2002 Volume 5 Issue 1

IT MATTERS: Fifty Years and Counting

IT MATTERS: Fifty Years and Counting

Our picks for best E-BIZ insights on the Web.

In 1951 a small catering firm pioneered the first business application of computers to bring efficiencies to their operation http://www.leo-computers.org.uk . While today they no doubt have a Web site, and the LEO computer is in a museum, the challenge for management to identify productive applications of information technology hasn’t changed. The following Web sites provide a brief glimpse at this ongoing saga for busy executives.

While many of these links offer free access, others are available through public and university library electronic data bases or as part of your subscriptions to business and trade journals. In addition many provide the option to email the article to your colleagues.

Focus on Digital Piracy

Management teams must be aware of their potential liability for their employees use of pirated software.

http://www4.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=103383 (no longer accessible)

Do online communities pay off? A new research study from McKinsey shows that this powerful feature of the Web that links users of common interests is showing substantial staying power. Retailers and content providers find that “stickiness” is working with repeat visitors buying almost twice as often.

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.asp?tk=206773:1143:24&ar=1143&L2=24&L3=45 (no longer accessible)

Cyberspace in Depth for Managers

This link provides access to a wide variety of new books on emerging Internet topics. As managers face continuing investment and organizational decisions in employing Internet tools they may find these writings of value in gaining a better understanding of current thinking.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/books.jhtml?t=operations (no longer accessible)

Industry Impact of B2B

Understanding the impact of Internet technology on industry structure is proving more difficult than expected. The evolution of industry-wide B2B exchanges are explored in depth in this study of the auto industry. This link provides access to a review of this study.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=14&articleid=466%20

Resources from Business School Professors

Management education faculty continue to provide wide variety of their course material on the Web. Professor Michael Rappa from North Carolina State has a particularly valuable site as exemplified in this link on the subject of “Intellectual Property on the Web.”

http://digitalenterprise.org/ip/ip.html

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Author of the article
Charles A. Morrissey, PhD
Charles A. Morrissey, PhD
Charles A. Morrissey, PhD is an emeritus professor of information systems technology management at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. Dr. Morrissey's 60-year career spans both the educational technology and management education fields. Shortly after college graduation from Colby College he joined the US Air Force as an officer assigned to a radar site that was part of the development of the SAGE System. SAGE was the foundation of ARPANET and eventually the Internet. He entered the Harvard Business School after his military tour and formed TimeShare Corporation in 1965 to commercialize Dartmouth's famous development of BASIC and computer time-sharing. TimeShare provided computer access; faculty training, and application sharing to the secondary school market. In 1970 they developed an alliance with Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company (HMCO) to support their customer base of secondary school faculty seeking to add computer resources to their curriculum. HMCO acquired TimeShare in 1978. His academic career started in 1985 as a guest lecturer in Technology Management at UCI's Graduate School of Management. He joined the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School full-time faculty in 1989 and was admitted to the Drucker PhD program in 1990. His research and dissertation focused on the impact of the Internet on management education. He made a number of presentations on this topic to AOM and AACSB national meetings until his retirement in 2014. He received the Graziadio Business School Outstanding Teacher award in 2008.
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