USC GSBA 581 Information Management University of Southern California Marshall School of Business GSBA 581 Information Management

Winter Term 2008-2009 Professor Richard W. Selby Bridge Hall 401 Rick.Selby@USC.edu 949-400-8941 Office hours: By appointment Course Overview

Course Syllabus

The shift in the global economy to the information age continues to profoundly impact the management of the modern enterprise. The instantaneous creation, processing, transmission, and aggregation of information accelerate fundamental changes in the structures of entire industries, create new business models, and open new opportunities for increased profitability. Enterprises continually experiment with new types of products, services, production processes, organizational structures, and competitive strategies based on their increasing use of information technology. This information economy fosters tremendous demand for managers who can link business challenges and opportunities with technology solutions to create value for their organizations. This course focuses on the following topics: Information technology and value propositions Organization and management of information technology Business transformation using information technology Strategies, opportunities, and risks for information technology development, outsourcing, and open source Business strategies and competitive improvements enabled by information technology Benefits, security, privacy, and risks of transforming data into information Information-driven marketing and sales Using information management for business leadership and decision making Course Definition (from Course Catalog) This course focuses on the: Intersection of information technology and organization, strategy, marketing, and other functional areas of business; and Impact of information technology on various aspects of a firm. Course Format and Assignments This course meets for eight class sessions, and there is an additional session at the end for the final exam. Classes include a mixture of case discussions and lectures. Students are expected to read the cases and related articles in advance and come to class prepared to discuss the readings.

USC GSBA 581 Information Management

Course Syllabus

Students are encouraged to discuss the cases and related articles with their study teams. The assignments are as follows: Case summary #1: Students will select an organization and write a case summary for the organization. The case summary should focus on the roles, impacts, synergies, and/or opportunities that information technology has or could have in the organization. Students should model the format and content of their case summary based on the cases that we read for this course. Students can select any organization for this case summary including any small or large organization located anywhere in the world, including possibly the organization where they work. The case summary is required to have two parts: (1) a fourpage single-space Word document and (2) a five-slide PowerPoint presentation. If there is sufficient class time available, some of the case summaries may be selected for presentation to the class. Students are encouraged to discuss their case summary with their study teams and share ideas and feedback. Quiz: There will be one quiz in this course, and it will cover all aspects of the course in the first four classes including the readings, lectures, and class discussions. Case summary #2: Students will write a second case summary using a different organization than the one they selected for case summary #1. Students will follow the same instructions defined for case summary #1. Peer class participation evaluation: Class participation scores for students will be partly determined by their peers and by me. At the end of the course, students will identify two tiers of students: (1) the highest seven contributors to class participation (called tier 1), and (2) the next highest seven contributors to class participation (called tier 2). Students may not name themselves as a contributor. Final exam: The final exam will cover all aspects of the course including the readings, lectures, and class discussions. The final exam will be comprehensive and cover all eight classes, but the emphasis will be slightly greater on the fifth through eighth classes. Grading Several dimensions of performance factor into the grades for students: Case summary #1: 15% Quiz: 15% Case summary #2: 15% Class participation: 10% Final exam: 45% Students are expected to read the cases and related articles in advance and come to class prepared to discuss the readings. All students are expected to contribute at least occasionally to the class discussions. Quality of contribution is much more important than quantity. When reading, analyzing, and discussing the cases in class, students should be prepared to address the following questions: What is the business context for the case? What are the key points raised in the case? If you were in charge of the organization described in the case, how would you have done things differently?

USC GSBA 581 Information Management

Course Syllabus

What are examples of how you could apply some of the insights from the case to your organization? For the class participation portion of the grades, the approach is as follows: 20% for submitting the peer class participation evaluation information by the end of the eighth class as requested, 30% for attending class regularly and participating occasionally, and 50% for quality and quantity of your contributions to class discussions. Regarding the case summaries, students should plan to turn these in on time, where on time means prior to the starting time for the class on the day the case summary is due. Any late case summaries will have a deduction of at least 20% of the maximum potential score depending on the degree of lateness. Students may turn in the case summaries early. Students should try their best to be present in class on the days of the quiz and final exam, because the logistics of offering these outside of the planned class times will be very difficult. Marshall Policies Grading Policy (Official Notice). The Marshall MBA.PM Program's grading policy is based on the principles of academic freedom in which confidence is placed in the ability of each faculty member to judge the performance of individual students and the class as a whole. There is no required percentage of grade break down in the course, however, faculty have agreed to an average target GPA of 3.3 in each class for the Core courses and 3.5 for the elective courses. Notice on Academic Integrity (Official Notice). The use of unauthorized material, communication with fellow students during an examination, attempting to benefit from the work of another student, and similar behavior that defeats the intent of an examination or other class work are unacceptable to the University. It is often difficult to distinguish between a culpable act and inadvertent behavior resulting from the nervous tensions accompanying examinations. Where a clear violation has occurred, however, the instructor may disqualify the students work as unacceptable and assign a failing mark on the work. Student Disability (Official Notice). Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the course as possible. DSP is located in the Student Union room 301, and their phone number is 213-740-0776. Course Meeting Schedule The table below defines the course meeting schedule.

USC GSBA 581 Information Management

Course Syllabus

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USC GSBA 581 Information Management

Course Syllabus

Course Outline, Reading List, and Assignments Class Session 1: Information Technology and Value Propositions o Reading: Diana Farrell, The Real New Economy, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number 5127, October 2003, 11 pages. o Reading: Andrew McAfee, Mastering the Three Worlds of Information Technology, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number R0611J, November 2006, 10 pages. o Assignment due: None. Class Session 2: Organization and Management of Information Technology o Case reading and analysis: Andrew McAfee, F. Warren McFarlan, and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld, Enterprise IT at Cisco (2004), Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-605-015, August 20, 2007, 13 pages. o Reading: Lorin M. Hitt and Erik Brynjolfsson, Information Technology and Internal Firm Organization: An Exploratory Analysis, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 14, No. 2, Fall 1997, pp. 81-101. Note: reading only includes excerpt of pages 81-89 for a total of 9 pages. o Assignment due: None. Class Session 3: Business Transformation Using Information Technology o Case reading and analysis: F. Warren McFarlan and Brian J. DeLacey, Otis Elevator: Accelerating Business Transformation with IT, Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-305-048, June 22, 2005, 20 pages. o Reading: Robert D. Austin, Mark J. Cotteleer, and Cedric X. Escalle, Enterprise Resource Planning, Harvard Business School technology note, Article Product Number 9-699-020, March 14, 2003, 8 pages. o Assignment due: Case summary #1. Class Session 4: Strategies, Opportunities, and Risks for Information Technology Development, Outsourcing, and Open Source o Case reading and analysis: Robert D. Austin, Jamcracker: Pivot Path, Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-604-052, April 15, 2004, 11 pages. o Reading: Scott Thurm, Lesson in India: Not Every Job Translates Overseas, Wall Street Journal, Online Edition, March 3, 2004, 3 pages. o Reading: Scott Wilson and Ajit Kambil, Open Source: Salvation or Suicide?, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number R0804A, April 2008, 9 pages. o Assignment due: Quiz (taken in class). Class Session 5: Business Strategies and Competitive Improvements Enabled by Information Technology o Case reading and analysis: Eric K. Clemons and Matt E. Thatcher, Capital One: Exploiting an Information-Based Strategy, The Wharton School case, 1997, 11 pages.

USC GSBA 581 Information Management

Course Syllabus

o Reading: Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson, Investing in the IT that Makes a Competitive Difference, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number R0807J, July-August 2008, 11 pages. o Assignment due: None. Class Session 6: Benefits, Security, Privacy, and Risks of Transforming Data into Information o Case reading and analysis: Lynn Paine, Zack Phillips, and Kim Bettcher, ChoicePoint (A), Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-306-001, March 21, 2008, 19 pages. o Case reading and analysis: Lynn Paine and Zack Phillips, ChoicePoint (B), Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-306-082, January 16, 2007, 22 pages. o Reading: Gary Loveman, Diamonds in the Data Mine, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number R0305H, May 2003, 7 pages. o Assignment due: None. Class Session 7: Information-Driven Marketing and Sales o Case reading and analysis: Youngme Moon, Google Advertising, Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-507-038, October 11, 2007, 15 pages. o Reading: Thomas H. Davenport, Competing on Analytics, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number R0601H, January 2006, 11 pages. o Reading: Christina Binkley, Taking Retailers Cues, Harrahs Taps into Science of Gambling, Wall Street Journal, Online Edition, November 22, 2004, 5 pages. o Assignment due: Case summary #2. Class Session 8: Using Information Management for Business Leadership and Decision Making o Case reading and analysis: Robert D. Austin, Volkswagen of America: Managing IT Priorities, Harvard Business School case, Article Product Number 9-606-003, June 14, 2007, 19 pages. o Reading: Ric Merrifield, Jack Calhoun, and Dennis Stevens, The Next Revolution in Productivity, Harvard Business Review, Article Product Number R0806D, June 2008, 10 pages. o Assignment due: Peer class participation evaluation. Final Exam Session o Assignment due: Final exam (taken in class).