Competing with Information: A Manager's Guide to Creating Business Value with Information Content [Hardcover]

Donald A. Marchand (Editor), Don Marchand (Author)

Book Description

Series: IMD Executive Development Series | Publication Date: June 7, 2000

In the e-business economy, managers are faced with too much data and too little meaningful information about markets, customers, products, company operations and finances. Their greatest challenge is to identify, manage and use the right information to compete. Information management is too important to a company's performance and growth to be delegated primarily to IT, information or financial specialists. This book is based on the idea that information management is the responsibility of every manager. Managers may not be IT specialists, but they must create the conditions for effective information use that creates real business value. Donald Marchand and his colleagues at IMD invite you to learn your information responsibilities, so your company can use information faster, better and smarter than the competition. By using the business framework of 'strategic information alignment,' this book shows how information can create business value through delighting customers, being more innovative, managing risks and being the low-cost leader in your markets and industries. Learn the why, what and how of better information use and management in your company. At last, here is a book about managing information written specifically for business managers. Developed from the executive teaching, consulting and real world research of a team of faculty who work with the world's leading global companies every day, this book provides managers with the mindset and guidance to leverage the company's capabilities to use and manage information to create business value.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Competing with Information is a useful handbook for anyone utterly confused by, or just interested in getting to grips with, the whole area of information and knowledge management." (Sunday Business Post, 16th July 2000)

"...well argued..." (Long Range Planning, Vol. 34 2001)

From the Inside Flap

Executive Development from IMD provides managers with leading-edge thinking from the faculty of one of the world's leading business schools. Each book presents key concepts and practical insights on an important management topic. The tone is straightforward. The message is practical. The ideas are tested and ready for managers to apply in their companies. Each book follows a similar format: sections are provided that let readers benchmark where they stand; key-point summaries reinforce the message of each chapter; and action plans help translate concepts into action. Every chapter is illustrated with relevant international case studies that bring the discussions to life. Executives attend IMD courses not only to learn but to be inspired. The books in this series provide them with inspiration as well as with tools to improve themselves on a personal level and make an immediate contribution to their companies. IMD is one of the world's leading business schools. Located in Lausanne, Switzerland, IMD has been developing managers for over 50 years. Its high standards are recognized by hundreds of the best companies around the world. IMD was founded by a group of leading corporations to address the real challenges that business executives face and, in the final analysis, to win. To this day, IMD remains focused on real world management issues. While other business schools primarily teach full-time graduate university students, IMD develops state-of-the-art concepts for the experienced manager.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471899690
• ISBN-13: 978-0471899693
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wide look at IS/IT Management Issues, September 22, 2001

By 

Linda Zarate "IT Ops Consultant" (Azusa, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Competing with Information: A Manager's Guide to Creating Business Value with Information Content (Hardcover)

This book is a collection of essays that cover the full spectrum if IS/IT management challenges and practices. The essays are grouped into three Part and further subdivided into topic sections within their respective parts. Although the main audience is IS/IT management, this book should also be read by business process owners who are the consumers of IS/IT services.

Part I is brief and sets the context by discussing the larger issues of competing with information and how to use information to create business value. This is the foundation of the rest of the book and is aimed at IS/IT managers and [in my opinion] business process owners. Part II (Putting Information to Work) begins with Section A's four chapters that tie information as processed and provided to the business to business goals and objectives. The value of these chapters is they educate the IS/IT manager in the business value of the services and products that they are providing and showing them the bigger picture of their roles in supporting business objectives. Section B (Creating New Reality) consists of two chapters that touch upon knowledge management issues to a degree, and certainly illustrate how information can be leveraged into actionable knowledge. Section C's two chapters address cost reduction, while Section D devotes two chapters to risk management and control.

The most interesting portion of this book is Part III, which is focused on how to use information as a competitive advantage. The five chapters in this Part starts with the basics of competing with information, and ends with a look at building e-commerce capabilities.

Overall, this book will provide IS/IT managers with a good foundation in business uses of information, which promotes a better understanding of IS/IT's role as a service provider and information manager. This is important because, from what I've observed at many clients, IS/IT is focusing more and more on tools and technology, or infrastructure building. The direct result of this focus is a growing chasm between what's important to the business and what IS/IT perceives its role to be. The essays in this book will go a long way towards educating IS/IT management and refocusing them on what is really important.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful to get executives oriented and thinking, January 2, 2012

By 

Rufus T. Fuddpucker, Esq. III (Pleasant View, TN United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Competing with Information: A Manager's Guide to Creating Business Value with Information Content (Hardcover)

Donald Marchand has created a series case studies which describe how the leadership at different organizations used information collected during the course of business to better compete and even learn to dominate different aspects of their world. Well presented, but fragmented due to the nature of the case studies. The broad variation provide a reasonable footing for an executive who needs to get up to speed on what it means to truly leverage a company's information in the business world.