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Cover of Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology v1.3.1
Published: 
January 2013
Page Count: 
354
ISBN (Digital): 
978-1-4533-4520-7

Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology

Custom Version 1.3.1
By John Gallaugher
Adapted by Ricardo Checchi

Included Supplements

Key Features

Recognized for teaching excellence by BusinessWeek and Entrepreneur Magazine, John Gallaugher of Boston College brings you a textbook that teaches students the IS experience from a Manager's perspective.

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Content that seemed too technical or tangential was moved to later sections on each chapter and separated by a section placeholder named "STOP HERE".
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Dedication
  • Preface

    • Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: Technology and the Modern Enterprise

  • 1.1 Tech’s Tectonic Shift: Radically Changing Business Landscapes
  • 1.2 Geek Up—Tech Is Everywhere and You’ll Need It to Thrive

    • Chapter 2: Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Understanding What Separates Winners from Losers

  • 2.1 Introduction
  • 2.2 Powerful Resources
  • 2.3 Barriers to Entry, Technology, and Timing
  • 2.4 Key Framework: The Five Forces of Industry Competitive Advantage

    • Chapter 3: Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems

  • 3.1 Introduction
  • 3.2 Don’t Guess, Gather Data
  • 3.3 Moving Forward

    • Chapter 4: Netflix in Two Acts: The Making of an E-commerce Giant and the Uncertain Future of Atoms to Bits

  • 4.1 Introduction
  • 4.2 Act I: Netflix Leverages Tech and Timing to Create Killer Assets in DVD-by-Mail
  • 4.3 Act II: Netflix and the Shift from Mailing Atoms to Streaming Bits

    • Chapter 5: Understanding Network Effects

  • 5.1 Introduction
  • 5.2 Where’s All That Value Come From?

    • Chapter 6: Networked Markets

  • 6.1 One-Sided or Two-Sided Markets?
  • 6.2 How Are These Markets Different?
  • 6.3 Competing When Network Effects Matter

    • Chapter 7: Moore’s Law: Fast, Cheap Computing and What It Means for the Manager

  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 The Death of Moore’s Law?
  • 7.3 Bringing Brains Together: Supercomputing and Grid Computing
  • 7.4 E-waste: The Dark Side of Moore’s Law

    • Chapter 8: Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers

  • 8.1 Introduction
  • 8.2 Operating Systems
  • 8.3 Application Software
  • 8.4 Understanding Technology beyond the Price Tag: Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and the Cost of Tech Failure
  • 8.5 STOP HERE
  • 8.6 Distributed Computing
  • 8.7 Writing Software

    • Chapter 9: Software in Flux: Partly Cloudy and Sometimes Free

  • 9.1 Introduction
  • 9.2 Cloud Computing: Hype or Hope?
  • 9.3 The Software Cloud: Why Buy When You Can Rent?
  • 9.4 SaaS: Not without Risks
  • 9.5 The Hardware Cloud: Utility Computing and Its Cousins
  • 9.6 Clouds and Tech Industry Impact
  • 9.7 Virtualization: Software That Makes One Computer Act Like Many
  • 9.8 STOP HERE
  • 9.9 Make, Buy, or Rent
  • 9.10 Open Source
  • 9.11 Why Open Source?
  • 9.12 Why Give It Away? The Business of Open Source
  • 9.13 Examples of Open Source Software

    • Chapter 10: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway (and Just About Everywhere Else)

  • 10.1 Introduction
  • 10.2 Why Is This Happening? Who Is Doing It? And What’s Their Motivation?
  • 10.3 Where Are Vulnerabilities? Understanding the Weaknesses
  • 10.4 Taking Action

    • Chapter 11: The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, and Competitive Advantage

  • 11.1 Introduction
  • 11.2 Data, Information, and Knowledge
  • 11.3 Where Does Data Come From?
  • 11.4 Data Asset in Action: Technology and the Rise of Wal-Mart

    • Chapter 12: Business Analytics

  • 12.1 Data Rich, Information Poor
  • 12.2 Data Warehouses and Data Marts
  • 12.3 The Business Intelligence Toolkit
  • 12.4 Data Asset in Action: Caesars’ Solid Gold CRM for the Service Sector

    • Chapter 13: A Manager’s Guide to the Internet and Telecommunications

  • 13.1 Introduction
  • 13.2 Internet 101: Understanding How the Internet Works
  • 13.3 Last Mile: Faster Speed, Broader Access
  • 13.4 STOP HERE
  • 13.5 Getting Where You’re Going

    • Chapter 14: Social Media, Peer Production, and Web 2.0

  • 14.1 Introduction
  • 14.2 Blogs
  • 14.3 Wikis
  • 14.4 Social Networks
  • 14.5 Twitter and the Rise of Microblogging
  • 14.6 Other Key Web 2.0 Terms and Concepts
  • 14.7 Prediction Markets and the Wisdom of Crowds
  • 14.8 Crowdsourcing
  • 14.9 Get SMART: The Social Media Awareness and Response Team

    • Chapter 15: Facebook: Building a Business from the Social Graph

  • 15.1 Introduction
  • 15.2 Does Facebook Want to Eat Your Firm’s Lunch? Enveloping Markets across the Internet
  • 15.3 The Social Graph
  • 15.4 Facebook Feeds—Ebola for Data Flows
  • 15.5 Facebook as a Platform
  • 15.6 Advertising and Social Networks: A Work in Progress
  • 15.7 Privacy Peril, Beacon, and the TOS Debacle: What Facebook’s Failures Can Teach Managers about Technology Planning and Deployment
  • 15.8 One Graph to Rule Them All: Facebook Reaches across the Web with Open Graph
  • 15.9 Is Facebook Worth It?

    • Chapter 16: Google in Three Parts: Search, Online Advertising, and Beyond

  • 16.1 Introduction
  • 16.2 Understanding Search
  • 16.3 Understanding the Increase in Online Ad Spending
  • 16.4 Search Advertising
  • 16.5 Ad Networks—Distribution beyond Search
  • 16.6 More Ad Formats and Payment Schemes
  • 16.7 Customer Profiling and Behavioral Targeting
  • 16.8 Profiling and Privacy
  • 16.9 Search Engines, Ad Networks, and Fraud
  • 16.10 The Battle Unfolds
    • Instructor’s Manual

    Instructor’s Manual

    The Instructor’s Manual guides you through the main concepts of each chapter and important elements such as learning objectives, key terms, and key takeaways. Can include answers to chapter exercises, group activity suggestions, and discussion questions.

    Instructor’s Manual

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

    A PowerPoint presentation highlighting key learning objectives and the main concepts for each chapter are available for you to use in your classroom. You can either cut and paste sections or use the presentation as a whole.

    PowerPoint Lecture Notes

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    John Gallaugher Boston College

    John Gallaugher (PhD Syracuse University School of Management) is the founder of the Boston College TechTrek field study programs, and as an advisor to multiple successful student entrepreneurs, John has had unprecedented access to the world’s leading technology and tech investment firms. An award-winning educator and author, John has been named a "Distinguished Educator" by Apple Inc., a "Most Popular Professor" by Bloomberg Businessweek, and “Guru to Grads” by Entrepreneur Magazine. He has also received the Boston College Trzaska Faculty Leadership Award, the all-university Boston College Teaching Award, the Carroll School of Management Teaching Award, and the student newspaper’s Momentum Award for campus impact. His bestselling textbook Information Systems: A Manager's Guide to Harnessing Technology has been used at over 450 universities worldwide, and has twice won the Textbook and Academic Authors' Association "Texty" award for excellence. John has taught on five continents and has led field study experiences in Seattle, San Francisco/Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Dublin, Ghana, and Sydney. John’s research has been published in leading journals including the MIS Quarterly and Harvard Business Review, and he has consulted for leading organizations including Apple Inc., Accenture, ING, Partners Healthcare, State Street, and the U.S. Information Agency, among others. John has worked extensively with student entrepreneurs and has seen several former students gain admittance to elite accelerators (Y-Combinator, TechStars, MassChallenge), raise capital, and build thriving businesses, with some garnering unicorn ($1 billion plus) valuations. His comments on Business and Technology have appeared in several media outlets, including The New York Times, BusinessWeek, The Associated Press, National Public Radio, and Wired. One of the rare academics who teaches managerial as well as software and hardware programming courses, you can find hundreds of "flipped learning" and project videos at: YouTube.com/profgallaugher. John holds both a BA in Computer Science and an MBA from Boston College, and a PhD in Information Systems from the Syracuse University School of Management. He occasionally publishes on Substack (http://profgallaugher.substack.com) and is also active on social media—having left X for Threads: @john.gallaugher.

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