Corporate Information Systems Management: The Issues Facing Senior

Executives, Fourth Edition, is written for students and managers who

desire an overview of contemporary information systems technology (IT)---

computer, telecommunications, and office systems--management. It ex-

plains the relevant issues of effective management of information services

activities and highlights the areas of greatest potential application of the

technology. No assumptions are made concerning the reader's experience

with IT, but it is assumed that the reader has some course work or work

experience in administration or management.

Our purpose is to provide perspective on the business management

implications of the information explosion--as evidenced by the doubling of

the number of volumes in the Library of Congress between 1933 and 1966,

another doubling between 1967 and 1979, and yet another doubling by

1987. Huge leaps in the growth of scientific knowledge have stimulated a

dramatic increase in the number of new products based on new information

technologies that range from the sophisticated super computer to the

humble, ubiquitous facsimile machine to the exploding presence of the

Internet. These products have influenced the very heart of a corporation's

strategy and operations, and they will continue to do so. In many cases, the

firm's competitiveness and its very survival are at stake. The radical

changes in IT are coupled with the increasingly global nature of business;

this puts an enormous burden on individual managers to keep abreast of

events and to make intelligent decisions and plans. The broad objective of

this book is to help managers harness the power of new technologies to

enable them to make better decisions and more effectively manage their

firms, thereby enabling them to compete more effectively.

Since the first edition of this book appeared in 1983, IT and its applica-

tions have continued to evolve dramatically. This fourth edition addresses

this evolution by emphasizing issues related to development of an IT-

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