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Nancy L. Russo, Ph.D.

Pavlović Professor of Information Systems
Department of Operations Management & Information Systems
Northern Illinois University
Phone: 815 753 6370
Fax: 815 753 7460
E-mail: nrusso@niu.edu

Office hours by appointment.

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The discussions, lectures, and reading materials in this course are designed to contribute
to an understanding of:
D the importance of fit between information technology (IT) and the
organization
D the value of information as an organizational resource
D using IT to acquire and sustain competitive advantage
D global, environmental and ethical issues relating to information technology

Case studies from a variety of organizations¶ experiences with information technology

will be examined in order to distill lessons that can be applied to future IT strategy
decisions.

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The text book is an e-book available from McGraw-Hill. This e-book contains readings
and cases. (Details available shortly.)

Other readings will be posted on Blackboard or distributed in class.

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Mid-term (individual ± written) 25%

Final (individual ± written) 25%
Case analysis & presentation (group) 30%
Participation, homework & class 20%
activities Ô







 


   


A traditional ten-point grading scale will be used (90 and above = A, 80 and above = B, etc.).

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You are expected to attend every class. If you must miss a class, it is your responsibility
to obtain lecture notes, assignments, and handouts from your colleagues. If you miss a
class on the day an assignment is due and therefore fail to turn in the assignment on time,
the assignment will be considered late and subject to penalty. All graded work for this
course is to be done individually unless specifically described as a group assignment.

Cheating occurs when a student either submits work for grade that is not his/her own or
when a student receives credit on a group assignment when he/she has not contributed to
the group effort. If a team member does not participate on a particular assignment, his/her
name should be excluded from the submitted assignment. A student observing the
potential for cheating to occur beyond his/her control should report this potential to the
instructor to avoid penalty. Cheating on an assignment will result in a lower grade for that
assignment. Cheating on an exam will result in a failing grade for the course. Plagiarism
is cheating. Quoting from the NIU Graduate Catalog, ³Students are guilty of plagiarism,
intentional or not, if they copy material from books, magazines, or other sources
[including the World Wide Web] without identifying and acknowledging those sources or
if they paraphrase ideas from such sources without acknowledging them.´

If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations,

please contact me as soon as possible.
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A large portion of this class will involve the analysis of cases illustrating significant
decisions, circumstances, or events faced by real organizations. The Harvard framework
for case analysis will be used. This requires identifying the type of analysis (decision,
problem, or evaluation), a position statement, evidence supporting this position
(decision/evaluation criteria & evidence, or problem(s) & causes), disadvantages & risks,
and an action plan.

All members of the class will do the first case, ³The Harley-Davidson Motor Company:
Enterprise Software Selection.´ Each student¶s case analysis will be peer-evaluated
according to provided guidelines.

The remaining cases will be done in teams of 3-4 students. A detailed written analysis
(typically 15-20 pages, 1.5- or double-spaced) and a handout of the slides (6 per page)
will be turned in at the time of the presentation. Teams should expect to do research on
the current state of the technology addressed in the case as well as on any additional data
that could provide insight into the case. Many times the case analysis requires a
recommendation of what the organization should do 
 




 . However,
teams should  discuss how their answer would differ based on what we know now.

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Exam 1 will be a take-home exam which includes a case analysis and question(s)
regarding course material (readings and class discussions) to date. Exam 2 will be
completed in class and will cover all cases as well as course material covered since the
first exam.

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Students are expected to be prepared to discuss all assigned readings and cases. To
assess level of preparation and understanding, quizzes, short assignments, and other
methods, in addition to discussion, may be used. Peer evaluations will be used as input to
the assessment of participation level and quality.
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Date Topics Reading or Case to be Discussed

Èune 15 Overview of Course u Readings: Analyzing a Case and
Intro to Case Analysis Method u How to Write a Case-Based Essay
Èune 17 Delivering Value with IT u Reading:  


Ô 

Èune 22 IT Governance TBD
Èune 24 Business Process Management u Harley-Davidson Motor Company:
Enterprise Software Selection
Ô 

    

Èune 29 IT Sourcing u Volkswagon of America
Èuly 1 IT Enabled Innovation u F-Secure Corporation: Software as
a Service (SaaS) in the Security
Web 2.0 and Social Media Solutions Market
Èuly 6 Information Management u Molson Canada: Social Media
Business Intelligence Marketing
Èuly 8 Managing Risk u ‘
   
Going Global u Reading: Governing Info
Technology Risk
Èuly 13 Green IT & Corporate Social u ChoicePoint
Responsibility u Yahoo! in China
Èuly 15 IT Regulatory Environment u Green IT Matters at Wipro Ltd.
Èuly 20 Leadership in IT (tentative) u Guest speaker or on-line class
Èuly 22 Business Intelligence (tentative) u Guest speaker or on-line class
Èuly 27 Role Play Exercise u Orange Cameroon
u Terry Rhodes (if needed)
Èuly 29  !