INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
資訊技術應用 Session 06
Extended Neubauer &
Solomon Environmental
Analysis
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Three Levels Of Concerns
Potential Tools
External
Internal
Strategy
/
Policy
Environmental
Impacts
N&S Analysis
SWOT/5-Force
Business Strategy & Policy
Business plan
(HP 10-step)
Hoshin Plan
Program
/
Project
Discrete Program/Project
Identification
Program/Project
Plan
Program/Project Execution
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External
Internal
stnemnorivnE
sdnert
stneve
3
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lacigolonhceT
larutaN
lacitiloP larutluc/laicoS
cimonocE
sdnamed
snoitarepO
seiciloP
seigetartS
erutsoP cigetartS
snoissiM
impacts
EXT-INT INTERACTION MODEL
Where to look for External Impacts

Consider from 6 categories of environments:

Natural Environment

Social/cultural Env.

Technological Env.

Economic Env.

Political Env.

Infra-Structural Env.
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Strategic Postures
 Strategic postures include:
 Missions
• What needs to satisfy ?
• 滿足什麼產品或服務之需求? (providing what products/services)
• Whose needs to satisfy ?
• Who are your target customers?/clients? 定義客戶對象 Be specific.
• What value provided (by your product/service) ?
• Eg.:
• Product: car => Value: transportation (bicycle could also for trans.)
• Product: PCs => Value: computing (Notebook, PDA may substitute PC)
 Strategies
 Policies

For simplicity, we will do missions & strategies only.
 recomm. to include policies in the formal exercise for your firm

Overview of what N&S analysis can help us? (Fig. 1)
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Objectives of Extended N&S Analysis
(Figure 2)
 Provide
a structured way of environmental analysis
•
Identification and analysis of relevant trends, constituent
expectations
 Provide a forum for discussions on shared missions/ strategies.
 Provide a framework for assessing the external impacts on the
firm thus extending to the impacts on the missions/strategies.
Providing clues for the needs to change firm's strategy - even
missions.
 Help firm to identify potential threats and opportunities
systematically.
 Help firm to assess firms readiness to respond to change and
identify strategic actions needed.
 Systematic way leading to identification of IT Opportunities for org.
competitive adv.
The above objectives are best achieved thru teamwork and apporpriate
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participants for correctness/completeness.
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Environmental & IT Opportunity Analysis
Recomm. for
Recomm. for
change <R1>
change <R1>
8. Review
8. Review
impacted
impacted
missions &
missions &
strategies
strategies
3. Trend
3. Trend
Analysis
Analysis
0. Co &
0. Co &
Industry
Industry
Profile
Profile
4. Constituent
4. Constituent
Analysis
Analysis
1. Review
1. Review
Missions
Missions
2. Review
2. Review
Strategies
Strategies
More rec.
More rec.
<R2>
<R2>
9. Eva. org.
9. Eva. org.
responsivness
responsivness
to change
to change
More rec.
More rec.
<R3>
<R3>
10. Revise
existing Missions/
str.
11. Test new
Missions/str.
Impact
Impact
Matrix
Matrix
6. Impact
6. Impact
Analysis
Analysis
7. Describe
7. Describe
nature of key
nature of key
threats &
threats &
opport.
opport.
5. Establish
5. Establish
Scoring
Scoring
Criteria
Criteria
T&O analysis
T&O analysis
Integrated
Integrated
Recomm
Recomm
<R4>
<R4>
12. Summarize
12. Summarize
Recomm for
Recomm for
changes
changes
13. Identify IT appl.
13. Identify IT appl.
opportunities to
opportunities to
achieve changes more
achieve changes more
effectively
effectively
& efficienctly
& efficienctly
IT system Req.
IT system Req.
or RFP
or RFP
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14. Prepare sys.
14. Prepare sys.
req. or RFP for
req. or RFP for
the I.S.
the I.S.
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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (1)
<Figure 3>
Step 0: Briefly review Co. profile and industry status.
Step 1: Deduct Apparent Missions*
Whose
needs satisfied ?
What needs satisfied ?
What value does the company provide?

Step 2: Identify Perceived Strategies*
long-term
impact
crucial to survival & development
broad in scope
difficult to reverse
involve significant commitments
maybe different from stated strategies.
* If there are differences between perceived/apparent strategic postures and
proclaimed ones, explain them in footnotes and comment on what should be done.
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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (2)

Step 3: Trend Analysis
Industry-related trends (4)
 General trends (4)
 Both considered from all 6 categories of environments


Step 4: Constituent Analysis
Look for constituent's expectations
 ref only: 3 demands from 3 major stakeholders.


Step 5: Establish Scoring Criteria (0-5)

Consider impacts on:
company financial / survival
 customer population / satisfaction; market share
 organizational change
 co. public image; etc …
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
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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (3)
Step 6: Determine impacts of trends/expectations on
strategies and missions. (-5_0_+5) < fig. 6>
 +X / -Y / Z (0 < X, Y, Z < 5)

• +X (Opportunity): The extent of positive impact the org
could gain if certain change is made to the subject
mission/strategy
• -Y (Threat): The extent of negative impact the org could
suffer if the subject mission/strategy is not changed.
• Z (Confirming): The extent of positive impact the current
mission/strategy could bring about if it is implemented as
intended. Z represents the goodness of the current
mission/strategy w.r.t. the trends or expectations.
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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (3a)




Keep BOTH + & - numbers.
Explain all high-impacting items ( >= 3).
Adding numbers separately in vertical & hoz.
directions.
identify highly impacted strategies & missions


identify high impacting factors.


suggesting these strategic postures may deserve closer review.
Suggesting company may need to allocate more resource to gather data to
enhance understanding of the factors.
Normally, most points will be 0.
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Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (3b)
Ref
guidelines for negative impacts (-Y) : <examples of -
impacts>

On missions:
reduce/eliminate/change our population of stakeholders in undesirable way.
reduce/eliminate the needs we are trying to satisfy
reduce/eliminate the value of our product/service (in a grand scale)
prevent us from satisfying our stakeholders.
reduce/eliminate our ability to satisfy stakeholder's needs.

On Strategies:
prevent us from implementing strategy
increase risk associated w/ implementing strategy
increase resources required to implement strategy
suggest that some strategies no longer appropriate.
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Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (3c)

Ref guidelines for positive impacts (+X) : <examples of +
impacts>
 On missions:
suggest opportunity if our population of stakeholders is modified.
suggest opportunity if the set of needs we are satisfying is modified.
suggest opportunity if the set of values we are providing is modified.
(must be consistent w/ firm's long-tem capability/competency)

On strategies:
suggest a new opportunity if one or more strategies were changed w/i
the framework of existing mission.

Examples of confirming mission/strategy:
strongly support/reinforce our existing strategies w/ no need for
change of strategies.
 increase the likelihood of our being able to implement strategy as
planned.
 increase the confidence in the chosen strategy.

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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (4)
Step 7: Describe nature of key threats and
opportunities.

–

Understand/describe what makes this force a threat or opportunity?
Step8: Review highly impacted missions & strategies.

Recommendations for possible changes <R1>
• Identify desirable (changed) strategies & missions, if any.
• Identify potential new strategies & missions.
• What might/should our missions be?
Whose needs, what needs, what value.
When missions are in trouble, company may be in a wrong business.


What might/should our strategies be?

Factor in company's competitive edge and core competency.
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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (5)
 Step 9: Evaluate organizational readiness to
change
 What responses are needed/desired? (company viewpoints)
 What are key factors/pre-conditions needed to enable effective
responses? (functional viewpoints)
 What additional resources/efforts are needed? magnitude?
 How ready are the resources? (What's our current status?)
 "snowflake diagram" - magnitude of additional
efforts/resources. (Example of Figure 7.)
 How do we address those additional needs?
 => <More recommendations emerge - driven by external
factors> <R2>
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E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (6)

Step 10: Revise strategies and/or missions – if needed.
Revise existing strategies per previous analysis.
 Add new strategies if needed.
 Revise mission if there is a series problem with existing mission.

Step
11: Test appropriateness of new strategies and/or
missions – if needed.
Test
modified strategies against revised missions. Check potential
cascading changes onto strategies.
 If needed, repeat steps 6, 8, & 9. (=> more higher Zs, less -Ys)
 <recommendations emerge - driven by internal reviews> <R3>
Step 12: Summarize recommendations linking from
Steps 8, 9, 10 & 11. (=> R4)


Including strategic and possibly operational level.
(Next stage would be a business plan on how to implement recommendations
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toward revised strategic postures: missions/strategies/policies)
E. Neubauer & Solomon Analysis (7)
Step 13: Identify opportunity of using IT to more
effectively achieve:


The integrated recommendations in STEP 12 (R4), incl:
 strategic changes (mission/stratgies/organizational changes)
 Operational changes.
Step 14: Write down the detail system requirements of
the Information system identified.

Extent: You can give the doc to outsource the ITS impl.
 What functional requirements (user view) are to be achieved?
What are the system external/interface constraints?
• H/W configuration / S/W configuration /
• Database (high level) plan / Telecommunication / Internet
architecture / Budget / deadline
 Normally leave out the design specs.

Review examples in class packet.
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Implementation Notes (1)

Law of "Garbage in garbage out" holds.


 All



5 categories of ext. env. are to be examined.
Other aspects could impact tech. strategy.
tech. strategy should support business => good to have a broader
perspective.
Results from multiple persons' discussions.



Do faithful and serious discussions for evaluations.
Recommend using Delphi brainstorm for assessments.
Avoid only single person's opinion => whole team's discussions.
Involve stakeholders in the discussion/ review helpful. (Ask
company people's opinions if possible.)
Model to resolve conflicting viewpoints

Consensus / voting (averaging) / compromise
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Implementation Notes (2)

Get industry/company reviews whenever possible:




ID of strategic postures / trends / constituents' expectations.
assessment of impact matrix
determining of organizational responsiveness.
Use abbreviated sentences for strategic postures &
trends/expectations (see Impact Matrix Example)

instead of M1, S1, T1, E1, etc.

Items explained sufficiently and in proper order in the
report. (ref. MOT example)


Summary of N & S analysis: Figure 3 & 7.
Impact matrix example
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Some techniques for consideration
 On giving points: (Delphi approach)
–
–
–
–
1) Each one grades individually.
2) Every one presents grade to the group and the ones with extreme points
explains the reason for the grade.
3) Allow everyone to re-grade after listening to other's opinions.
4) Average out the grade as final score.
(Alternative: could repeat 2)-4) until the spread of the grades is acceptable.)
 On getting recommendations:

Nominal group technique
–
Leader explain problem/issue & ask for ideas
Allow some quiet time for members to think and write down ideas.
One by one, members report their ideas to the group. List ideas in front of the
group.
Members continue to add ideas possibly stimulated by the reported ideas.
It is OK to skip a turn if no idea to report.
Continue to report and list ideas in rounds until all ideas are reported.
Go to next stage of evaluating/discussing the ideas. Eventually identify some
feasible solutions.
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–
–
–
–
–
–
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HW & Common Pitfalls
Homework 2: (up to step 8)
Do an extended N&S analysis.
– Due in 3 weeks. (combine groups into super group: 5 persons)
– 20 min. oral report of your HW. Mission/Strategy/Key impacts.
Final report: complete all steps of ENS.
Common Pitfalls for N&S Reports
 Missing Co. profile
 Unclear missions.
– Must be specific to define who your customers are; what
product/service; What value, etc.
– Confuse mission w/ strategy



Did not explain the missions/strategies
Did not explain the impacted cells (score +- 3-5).
Unclear linkage:
• High impact items => recomm. Changes => Org. responsiveness =>
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IT opportunity
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