ABSTRACT
Over the past several years, much debate has raged over the role and efÞcacy of
information technology
(IT) in the conduct of business management. Computers have enabled signiÞcant productivities by automating business functions, eliminating errors in the performance of routine tasks, and empowering communities of knowledge workers to create radically new products, services, and whole new businesses. Still, there is and has always been an open discussion as to just how important IT really is to our continuous march toward progress. Three groups can be said to have emerged. One segment, the optimists, portray IT tools as driving unparalleled advances in productivity that can only be expected to grow exponentially through time. The most radical members of this group consider the advent of e-business as heralding a new age where the tired paradigms of the twentieth century industrial economy are swept away by the relentless spinning out of a dialectic of existing business architectures and the possibilities posed by a ceaselessly expanding technology-driven environment.
