Google Inc.

1. Google Inc. Breakout questions: • The case describes several of Google’s “products” (search, Gmail, Google Earth) What do they have in common? What is Google’s line of business? • What is Google’s revenue model (how do they make money)? Who are its customers? What is Google’s real product? • Based on the material in the case, how would you describe Google’s strategy? Do they have one? • The last section of the case is titled “What should Google Do?” What is your answer (it doesn’t have to be one of the options described in the case)? Make sure you explain why you chose that course of action.

2. Cisco Systems Architecture: Web-Enabled IT Breakout questions: • Why was an ERP system important for Cisco? What problems was the ERP system supposed to solve? Why was it a management challenge? • Discuss how the ERP project was “sold” to the board for approval. Specifically, what was their method of justification? How did they set an implementation timeline? Do you agree or disagree with the way they did this? • What was Solvik’s web strategy? How did the Internet and Intranet strategies tie in with the ERP project? Why was the ERP project essential for their web strategy to succeed? • What makes a good manager for the projects described in this case? How high in the organization should the manager sit?

3. Radiohead: Music at Your Own Price (Parts A and B) Breakout Questions: • How did Radiohead sell their album “In Rainbows”? Was it successful? What problems could this create for other artists? • Compare the disruptive effects of digital content in the music and book publishing industries. What are the similarities and differences? • Why do you think it was more difficult for the record labels to respond to their own “signals of change”? • How might Radiohead’s experiment in music distribution be disruptive to Amazon?

4. Volkswagen of America: Managing IT Priorities • Describe the problems with the way Volkswagen had been managing IT projects at the start of the case. How did the new management system change their prioritization processes? How is it possible that under this new system a “critical” project (the global supply chain system) was underfunded? • What did Volkswagen get right regarding its method of prioritizing IT projects? How does it enable innovation? • What did Volkswagen get wrong regarding its method of prioritizing IT projects? How does it hamper innovation? • How should Matulovic respond to his fellow executives who are asking for special treatment? What should he do about the unfunded Supply Chain Management project?

5. The Globalization of Wyeth • What were the key reasons for moving forward with globalization at Wyeth? What were the barriers to globalization? • What was the role of IT in the globalization of Wyeth? Two major components of Wyeth’s global IT strategy were its ERP system and its “Global Data Warehouse”. In what ways were these “global” IT projects? • What aspects of Wyeth’s “globalization” effort are similar to any centralization and standardization effort within a large company? • What aspects of Wyeth’s “globalization” effort are different from centralization and standardization efforts within a large company?