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2024/2025  KAN-CINTO1901U  Strategy Making and Information Technology

English Title
Strategy Making and Information Technology

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory (also offered as elective)
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc in Business Administration and Information Systems, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Olivia Benfeldt - Department of Digitalisation (DIGI)
Main academic disciplines
  • Information technology
  • Strategy
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 01-02-2024

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only few minor weaknesses:
  • Define and explain the main theoretical ideas and concepts from strategic management of IT presented in the course
  • Describe and illustrate how organizations manage information and IT as strategic resources to grow, compete, and innovate
  • Identify key challenges for strategic management of IT in organizations
  • Apply theoretical ideas and concepts presented in the course for analysis of real cases
Prerequisites for registering for the exam (activities during the teaching period)
Number of compulsory activities which must be approved (see section 13 of the Programme Regulations): 3
Compulsory home assignments
The students have to get 3 out of 5 assignments approved in order to take the final exam.

Each assignment is 2-3 pages and has to be written individually. The task in the compulsory assignments is to apply concepts and ideas introduced in class to analyze short cases or problems from practice. Students will receive feedback on assignments both individually (at least once) and in class (weekly).

There will not be any extra attempts provided to the students before the ordinary exam.

If a student cannot hand in due to documented illness, or if a student does not get the activity approved in spite of making a real attempt, then the student will be given one extra attempt before the re-exam. Before the re-exam, there will be one home assignment (max. 10 pages) which will cover 3 mandatory assignments.
Examination
Strategy Making and Information Technology:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Written sit-in exam on CBS' computers
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Assignment type Case based assignment
Duration 4 hours
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and external examiner
Exam period Winter
Aids Closed book: no aids
However, at all written sit-in exams the student has access to the basic IT application package (Microsoft Office365 (minus Excel), document camera and paper, 7-zip file manager, Adobe Reader DC, PDF24, Texlive, VLC player, Windows Media Player – ATTENTION no sound allowed), and the student is allowed to bring simple writing and drawing utensils (non-digital). PLEASE NOTE: Students are not allowed to communicate with others during the exam.
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination may warrant that it most appropriately be held as an oral examination. The programme office will inform the students if the make-up examination/re-take examination instead is held as an oral examination including a second examiner or external examiner.
Description of the exam procedure

The final exam is an individual 4 hour written sit-in exam without aids. Questions are both case-based and theory-based. Exam questions will be made available at the time of the exam. An exam Q&A session will be held during the last week of the class. 
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of how information technology interacts with key issues of corporate strategy. The course provides the analytical tools and methodologies necessary to dissect key challenges and opportunities facing organizations and aims to train students to become strategic thinkers within the domain of information technology.

    

The pedagogical model is built around a case-based approach to learning. This model intends to familiarize the students with key issues in strategic management of IT and to take the students from understanding theoretical ideas to applying them for analysis and discussion of real cases. The pedagogical model takes into account that students have different entry-level qualifications since it is assumed that students come with the skills acquired from the BSc(dm) and HA(it) programs, and international students take the course as an elective.

 

No technical skills are required. However, students are expected to be familiar with basic concepts from the IT strategy literature. This means that students without any knowledge of IT strategy will need to study somewhat harder than those who have this background.
Description of the teaching methods
The course combines lectures, workshops, and written assignments.

Each session focuses on a different set of IT-strategy challenges facing modern organizations. Typically, the format for a session consists of a lecture that highlights relevant theoretical concepts, followed by a workshop, where a case relevant to the session topic will be analyzed and discussed in class. During workshops, students will also work in groups to apply concepts and ideas from the course to train thinking about IT strategy issues that are supported by evidence and data from the case. The written home assignments consist of 2-3 essay-based questions related to a case or practical problem introduced in class and train students for the final exam.
Feedback during the teaching period
The main mechanism for feedback on student work in this course are the weekly in-class exercises. During exercises, students will work in groups on problems presented in class or derived from cases.

In addition, the course provides the following opportunities for feedback:
- written feedback on assignments will be given to a sample of individual submissions
- verbal feedback on all submitted assignments during class
- interactive feedback on course reading and material during workshops
- feedback on exam preparation will be organized during the last workshop session where mock exam questions are covered and discussed
- individual and specific questions can be addressed during office hours.
Student workload
Preparation for lectures and workshops 75 hours
Written home assignments (2-3 questions each) 65 hours
Lectures 20 hours
Workshops 20 hours
Preparation for exam 22 hours
Written sit-in exam 4 hours
Total 206 hours
Expected literature

The literature can be changed before the semester starts. Students are advised to find the final literature on Canvas before they buy any material.

 

The course readings include academic, peer-reviewed articles on the theories and concepts introduced during the course (such as the resource-based view, IT business value, strategic alignment, IT governance, new market entry etc.). 

 

For example:

  • Gregory, R. W., Kaganer, E., Henfridsson, O., & Ruch, T. J. (2018). IT Consumerization and the Transformation of IT Governance. Mis Quarterly, 42(4), 1225–1253.
  • Haffke, I., Kalgovas, B., & Benlian, A. (2017). Options for Transforming the IT Function Using Bimodal IT. MIS Quarterly Executive, 16(2).
  • Makadok, R. (2011). The four theories of profit and their joint effects. Journal of Management, 37(5), 1316–1334.
  • Ray, G., Wu, D., & Konana, P. (2009). Competitive Environment and the Relationship Between IT and Vertical Integration. Information Systems Research, 20(4), 585–603.
  • Rinta-Kahila, T., Penttinen, E., & Lyytinen, K. (2023). Getting Trapped in Technical Debt: Sociotechnical Analysis of a Legacy System’s Replacement. MIS Quarterly, 47(1), 1–32.
  • Sambamurthy, V., Bharadwaj, A., & Grover, V. (2003). Shaping agility through digital options: Reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms. MIS Quarterly, 237–263.
  • Wade & Hulland. (2004). Review: The Resource-Based View and Information Systems Research: Review, Extension, and Suggestions for Future Research. MIS Quarterly, 28(1), 107.
  • Weill, P., & Ross, J. (2005). A matrixed approach to designing IT governance. MIT Sloan Management Review, 46(2), 26.
Last updated on 01-02-2024