Strategic Management of
Organisations and ICT
This document contains a summary of ALL LECTURES of the 2020/2021 edition of the
Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT course offered at Utrecht University (course
code: INFOB3SMI). Each lecture has been summarized in depth and provides a solid
overview of all discussed content. All relevant tables and figures are included and explained.
In some cases I even added extra figures and information from the book and the internet to
further explain the topics. The article by Henderson and Venkatraman is also summarized in
depth and included at the end of the document.
As a BONUS, I also included all questions and answers discussed during the practice exam
in the final lecture on February 23rd.
Good luck with your exam!
David
Lecture 1 February 9 2
Lecture 2 February 11 4
Lecture 3 February 16 13
Lecture 4 February 23 18
(Article) Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming
organizations 23
Practice exam 26
Answers 27
Course: Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT
Course code: INFOB3SMI
Academic year: 2020-2021
Summary author: David Schouten ()
,Lecture 1 February 9
Strategy is “the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves
advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and
competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations”. Typical decisions include:
choice of industry, firm configuration, resource investments, pricing tactics and scope
decisions.
Strategic thinking is the creative entrepreneurial insight into the ways the enterprise could
develop
Strategic planning is the systematic, comprehensive analysis to develop a plan of action
Opportunistic decision-making is making effective responses to unexpected threats and
opportunities
The mission of a company is a statement of what the organization does and its long-term,
overall purpose. It is often inspirational and used for marketing purposes. Answers “Who we
are and what we do”.
The vision of a company is what the business will be in the future and how it will operate.
Answers “Where are we going?”.
Business objectives are set for achieving the vision, at several levels. They should be
SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound.
After setting the direction of the company with the mission and vision, you need to know how
to achieve it. This is where the strategy comes in.
The book discusses three types of strategy:
Business strategy
● Business drivers,
● Objectives and direction
● Change
IS Strategy
● How to support the business strategy
with information systems
● Business-based
● Demand oriented
● information focused
IT Strategy
● How to support the IS strategy
● Activity based
● Supply orientated
● Technology focused
The article by Hendersen & Venkatraman
focuses on how Business and IS/IT strategy
should be aligned.
Good news: a summary of the article by Hendersen & Venkatraman is included at the end of
this document! :)
Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT. Summary by David Schouten.
2
, Business Model Canvas
The BMC is a strategy tool, a template for developing new or documenting existing business
models The BMC is relatively easy to create and explain and often leads to interesting
discussions regarding the best strategy to follow.
The canvas consists of rectangles that describe the business strategy. See the figure and
table below for an explanation of each component
Value proposition What is your company? What (value) do you offer?
Cust. segments Who are your customers?
Channels How are you going to reach your customers? E.g. physical stores or
webshop
Customer How are you going to build up relationships with your customers? E.g.
relationships account managers or general customer service
Key partners Which partners are crucial for your business? E.g. suppliers
Key activities Which activities do you perform with your partners? E.g. marketing
Key resources What resources do you need for your key activities? E.g. personnel
Revenue streams How are you going to make money? Also alternative income streams
Cost structure What are you going to spend money on? E.g. personnel, IT, infra, etc.
Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT. Summary by David Schouten.
3
Organisations and ICT
This document contains a summary of ALL LECTURES of the 2020/2021 edition of the
Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT course offered at Utrecht University (course
code: INFOB3SMI). Each lecture has been summarized in depth and provides a solid
overview of all discussed content. All relevant tables and figures are included and explained.
In some cases I even added extra figures and information from the book and the internet to
further explain the topics. The article by Henderson and Venkatraman is also summarized in
depth and included at the end of the document.
As a BONUS, I also included all questions and answers discussed during the practice exam
in the final lecture on February 23rd.
Good luck with your exam!
David
Lecture 1 February 9 2
Lecture 2 February 11 4
Lecture 3 February 16 13
Lecture 4 February 23 18
(Article) Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming
organizations 23
Practice exam 26
Answers 27
Course: Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT
Course code: INFOB3SMI
Academic year: 2020-2021
Summary author: David Schouten ()
,Lecture 1 February 9
Strategy is “the direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves
advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources and
competences with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder expectations”. Typical decisions include:
choice of industry, firm configuration, resource investments, pricing tactics and scope
decisions.
Strategic thinking is the creative entrepreneurial insight into the ways the enterprise could
develop
Strategic planning is the systematic, comprehensive analysis to develop a plan of action
Opportunistic decision-making is making effective responses to unexpected threats and
opportunities
The mission of a company is a statement of what the organization does and its long-term,
overall purpose. It is often inspirational and used for marketing purposes. Answers “Who we
are and what we do”.
The vision of a company is what the business will be in the future and how it will operate.
Answers “Where are we going?”.
Business objectives are set for achieving the vision, at several levels. They should be
SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound.
After setting the direction of the company with the mission and vision, you need to know how
to achieve it. This is where the strategy comes in.
The book discusses three types of strategy:
Business strategy
● Business drivers,
● Objectives and direction
● Change
IS Strategy
● How to support the business strategy
with information systems
● Business-based
● Demand oriented
● information focused
IT Strategy
● How to support the IS strategy
● Activity based
● Supply orientated
● Technology focused
The article by Hendersen & Venkatraman
focuses on how Business and IS/IT strategy
should be aligned.
Good news: a summary of the article by Hendersen & Venkatraman is included at the end of
this document! :)
Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT. Summary by David Schouten.
2
, Business Model Canvas
The BMC is a strategy tool, a template for developing new or documenting existing business
models The BMC is relatively easy to create and explain and often leads to interesting
discussions regarding the best strategy to follow.
The canvas consists of rectangles that describe the business strategy. See the figure and
table below for an explanation of each component
Value proposition What is your company? What (value) do you offer?
Cust. segments Who are your customers?
Channels How are you going to reach your customers? E.g. physical stores or
webshop
Customer How are you going to build up relationships with your customers? E.g.
relationships account managers or general customer service
Key partners Which partners are crucial for your business? E.g. suppliers
Key activities Which activities do you perform with your partners? E.g. marketing
Key resources What resources do you need for your key activities? E.g. personnel
Revenue streams How are you going to make money? Also alternative income streams
Cost structure What are you going to spend money on? E.g. personnel, IT, infra, etc.
Strategic Management of Organisations and ICT. Summary by David Schouten.
3
