Electricity, the telephone, the steam engine, the telegraph, the railroad and
..IT? In his HBR article, "IT Doesn't Matter," Nicholas Carr has stirred up quite a bit of controversy around IT's role as strategic business differentiator. He examines the evolution of IT and argues that it follows a pattern very similar to that of earlier technologies like railroads and electricity. At the beginning of their evolution, these technologies provided opportunities for competitive advantage. However, as they become more and more available as they become ubiquitous they transform into "commodity inputs," and lose their strategic differentiation capabilities. From a strategic viewpoint, they essentially become "invisible."
Carr distinguishes between proprietary technologies and what he calls infrastructural technologies. Proprietary technologies can provide a strategic advantage as long as they remain restricted through "physical limitations, intellectual property rights, high costs or a lack of standards," but once those restrictions are lifted, the strategic advantage is lost. In contrast, infrastructural technologies provide far greater value when shared. Although an infrastructural technology might appear proprietary in the early stages of buildout, eventually the characteristics and economics of infrastructural technology necessitate that they will be broadly shared and will become a part of the broader business infrastructure. To illustrate his point, Carr uses the example of a proprietary railroad. It is possible that a company might gain a competitive advantage by building lines only to their suppliers, but eventually this benefit would be trivial compared to the broader good realized by building a railway network. The same is true for IT - no company today would gain a cost-effective competitive advantage by narrowing its focus and implementing an Internet only between their suppliers to the exclusion of the rest of the world.
To further shore up his "IT as commodity" theory, Carr cites the fact that major technology vendors, such as Microsoft and IBM, are positioning themselves as "IT utilities," companies that control the provision of business applications over "the grid." Couple this IT-as-utility trend with the rapidly decreasing cost of processing power, data storage and transmission, and even the most "cutting-edge IT capabilities quickly become available to all."
Although IT may seem too diverse to be compared to commodities such as electricity and the railroads, Carr points out three specific characteristics that guarantee rapid commoditization: IT is a transport mechanism; IT is highly replicable; and IT is subject to rapid price deflation.
The novel Don’t Care High was written by Gordan Korman. This novel, as well as other novels he wrote were based partly on his experiences in high school, where he says, “the only way to get through high school alive was by laughing”. This novel relates to teenagers about high school and how their high school is different. Korman wrote his first novel at age 12, This Can’t Be Happening at McDonald Hall. Korman graduated from New York University’s Dramatic Writing Program. He now lives in New York City with his wife and children.
Workers are also not being used to their full potential as the majority of the IT budget is going towards them to maintain the current system that they have in place. Carr determines that these problems can be fixed with relative ease by combining three different technologies, Web services, virtualization, and grid computing. The combination will allow for less technology to be wasted and processing power to be used to its full capacity. He tells the reader, this is what the individual will have to do to advance the information technology environment to its fullest potential and continues by listing examples of some of the possible corporations and sources from where this individual could come from, including big computing hardware contributors, information technology hosting operations, an internet extraordinaire and new start up innovators. He concludes the article by pointing out that as dubious as this may be, many other innovations similar to this started the same way and people should not fear to take action on this opportunity, as it will better humanity. I believe that the article provides some good points as it shows us that the
The human race tends to sugarcoat natures indifference to man as if it’s an innate instinct. They have an egotistical sense of importance. They don’t like to feel as if they’re inferior or unimportant because then there’s no point in living. They lie to themselves to stay alive. However, Stephen Crane, a writer of American realism, attempts to describe life without idealization or romantic subjectivity. Therefore, Crane’s theme revolves around the insignificance of man in the face of an indifferent universe.
The article Digital Technology and Institutional Change from the Gilded Age to Modern Times: The Impact of the Telegraph and the Internet describes the difficulties that exist when trying to create an accurate economic model showing responses to new, economy changing, technologies. The author Ronnie Phillips mainly focuses on institutional economics and, by showing the history of other technological advances, the need for institutional analysis. He explains how the challenge is to explain societal change, recognize what and how it happens, and create policies that will "foster" increased living standards throughout the world.
...tical decisions that Starr talks so much about. The decision by AT&T and the federal government to regulate AT&T is the most noticeable instance of this, as well as possibly part of the cause for the legislation concerning the post office. We also saw that sometimes organizations could form symbiotic relationships with the socio-technical system where both the user and the system itself greatly benefit from mutual cooperation. The telegraph showcases this principle with its relationships with railroads and, most notably, the Associated Press. In the end though, the point is that it is never a single factor that determines the growth of institutions as influential and as widespread as the post office, telegraph, and telephone. Systems such as these must always be analyzed from multiple perspectives in order to really see why their development occurred the way it did.
Allen, Brenda J. "Difference and Other Important Matters." Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity. Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2004. 1-22. Print.
Consider for example, the radio and television. The radio and television (before the advent of the internet) were monumental in their effects on transmitting culture, products, and ideas accross vast distances of the United States. Suddenly American’s could relate to the horrors of war overseas, as well as they could learn of each other’s culture, or product. Of course, this was not the same as being able to transport them there, though newer, better, faster forms of mass transit would be developed to help facilitate just this. But all of these developments pale in comparison to almost a half-century later, with the rise of the internet, and with the increasing array uses for it, in the modern day. +++====
The world is experiencing a communications revolution. The Internet, e-Commerce and other developments (including the convergence of communication technologies) are profoundly reshaping economic and social life. AT&T must position itself to meet the challenge of this revolution. The strategic development of information-based industries is a key to the future social and economic development of the world.
Decisions on investments in IT are controversial and crucial in an organization. With a thorough understanding of a company’s strategic context, managers can identify business and IT maxims that can help determine the IT infrastructure capabilities necessary to achieve their business goals.
Information Technology (IT) is a foundation for conducting business today. It plays a critical role in increasing productivity of firms and entire nation. It is proven that firms who invested in IT have experienced continued growth in productivity and efficiency. Many companies' survival and even existence without use of IT is unimaginable. IT has become the largest component of capital investment for companies in the United States and many other countries.
The first is that the concept of information technology comprises two very distinct economic activities: an all-purpose machine (the PC) and its enabling applications and a medium (the internet). Capital assets as distinct from media assets are governed by different economic principles, should be managed differently and be the subject of different philosophical points of view.
Mithas, S., Tafti, A., & Mitchell, W. (2013). How a Firm’s Competitive Environment and Digital
This strategy emphasizes the use of an organization’s resources and capabilities to achieve a core competence that cannot be imitated by competitors. Furthermore, the resource based school argues that if an organization distinctively improves its internal capability; that is being able to have effective inside machinery to deliver products and services to customers, the organization will enjoy a massive advantage in the market. This school also argues that in order to have a competitive advantage, an organization must have resource and capabilities that are sophisticated to those of competitors (QuickMBA, 2010).
Businesses are now able to approach overseas markets, they are no longer confined to their areas of establishment. Business today is inextricably intertwined with technology, from the smallest home office, to a multinational corporation with multiple monolithic legacy applications. It is impossible to be in business today without confronting the issues of technology. The way we do business today is different than 30 years ago. Technology has evolved around the areas of telecommunications, travel, stock markets, shipping and even around our daily lives.
...lude Internet pages, home phones, mobile phones and the like which facilitated communication means between marketing agencies and clients all over the world. Indeed Information Technology contributed in the communication revolution that occurred in many fields like business and will still facilitate means of business transactions management.