MIS-7550 - Deploying IT Strategically

Babson College - F. W. Olin School
MIS 7550 — Deploying IT Strategically — Fall 1998

Assignment for Class 10 — November 9, 1998

Note: Our schedule for the remainder of the course will be as follows:
Class #11 — Nov. 16. "The IT Function: Planning and Governance"
Class #12 — Nov. 30. "Organizational Change & Project Mgt." (originally class #9)

Class #13 — Dec. 7 "Multiple Issues and Corporate Mobilization"

For class #10, read the case ("Xerox…") and three articles for this class, " Outsourcing" (originally scheduled in the syllabus as class #12 for 11/30) in the coursepack, pp. 327-379, and on the course website.

Be prepared to discuss the case and present your answers to the following questions:

List the relevant key events and facts in the business context at Xerox, and the history of IT internally there and externally, which are relevant to the outsourcing decision.
Would you have advised Xerox to make the decision they did to outsource IT? Why or why not?
Based on the readings and any other input from the course or your own inventiveness, develop a management framework or methodology to assist senior managers in any firm to think out the alternatives and the pros and cons of IT outsourcing in different situations.
What are the key management challenges of ensuring that the Xerox/ EDS outsourcing arrangement is successful? What specific steps would you advise each party to take at the time of the case?