Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology

Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology......Page 1 Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology......Page 2 Contents......Page 5 Publisher Information......Page 9 About the Author......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 11 Dedication......Page 14 Preface......Page 15 Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: Technology and the Modern Enterprise......Page 17 1.1 Tech’s Tectonic Shift: Radically Changing Business Landscapes......Page 18 1.2 It’s Your Revolution......Page 20 1.3 Geek Up—Tech Is Everywhere and You’ll Need It to Thrive......Page 23 1.4 The Pages Ahead......Page 30 Chapter 2: Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding What Separates Winners from Losers......Page 35 2.1 Introduction......Page 36 2.2 Powerful Resources......Page 44 2.3 Barriers to Entry, Technology, and Timing......Page 56 2.4 Key Framework: The Five Forces of Industry Competitive Advantage......Page 59 Chapter 3: Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems......Page 63 3.2 Don’t Guess, Gather Data......Page 64 3.3 Moving Forward......Page 70 3.1 Introduction......Page 73 Chapter 4: Netflix: The Making of an E-commerce Giant and the Uncertain Future of Atoms to Bits......Page 78 4.1 Introduction......Page 79 4.2 Tech and Timing: Creating Killer Assets......Page 82 4.3 From Atoms to Bits: Opportunity or Threat?......Page 93 Chapter 5: Moore’s Law: Fast, Cheap Computing and What It Means for the Manager......Page 100 5.1 Introduction......Page 101 5.2 The Death of Moore’s Law?......Page 114 5.3 Bringing Brains Together: Supercomputing and Grid Computing......Page 119 5.4 E-waste: The Dark Side of Moore’s Law......Page 123 Chapter 6: Understanding Network Effects......Page 128 6.1 Introduction......Page 129 6.2 Where’s All That Value Come From?......Page 131 6.3 One-Sided or Two-Sided Markets?......Page 135 6.4 How Are These Markets Different?......Page 137 6.5 Competing When Network Effects Matter......Page 141 Chapter 7: Peer Production, Social Media, and Web 2.0......Page 152 7.4 Electronic Social Networks......Page 153 7.5 Twitter and the Rise of Microblogging......Page 160 7.6 Other Key Web 2.0 Terms and Concepts......Page 166 7.7 Prediction Markets and the Wisdom of Crowds......Page 173 7.8 Crowdsourcing......Page 176 7.9 Get SMART: The Social Media Awareness and Response Team......Page 179 7.1 Introduction......Page 192 7.2 Blogs......Page 199 7.3 Wikis......Page 203 Chapter 8: Facebook: Building a Business from the Social Graph......Page 208 8.1 Introduction......Page 209 8.2 What’s the Big Deal?......Page 213 8.3 The Social Graph......Page 217 8.4 Facebook Feeds—Ebola for Data Flows......Page 220 8.5 Facebook as a Platform......Page 222 8.6 Advertising and Social Networks: A Work in Progress......Page 226 8.7 Privacy Peril: Beacon and the TOS Debacle......Page 233 8.8 Predators and Privacy......Page 237 8.9 One Graph to Rule Them All: Facebook Takes Over the Web......Page 239 8.10 Is Facebook Worth It?......Page 245 Chapter 9: Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers......Page 249 9.1 Introduction......Page 250 9.2 Operating Systems......Page 253 9.3 Application Software......Page 258 9.4 Distributed Computing......Page 263 9.5 Writing Software......Page 269 9.6 Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Tech Costs Go Way beyond the Price Tag......Page 273 Chapter 10: Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free......Page 277 10.2 Open Source......Page 278 10.3 Why Open Source?......Page 282 10.4 Examples of Open Source Software......Page 285 10.5 Why Give It Away? The Business of Open Source......Page 287 10.6 Cloud Computing: Hype or Hope?......Page 292 10.7 The Software Cloud: Why Buy When You Can Rent?......Page 294 10.8 SaaS: Not without Risks......Page 300 10.9 The Hardware Cloud: Utility Computing and Its Cousins......Page 303 10.10 Clouds and Tech Industry Impact......Page 307 10.11 Virtualization: Software That Makes One Computer Act Like Many......Page 311 10.12 Make, Buy, or Rent......Page 313 10.1 Introduction......Page 316 Chapter 11: The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, and Competitive Advantage......Page 318 11.1 Introduction......Page 319 11.2 Data, Information, and Knowledge......Page 322 11.3 Where Does Data Come From?......Page 327 11.4 Data Rich, Information Poor......Page 334 11.5 Data Warehouses and Data Marts......Page 337 11.6 The Business Intelligence Toolkit......Page 341 11.7 Data Asset in Action: Technology and the Rise of Wal-Mart......Page 347 11.8 Data Asset in Action: Harrah’s Solid Gold CRM for the Service Sector......Page 351 Chapter 12: A Manager’s Guide to the Internet and Telecommunications......Page 358 12.1 Introduction......Page 359 12.2 Internet 101: Understanding How the Internet Works......Page 360 12.3 Getting Where You’re Going......Page 370 12.4 Last Mile: Faster Speed, Broader Access......Page 378 Chapter 13: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway (and Just About Everywhere Else)......Page 389 13.1 Introduction......Page 390 13.2 Why Is This Happening? Who Is Doing It? And What’s Their Motivation?......Page 393 13.3 Where Are Vulnerabilities? Understanding the Weaknesses......Page 397 13.4 Taking Action......Page 414 Chapter 14: Google: Search, Online Advertising, and Beyond......Page 424 14.1 Introduction......Page 425 14.2 Understanding Search......Page 431 14.3 Understanding the Increase in Online Ad Spending......Page 437 14.4 Search Advertising......Page 439 14.5 Ad Networks—Distribution beyond Search......Page 446 14.6 More Ad Formats and Payment Schemes......Page 451 14.7 Customer Profiling and Behavioral Targeting......Page 454 14.8 Profiling and Privacy......Page 459 14.9 Search Engines, Ad Networks, and Fraud......Page 464 14.10 The Battle Unfolds......Page 468 Please share your supplementary material!......Page 478