If the CIO is to be valued as a strategic actor, how can he bring to the table the ethos ofalignment, bound to the demands of process strategic planning to move IT to the forefront of theorganization's future?Alignment refers to linkages within the business model that connect disparate parts of the organization together through information technologies. There are two aspects to consider: affordability and scale. Executing an enterprise-wide information system, generally through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) process, is a significant capital investment. Not all units will be mature enough to embrace ERP; the market may not have global solutions. Consequently, alignment needs to be scalable (increase investment as demand increases), and agile (ready to embrace quickly). What follows is an analysis of each of the readings available for this discussion. After these critical reviews, I will provide a snapshot and invite you to tackle the problem and the assessment of these reviews. A. Bradley, J., J. Loucks, J. Macaulay, A. Noronha, & M. Wade. (2015, July). Disruptor and Disrupted -- Strategy in the Digital Vortex. Global Center for Digital Business Transformation. Retrieved from https://www.imd.org/dbt/whitepapers/disruptor-disrupted. Citation: (Bradley et al., 2015: p#) 1. Major theme of the essay: To survive, companies need to recognize market forces (disruptors) that threaten the corporation’s share of market value (disrupted). The ideas examine the tensions between internal and external environments. The corporation must be smart and ready to move quickly as threats emerge. 2. Arguments used to support this theme Value is created through cost, experience, and platform (delivery). Intrusions into the market here referred to as digital disruptions or the digital vortex, are “value vampires”. They succeed at the expense of others. Vampires see opportunities in the digital vortex known as value vacancies. These opportunities are short-lived and hard won. Disruptors join forces in the market to supply value. This is known as combinational disruption. It is met by digital business agility. When a threat emerges, dominant market forces exhibit digital agility: accessing information processing systems that monitor the internal and external environments. Visualized, the system is an iterative flow of data between the internal business environment (employees, operations, information system assets) and the external business environment (customers, partners, macroeconomics). Decisions are filtered by hyperawareness, informed decision making, and fast execution (Nicolay, figure 1, p. 17). Hyperawareness simply means knowing your market, emerging technologies, and shifts in consumer behavior. Hyperawareness and informed decision making demand good data and big data analysis that create actionable linkages. Informed decision making leads to poor decisions when decision makers cannot surrender their own strategic biases. Biases are defeated by listen ...

1. If the CIO is to be valued as a strategic actor, how can he bring
to the table the ethos ofalignment, bound to the demands of
process strategic planning to move IT to the forefront of
theorganization's future?Alignment refers to linkages within the
business model that connect disparate parts of
the organization together through information technologies.
There are two aspects to consider:
affordability and scale. Executing an enterprise-wide
information system, generally through
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) process, is a significant
capital investment. Not all units will
be mature enough to embrace ERP; the market may not have
global solutions. Consequently,
alignment needs to be scalable (increase investment as demand
increases), and agile (ready to
embrace quickly). What follows is an analysis of each of the
readings available for this
discussion. After these critical reviews, I will provide a
snapshot and invite you to tackle the
problem and the assessment of these reviews.
A. Bradley, J., J. Loucks, J. Macaulay, A. Noronha, & M. Wade.
(2015, July). Disruptor and
Disrupted -- Strategy in the Digital Vortex. Global Center for
Digital Business
Transformation. Retrieved from
https://www.imd.org/dbt/whitepapers/disruptor-disrupted.
Citation: (Bradley et al., 2015: p#)
1. Major theme of the essay: To survive, companies need to
recognize market forces
(disruptors) that threaten the corporation’s share of market
value (disrupted). The ideas
examine the tensions between internal and external

2. environments. The corporation must
be smart and ready to move quickly as threats emerge.
2. Arguments used to support this theme Value is created
through cost, experience,
and platform (delivery). Intrusions into the market here referred
to as digital disruptions or
the digital vortex, are “value vampires”. They succeed at the
expense of others. Vampires
see opportunities in the digital vortex known as value
vacancies. These opportunities are
short-lived and hard won. Disruptors join forces in the market
to supply value. This is
known as combinational disruption. It is met by digital business
agility. When a threat
emerges, dominant market forces exhibit digital agility:
accessing information processing
systems that monitor the internal and external environments.
Visualized, the system is an
iterative flow of data between the internal business environment
(employees, operations,
information system assets) and the external business
environment (customers, partners,
macroeconomics). Decisions are filtered by hyperawareness,
informed decision making,
and fast execution (Nicolay, figure 1, p. 17). Hyperawareness
simply means knowing
your market, emerging technologies, and shifts in consumer
behavior.
Hyperawareness and informed decision making demand good
data and big data
analysis that create actionable linkages. Informed decision
making leads to poor
decisions when decision makers cannot surrender their own
strategic biases. Biases are
defeated by listening. Fast execution demands change

3. management strategies. If a
traditional approach to business (operations) is disrupting, it
needs to be changed, and
quickly.
There are four competitive, defensive strategies: harvest,
retreat, disrupt, and
occupy. “Harvest” refers to seizing assets from declining
business ventures. It can be
seen as an admission of failure. “Retreat” refers to recognizing
the impending and
repositioning the corporation rather than to continue to shore up
the inevitable. With
retreat, a niche may remain with value. “Disrupt” refers to
shifting market placement. It
requires agility. Decision-makers know cost trends, customer
needs, and the interaction
between stakeholders in a digital world. A good way to see the
disruption potential is
through combinational disruption. A combinational disruption
unites cost value (return on
investment), experience value (the inside talent), and platform
value (the infrastructure
required to deliver). The final strategy is “occupy”: hanging
onto the market status. How
do we stay good at what we do without erosion? Success comes
through demanding
work.
3. Ideas that support the problem for the week The contrast
between disrupted and
disruptor provides a rationalization for the aligned information
system and the strength of
robust data analysis in competitive environments. It provides a
rationale for the
borderless corporation, that is, the dissolution of departmental

4. silos. There are value
vampires inside organizations as well.
4. Ideas that are not useful for discussion of the problem The
reading focuses on
competitive positions for product/services in the market. It is
easy to get sidetracked. The
case illustrations do suggest an underlying decision process but
the emphasis is on
surviving capital markets. The robust infrastructure and data
analysis systems are taken
as a given. None of the value capture strategies mean a thing
without the IT foundation,
and the ability to analyze big data without getting sucked into
the digital vortex.