Peter Weill's produced a study that identified the 4 main categories that make up a company's IT portfolio: the IT infrastructure, transactional systems, informational systems, and strategic systems. Weill's research shows that most companies spend a majority of their IT portfolio on the 1. and the least amount of money is spent on the 2. . A company that is seeking to be highly agile should spend more money on the 3. to provide a nimble platform and less money on the 4. which tends to lock in current business processes.

An important source of public scrutiny is "watchdogs." these are: the efforts of a firm's competitors, including how often the competitors attack the firm's strategies. taxpayer-supported government agencies that limit a firm's ability to compete in foreign markets. companies designated by the government to only produce products that support the government defense program. socially conscious groups that make it their mission to measure the social responsibility levels of businesses, and provide consumers with their opinions about the level of corporate responsibility of various companies.