The importance of opportunity creation and opportunity recognition. Each of the ten papers contained at least one company that either identified an opportunity and then created a product/service to take advantage of the opportunity, or a company that created a product/service that was used to create a new opportunity where one didn't exist. While these two events may seem identical, they are not. In reference to the class-session in which we talked about opportunity, the seemingly simple question asked by the Professor (i.e., what is a market opportunity?) demanded thought-provoking answers. In terms of the companies studied, most have gone through an exercise of trying to define and re-define the opportunity they would eventually serve.

As for the role of IT in opportunity creation, its not a requirement. Some companies clearly could not have been formed without IT; that is, the opportunity that arose did so because of IT. Conversely, other companies did not need IT for creating an opportunity. Some used IT to support their opportunity-creation process, while others do not use IT at all as part of their daily course of business. An interesting question follows: does being a technology laggard necessarily translate into long-term attrition? After all, it seems that the focus of the course and of most companies examined is that IT is a strategic tool in attaining success. What about companies that don't use IT and succeed? Also, do these companies have to be first-movers in IT, or can they be followers?

Another interesting point is the impact of IT on customer service and customer satisfaction. There seems to be a natural paradox that emerges from an IT-directed society. On the one hand, organizations that have lots of IT can control, monitor, analyze, and track customer satisfaction so that it becomes a fairly consistent process. Expert systems, databases, voice response systems ensure that a customer's request is not lost, and that the customer receives what they demand. On the other hand, the process, although much more consistent, becomes totally impersonal. The interface between the customer and the organization could be completely automated, to the point that the human decision-maker in the organization is now desensitized to the customer's needs.

An interesting takeaway from reading all the papers is the extensive creativity in organizational design. It seems that we have transcended into a new dimension of designer organizations. One size does not fit all, and any permutation and architecture is possible. While this is not a bad thing, we must take care not to spend too much time worrying about organizational structure at the expense of the core business.

The characteristics we found to be most common among all the organizations are:

• Use of IT to transform the organizational structure and enhance coordination.
• Outsourcing of non-core activities.
• Customer focus.
• Flexibility to customize product/service.

Overall, the lesson learned through the course and by studying the different organizations can be very nicely summarized by an old saying in Spanish.

"A rio revuelto, ganancia de pescadores"

Which interpreted in English would mean:

"Opportunity seekers will make the most out of a turbulent environment."