Learning Track 1: How Much Does IT Matter? In May 2003 Nicholas Carr, an editor at Harvard Business Review, wrote an article titled “IT Doesn’t Matter.” This and subsequent articles with a similar theme created a vigorous debate about the potential and actual role of information technology and systems in creating business strategic advantage. If you would like to participate in this debate and learn more, you will find a Learning Track module on this topic at the Laudon Web site for this chapter and on the Student CD-ROM. You can also find more information about the current state of this debate on the Web. Just Google “IT doesn’t matter” and read several rebuttals, one of the best being an article by Robert M. Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet, called “Why I.T. Matters,” MIT Technology Review, January 2004. It’s free at Technologyreview.com on the Internet. IT really does matter!

How Much Does IT Matter?