Case Study: Roche’s New Scientific Method & Google
Case Study
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KEY TERMS business diamond (p. 34) business strategy (p. 26) cost leadership (p. 27) differentiation (p. 28) focus (p. 28) hypercompetition (p. 30) IS strategy (p. 37) Information Systems Strategy Triangle (p. 23) managerial levers (p. 36) mission (p. 25) organizational strategy (p. 34) shareholder value model (p. 29) strategy (p. 25) unlimited resources model (p. 30)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why is it important for business strategy to drive organizational strategy and IS strategy? What might happen if business strategy was not the driver? 2. Suppose managers in an organization decided to hand out laptop computers to all salespeople without making any other formal changes in organizational strategy or business strategy. What might be the outcome? What unintended consequences might occur? 3. Consider a traditional manufacturing company that wanted to take advantage of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools. What might be a reasonable business strategy, and how would organizational and IS strategy need to change? 4. This chapter describes key components of an IS strategy. Describe the IS strategy of a consulting firm using the matrix framework. 5. What does this tip from Fast Company mean: ‘‘The job of the CIO is to provide organizational and strategic flexibility’’?23
CASE STUDY 1-1
ROCHE’S NEW SCIENTIFIC METHOD
For years, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Group worked hard to create an ultra-competitive culture that pitted scientific teams against one another in fighting for scarce resources. Roche had believed that this culture was instrumental in creating such blockbuster drugs as Valium and Librium. But, on the downside, this approach made it almost impossible for scientists to abandon faltering projects that they felt were pivotal for their careers. Rather, it led them to hoard their technical expertise and findings. In 1998, the company turned to a more collaborative style of teamwork—especially for its teams working in the new field of
41
KEY TERMS business diamond (p. 34) business strategy (p. 26) cost leadership (p. 27) differentiation (p. 28) focus (p. 28) hypercompetition (p. 30) IS strategy (p. 37) Information Systems Strategy Triangle (p. 23) managerial levers (p. 36) mission (p. 25) organizational strategy (p. 34) shareholder value model (p. 29) strategy (p. 25) unlimited resources model (p. 30)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Why is it important for business strategy to drive organizational strategy and IS strategy? What might happen if business strategy was not the driver? 2. Suppose managers in an organization decided to hand out laptop computers to all salespeople without making any other formal changes in organizational strategy or business strategy. What might be the outcome? What unintended consequences might occur? 3. Consider a traditional manufacturing company that wanted to take advantage of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools. What might be a reasonable business strategy, and how would organizational and IS strategy need to change? 4. This chapter describes key components of an IS strategy. Describe the IS strategy of a consulting firm using the matrix framework. 5. What does this tip from Fast Company mean: ‘‘The job of the CIO is to provide organizational and strategic flexibility’’?23
CASE STUDY 1-1
ROCHE’S NEW SCIENTIFIC METHOD
For years, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Group worked hard to create an ultra-competitive culture that pitted scientific teams against one another in fighting for scarce resources. Roche had believed that this culture was instrumental in creating such blockbuster drugs as Valium and Librium. But, on the downside, this approach made it almost impossible for scientists to abandon faltering projects that they felt were pivotal for their careers. Rather, it led them to hoard their technical expertise and findings. In 1998, the company turned to a more collaborative style of teamwork—especially for its teams working in the new field of