1. Consider statements made in the case about business often not having an overarching business strategy that can serve as guidance for the development of a strategy for IT.
2. Dave Aron of Gartner notes that in some cases the lack of clear business strategy provides an opportunity for IT leaders to step in and help articulate it and the role IT will play in the new strategy. This sounds like a good thing for IT people. What is the downside of being in this situation?
3. Why do you think its success is dependent on the overall business strategy of an organization? Why must they be tied together? Provide several reasons.

It must be nice to be the CIO of a FedEx, or a GE, or a Credit Suisse, where IT and the business are so tightly aligned you can barely tell the two apart. In such companies, corporate leaders understand that IT is a strategic asset and support it as such. These are places where the CIO is encouraged to spend the majority of his time on the Big Picture. If one works in that kind of IT Wonderland, getting a good strategic plan down on paper is probably a snap.