Excerpt from Lithonia Lighting: Case StudyThe use of information technology in the 1980's has evolved from the traditional transaction-based systems built in the 1960's and 70's toward more innovative and far-reaching applications. As the industry matures, studies have been undertaken to better understand the impact of information technology on organizations. Results of a recent study by the Center for Information Systems Research, MIT Sloan School of Management, suggest that information technology has joined the arsenal of traditional tools used by an organization to manage the multi-dimensional interdependence of its subunits (Rockart and Short, 1988).Lithonia Lighting provides an interesting example of this trend. As the number one player in the $4+ billion lighting and related products market, Lithonia has recently emerged from a seven-year process of implementing a series of systems to electronically link the entities in its marketplace. This effort was spearheaded by the company's visionary Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President, Charles Darnell. This document will discuss the implementation of this process and its impact on the lighting marketplace and on the organization within the context of "the management of interdependence" (Rockart and Short, 1988). The information presented here is the result of discussions with Darnell and other members of the Lithonia team, and of a reading of a number of documents provided by them.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.