MBA MGS60X: Introduction to MIS, SUNY @Buffalo, Dr. H. R. Rao

IMPORTANT NOTE: A straight forward answer for the questions asked will result in a grade of B/B+. In order to get an A/A-, you need to have a "pleasant surprise" factor. This involves things like applying conceptual material from outside, perhaps from other web sites (dont forget to cite your sources), or tying in an experience you have had that is relevant to the dicussion, or etc. Be creative!

Assignment 1

Outsourcing is the practice of contracting with an outside firm that can afford to hire top technical specialists by spreading their time over a number of contracts. The outside firm may run part or all of a company's IT operations including networks, data centers, maintenance and or software development. Outsourcing is variously viewed as a means of reducing costs, offloading work to enable a firm to concentrate on a smaller number of ciritcal aspects of IT development and use, and accessing expensive skills that would be too expensive to provide inhouse. In today's competitive business environment, where making money is a daydream and losing wealth the worst nightmare, Outsourcing is becoming a strategic tool of great importance.

Questions

1. How is Outsourcing(or simply Going Outside For Help)benefical to an organization? Discuss the important aspects to be considered when a company enters into an Outsourcing Agreement with a vendor.
2. Discuss the Pros and Cons of Software Outsourcing.
3. According to this article outsourcing is a game of losers. Do you agree with the views of the author? if so, why? if not, why not?

Assignment 2

Although the emphasis in the 1980's was on using IT as a competitive Advantage, the thrust in the early 1990s has turned inward, specifically to using IT as a catalyst to "reengineer" outmoded business paractices. By "Reengineering" we mean fundamentally redesigning how the enterprise works- its procedures, control mechanisms, reporting relationships, decision makers, compensation criteria, and so forth- and generally making IT an integral part of operations. the goal is to rid the firm of ways of working that were appropriate for the paper based world, and replace them with work modes that leverage the attributes of IT.

Questions

1. Business Process Reengineering is a lucrative market for Management Consultancy firms. There are a number of consultancy firms who sell their wares on the Web. Here is a list of some web sites related to Reengineering. Comment on the consulting market for BPR. You can use the list provided above or any other Web resource as a basis for your answer. Do not forget to cite the Web pages!. How would you decide to outsource a BPR a project? What would be the qualities and abilities that would specifically look for in a consulting firm? List some of the consulting firms on the Web which you consider to be good (You can base your decision either on what you have heard elsewhere or from what yo u have seen on their Web sites).
2. How would you use the Electronic commerce to reengineer your business processes? Consider a hypothetical business and discuss how its business processes could be reengineered to exploit the benefits of Electronic commerce. You could use real-life exam ples of firms that have used electronic commerce to their benefit. Again, you must cite the Web references in your answer.

Of late governments are opening up their economies to outsiders. This is causing rapid development and consequently expansion of their economies(e.g Singapore). Also it is very important for these countries to attract foreign investments. Under these circumstances a strong nationwide information infrastructure is a critical success factor. Examples of such nationwide information infrastructure building projects are NII(US) and IT2000(Singapore).

Questions

1. What is IT2000?
2. What are the Components of IT2000? Briefly describe the IT2000 implementation strategy?
3. Briefly discuss the effects of IT2000 on Singapore?

A knowledge-based economy requires an advanced nationwide information infrastructure. The development of such an infrastructure brings up a lot of critical issues, some of which are exposed as answers to the questi ons given below.
 

1. This link points to a portion of a recent report by MITI on Advanced Information Infrastructure. Outline the prospects for the industry as far as the dissemination of information technology into industry goes. You can use the relevant portion of the report as a reference.
2. What are the basic principles governing U.S. Government's policy on the Global information infrastructure policy? Also, provide your own views about the policy.

Now a days everybody wants to get on the web. This mad rush is making companies strive harder to give their pages a strong and unique identity. Given below are links to some of the airlines that have a home page on the WWW.

1. American Airlines
2. Frontier Airlines
3. Northwest Airlines
4. Southwest Airlines
5. Cathay Pacific Airways

Question

1. Compare and contrast the home pages of the above airlines?

The banking industry is a very competitive one. Hence the banks have to fight to retain their customers and at the same time keep costs down.

Questions

1. Discuss the potential benefits of Integrated Delivery Systems in the service industries.
2. Barclay's Bank, UK is announcing a new product called PC Banking. Briefly describe PC banking and Telephone banking. Also, if you know of any Bank in the U.S which offers these services, find if th e bank has a home page and describe its services.

Hint:Here is a list of Banks on the Web.

A new system of making payments to merchants has been recently introduced. This system known as CYBERCASH is being hailed as the wave of the future.

1. Briefly explain how this system works. Is it any different from using a Credit card? if so what are the differences?
2. What are the current drawbacks of Cybercash? How could these be overcome?
3. What are the potential competitve threats to Cybercash? How can Cybercash overcome it?

Java is a new programming language that could dramatically enhance the capabilities of the WWW. Since it is new, the primary purpose of this assignment is to understand Java and its possible impact on WWW. Your answer should cover the following :

1. What is Java, its principles, and how it can be used in HTML, Glossary of important terms.
2. What are the potential threats of having Java Applets downloaded?
3. How can Java be used for Busines Purposes on the Internet? Explore different possible applications of having Java enhanced HTML documents and the possible impact on Electronic Commerce.

Note: This document was created by P. Katta, T. S. Raghu and M. Agrawal under the direction of Dr H. R. Rao.

Copyright by H. Raghav Rao, School of Management, SUNY Buffalo. The document may be printed or downloaded to servers for use only by noncommercial educational institutions with the permission of the authors. This notice must be retained.