5a - Ross & Weill 1

Question 1

What does the Ross & Weill book focus on?

Answer 1

Enterprise architecture on an enterprise level, based on:

• Strategy analysis
• Strategy choice
• Strategy implementation

Question 2

Where does the Ross & Weill book fall short?

Answer 2

• It is based mainly on large firms, only few findings in ‘early adopters’
• It is somewhat outdated (published in 2006, research up to 2005)
• Limited vision for the future

Question 3

Who is McDonald?

Answer 3

Vice president and head of research at Gartner Executive Programs. He wrote his thesis on EA in a business NETWORK perspective.

Question 4

What are the three models McDonald adds to the book’s findings?

Answer 4

Value network diagram
Capabilities diagram
Capabilities blueprint

Question 5

What is the resource-based view on firms?

Answer 5

• Acquire resources

- Develop capabilities (competences to use the resources)

Question 6

What does VRIN mean?

Answer 6

Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Non-substitutable.

From the resource-based view on firms.

Question 7

What does the Business network theory entail?

Answer 7

Organizations work together in IT-enabled business networks or integrated supply chains to outperform other business networks.

Question 8

How does McDonald position EA?

Answer 8

As an instrument, a management tool, to implement the business strategy.

Question 9

Why should a firm do EA, according to the R&W book?

Answer 9

• To decide on the division of labour and co-ordination (IT governance)
• Centralisation & decentralisation of processes and data
• Standardisation (of data and processes and technologies and…)

Question 10

How do Ross & Weill define EA?

Answer 10

The organizing logic for core business processes and IT infrastructure reflecting the standardization and integration of a company’s operating model.

Question 11

How does McDonald define EA?

Answer 11

The deliberate design of the enterprise as a whole; this in contrast to the design of a part of the enterprise, such as an information system.

Question 12

How does the US Federal CIO Council define EA?

Answer 12

As a strategic information asset base.

Question 13

What are some indicators of trouble (business drivers for EA)?

Answer 13

• No standardized/ shared data.
• IT is consistently a bottleneck for change.
• Different processes for completing the same activity, with different IT systems.

Question 14

What is a Foundation for Execution (FfE)?

Answer 14

Digitizing the routine processes, to provide reliability and predictability.
The IT infrastructure & digitized business processes together automate a company’s core capabilities.

Question 15

How do Ross & Weill address FfE since 2015?

Answer 15

Digital transformation.

Question 16

Why use a Foundation for Execution?

Answer 16

• To reduce complexity
• Fulfill needs for regulatory and legal compliance
• Enhance Business Agility, which depends on FfE.

Question 17

What is an Operating Model?

Answer 17

This model defines the necessary level of business process integration and standardization for delivering goods and services to customers.
It supports how a company wants to thrive and grow.

Question 18

Which two growth strategies are possible?

Answer 18

Organic growth

Acquisition driven growth

Question 19

What is business process standardization?

Answer 19

Choosing how a process will be executed, regardless of who is performing the process and where it is completed.

Question 20

What is business process integration?

Answer 20

Choosing how to link organizational units through shared data

Question 21

What is CUDR in an operating model?

Answer 21

The different choices of BPS & BPI:

Coordination, Unification, Diversification, Replication.

Question 22

What is Diversification?

Answer 22

Autonomy + shared services. Low levels of BPS & BPI.
Organic growth based on success of individual BUs;
Acquisition: related business, strengthen portfolio.

Question 23

Give an example of a Diversification business.

Answer 23

Carlson Companies. They use shared services for IT & financial services.

Question 24

What is coordination?

Answer 24

Seamless entry to shared data. High BPI, low BPS.
BUs have control over process design and IT apps.
Organic growth: product innovations to existing customers.
Acquisitions: new customers for existing products, new products for existing customers.

Question 25

Give an example of a Coordination business industry.

Answer 25

Insurance companies.

Question 26

What is Replication?

Answer 26

Standardized independence. High BPS, low BPI.
Organic growth: replicate best practices in new markets.
Acquisition: expand market reach; rip & replace.

Question 27

Give an example of a Replication business.

Answer 27

ING Direct.

Question 28

What is Unification?

Answer 28

High BPI: high interdependence between units (as one “machine”, little autonomy;
High BPS: common processes, common systems, operational excellence, efficiency
Organic growth: leverage economies of scale, grow products and markets incrementally
Acquisition: leverage existing foundation; rip & replace infrastructure

Question 29

Give an example of a Unification business.

Answer 29

Delta Air lines

Question 30

What are the 3 business strategies, described by Treacy & Wiersema?

Answer 30

• Product leadership (=replication)
• Customer intimacy (=coordination)
• Operational excellence (=unification)

Choice per BU = diversification

Market leaders excel in only ONE of these disciplines
The others have to be organized “just enough”