1) A former editor of the Harvard Business Review, Nick Carr, once published an article in a magazine with the title IT Doesnt Matter. In the article he offered firms the advice: Follow, Dont Lead. What would you tell Carr to help him improve the way he thinks about the relationship between time, technology, and competitive advantage?

2) Identify two firms in the same industry that have different value chains. Why do you think these firms have different value chains? What role do you think technology plays in the way that each firm competes? Do these differences enable strategic positioning? Why or why not?

3) What role did network effects play in your choice of an operating system, a social network, a word processor, or a mobile phone?

4) Do you think it is possible to use information technology to achieve competitive advantage? If so, how? If not, why not?