The Red Wine Company manufactures wine coolers. The company began operations several years ago and has experienced rapid sales growth. The company is organized by business function, with vice-presidents for manufacturing, marketing, finance, accounting, and general administration. The firm operates a computer network, which sup-ports a variety of applications for manufacturing, marketing, finance, accounting, and general administration. The man-ager of information systems (IS) reports to the vice-president of general administration.
The company’s rapid growth has strained the firm’s computer resources, and the number of complaints concerning inadequate support and service from IS has increased dramatically in the past year. The vice-presidents for both manufacturing and marketing have taken their com-plaints about IS directly to the company president. Citing inadequate IS support of the online computer applications relating to inventory control and shipment information, manufacturing and marketing have requested that the firm purchase a computer that would be used exclusively to support these systems. The president is somewhat perplexed by this request because she recently received a request from the vice-president of general administration to fund a significant upgrading of the firm’s mainframe computer system. The president is also aware that the finance and accounting divisions have recently began using cloud computer services for several tasks and are planning to request funds for additional cloud computing applications in their next budget submissions. The president realizes the importance of adequate computer resources to the firm’s operations, but given the recent complaints about
IS support and these seemingly contradictory requests for additional computer hardware and cloud computing services, she has begun to wonder whether there is sufficient control and adequate planning for the acquisition and use of computer resources at the Red Wine Company. The president thinks forming a steering committee might help solve these problems.

Required
What is a steering committee? Discuss the role of a steering committee in planning for the acquisition and use of computer resources at the Red Wine Company.