Chapter 1: Digitial Economy

What are the components of Information Systems? of Information Technology?
What is the difference between these two?
Why is this difference important to recognize?

What are the three main categories of pressures that cause organizations to change?
How are these forces potentially related?
Why do some of these forces exist independantly from technology itself?
How do companes try to keep up with the changes imposed by these forces?

What are Critical Response Activities?
What causes CRAs to be necessary?
Why do CRAs sometimes overlap with one another?
How can CRAs be used by companies to help shape strategy (ties to chapter 13)?

Chapter 2: Management and Concepts

What are Data, Information, and Knowledge?

What are the various methods by which information systems may be categorized?
What do we learn from these various methods of categorization?
How do the various types of information systems differ from one another?

What is meant by Information Architecture?

How are Information Systems Resources managed in companies today?
What is the difference between centralized and decentralized architecture or management?
Which is more appropriate for any given organization: centralized or decentralized?
What roles are performed by the IS department in an organization?
Why might users resist the introduction of new information systems?

Chapter 13 : Stratigic Information Systems

What are the differences between Inwardly and Outwardly focused Strategic IS?

What is Competitive Intelligence?
How can it be gathered?
How can it be used?
What might one learn from using Competitive Intelligence?

What are Porters Competitive Forces?
What do you learn from this type of analysis?
How do you assess these forces?
How do you guard against potential competitive threats with IS?

What are Critical Success Factors?
How are they derived or discovered:
How can an organization learn what its CSFs are?
What can we learn from their study?

What is Porters Value Chain Analysis?
What do we learn from this analysis?
Why might these things we learn be important?
What are the components of the Value Chain?
How does the study of Value Chain relate to Competitive Forces? With CRAs?

What are various forms of Generic Competitive Strategies?
How can each of these be supported through IS?

Chapter 5: Electronic Commerce

What are the necessary requirements for electronic payment?

How does Encryption work?
What purpose does it serve?
How can I be sure of where my online payment will go?

What are new possibilities of Mobile Commerce?

What are various methods by which Buyers & Sellers may protect themselves
Why does e-commerce involve new legal issues?

Chapter 16: Security

What can we learn about the relationships among the IS department and the other departments of the organization based upon its position on the organizational chart?
What are the roles served by the IS department?
Why does a company need a CIO?
What are the roles of the CIO?
What are the various forms of threats to corporate IS security?
What mechanisms or strategies can organizations adopt to protect their IS?

Web Links from class home page

While I will not directly test you on the content of these articles, you may want to be familiar with them to be able to use them as evidence or examples of specific types of information systems and how they are used by organizations.