1.  Read Harvard Business School Case - Ford Motor Company: Maximizing the Business Value of Web Technologies*

2.  The following is a list of suggested discussion questions for your information:

           (a). Web technology first gained serious momentum with Ford in 1994 when the CEO gave the CIO the job of figuring out ways to deploy the technology beneficially across the company. List what you see as the important events that occurred between this meeting and the end of the case. Did this technology adoption process work well? What would you change? Could this process be used in other companies?

           (b). Web technology deployment at Ford was preceded by a very substantial and expensive infrastructure renewal process. What challenges resulted from Ford's legacy of proprietary networking technologies and old computer applications, and how did Ford meet those challenges? How much money did Ford save through the GENI process? What lessons about complicated outsourcing projects can you draw from Ford's experience with GENI?

           (c).  The case lists a number of specific uses of web technologies. What were these, and why was the web a particularly useful way of mounting these applications? What lessons can Ford apply as it moves toward using web technologies for more "mission critical" applications? What policies and principles did Ford employ to maximize the usefulness of web technologies?

3.   Case Discussion would include: a) a brief description of the issues, b) discussion questions, and c) your comments or opinions.

4.   Complete Report #1 in class.
 

* Note: You can purchase the Harvard Business School Cases from the University Bookstore