INSTRUCTOR
Name:                Carl M. Rebman Jr., Ph.D.
Office:                Coronado212
Phone:                260-4135 [O]
                          283-6690 [H]
Office Hours:         T  5:30 - 6:30PM
                          W 2:30 PM - 5:30PM
                          TH  5:30 - 6:30 PM
                          other times by appointment
Email:                 carlr@sandiego.edu
Home Page:        http://carl.sandiego.edu

REQUIRED TEXT:
Management Information Systems, Managing the Digital Firm 12th Edition, Laudon and Laudon, Pearson ISBN 978-0-13-2142854
Prentice Hall Custom for Rebman ITMG 350 ISBN 978-1-256-60254-5 (from the Lisa Miler MIS CASES: Decision Making with Application Software: ISBN 978-0-13-606894-5)

Other Readings: May be placed on reserve in the main library or handed out in class

Course Description
A management-oriented overview of information systems with an emphasis on ways to analyze and use information technologies from the perspective of a business professional. Topics include: international competitive uses of information systems; various ways of using information technologies in business processes, products, and services; impacts of information systems on the productivity of individuals and organizations; alternative methods for building information systems; factors leading to successful implementation of information systems; and threats and risks associated with information systems. Instructional methods include lecture, case study analysis, Internet-based projects, community service-learning, technical writing, and presentations.

Introduction to Course
You will be involved in many information intensive activities in your professional career. You need to know how to use information technologies, especially microcomputers and the Internet, to gather, process, and communicate information. You also need to be able to take initiatives to utilize information resources on a direct and personal basis to improve your organization's productivity. Besides these personal information technology use skills, you need to develop an analytic approach for participating in your organization's system development efforts effectively.

The emphasis of this course is threefold: to understand an analytic, integrative approach for thinking about (information) systems; to understand the uses of information technology to the success of organizations and competitive advantage; and to reinforce your skills using microcomputer and Internet applications for managerial problem-solving and productivity. We will learn how information systems are used by successful marketers, accountants, and finance and operations executives and more. We will learn how to apply management concepts to understand the opportunities created by, and threats arising from, the effective use of information systems.  We will discuss how to analyze and design information systems for business, and how those systems are used in different businesses and business functions, including logistics and supply chains, and in financial markets. We will cover the use of spreadsheets and databases for analysis and decision making.  We will learn about key technologies such as telecommunications and information security.

Course Perspective
When you read a business publication website such as the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week, or even a general publication such as the Washington Post or the New York Times, you will see a large number of stories directly related to the use of information systems in business and government.

     Business people get excited because Information Systems (IS) have the power to create and restructure industries, empower individuals and firms, and dramatically reduce costs. Business people get scared because they know, when poorly implemented, IS can squander shareholder wealth, taxpayer money, and destroy firms and careers. Every manager has to pay attention to the impact on business and career of information systems, information technology, and the innovations in that technology. 

·        Finance majors will fund investments in technology.  They will lend to technology firms, will buy and sell technology stocks, and will try to understand how shifts in technology will affect investments. 

·        Investment bankers will finance startup technology companies. 

·        Marketing majors will use information systems to figure out what customers want and how to sell it to them. 

·        Every business with accounting majors uses information to store, process, and analyze its accounting and financial data. 

·        Logistics and supply chain majors use information systems to make their operations more efficient and nimble than their competitors’. 

·        HR managers use technology to find, evaluate, keep, and train employees.

·        And business owners and corporate lawyers now worry about intellectual property, piracy, and privacy issues that did not exist before information systems were used.

Opportunities are almost everywhere for IS majors.  Business school graduates who know business and information systems are being sought by almost every employer.  The number of business information systems opportunities in the US is growing faster than almost all other opportunities.

Outcomes of this Course
After taking this course you will be able to:
·        Define key business models, concepts, frameworks, and issues concerning information systems and their use in business.
·        Assess the current uses and value of IS in an organization, identify where IS can provide strategic advantage, and explain where firms and markets are vulnerable to being disrupted or severely compromised.
·        Describe, from our class, examples of successful and failed uses of information systems for competitive advantage, and use these examples to support your points in meetings and discussions.
·        Demonstrate how Excel and Access for can be used for modeling and solving business problems.