文档介绍：L e t t e r s to the Editor
Does IT Matter?
An HBR Debate 1 Introduction by Thomas A. Stewart
Letters from:
2 John Seely Brown and John Hagel III
5 McFarlan and Richard L. Nolan
7 Paul A. Strassmann
6 Other readers
17 Reply from Nicholas G. Carr
Order the article,“IT Doesn’t Matter”
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Every magazine has an ideal, or an ideal- technology. Then the spending col- in such cases, a few people mistake the
ized, reader. For Harvard Business Review, lapsed and the Nasdaq with it, and in argument. (In this instance, the most
he or she is an executive of mon every boardroom–and in every technol- common misperception is that the arti-
intelligence and curiosity: the brightest pany–people began to wonder: cle says that IT is dead and that it will
CEO you know or can imagine, perhaps. What happened? What was that spend- not continue to be a source of dramatic,
We like to pretend that our ideal reader ing about? What’s changed? What has even transformational change. It doesn’t
has chartered us to prepare a briefing not? And what do we do now? What is say that. Instead, it says the odds are that
every month. On the agenda, we’ve been our technology strategy, and how does the benefits of such changes will inure
told, should be three kinds of items. it affect our corporate strategy? to whole industries rather than any one
First, our reader says, bring me im- Forcefully, Carr argues that invest- of seeking advantage
portant new ideas, research, or insights: ments in IT, while profoundly impor- through technology, Carr argues, com-
“Boss, here’s something you should tant, are less and less likely to deliver panies should manage IT defensively –
know.” petitive edge to an individual watching costs and avoiding risks.)
Second, bring me important pany. “No one would dispute that And always in such cases, some very
truths, rediscovered and refreshed: “Boss, information technology has e s