GRADE WEIGHT: 40% of your term grade DELIVERABLE: PowerPoint presentation (easier to manage graphic content)IntroductionThe term project is both similar and different from similar efforts you may have done in other classes. Yes, it is a case study but with a few twists. First, we are setting a domain on which companies you may select to study, namely, the Fortune Best Places to work rankings (USA-based companies only – http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/ ) or the Fortune Global Best Places to Work For list (http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/companies/2012/11/14/best-companies-global.fortune/index.html ). You must select a company with global operations.The reasons for this limited pool of companies to study are simple: we want you to now only study corporations that succeed but also ones that are great places to work. There is a high but not absolute correlation between the two. You are students who will have more choices than most because of your achievements and the degrees you are working hard to earn. Its time to consider what you want to do with your career, as well as what you can contribute to your chosen enterprises. The combination here is personal success and enterprise success.From your case study, we hope that this assignment presents you with the opportunity to connect the 8356 coursework (and your other academic and work experiences as well) with real world of corporate strategy, operations, risk management and systems. Your grade will largely be based on how well you connect material with your chosen corporation and your insights and recommendations for the enterprise.

We know you can cut and paste vast amounts of material from the Internet but your grade for this effort relies upon a lot of thinking and well-reasoned conclusions.Through the case study method you are: Compelled to gather, filter and organize data about a specific organization; Apply course material to your data; and Express YOUR own opinions, grounded in fact and analysis. This includes expressing your opinion of the course materials and outlook.Remember that one of the prime assumptions that while information often becomes obsolete quickly, analytical frameworks and organizational models can persist and provide value over time and in changing circumstances. The challenge is: how to manage the pace of global change to deliver results that add value to an enterprise.InstructionsThe scope of your project is all of the material we covered. Please draw upon your other coursework, your work experience and any other resource for your project. The objective is to have you demonstrate to us your mastery of the course material by using it in a real-world situation, namely, understanding the plans and operations of a top-performing corporation and to add your recommendations and observations to your analysis. The emphasis is on how devices, tools and systems are used to collect, analyze and share the information that is vital to the efficient and effective operations of the corporation.Today, ICT is being dramatically challenged to reinvent itself in the face of the demands and competitive nature of global corporations, the range of choice customers and consumers enjoy, the dramatic changes in technology and, ultimately, the expectations of those who commission, oversee and use information-based technologies.

Your task is part history, part analysis and part recommendations on how to transform your enterprise further with a technology-enabled initiative.Your assignment is to act as a midlevel manager in your corporation who recognizes the necessity of permanent transformation and has developed a plan. Your plan requires you to ground it in the history and culture of your company, of its current achievements in information systems, of changes in the marketplace and new technologies. The new technologies may be the obvious ones (social media, mobile computing, cloud computing, Near Field Communications, Big Data, Bring Your Own Device to work, etc. There are others; these are simply among the biggest headline grabbers today.). If there is another significant technology trend that you consider important, please feel free to follow that tangent.The emphasis is not on any one technology they will always change, improve or be replaced by new ones. The real question is how they can be deployed in the short term to add value to the corporation through greater operating efficiency, tighter ties with customers and prospective customers, faster innovation or any other goal that grows revenue, market share and profit while strengthening the enterprise for the challenges ahead.Selection MethodologyReview the corporations on the Fortune 100 and Global Best Places to work lists (see links above.) Please make sure you are using 2012 or 2103 data.It will be more exciting for you if you pick an industry, geography or enterprise that you are vitally interested in.Your Research and AnalysisYou are to imagine yourself as a middle manager performing whatever job you imagine business analysis, marketing, supply chain logistics, systems analysis, etc. Since you work in a Best Places to Work environment it is assumed that new ideas are not only welcome but mandatory for career advancement and you have been taking that charge very seriously.As you have observed the workings of your enterprise you have come up with an idea to improve something significant. Maybe it is a bigger rendition of an earlier plan or you are putting together and rethinking other smaller initiatives. In any event, you have to develop your plan into a persuasive presentation you can use to build support and gather additional insights and information for the plan. This is also how you will identify prospective team members because you are also assuming that you will have a key role when your idea is approved and funded.For that reason, you must evaluate the unique aspects of the larger competitive environment, your companys industry and the history and culture of your company. Your company has done a lot of things right to be a successful company and a great place to work but even the best must always strive to be better.Keep in mind that when it comes to persuasion the proverb is, facts tell; stories sell. Use examples to make your point, in addition to data. The lens through which you will look is the Muller book its concrete lessons in the nature, principles, strategy and tactics of ICT-enabled transformation. Feel free to use the tools, check lists, observations anything in the book that tells us that you understand what he is writing bout and can apply it to your corporation.Project ContentsYour presentation cant go on all day and yet your presentation deck has to have enough detail that people who are not present at your talk understand what youre saying. This isnt easy, but then, this is not an easy program either.Please address the following dimensions in your presentation. The first set of questions may be briefly addressed but please answer the questions! Use current data please, not data that is 3 or more years old. Things change faster than you think within industries and within the macro economy. Data from 2009 or 2010 is misleading and earlier data reflect an earlier generation of ICT tools and business models. In 2009, Big Data and Bring Your Own Device to Work were not mainstream ideas.Keep in mind that this is not a series of answers to questions like an exam. This should be a smooth, integrated, fluid journey from the environment to y0our specific recommendations, just as if you were explaining it over the dinner table to some business colleagues. Anticipate questions and answer them. We will certainly have questions as we read and grade these but you wont be there to answer them.Environment (a few slides) Perform a relatively brief PESTEL analysis of the world your enterprise lives in we dont need too many references to sun spots or global warming. Keep it relevant to today and the next few years. What industry is your enterprise in and who are this industrys customers? How fast is the industry market growing or shrinking and whose market share is growing or shrinking? Why are the relative market shares changing? Who are the biggest competitors to your enterprise?Your Company (not more than 10 slides) How big is your company? Revenue, customer base, countries of operations, etc. What factors have enabled your company to be a leader in this industry? What are the strategic and operational differences between it and its competitors? Does your company have any special identifier that sets it apart from its competitors? Does this specialty exist in other companies outside this industry? Give an example. What role does ICT play in this company? Does the company speak about IT? What is their official position? Is ICT meeting expectations? Who are your corporations major partners and how does this help them with technology, products, production, sales or services?Your Companys ICT Function (not more than 10 slides) Has your company engaged in any New Wave technology initiatives (mobile, Cloud, etc.?) If so, how and to what degree of success? Describe the MAJOR processes via a value chain analysis that your corporation uses to deliver products or services to its markets. How does ICT enable or support these processes? How do these processes vary by region of the globe? What are the top ICT priorities over the past four years and for the next 2 years? How do these tie to the business objectives of the company? What important new technologies has the company adopted in the past three years? How well are these integrated (people, process, data, other technology or systems) with the other core activities of the company? What have been the results of these initiatives?Your Assessment (make this as long as you want) Looking at the countries you company operates in and those it is likely to extend to, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the ICT function at your corporation? Do you think its processes and priorities are well integrated with the rest of the enterprise? How could this be improved? Is the ICT organization in step with the rest of the company in terms of culture, priorities and expectations? Do other departments have their own ICT projects and initiatives (rogue ICT)? Does the business, in conjunction with ICT, take appropriate (by your standards) advantage of new technologies? Do their competitors or other companies demonstrate the value of such new initiatives? Give at least two examples of where technology or systems have enabled the company to change in some important ways (the Muller analysis)?Recommendations (make this as long as you want) What are the top ICT-enabled improvements that you believe will most help this corporations overall performance? Is this industry leading or will this be following the lead of another company? Are your recommendations focused on delivering value today or strengthening the corporation for the future? Why did you choose the balance you did? What new skills or competencies does IT need to build? Should they build these internally or look to outside providers? What types of external partners should they look for? How would you measure progress? Identify some specific targets and make an estimate of how much ICT should improve in the next 1, 2 and 3 years.Personal Take What role do you want to play in making your recommendations a reality? Would you rather be in ICT or in some other business unit? What would you have to do to qualify for this role? What experience, knowledge or exposure would you need to perform this role well? What are the most important lessons you have learned from this project t (there are no right or wrong answer here)?We believe this gives you ample opportunity to show us that you understand the course content (Muller plus class presentations plus supplementary readings) and are prepared to apply it to the real world. After all, when you pick your job in a year or two, this is what you will be expected to do no matter what your actual job description says.IntroductionThe term project is both similar and different from similar efforts you may have done in other classes. Yes, it is a case study but with a few twists. First, we are setting a domain on which companies you may select to study, namely, the Fortune Best Places to work rankings (USA-based companies only – http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies/ ) or the Fortune Global Best Places to Work For list (http://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/companies/2012/11/14/best-companies-global.fortune/index.html ). You must select a company with global operations.The reasons for this limited pool of companies to study are simple: we want you to now only study corporations that succeed but also ones that are great places to work. There is a high but not absolute correlation between the two. You are students who will have more choices than most because of your achievements and the degrees you are working hard to earn. Its time to consider what you want to do with your career, as well as what you can contribute to your chosen enterprises. The combination here is personal success and enterprise success.From your case study, we hope that this assignment presents you with the opportunity to connect the 8356 coursework (and your other academic and work experiences as well) with real world of corporate strategy, operations, risk management and systems. Your grade will largely be based on how well you connect material with your chosen corporation and your insights and recommendations for the enterprise. We know you can cut and paste vast amounts of material from the Internet but your grade for this effort relies upon a lot of thinking and well-reasoned conclusions.Through the case study method you are: Compelled to gather, filter and organize data about a specific organization; Apply course material to your data; and Express YOUR own opinions, grounded in fact and analysis. This includes expressing your opinion of the course materials and outlook.Remember that one of the prime assumptions that while information often becomes obsolete quickly, analytical frameworks and organizational models can persist and provide value over time and in changing circumstances. The challenge is: how to manage the pace of global change to deliver results that add value to an enterprise.The scope of your project is all of the material we covered. Please draw upon your other coursework, your work experience and any other resource for your project. The objective is to have you demonstrate to us your mastery of the course material by using it in a real-world situation, namely, understanding the plans and operations of a top-performing corporation and to add your recommendations and observations to your analysis. The emphasis is on how devices, tools and systems are used to collect, analyze and share the information that is vital to the efficient and effective operations of the corporation.Today, ICT is being dramatically challenged to reinvent itself in the face of the demands and competitive nature of global corporations, the range of choice customers and consumers enjoy, the dramatic changes in technology and, ultimately, the expectations of those who commission, oversee and use information-based technologies. Your task is part history, part analysis and part recommendations on how to transform your enterprise further with a technology-enabled initiative.Your assignment is to act as a midlevel manager in your corporation who recognizes the necessity of permanent transformation and has developed a plan. Your plan requires you to ground it in the history and culture of your company, of its current achievements in information systems, of changes in the marketplace and new technologies. The new technologies may be the obvious ones (social media, mobile computing, cloud computing, Near Field Communications, Big Data, Bring Your Own Device to work, etc. There are others; these are simply among the biggest headline grabbers today.). If there is another significant technology trend that you consider important, please feel free to follow that tangent.The emphasis is not on any one technology they will always change, improve or be replaced by new ones. The real question is how they can be deployed in the short term to add value to the corporation through greater operating efficiency, tighter ties with customers and prospective customers, faster innovation or any other goal that grows revenue, market share and profit while strengthening the enterprise for the challenges ahead.Review the corporations on the Fortune 100 and Global Best Places to work lists (see links above.) Please make sure you are using 2012 or 2103 data.It will be more exciting for you if you pick an industry, geography or enterprise that you are vitally interested in.You are to imagine yourself as a middle manager performing whatever job you imagine business analysis, marketing, supply chain logistics, systems analysis, etc. Since you work in a Best Places to Work environment it is assumed that new ideas are not only welcome but mandatory for career advancement and you have been taking that charge very seriously.As you have observed the workings of your enterprise you have come up with an idea to improve something significant. Maybe it is a bigger rendition of an earlier plan or you are putting together and rethinking other smaller initiatives. In any event, you have to develop your plan into a persuasive presentation you can use to build support and gather additional insights and information for the plan. This is also how you will identify prospective team members because you are also assuming that you will have a key role when your idea is approved and funded.For that reason, you must evaluate the unique aspects of the larger competitive environment, your companys industry and the history and culture of your company. Your company has done a lot of things right to be a successful company and a great place to work but even the best must always strive to be better.Keep in mind that when it comes to persuasion the proverb is, facts tell; stories sell. Use examples to make your point, in addition to data. The lens through which you will look is the Muller book its concrete lessons in the nature, principles, strategy and tactics of ICT-enabled transformation. Feel free to use the tools, check lists, observations anything in the book that tells us that you understand what he is writing bout and can apply it to your corporation.Your presentation cant go on all day and yet your presentation deck has to have enough detail that people who are not present at your talk understand what youre saying. This isnt easy, but then, this is not an easy program either.Please address the following dimensions in your presentation. The first set of questions may be briefly addressed but please answer the questions! Use current data please, not data that is 3 or more years old. Things change faster than you think within industries and within the macro economy. Data from 2009 or 2010 is misleading and earlier data reflect an earlier generation of ICT tools and business models. In 2009, Big Data and Bring Your Own Device to Work were not mainstream ideas.Keep in mind that this is not a series of answers to questions like an exam. This should be a smooth, integrated, fluid journey from the environment to y0our specific recommendations, just as if you were explaining it over the dinner table to some business colleagues. Anticipate questions and answer them. We will certainly have questions as we read and grade these but you wont be there to answer them. Perform a relatively brief PESTEL analysis of the world your enterprise lives in we dont need too many references to sun spots or global warming. Keep it relevant to today and the next few years. What industry is your enterprise in and who are this industrys customers? How fast is the industry market growing or shrinking and whose market share is growing or shrinking? Why are the relative market shares changing? Who are the biggest competitors to your enterprise? How big is your company? Revenue, customer base, countries of operations, etc. What factors have enabled your company to be a leader in this industry? What are the strategic and operational differences between it and its competitors? Does your company have any special identifier that sets it apart from its competitors? Does this specialty exist in other companies outside this industry? Give an example. What role does ICT play in this company? Does the company speak about IT? What is their official position? Is ICT meeting expectations? Who are your corporations major partners and how does this help them with technology, products, production, sales or services? Has your company engaged in any New Wave technology initiatives (mobile, Cloud, etc.?) If so, how and to what degree of success? Describe the MAJOR processes via a value chain analysis that your corporation uses to deliver products or services to its markets. How does ICT enable or support these processes? How do these processes vary by region of the globe? What are the top ICT priorities over the past four years and for the next 2 years? How do these tie to the business objectives of the company? What important new technologies has the company adopted in the past three years? How well are these integrated (people, process, data, other technology or systems) with the other core activities of the company? What have been the results of these initiatives? Looking at the countries you company operates in and those it is likely to extend to, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the ICT function at your corporation? Do you think its processes and priorities are well integrated with the rest of the enterprise? How could this be improved? Is the ICT organization in step with the rest of the company in terms of culture, priorities and expectations? Do other departments have their own ICT projects and initiatives (rogue ICT)? Does the business, in conjunction with ICT, take appropriate (by your standards) advantage of new technologies? Do their competitors or other companies demonstrate the value of such new initiatives? Give at least two examples of where technology or systems have enabled the company to change in some important ways (the Muller analysis)? What are the top ICT-enabled improvements that you believe will most help this corporations overall performance? Is this industry leading or will this be following the lead of another company? Are your recommendations focused on delivering value today or strengthening the corporation for the future? Why did you choose the balance you did? What new skills or competencies does IT need to build? Should they build these internally or look to outside providers? What types of external partners should they look for? How would you measure progress? Identify some specific targets and make an estimate of how much ICT should improve in the next 1, 2 and 3 years. What role do you want to play in making your recommendations a reality? Would you rather be in ICT or in some other business unit? What would you have to do to qualify for this role? What experience, knowledge or exposure would you need to perform this role well? What are the most important lessons you have learned from this project t (there are no right or wrong answer here)?We believe this gives you ample opportunity to show us that you understand the course content (Muller plus class presentations plus supplementary readings) and are prepared to apply it to the real world. After all, when you pick your job in a year or two, this is what you will be expected to do no matter what your actual job description says.