ultimately incomplete in seeking to understand the nuances and dynamics of how a firm can and should utilize its resources as a means of business development and overall synergy.