Ithaca, N.Y. | A new report published by The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell provides a roadmap for executives to use to create and sustain strategic advantage in information technology.

The report, Making IT Matter: A Manager's Guide to Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage with Information Systems, was written by Cornell Professor Gabriele Piccoli, Ph.D.

Piccoli’s groundbreaking study offers the first comprehensive tool to help strategists plan, implement and upgrade information technology solutions. In particular, Piccoli aims to show executives how to create value that can be protected against competitive imitation.

“This report will go along way in helping managers figure out how to use IT as a strategic weapon,” said Scott B. Heintzeman, CIO, Carlson Hotels Worldwide. “It will be very useful to those of us in the hospitality industry.”

The report will help managers to:

• Realize the fundamental difference between information technology and information systems to exploit the strategic potential of IT;
• Differentiate strategic information systems from tactical information systems;
• Examine the response lag drivers associated with initiatives and the potential they offer to delay or deny competitive imitations;
• Evaluate the evolutionary paths available to the firm to extend the lifetime of the competitive advantage.

”The report offers a framework for managers to analyze IT-dependent strategic initiatives. It enables users to determine if an initiative creates c competitive advantage, and whether any advantage created can be protected against imitation,” Piccoli commented.