- About the Author
- Acknowledgments
- Dedication
- Preface
- Chapter 1: Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems
- Chapter 2: Strategy and Technology
- Chapter 3: Netflix: David Becomes Goliath
- Chapter 4: Moore’s Law and More: Fast, Cheap Computing and What It Means for the Manager
- Chapter 5: Understanding Network Effects
- Chapter 6: Peer Production, Social Media, and Web 2.0
- Chapter 7: Facebook: Building a Business from the Social Graph
- Section 1: Introduction
- Section 2: What’s the Big Deal?
- Section 3: The Social Graph
- Section 4: Facebook Feeds—Ebola for Data Flows
- Section 5: F8—Facebook as a Platform
- Section 6: Advertising and Social Networks: A Work in Progress
- Section 7: Beacon Busted
- Section 8: Predators and Privacy
- Section 9: Walled Garden or Open Field?
- Section 10: Is Facebook Worth It?
- Chapter 8: Google: Search, Online Advertising, and Beyond…
- Section 1: Introduction
- Section 2: Understanding Search
- Section 3: Understanding the Increase in Online Ad Spending
- Section 4: Search Advertising
- Section 5: Ad Networks—Distribution beyond Search
- Section 6: More Ad Formats and Payment Schemes
- Section 7: Customer Profiling and Behavioral Targeting
- Section 8: Profiling and Privacy
- Section 9: Search Engines, Ad Networks, and Fraud
- Section 10: The Battle Unfolds
- Chapter 9: Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers
- Chapter 10: Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free
- Section 1: Introduction
- Section 2: Open Source
- Section 3: Why Open Source?
- Section 4: Examples of Open Source Software
- Section 5: Why Give It Away? The Business of Open Source
- Section 6: Cloud Computing: Hype or Hope?
- Section 7: The Software Cloud: Why Buy When You Can Rent?
- Section 8: SaaS: Not without Risks
- Section 9: The Hardware Cloud: Utility Computing and Its Cousins
- Section 10: Clouds and Tech Industry Impact
- Section 11: Virtualization: Software That Makes One Computer Act Like Many
- Section 12: Make, Buy, or Rent
- Chapter 11: The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, and Competitive Advantage
- Section 1: Introduction
- Section 2: Data, Information, and Knowledge
- Section 3: Where Does Data Come From?
- Section 4: Data Rich, Information Poor
- Section 5: Data Warehouses and Data Marts
- Section 6: The Business Intelligence Toolkit
- Section 7: Data Asset in Action: Technology and the Rise of Wal-Mart
- Section 8: Data Asset in Action: Harrah’s Solid Gold CRM for the Service Sector
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Preface
Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology is intended for use in undergraduate and graduate courses in Management Information Systems and Information Technology.
Cited by BusinessWeek for his teaching excellence, John Gallaugher of Boston College brings you an innovative Management Information Systems textbook that provides a manager’s perspective of IS through bleeding-edge cases, dynamic content, and a casual style that inspires rather than intimidates.
Get involved with John’s community by visiting and subscribing to his blog, The Week In Geek (http://www.gallaugher.com), where courseware, technology, and strategy intersect; by following his Twitter feed (@gallaugher) for a blast of relevant links; and by joining his Ning IT Community site (http://biztechbook.ning.com), where you can access and share resources with colleagues across the country and around the world.
At a time when technology is in the headlines of every major business publication, students consistently rank IS among the least appealing courses in the management curriculum. Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology aims to change that. The text has garnered student praise, increased IS enrollments, and engaged students to think deeper and more practically about the space where business and technology meet. Every topic is related to specific, highly recognized business examples, so students gain an immediate appreciation of its importance. Rather than lead with technical topics, the book starts with strategic thinking, focusing on big-picture issues that have confounded experts but will engage students. Chapters introduce management students to some of the most cutting-edge topics in tech, including social media, cloud computing, new media advertising, business analytics, and information security. And while chapters offer durable frameworks, theory, and concepts, cases on approachable, exciting firms across industries further challenge students to apply what they’ve learned, asking questions like the following:
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Why was Netflix able to repel Blockbuster and Wal-Mart?
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How did Harrah’s Entertainment become twice as profitable as comparably sized Caesars, enabling the former to acquire the latter?
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How does Spain’s fashion giant Zara, a firm that shuns the sort of offshore manufacturing used by every other popular clothing chain, offer cheap fashions that fly off the shelves, all while achieving growth rates and profit margins that put Gap to shame?
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Why is Google more profitable than Disney?
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Is Facebook really worth $15 billion?
The Information Systems course and discipline have never seemed more relevant, more interesting, and more exciting. Gallaugher’s textbook can help teachers make students understand why.

Cite this Content
Citation Information
APA Format:Gallaugher, John., Information Systems: A Manager's Guide To Harnessing Technology. Retrieved Mar 13, 2010 from http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/node/41126 .
MLA Format:Gallaugher, John. Information Systems: A Manager's Guide To Harnessing Technology. 1969 . Flat World Knowledge. 13 Mar, 2010. <http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/node/41126> .
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