The paper outlines research showing the different ways information is used in high level decision making in organizations. The results challenge the conventional wisdom of information providers and shows that the uses to which information is put encompass political, tactical, instrumental, symbolic and other purposes. Implications for the design of Executive Information Systems to support executives engaged in complex decision making are discussed. Information is the manager's main tool, the manager's capital... Decisions are only as good as the information on which they are based