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A Board Director's Perspective on What IT Has to Get Right

Harvard Business Review

Improving Operational Efficiency. The biggest opportunities for these companies are simplification and horizontal integration projects. EIG is responsible for enterprise architecture, the center of expertise for simplification and integration methods, process and program management. IT Doesn''t Matter (to CEOs).

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Design as a New Vertical Forcing Function

Harvard Business Review

From Microsoft’s latest radical reorganization and subsequent purchase of Nokia’s devices unit to Google’s acquisition of Motorola , it’s clear that after decades of horizontal integration, high tech is in an age of increased verticalization. What is driving this change?

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Today's Best Companies are Horizontally Integrated

Harvard Business Review

In big companies, management teams focus on achieving the right level of vertical integration. With every degree of verticalization now made possible by information and communications technologies, the right scope of operations for any given firm is an open question. This kind of fragmentation commonly results from growth.