BPA347: Management Information Systems

This elective for 3^rd year students aims to:

• acquaint the students with the different types of information systems that organizations can deploy, in support of their strategy
• explain how firms can deploy technological resources in order to achieve resource-based sustainable competitive advantage
• introduce the economics of e-commerce with special focus on network effects and the management (­­­e.g., pricing & versioning) of digital goods
• familiarize students with the use of web 2.0 tools by firms in support of their marketing and knowledge-management efforts
• highlight important ethical issues raised by the prevalence of information systems in modern business environments

Students that complete the course will be able to assess the strategic position of a firm, based on its use of technology in support of its strategic resources. Also, students will be practically acquainted with the use of Web2.0 tools and will be required to complete assignments related to social media, wikis, mesh-ups etc.

A number of case studies is used to demonstrate the material in practice. The firms that are studied more closely include Zara, Fresh Direct, Capital One, Netflix, Zipcar, Walmart, Zynga and others.