Role of the information systems function in a business

We’ve seen that businesses need information systems to operate today and that they use many different kinds of systems. But who is responsible for running these systems? Who is responsible for making sure the hardware, software, and other technologies used by these systems are running properly and are up to date? End users manage

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Technology Helps Starbucks Find Better Ways to Compete

Starbucks is the world’s largest specialty coffee retailer, with over 24,000 shops in 75 markets. Starbucks’s reputation rests on its high-end specialty coffees and beverages, friendly and knowledgeable servers, and customer- friendly coffee shops. This was a winning formula for many years and has en­abled Starbucks to charge premium prices for many of its

What Is an Organization?

An organization is a stable, formal social structure that takes resources from the environment and processes them to produce outputs. This technical defini­tion focuses on three elements of an organization. Capital and labor are primary production factors provided by the environment. The organization (the firm) transforms these inputs into products and services in a

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Features of Organizations for a successful information systems

All modern organizations share certain characteristics. They are bureaucracies with clear-cut divisions of labor and specialization. Organizations arrange spe­cialists in a hierarchy of authority in which everyone is accountable to someone and authority is limited to specific actions governed by abstract rules or proce­dures. These rules create a system of impartial and universal decision

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What is the impact of information systems on organizations

Information systems have become integral, online, interactive tools deeply i nvolved in the minute-to-minute operations and decision making of large or­ganizations. Over the past decade, information systems have fundamentally altered the economics of organizations and greatly increased the possibilities for organizing work. Theories and concepts from economics and sociology help us understand the changes

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Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

Arguably, the most widely used model for understanding competitive advan­tage is Michael Porter’s competitive forces model (see Figure 3.8). This model provides a general view of the firm, its competitors, and the firm’s environ­ment. Earlier in this chapter, we described the importance of a firm’s environ­ment and the dependence of firms on environments. Porter’s

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Information System Strategies for Dealing with Competitive Forces

What is a firm to do when it is faced with all these competitive forces? And how can the firm use information systems to counteract some of these forces? How do you prevent substitutes and inhibit new market entrants? There are four generic strategies, each of which often is enabled by using information technol­ogy

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The Internet’s Impact on Competitive Advantage

Because of the Internet, the traditional competitive forces are still at work, but competitive rivalry has become much more intense (Porter, 2001). Internet technology is based on universal standards that any company can use, making it easy for rivals to compete on price alone and for new competitors to enter the market. Because information

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The Business Value Chain Model

Although the Porter model is very helpful for identifying competitive forces and suggesting generic strategies, it is not very specific about what exactly to do, and it does not provide a methodology to follow for achieving competi­tive advantages. If your goal is to achieve operational excellence, where do you start? Here’s where the business

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Smart Products—Coming Your Way

If you don’t use a smart product yet, you soon will. Your shoes, your clothing, your watch, your water bottle, and even your toothbrush are being rede­signed to incorporate sensors and metering devices connected to the Internet so that their performance can be monitored and analyzed. Your home will in­creasingly use smart devices such

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Synergies, Core Competencies, and Network-Based Strategies

A large corporation is typically a collection of businesses. Often, the firm is or­ganized financially as a collection of strategic business units and the returns to the firm are directly tied to the performance of all the strategic business units. Information systems can improve the overall performance of these business units by promoting synergies

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What are the challenges posed by strategic information systems, and how should they be addressed?

Strategic information systems often change the organization as well as its products, services, and operating procedures, driving the organization into new behavioral patterns. Successfully using information systems to achieve a competitive advantage is challenging and requires precise coordination of tech­nology, organizations, and management. 1. Sustaining Competitive Advantage The competitive advantages that strategic systems confer

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Grocery Wars

On June 16, 2017 Amazon announced that it was purchasing the upscale food market chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The acquisition, completed in August of that year, was Amazon’s largest, and sent shock waves throughout the grocery industry. The purchase has profound im­plications for the future of groceries, the entire food industry, and

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A Model for Thinking about Ethical, Social, and Political Issues

Ethical, social, and political issues are closely linked. The ethical dilemma you may face as a manager of information systems typically is reflected in social and political debate. One way to think about these relationships is shown in Figure 4.1. Imagine society as a more or less calm pond on a sum­mer day, a

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Five Moral Dimensions of the Information Age

The major ethical, social, and political issues that information systems raise include the following moral dimensions. Information rights and obligations What information rights do individuals and organizations possess with respect to themselves? What can they protect? Property rights and obligations How will traditional intellectual property rights be protected in a digital society in which

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Key Technology Trends that Raise Ethical Issues

Ethical issues long preceded information technology. Nevertheless, information technology has heightened ethical concerns, taxed existing social arrangements, and made some laws obsolete or severely crippled. Five key t echnological trends are responsible for these ethical stresses, summarized in Table 4.2. The doubling of computing power every 18 months has made it possible for most

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Basic Concepts of Ethical Decisions: Responsibility, Accountability, and Liability

Ethical choices are decisions made by individuals who are responsible for the consequences of their actions. Responsibility is a key element of ethical action. Responsibility means that you accept the potential costs, duties, and obligations for the decisions you make. Accountability is a feature of systems and social institutions; it means that mechanisms are

Ethical Analysis

When confronted with a situation that seems to present ethical issues, how should you analyze it? The following five-step process should help: Identify and describe the facts clearly Find out who did what to whom and where, when, and how. In many instances, you will be surprised at the er­rors in the initially reported

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Candidate Ethical Principles

Once your analysis is complete, what ethical principles or rules should you use to make a decision? What higher-order values should inform your judgment? Although you are the only one who can decide which among many ethical prin­ciples you will follow, and how you will prioritize them, it is helpful to consider some ethical

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Professional Codes of Conduct

When groups of people claim to be professionals, they take on special rights and obligations because of their special claims to knowledge, wisdom, and respect. Professional codes of conduct are promulgated by associations of professionals such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Bar Association (ABA), the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP),