Dr. James McKee Answers Our Questions
What in your professional background gives you the knowledge needed to write this book?
Dr. McKee: I have been in the information systems world for 40 years as a programmer, analyst and manager. I was a consultant for a short while then a technical architect for Australian Customs then a lecturer on information systems before becoming an independent researcher. My PhD was on information architecture and strategic planning and I have since published three books and several papers on related topics.
What inspired you to write your book?
Dr. McKee: My role as manager in information systems often brought me into contact with strategic planning and I could often see a discrepancy between the blue skies wish list of things to do and objectives to attain and the lack of practical information describing the steps to achieving the goals.
What is your mission for this title?
Dr. McKee: To draw managers' attention to the practical requirement to examine data being used for planning the company direction more critically. To be more selective in choosing the information that will assist planning for competitive advantage. To provide a mechanism to assist managers in the analysis and planning discussions.
How is this publication going to impact your field of research and how does it relate to current trends and social matters?
Dr. McKee: The research draws on accepted good practices already understood by managers BUT draws several of the practices together to combine them into a greater whole, i.e. using the business model with Porter’s value chain analysis, and Porter's five forces review.
The research takes a normative approach i.e. to evaluate a good idea and review the limitations, look at possible enhancements and then propose a solution.
Who is the publication intended for? Who ultimately will benefit from this title?
Dr. McKee: Primarily managers involved in planning company direction but I would also like to see the topics discussed by MBA students.
What do you want people to know about your publication before they read it?
Dr. McKee: The book is aimed at helping managers search out and organize the information they need to develop and expand the company.
How does your publication stand out from others like it?
Dr. McKee: The book material is solidly based on existing ideas that are in the mainstream of management literature but organized and written to provide a strong basis of pragmatic usefulness to the manager wanting to develop the company to its best advantage.
What are some future directions for your research?
Dr. McKee: To review the templates currently proposed for the business model and the value chain analysis to evaluate their extension into a reference model for business architecture.
What are other topic areas that your readership would find of interest?
Dr. McKee:- The role of the business model in assisting the process of strategic planning.
- Defining a concise business model that effectively promotes the story of the business for all staff to follow.
- The usefulness of doing a value analysis but drilling down to sub-units and incorporating the proportion of value for each segment of the business.
- Reviewing the Bailey and Peak book Degrees of Management and the idea of a competency audit of the company.
Tell us about your experience with IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
Dr. McKee: IGI Global Scientific Publishing has helped me publish several books and papers and with their peer review process, they have enabled me to improve the story I wished to tell.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of IGI Global Scientific Publishing.
About the Editor
James McKee has a PhD from the Department of Information Systems, Wollongong University, Australia. He has lectured in information systems at that University for several years and prior to that was a technical architect with EDS Australia working on a large re-engineering project in a team of IT architects with the Australian Customs. He is the author of “Applying Principles from IT Architecture to Strategic Business Planning”, and “Business Architectures for Risk Assessment and Strategic Planning”, which were published by IGI Global. James has been in the computing industry for 40 years and he has spent many years in the management team of a University Computer Centre, concluding with the position of Associate Director of Corporate Information Services.
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