Outrigger Hotels and Resorts: A Case Study

This case describes the history, strategy, and current information systems infrastructure of a mid-size, privately owned hospitality firm. The case is designed to provide the substantial background information needed to y engage successfullin setting direction for IS resources and their use at Outrigger Hotels and Resorts headquartered in Hawaii. It enables students to analyze the firm\u27s strategy thoroughly and to assess its current use of information systems resources. With this assessment as a starting point, students can develop an appropriate IS vision, IS architecture, and the strategic IS plan for Outrigger Hotels and Resorts. The case was originally designed to use the process of setting direction for IS resources as described by Martin and colleagues [2005], but is flexible enough to adapt to the structure of other approaches to planning for information systems use

Making IT Matter: A Manager’s Guide to Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage with Information Systems

Some industry observers have suggested that information technology (IT) has lost its ability to be a strategic resource for modern organizations. However, such examples as Harrah’s and Ritz-Carlton present evidence to the contrary. Harrah’s has used IT to gather substantial business intelligence and identify its best customers, while Ritz-Carlton uses IT to personalize every guest room and every stay for its returning customers. Many other firms outside the industry, such as Dell, eBay, and Lands’ End, provide further evidence of how sustained competitive advantage can be built around IT. While the task is not easy, when firms are successful in doing so the rewards can be tremendous

Assessing Managerial Impact in Virtual Teams: Possible Directions for Future Research

Virtual teams are touted as the cornerstone of successful organization of the 21st century. As viable technology to implement and support this novel organizational structure is now available, research attention should focus on the social and managerial challenges posed by this new form of teamwork. The wealth of findings generated by the Computer Mediated Communication literature points to potential issues in need of investigation. This paper reviews relevant research findings and their implication for exploration of virtual teams. Then it presents four propositions concerning virtual team management that future research should explore