ISM 158: Business Information Strategy

(spring 2006)

 

This class considers the role of information in business strategy.  In particular, we focus on decisions regarding information technology and information systems to give a business competitive advantage over other companies.  We will focus on case studies to see why some businesses are more successful than others in building information systems that lead to organizational and individual efficiencies. 

 

We look at how information impacts industries, markets and countries, and leads to technology development.  We develop an understanding of design and maintenance of networked organizations, including issues of leadership and management.  A full list of topics is given in the table below.

 

Note: This class satisfies the writing-intensive (W) requirement

 

Details

10:00 – 11:45am, Tue/Thu

Social Sciences 2, room 075

 

Instructor

Kevin Ross

kross@soe.ucsc.edu

Office hours: Tue 3– 5pm, E2 room 559

 

Text Book (required)

Corporate Information Strategy and Management

Authors: Applegate, Austin and McFarlin

 

We will follow the outline and cases of the text fairly closely, and students are expected to read the assigned chapter or case before each class.

 

 

Date

Topic

(Reading =  corresponding chapter from text)

Case

(Reading = corresponding case from text)

Presentation

Assessment

1

Tue, April 4

Introduction

 

 

 

2

Thu, April 6

IT Strategy

Charles Schwab

 

 

3

Tue, April 11

IT and Organization

 

Buddy Sandidge

 

4

Thu, April 13

 

Leapfrog

Nicole Reich-Weiser

 

5

Tue, April 18

Extending the Enterprise

 

John Tan

 

6

Thu, April 20

 

Wyndham

Jeffrey Chiang

Project Team and Topic Due

7

Tue, April 25

Making the case for IT

 

Nathan Emigh

 

8

Thu, April 27

 

IT Doesn’t matter

Sean Freebairn

 

 

Tue, May 2

No class.  Instructor away.

 

 

 

9

Thu, May 4

Internetworking Infrastructure

 

Francesco Gallerani

Project Proposal Due

10

Fri, May 5 (10am)

 

iPremier

Chris George

 

11

Tue, May 9

Reliability and Security

 

Anthony Gesek

 

12

Thu, May 11

 

Ford

Robert Herrmann

 

13

Tue, May 16

Managing Diverse IT Infrastructure

 

Sal Mazzurco

 

14

Thu, May 18

 

Postgirot

Lewis Nerenberg

 

15

Tue, May 23

Organizing and Leading IT

 

Armin Ahumada

 

16

Thu, May 25

 

Cathay Pacific

Jonathan Perez

Business Proposal Due

17

Tue, May 30

Managing IT Outsourcing

 

Adam Ryszka

 

18

Thu, June 1

 

Royal Caribbean Cruises

Sarah Tehrani

 

19

Tue, June 6

IT Portfolio Management

 

Chris McIntyre

 

 

Thu, June 8

Conclusion

Global Landscape

Brendan Seaman

Project Due

 

Wed, June 14, 12:00 – 3:00pm

Final Exam

 

 

Final Exam

 

Please note schedule change in week of May 2

Assessment

 

 

Value

Due date

News Presentation

5%

Throughout

Quizzes

10%

Throughout

Discussion Participation

10%

Throughout

Business Proposal

10%

Thu, May 25

Project

40%

Thu, Apr 27 and Thu, June 8

Final Exam

25%

Wed, June 14, 12:00 – 3:00

 

Policy

Assignments are due at the start of class on the due date.  Late assignments, missed presentations and quizzes will result in zero grade unless specific permission is given by instructor at least one week in advance.

 

News presentation

Each student will present one news story to the class during the quarter.  The story can be from any source, and describe an interesting recent development in the use of information for business strategy. 

 

The presentation should be professionally presented using powerpoint or similar technology.  It should be 5-8 minutes in length, and include both factual information (who is doing what and why?) and some commentary (your opinion – is this a good idea – why?!) on the story.  All news sources that have been used should be acknowledged with specific references on a final slide.

 

The student is responsible for one of (a) bringing the slides on a laptop, (b) bringing slides on a USB drive that will work on instructor’s laptop,  or (c) emailing slides to the instructor the night before the presentation. 

 

A schedule of presentations will be posted at the end of the first week, and changes can only be made with permission of the instructor.

 

Quizzes

There will be up to four surprise quizzes over the quarter.  These will be fairly short and test knowledge of the text and cases.  Students who are absent the day of a quiz will receive a zero grade for that quiz unless they have informed the instructor at least a week in advance that they have to miss class (for some legitimate reason).

 

Discussion Participation

We will discuss cases approximately once per week.  Active participation in the discussions of the cases and the course material is expected and examined.

 

Business Proposal

You will be provided with a scenario for a business information system problem, and be required to make a written proposal of a solution, as the chief information officer. 

 

Details will follow.

 

Project

The major assignment in this class is a comprehensive project.  You will analyze a major (at least 1000 employees) company, and study how they use information and information systems to achieve competitive advantage. 

 

The project can be completed in groups of two or three, as you select, and the company is chosen by the group.

 

Details will follow.

 

Final Exam

The final examination will cover the topics from the whole year.  You will not be allowed to bring notes into the exam room.