Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage [Hardcover]

Nicholas G. Carr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2004

This is a bold and controversial manifesto on where information technology is headed, how its role in business strategy will dramatically change, and what this all means for business managers and IT suppliers. "Does IT Matter" provides the first cogent explanation of IT's dramatically changing business role, its levelling influence on competition, and the practical implications for business managers and IT suppliers. A convincing manifesto on one of the most important business phenomena of our time, "Does IT Matter?" will play a central role in our ongoing debate about the future of IT.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...lays out the simple truths...of information technology in a lucid way, with cogent examples and clear analysis." -- New York Times, May 6, 2004

"Carr's work is thorough ... IT thinking rarely gets a contribution of this caliber. Read it." -- eWeek, May 24th, 2004

"Does IT Matter? engages the imagination and the emotions, a rare combination in a business book." -- Boston Globe, May 2, 2004

"Does IT Matter? will give executives and managers a way to sift through the next wave of tech hype." -- BusinessWeek, May 24th, 2004

"His argument is simple, powerful and yet also subtle." -- The Economist, April 2004

"cooly written [and] intellectually engaging" -- Financial Times, May 2004

From the Author

In May 2003, I published the article "IT Doesn’t Matter" in the Harvard Business Review. Called "the rhetorical equivalent of a 50 megaton smart bomb," the article challenged the conventional wisdom that information technology has become increasingly important as a strategic weapon in business. In fact, I argued, IT is becoming less important as it becomes more powerful and more widespread. Some of the leading figures in the tech industry attacked the article, with Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer dismissing it as "hogwash." But the debate over my ideas has only intensified.

In Does IT Matter? Information Technology and the Corrosion of Competitive Advantage, I offer a deeper analysis of IT’s role in business, examining the characteristics of hardware and software that guide their evolution. Through a series of examples, I show how IT innovations rapidly become part of the shared business infrastructure, neutralizing their ability to provide competitive advantage. I also lay out a new framework for assessing IT investments based not only on their return on investment but also on competitive responses. Managers will come away from the book with a coherent perspective that will help them derive real value from the enormous sums they spend on IT.

I also examine IT’s influence on other sources of advantage. Again taking issue with the common wisdom, I show that many of the current assumptions about process automation, outsourcing, and virtual business are simplistic and dangerous. Companies that act on them are more likely to destroy advantage than create it.

Given the economy’s reliance on IT, these are subjects important to everyone. I have therefore written the book in straightforward prose, avoiding the jargon that makes the current writing on computer systems obscure. I think anyone who buys, sells, or uses IT – or invests in companies that do – will find the book invigorating and useful. I hope you’ll agree.

- Nicholas G. Carr

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (April 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591394449
• ISBN-13: 978-1591394440
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1.1 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nicholas Carr is an acclaimed writer on technology and culture. His latest book, "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," is a finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. A New York Times bestseller, "The Shallows" discusses the personal and cultural consequences of Internet and computer use and, more broadly, examines the role that media and other technologies have played in shaping intellectual history. Carr is also the author of the 2008 Wall Street Journal bestseller "The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google," which ranked #4 on Newsweek's recent list of 50 Books to Read Now, and of the influential 2004 book "Does IT Matter?" He wrote the celebrated and much-anthologized essay "Is Google Making Us Stupid?," which appeared in The Atlantic, and he has also contributed to the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, Wired, The Guardian, the Financial Times, Strategy & Business, and other periodicals. He was formerly the executive editor of the Harvard Business Review. Carr blogs at www.roughtype.com. More information about his work can be found at his website, www.nicholascarr.com. [Author photo by Joanie Simon.]

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Useless except as a catalyst to get you to do your own thinking July 5, 2005

By Anonymous Reader

Format:Hardcover

This book, as Nicholas Carr has claimed about IT, "doesn't matter". As one reviewer stated, Carr is a good writer but should have kept his assertion to a short article.

Carr claims that IT (hardware and software technologies) is becoming a commodity and therefore that by itself it does not provide competitive advantage. This is eye-opening and insightful only if one believes all the claims of the dot-com era (some of which are still turning out to be true after all) and if one does not understand that the economy is getting more competitive all the time. So what? Isn't everything becoming commoditized? What is left after the Information Age and outsourcing of everything? Some say it is the Creative Age, in which creativity and innovation are what confer true advantage - human mental processes, some of which have to do with using or applying technology differently.

Carr readily admits good USE of IT does confer an advantage - but again, isn't this true with any input or tool? It is management and innovative use of the input rather than the input itself that confers some advantage.

One needs a much more sophisticated hands-on understanding of IT besides the superficial observation that hardware and software technologies are becoming commodities available to all -- besides, this argument is only true in a 30,000 foot view of the world.

When one looks closer, in most cases the "free" open source software that is theoretically available to all is not truly available to all because the expertise needed to use it is very limited. Can all organizations use Linux, Perl, MySQL, etc. equally well? If not, are they really "available to all", or only to those who can actually use them? That everyone can "buy" them does not equate with them being "commodity inputs" -- they are just "technologies" not actual "INPUTS" if they are bought and not used. These questions are intertwined and more complex than they at first seem. For better or worse, one needs an experiential, not an academic or theoretical understanding, of IT in order to arrive at an answer.

In the last chapter, Carr backs off somewhat, saying it is too early to tell the impact of IT - but if it is too early to tell the impact, how can he already conclude it doesn't matter? I suppose that is why he modified his title from the article title of "IT Doesn't Matter" to the book title of "Does IT Matter?". This question seems to be unanswered despite agreement that many information technologies (just as other technologies, products, inputs, processes, and so on) become commodities very quickly, and at an ever increasing rate.

Bottom line: you do not need to bother reading the book. If you wish to understand Carr's argument, read his original article.

As with so many popular "management books", Peter Drucker had already summed up what a manager should know and think about in a more concise way -- for example, that it is the "I" in "IT", not the "T", that matters. Organizations need INFORMATION not TECHNOLOGY and in particular INFORMATION about the OUTSIDE. For better guidance on strategy and IT, see Drucker's Management Challenges of the 21st Century.

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Landmark in IT Thinking May 30, 2004

By "bertknowles"

Format:Hardcover

Just reading through the reviews already posted here shows how big a stir Carr's ideas have caused. Because of vested interests or emotional ties, some people have a deep fear of any criticism of IT, and it blinds them to the reality of the situation. In my humble opinion, as someone who's worked in the IT field for nearly two decades, I think Carr has it exactly right. It's best to treat the technology as a fairly boring necessity - be frugal, buy standardised components, don't believe the hype. The book is carefully argued, and it makes for quite compelling reading. Ignore it at your own risk.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars verbose February 23, 2006

By Carol M. Meerschaert

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is just an article from Harvard Business Review blown up into a book. Get the article reprint and save yourself time and money.