Writing Teaching Cases: A Reference Guide

Writing a teaching case is different from writing a research article. This short guide explains what is involved in writing a good teaching case. More specifically, it describes how to increase the teaching value of a case by linking it to pertinent theories and concepts, how to make a case more appealing to students through contextual nuances, and how to write useful teaching notes

Opening up of the Software Industry: The Case of SAP

With globalization, outsourcing, changing regulations and rapid technological innovations, companies are forced to embrace more agile business architecture. This in turn calls for enterprise applications that are based on open standards, simple to implement, and easy to modify and upgrade. In response to these structural changes in the market and customer demands, and facing fierce competition in a saturated market, SAP had to rethink its strategic position. This case discusses how SAP transformed itself by turning its proprietary software products to an open development and integration platform so that customers could modify them to suit their specific needs. The implications of this new strategy for software industry as a whole are discussed

The Structural Impact of Information Technology on the Air Travel Distribution Industry

Rapid advances in technology profoundly affect the way businesses are conducted and the way industry structures evolved. The air travel distribution industry experienced two major technology waves in its evolution, the Computer Reservations System (CRS) and electronic commerce. This paper considers various frameworks used to explain structural features of the US air travel distribution industry and the competitive forces within it. We then describe the historical context within which the structural changes occurred as a result of IT innovations. The current and relative strengths of the industry forces are examined to explain an IT-induced power shift in the industry. We then consider the impact of IT on the air travel distribution industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Based on a comparison with the US experience, we forecast that variances in geography, culture and psychology will limit the extent to which IT can be used to manipulate the balance of power in the industry in the short- to medium-term. We expect, however, that a uniform industry structure will prevail in the long-run

TRADECARD: Building A Global Trading Electronic Payment System

In an attempt to provide an on-line payment mechanism for large-dollar cross-border transactions, TradeCard Inc. developed the world\u27s first and only credit card for international trade. This case study discusses the major issues surrounding the viability of such a B2B electronic payment architecture. How would TradeCard provide a seamless and secure on-line settlement transaction? Is its platform capable of synchronizing all the databases involved in international transactions yet allowing all companies to use their own tools, operating systems and hardware platforms? How would TradeCard aggregate the disparate services offered by the network of companies involved in international trade? Would it change the mindset of global traders so that they would use its services rather than the traditional off-line settlement methods? The case discusses the critical issues involved in creating an international electronic payment system for cross-border transactions; the impact of new on-line alternative payment mechanisms on international trade payment environment; the systems security requirements for safe electronic payments for B2B e-commerce; and TradeCard\u27s business plan and marketing strategy in building a global e-commerce trading system

SCMP.com: Strategic Repositioning of a Newspaper

In 1996, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a Hong Kong-based English-language news daily, established PostNet (an electronic publishing division) to experiment with the on-line medium. In mid-1999, SCMP’s Board of Directors observed the Internet’ s meteoric rise and considered PostNet’ s e-commerce opportunity. In order to leverage e-commerce’ s growth, they resolved to reposition the SCMP from a print-based publisher to a company capable of multi-media publishing. PostNet was renamed SCMP.com. To be successful in this endeavour, the SCMP had to overcome numerous problems, including the need to build a viable business model, to streamline internal workflows, to transform the mindset of the employees and to search for the “right” strategic partners to strengthen its on-line network. In addition, the SCMP would be required to decide whether or not to spin off SCMP.com (or any other part of its Internet capable business) into an independent concern

Does IT Payoff? Strategies of Two Banking Giants

Banks have long been among the most intensive users of information technology (IT). Globalization has further accentuated banks’ reliance on IT, leading to further increase in their IT investment. It is not all that clear, however, whether these investments pay off. This case brings to the fore the complexities involved in measuring IT investment by comparing and contrasting the IT strategies of two of the world’s largest banks: HSBC and Citigroup. Will the IT investment strategies adopted by HSBC and Citigroup enhance their operational efficiency or strategic positions? Facing financial turmoil, HSBC and Citigroup adopted different IT strategies. Which of them is more appropriate? Which of the two banks will have higher returns on their IT investments in the long run? How should they measure such returns

Diversity and Scientific Progress in the Information Systems Discipline

The Information Systems (IS) discipline is over a third of a century old. It is a multidisciplinary field of study that covers areas related to the management, deployment, and use of information technology. In response to this extended reach and the growing needs and requirements of its stakeholders, the IS community successfully solidified its foundations through institutionalization and professionalization. However, in light of a complex patronage structure, undisciplined diversity, and unbounded eclecticism in scholarly activities, the progress of IS as a scientific discipline has been attenuated. Drawing lessons from the field of psychology, this paper calls for solidifying the disciplinary matrix of IS. It argues that scientific progress of IS can be advanced further through the development of cumulative and exemplary theories aimed at significant problems. Such a cumulative approach to research tradition and knowledge unification would help demarcate the boundaries of the IS domain not in terms of its subject matters, but by the theories it develops to solve the problems within its domain