| MBA 8473 (Section # 3493) Information Technology & Decision Strategy Course Syllabus
Instructor: Detmar Straub
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Last updated: April 27, 2002 at 10pm
Instructor: Detmar Straub Computer Information Systems (CIS) Department 904 J. Mack Robinson College of Business Building
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You are welcome to call me at home for pressing matters that cannot wait for an email response. I check my email every half hour when I am working, so this is usually a good avenue of exchange. However, if you need to call me at home, please keep in mind that it would be considerate not to call before 9AM nor after 11PM. I thank you (and my wife thanks you) for this extra measure of consideration. |
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Course Description |
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In the past century, few
things have changed the face of business more than information technology and
systems. There is no reason to suspect this trend will reverse itself anytime in
the foreseeable future. E-commerce
is the latest in this inevitable trend toward more computerization of business
processes. The course is designed
around a model that views the firm as an information processing entity that must
sense and respond to its environment. The
environment in which firms operate today is one in which there is greater
complexity, reduced cycle times, increased globalization, and greater
competition than ever before. Firms
capable of successfully competing in this kind of environment will be those that
have the ability to develop and implement nimble organizational models with
high-quality decisions being made at all levels in the organization.
Seen in this light, information technology should be examined in terms of
its strategic impact on the organizations and its role in supporting individual,
group, and organizational decision processes. The course is designed for managers who need to (1) understand the role and potential contribution of information technology for their organizations, and (2) be able to understand and apply various computerized support systems to make better decisions. The course will emphasize the strategic role that computer-based information systems now play in modern organizations. We will explore how rapid advances in hardware and software technology are impacting strategies, structures and processes within organization. Much of what managers do involves the search (both internal and external to the firm), processing, interpretation and use of information. As a bridge between information search and information use, managers often need to build and manipulate models. The course examines how information technology can help managers, groups, and organizations search for information, analyze information, and make decisions. Students will complete hands-on exercises to understand data modeling concepts, relationship modeling among variables, and the use of certain information technology tools to explore relationships. Finally, the course will explore various approaches for developing or acquiring information systems. A great deal of the course will be on the latest manifestation of the power of information technology, that is, electronic commerce (EC). EC is transforming industries worldwide is no exception. It is critical that MBA student-managers understand the principles and implementation actions that will make EC useful for businesses and government.
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Learning Objectives |
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Describe and distinguish
among the wide array of information technologies that are available for
supporting individuals, groups, and organizations. Identify, describe, and evaluate the role of information technology in relation to the organization’s business and competitive strategies
Discuss modeling techniques
and emerging technologies that can support managerial decision-making
Articulate trends in
information technology and their business implications Articulate the choices that are available in developing or acquiring systems
Define e-Commerce according
to several different perspectives Describe effective strategies for e-Commerce initiatives
Explain the principles of e-Commerce that lead firms to be competitive |
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Course Resources |
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Resource #1: Your Classmates
Labs and projects will be
team-executed in groups of: Five
(5) persons
Your groups should function as a self-managed team and adopt the rules and
practices of this organizational work and task structure. Participation
should be relatively equal among the group members, with each member both
monitoring one's own level of participation and that of the other members of the
group. Constant, frequent, and open communications among the group members
will ensure that the group members feel that all are participating equally, each
utilizing his/her own strengths to the fullest.
Self-managed teams are free to make decisions about group processes, including
who will continue to be members of the team. If the majority of the team
decides, for whatever reason, to reconstitute the group makeup, then this change
will go into effect immediately. Please inform the instructor, in writing,
that this decision has been made and the reasons for it. Include this
document as well in the deliverables for the assignment/project.
All participants bear the responsibility for their performance in self-managed
teams. If a team member has been asked to withdraw from a team, this
person may, with the instructor's permission and that of another team, join the
efforts of the other team. If it is too late to do so, then for this
assignment/project and only this assignment/project, the participant may
complete it on his/her own. Consistent with the principles and operations of
self-managed teams, peer appraisals are, presumably, ongoing. These
appraisals will become formal in one, and only one circumstance. If
the group members feel that participation has not been even, but that this
uneven participation was not sufficiently disruptive to change the
constitution of the team, then please send, under separate cover and under
your own signature, your evaluation of the percentage participation of each
group member. Such personalized peer appraisals will become part of
the evaluation of the individual class participation score. Also, to
be above board about this with your team, indicate to them that you have
turned in this peer appraisal. You are not required to reveal your
individual assessments; only that your have turned in such an appraisal.
If there is no communication to the contrary to the instructor, the assumption
will be that all members contributed equally.
Resource #2: Software You will need to download the latest shareware version of Winzip
in order to decompress some of the files that are located on the Web page
server located at the Georgia State University CIS Department. Readings and topic/discussion/lecture overheads are located
on the server and downloadable via the schedule and/or readings or cases
citation link below.
Note: If zipped, the readings are in *.rtf (Rich Text Format)
or .doc (Word) format
for Windows '95. Topic/discussion/lecture
notes
overheads are in *.pdf (Portable Document Format) format,
again for Windows '95. All modern word processors can read *.rtf files.
You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader
to view and print the Adobe *.pdfs [portable document files]. If you do not have this reader,
download it by clicking here. In the
download.com search box, type the word "Acrobat." Find the
32 bit version of the latest Acrobat. It should be compatible with the
operating system of PC you are working on (e.g., Windows '95).
You may also need to download the Lotus Screen Cam player here.
We
may be using this player to examine Websites off-line. If used, these will be listed as examples in the syllabus schedule and will serve to demonstrate certain concepts.
These could be part of your learning in this course, so be sure to do this as part of your class preparation. Resource #3: Textbook The textbook is
Turban, McLean, and Wetherbe,
abbreviated as "Turban" in the schedule. Information
Technology for Management: Making Connections for Strategic Advantage, 3rd
Edition. John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0471400750.
Please take note especially:
Typically,
exam material is drawn from the topic/discussion/lecture overheads. These
are in a "4-up" format. There should be room for you to take
notes on these pages. Since exam material is based to a small extent on
the textbook (15% or so), but to a much greater extent on these overheads and your notes,
you will be well served to spend your time on studying this part of the course. If
you have questions later about anything we cover in the topic/discussion/
lectures, please ask the instructor, either in person, via
phone, or via email. Resource #4: Other Materials and Links
There are other resources that will allow you, as a serious
student, to learn as much as you can about e-Commerce strategies and
implementations. The hyperlinks are below. [Schedule] Meaning
This is the idea; you are on point. Order of presentations in
class:
Lab #1:
Scenario of Airport Vehicle Rental Firm [Click
here to download] Deliverable: Oral report to class. [Schedule]
Lab #2:
Articulate a Skeletal Strategy for epinions.com or
the Reborn boo.com As a class, we will explore epinions.com
and boo.com
/ Fashionmall.com.
In your groups, articulate a skeletal strategy that you believe would
characterize this firm, keeping in mind some of the strategic
principles/elements we have discussed in class. Finally,
formulate your response for oral presentation by one spokesperson.
Click here to review
Screencam computer video overview(s) of the relevant Website(s).
Deliverable: Oral report to class, beginning with an
outline of the components of your nascent strategy. [Schedule] Lab
#3: The Competitiveness of a Market Leader Scenario 1: In your team's opinion, how quickly can Dell's competitors imitate
Dell's new Web features? [Make an assumption about which features on the site
are new or newer.] Invent new directions
they might take and show if and why competitors can imitate it quickly.
Is the Web site itself a competitive advantage, in your
opinion?
Scenario 2: Dell computers, with
USD$24 million/day in Internet sales is now
a highly virtual company. They currently have
no physical sales channels, for instance. Dell's competitors begin to make
inroads into Dell sales by a "clicks and bricks"
approach of using their web sites to funnel certain customers to their traditional, physical dealers
and their own franchised outlets. In short, Dell's market share is beginning to
suffer a bit. What should Dell do?
Adopt a "clicks and bricks" approach or not?
Scenario 3: A firm that gives away computers starts to erode Dell's sales.
Should Dell begin to give away
Deliverable: Oral report to class. [Schedule]
Lab #4: Data Modeling The company wants to keep track of which employees are assigned to
which projects. Each project usually requires a set of skills so you need to
need to know which skills an employee has.
If you make any assumptions,
such as whether in this organization, employees can never work on more than
one project at a time, be sure to tell us that first in your oral report.
Step 1.
Draw an entity-relationship diagram for this application.
Step 2.
Create the corresponding relational model. Clearly show the steps involved in making the translation
from the entity
relationship model to the relational model.
Step 3. Be sure you can run the following SQL queries
(conceptually speaking) and think through if the results could be obtained
with your design.
On what dates did T. Adams start and finish working on project #33?
What skills are required for the project called Virtual Courtyard" and who has them?
What is the hourly rate of J. Perry?
On what date was the project "Venus" completed?
What is the name of the
project whose project# is "771"?
List
the projects scheduled to start on 1 January
2001.
When
did G. Anthony acquire the skill Visual Basic?
Deliverable: Oral report to class. [Schedule]
Lab #5: Powerplay Choose
a single bank in the Powerplay multi-dimensional
database. Create one (or more) Powerplay reports.
Be prepared to explain the value of your report to the class as a whole.
Deliverable: Oral report to class. [Schedule]
Lab #6:
Discovering Underlying Atomic and Hybrid Business
Models
Finally, formulate your response for oral presentation by one spokesperson.
The spokesperson should begin by telling the class the key strategic features
of the Website.
Deliverable: Oral report to class. [Schedule]
1 Jan 7 Topic discussion #1: "IT
Strategy and Control of the IT Resource" (450K pdf) 2 Jan 14 Topic discussion #2:
"e-Commerce as a Transformational Strategy"
(1,904K pdf) No class-MLK Holiday
3 Jan 28
Topic discussion #3:
"E-Commerce Technologies"
(1,217K pdf)
4 Feb 4
Guest instructor: Dr. Michael Gallivan
5 Feb 11 6 Feb 18
7 Feb 25 For
exam, read over the short House
of Bikes Case
Mar 4
No class-Spring Break
8 Mar 11
Topic discussion
#6: "Data
Modeling" (240K pdf)
9 Mar 18 Required Reading:
Turban, Ch. 11 In-class
exercise: Lab #5
Oral report: 10 Mar 25 Topic discussion #8:
"Virtual
Organizational Designs and Outsourcing of e-Commerce Systems"
(1,478K pdf)
Case
brief on
Manheim Auctions due
Required Reading:
Turban, Chs. 8.9 - 8.10; 13
Optional Reading:
Westland
& Clark, 1999, pp. 557-572
11 Apr 1 12 Apr 8
Topic discussion #10:
"Sustainable Competitive Advantage and Atomic
Business Models for e-Commerce" (878K pdf)
OLAP-Data Mining Assignment due
Case brief on
NIBCO due
Required Reading:
Straub and Klein, 2001 13 Apr 15
14 Apr 22 15 Apr 29 Short exam on Textbook
chapters
This section
will be for very special announcements that occur as to meetings, assignments,
cases, and other ongoing events in the course. You will also be informed
by email about these, but very special notices will also appear here.
Take home exam is now ready for downloading. Due on Monday, May 6th at
noon.
Grading
Grading
Component
Type
Score
Labs (2%
each)
Group
8%
Exam(s)
Individual
32%
Course Projects (Written
11% & oral 11%)
Group
22%
Case
Briefs
Individual
9%
Data Mining-OLAP Assignment
Group
9%
Class Participation
Individual
20%
Total
-
100%
Grading Correction Symbols
Symbol
OK or good
vague
The writing is too general or ambiguous. It begins and ends with phrases like "higher productivity" and "achieved cost savings" without providing the case details to back up this assertion.
irr
Irrelevant. This issue is not germane to the question or the answer you are developing.
???
The passage marked is not easy to interpret. Your meaning is not clear.
proof
In order to be accepted and believed by the reader/manager, the marked passage needs further evidence or proof. In the context of this course, proof is considered to be details from Topic #s, readings, cases, and other authoritative sources that can be cited. Lifting simple narrative from the case and reinserting it in your case brief, for example, is not considered to be proof. Interpretive use of facts, figures, quotations from the case is considered to be proof.
logic
There is a flaw in logic in the marked passage. There is a lack of clear flow between the thesis or main assertion in the paragraph and the details that are provided by the author to prove the point.
sp
Spelling error
X
Careless error; often a typographical error, but, in any case, it should not have occurred with careful proofreading.
k
Awkward phrasing. The sentence or phrase needs to be rephrased for greater clarity.
ww
Wrong word. Choose another word. This one is not meaningful in this context or means something different than you want to convey.
lc
Calls for lower case, not upper case (i.e., no capitalizing).
uc
Calls for upper case, not lower case (i.e., needs to be capitalized).
/
Delete this section, word, phrase, sentence or punctuation mark.
^
Insert the word or phrase that appears into this place in the text
run-on
Run-on sentence. Sentences that run-on do not have proper punctuation at the end of the sentence they continue into the next subject and verb without properly pausing via a punctuation mark like a period or colon.
subj-verb
The subject and verb do not agree in number.
grammar
There is a serious grammatical problem with the sentence and, as it stands, it cannot be understood as an English sentence.
para
There needs to be a new indented paragraph at this point.
Homework
Course Project
Due
at beginning of period indicated. Assignments handed in late will be
LOWERed 20%!
Materials
created for all assignments may be used for pedagogical purposes in future
versions of this course or in other management educational sessions.
[Schedule]
Course Assignment
Due
at beginning of period indicated. Assignments handed in late will be
LOWERed 20%!
Materials
created for all assignments may be used for pedagogical purposes in future
versions of this course or in other management educational sessions.
Labs
With your group members, go to www.dell.com. Explore
the site. Then choose one of the following scenarios and debate the issues with your group,
formulating a response for oral presentation by one spokesperson for the group.
With your group members, model the following scenario. You
have been asked to create a database for a small consulting company.
With your group members, work with the Powerplay software and the banks multi-dimensional database (cube).
Weill and Vitale present a set of atomic business models which they argue
can be combined to represent the business model of a firm. The
instructor will familiarize you with a firm that you can characterize by one of these
models or a combination of these models. Your group should deal with
three tasks: (1) First, diagram the simple or hybrid
model on transparency overheads. Next, answer two underlying, key questions:
(2) How viable is this model for the long term? Are there
systemic sustainable competitive advantages associated with the site? [e.g.,
priceline.com's patent on the reverse auction business model] and (3) Who owns the transaction, data, and the customer relationship?
What are the implications for each of these in terms of sustainable
competitive advantage?
Case Briefs
Schedule
Session
.............Due
dates/Comments.............
Introduction to course & review of online syllabus
ScreenCam
Videos for Boo, Epinions, etc.
Jan 21
Topic discussion #2a: "Achieving
Competitive Advantage with Ecommerce Innovations"
Topic discussion #4: "Organizational Technological
Infrastructure"
Topic discussion #5: "System
Development Life Cycle and Prototyping"
Exam
Topic Discussion #7: "Data
Mining, OLAP, MDDs, & Data Warehouses" (288K
pdf)
;
"Banks
Tutorial" entire pdf document (large!!) [Please bring to class with you];
Kenan
Topic discussion #9:
"Decision Support Systems"
(144K pdf)
Topic discussion #11: "Systems
Security" (787K pdf)
Take home exam
available for downloading [Due on Monday, May 6th at noon]
Updates
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