Debate II: IT does matter or not

The global debate on the role of IT

In March 2003, Professor Nicholas G. Carr of Harvard Business School publis

article titled 'IT doesn't matter' in the Harvard Business Review, sparking a global debate about the role of IT

Professor Robert M. Metcalfe of MIT, who invented Ethernet in response to Professor Carr's argument, published an article called 'Why IT Matters 2 in MIT's Technology Review..

Debate Questions

To summarize Professor Car's argument, he argued that it is time to switch from offense to defense due to the vanishing advantage of and the commoditization of IT.

The business ecosystem is dynamic, not static. In other words, for Professor Car's argument, the business ecosystem of the time must be considered, and when applying the argument to the present, the present situation must be considered. It was true then, but it should be taken into account that things are different now.

The business ecosystem in 2003 is as follows. Most companies have built ERP that can achieve efficiency in internal processes. Best practices for ERP and SCM are defined on the well-defined enterprise information system architecture basis. Externally, it was a time when the dot-com bubble was in turmoil.

(Q1) Explain what is the vanishing advantage of and commercialization if IT that Professor Car argued at the time?

(Q2) What and how has the current business ecosystem changed compared to 2003?

(Q3) Considering Q2, your perception of the current business ecosystem, how would you debate about Professor Car's 'IT does not matter'?