Brief Contents
Contents
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Preface
Chapter 1: Setting the Stage: Technology and the Modern Enterprise
1.1: Tech’s Tectonic Shift: Radically Changing Business Landscapes
1.2: It’s Your Revolution
1.3: Geek Up—Tech Is Everywhere and You’ll Need It to Thrive
Finance
Accounting
Marketing
Operations
Human Resources
The Law
Information Systems Careers
Your Future
1.4: The Pages Ahead
Endnotes
Chapter 2: Strategy and Technology: Concepts and Frameworks for Achieving Success
2.1: Introduction
The Danger of Relying on Technology
Different Is Good: FreshDirect Redefines the Grocery Landscape in New York City and Beyond
But What Kinds of Differences?
2.2: Powerful Resources
Imitation-Resistant Value Chains
Brand
Scale
Switching Costs and Data
Differentiation
Network Effects
Distribution Channels
What about Patents?
2.3: Barriers to Entry, Technology, and Timing
2.4: Key Framework: The Five Forces of Industry Competitive Advantage
Endnotes
Chapter 3: FreshDirect: A Tech-Heavy Online Grocer Succeeds Where Others Fail
3.1: Tech-Driven Strategic Positioning for Market Dominance
Ordering Online—Challenges but Advantages, Too
Cost Cutting and Fresher Food through a Tech-Enabled Supply Chain
Work with Suppliers, Don't Squeeze Them
Advantages Pay Off
3.2: The Model Moves Forward
The Botched Bronx Move—Even the Skilled Screw Up
COVID-19: Crisis and Opportunity
Better than Traditional Grocers, but Other Rivals?
Future Deliveries?
Endnotes
Chapter 4: Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems
4.1: Introduction
Why Study Zara?
Gap: An Icon in Crisis
4.2: Don’t Guess, Gather Data—Make Small Batches of What Customers Want and Ship It Fast!
Design
Manufacturing and Logistics
Stores
Integrating E-Commerce: Omnichannel = More Sales + Better Customer Experience
COVID-19 Response: Tech-Centric Operations + E-Commerce + Omnichannel in a Crisis
4.3: Moving Forward
Endnotes
Chapter 5: Netflix in Two Acts: Sustaining Leadership in an Epic Shift from Atoms to Bits
5.1: Introduction
Why Study Netflix?
5.2: Act I: David Becomes Goliath: Crafting Killer Assets for DVD-by-Mail Dominance
Brand Strength from Best-in-Class Customer Experience
Scale from the Distribution Network
Scale from Selection: The Long Tail
The Big Customer Base—Delivering True Economies of Scale
Leveraging the Data Asset: Collaborative Filtering and Beyond
Winning Act I
5.3: Act II: Netflix and the Shift from Mailing Atoms to Streaming Bits
Content Acquisition: Escalating Costs, Limited Availability, and the “Long-Enough Tail”
Exclusives and Original Content
Streaming and the Data Asset
Streaming Changes Viewing Habits and Frees Creative Constraints
Customer Experience, Complexity, Pricing, and Brand Strength
Streaming and Scale Advantages
The March to Global Dominance
It’s a Multiscreen World: Getting to Netflix Everywhere
A Crowded Field of Rivals and Other Challenges
No Turning Back
Endnotes
Chapter 6: Moore's Law and More: Fast, Cheap Computing, and What This Means for the Manager
6.1: Introduction
Some Definitions
Get Out Your Crystal Ball
6.2: The Death of Moore’s Law?
Buying Time
6.3: The Power of Parallel: Supercomputing, Grids, Clusters, and Putting Smarts in the Cloud
6.4: E-waste: The Dark Side of Moore’s Law
Yes, You Do Have to Pay Attention to This Garbage, But the “Internet of Trash” May Help
6.5: Mickey’s Wearable: Disney’s MagicBand
Experience Examples
Big Data and Big Benefits
Magical Experiences Cost Serious Coin
Magical Experiences Can Require Magical Coordination
Look to the Future
Endnotes
Chapter 7: Disruptive Technologies: Understanding Giant Killers and Tactics to Avoid Extinction
7.1: Understanding Truly Disruptive Innovation
The Characteristics of Disruptive Technologies
Why Big Firms Fail
7.2: Recognizing and Responding to Disruptive Innovation
Don’t Fly Blind: Improve Your Radar
Potential Disruptor Spotted: Now What?
No Easy Answers
7.3: From Bitcoin to Blockchain and Beyond: A Disruptive Innovation for Money and More?
How It Works
Benefits
Examples of Blockchains in Action
Concerns
What Do You Think?
Endnotes
Chapter 8: Amazon: An Empire Stretching from Cardboard Box to Kindle to Cloud
8.1: Introduction
Why Study Amazon?
8.2: The Emperor of E-Commerce
Fulfillment Operations—Driving Selection, Customer Convenience, and Low Price
Amazon’s Cash Conversion Cycle—Realizing Financial Benefits from Tech-Enabled Speed
Internet Economics, Scale, and Pricing Power
The Advantage of Being Big:€Realizing Scale Advantages as the Retail E-Commerce Leader
Customer Obsession
Leveraging the Data Asset—A/B Testing, Personalization, and Even an Ad Business
Selection and Network Effects
Acquisitions and Category Expansion: Fewer Rivals, More Markets, and More Customer Choice
8.3: The Lord of Logistics
Building a Delivery and Logistics Business Inside the Business
8.4: Beyond Clicks: More Bricks
Amazon as Your Campus Bookstore
Amazon’s “Brick-Based” Bookstores
Hello Machine Learning, Goodbye Checkout Line
More “Green” from High Tech Grocery Shopping?
8.5: Amazon’s Disruptive Consumer Hardware Businesses: Kindle, Fire, Alexa, and More
The Kindle Line: Igniting Possibilities on eBook and Tablet
Amazon for Your TV
Echo, Alexa, and the Breakout Success of Amazon’s Voice Interface and AI-Powered Assistant
Amazon—Now a Major Content Publisher
Channel Conflict and Consolidated Power
8.6: Amazon and the Cloud: From Personal Storage to AWS
The Consumer Cloud Is Everywhere
About AWS
Understanding the Corporate Cloud
So What, Really, Is This AWS Stuff?
Endnotes
Chapter 9: Platforms, Network Effects, and Competing in a Winner-Take-All World
9.1: Introduction
9.2: Platforms Are Powerful, But Where Does All That Value Come From?
Exchange
Staying Power
Complementary Benefits
9.3: One-Sided or Two-Sided Markets?
Understanding Network Structure
9.4: How Are These Markets Different?
9.5: Competing When Network Effects Matter
Move Early
Subsidize Adoption
Leverage Viral Promotion
Expand by Redefining the Market
Alliances and Partnerships
Leverage Distribution Channels
Seed the Market
Encourage the Development of Complementary Goods
Leverage Backward Compatibility
Rivals: Be Compatible with the Leading Network
Incumbents: Close Off Rival Access and Constantly Innovate
Large, Well-Known Followers: Preannouncements
9.6: The Zoom Boom—Big Guys Can Be Beat
Endnotes
Chapter 10: Social Media, Peer Production, and Leveraging the Crowd
10.1: Introduction
10.2: Blogs
10.3: Wikis
10.4: Social Networks
Corporate Use of Social Networks
10.5: Twitter and the Rise of Microblogging
Organic Reach and Advertising
Twitter and Platform Challenges
Tackling Trolls and Battling Bots
Challenges: So How Big Is This Thing Gonna Be?
10.6: Prediction Markets and the Wisdom of Crowds
Blockchain for Better and Unrestricted Prediction Markets
10.7: Crowdsourcing
10.8: Get SMART: The Social Media Awareness and Response Team
Creating the Team
Responsibilities and Policy Setting
Monitoring
Establishing a Presence
Engage and Respond
Endnotes
Chapter 11: The Sharing Economy, Collaborative Consumption, and Efficient Markets through Tech
11.1: Introduction
11.2: Boom Times and Looming Challenges in the Sharing Economy
Share On! Factors Fueling the Rise of Collaborative Consumption
Winning in Electronic Markets
Social Media for Virality and Trust Strengthening
Share Everything? The Myth of the Market for Your Neighbor’s Power Drill
Can You Share Nice? Challenges of Safety and Regulation
11.3: Future Outlook: Established Players Get Collaborative
11.4: Airbnb—Hey Stranger, Why Don’t You Stay at My Place?
At Airbnb, Big Data Is a Big Deal
A Phenomenal Start, but Not Without Challenges
11.5: Uber's Wild Ride: Sharing Economy Success, Public Company Concerns, and Lessons from a Fallen Founder
Driven by Data
APIs to Expand Reach
How Big Can This Thing Get?
Endnotes
Chapter 12: Facebook: Platforms, Privacy, and Big Business from the Social Graph
12.1: Introduction
The Rise of Facebook and Growing Concerns
Why Study Facebook?
12.2: Lengthening Leaders, Quick Catch-Ups, and the Challenging Rise of Mobile
The Social Graph and Why Facebook’s Is So Strong
Facebook Feed: Viral Sharing Accelerated
Facebook’s Dominance on the Desktop
Facebook Takes On Search€
Why Mobile Is Different and in Some Ways Better than the Desktop
Snapping Snapchat’s Lead with Stories
Big Bets: Bringing Potential Rivals and Platform Powerhouses into the Facebook Family
Instagram
WhatsApp
Oculus VR
12.3: Lessons from Platform Facebook: Big Growth, Bad Partners, APIs, and a Mobile Melee
Mobile Is Tougher, But Global Players Have Big Mobile Platforms
Messenger: A Pillar Business Building Facebook’s Future
APIs, Playing Well with Others, and Value Added: The Success and Impact of Open Graph
Strategic Concerns for Platform Builders: Asset Strength, Free Riders, and Security
12.4: Advertising and Social Networks: A Challenging Landscape but a Big Payoff
Content Adjacency Challenges: Do You Really Want Your Brand Next to That?
Attention Challenges: The Hunt versus The Hike
Facebook Ads: The Massive Potential Upside Is Realized
Precise Targeting
Ads in Feeds: Better Performance Even as Fewer Ads Are Shown
Beyond “Right Margin” Display Ads: Big, New Winners Emerge
An Ad Network for Facebook. Can It Best Google?
Content Providers, Step Deeper Inside My Walled Garden
Better Advertisement Everywhere. What’s Up Next?
12.5: Move Fast and Break Things: Fumbles, Fake News, and Global Growth Challenges
Beacon Busted—Management Lessons on Tech Planning and Deployment
Faked Out by Fake News
Challenges of Going Global: Low ARPUs, Legitimate Rivals, and Unreachable Users
The Admirable Goals and Unintended Consequences of Internet.org
Endnotes
Chapter 13: Rent the Runway: Entrepreneurs Expanding an Industry by Blending Tech with Fashion
13.1: Introduction
Rental and Subscription: Here’s How It Works
A Fashion Company with a Technology Soul
13.2: Founding the Business: Are We On to Something?
Customers Like It—But What about Suppliers? Growing the Customer Base and Creating a Win-Win
Customer Evolution
13.3: Customer Engagement (Mobile, Social, and Physical Storefronts)
Mobile
Social
13.4: Data
13.5: Operations and Logistics
HyperGrowth and Hiccups
Fulfillment as a Service—Here Come the Competitors
13.6: Subscription: Bigger than Rental
13.7: Surviving and Thriving Post-Pandemic
COVID-19 Kills Fashion For a Year—Hyman Fights for Her Firm’s Survival
Leaders in the Growing Club of Tech-Focused, Female Founders
Endnotes
Chapter 14: Understanding Software: A Primer for Managers
14.1: Introduction
What Is Software?
14.2: Operating Systems
14.3: Application Software: Apps, Desktop Products, and Enterprise Systems
And That’s Just the Start
14.4: Distributed Computing, Web Services, and APIs: The Platform Builders
Formats to Facilitate Sharing Data
14.5: Writing Software
14.6: Software Development Methodologies: From Waning Waterfall to Ascending Agile, plus a Sprint through Scrum
A Brief Introduction to Popular Approaches to Developing Software
14.7: Beyond the Price Tag: Total Cost of Ownership and the Cost of Tech Failure
Why Do Technology Projects Fail?
Endnotes
Chapter 15: Software in Flux: Open Source, Cloud, Virtualized, and App-Driven Shifts
15.1: Introduction
15.2: Open Source
15.3: Why Open Source?
15.4: Examples of Open Source Software
15.5: Why Give It Away? The Business of Open Source
15.6: Defining Cloud Computing
15.7: Software in the Cloud: Why Buy When You Can Rent?
The Benefits of SaaS
15.8: SaaS: Not without Risks
15.9: Understanding Cloud Computing Models: PaaS, IaaS, and Motivations and Risks
Challenges Remain
15.10: Clouds and Tech Industry Impact
15.11: Virtualization: Software That Makes One Computer Act Like Many
15.12: Apps and App Stores: Further Disrupting the Software Industry on Smartphones, Tablets, and Beyond
15.13: Make, Buy, or Rent
Endnotes
Chapter 16: Data and Competitive Advantage: Databases, Analytics, AI, and Machine Learning
16.1: Introduction
16.2: Data, Information, and Knowledge
Understanding How Data Is Organized: Key Terms and Technologies
Serverless Computing: Can Someone Else Manage This Complexity?
16.3: Where Does Data Come From?
Transaction Processing Systems
Enterprise Software (CRM, SCM, and ERP)
Surveys
External Sources
16.4: Data Rich, Information Poor
Incompatible Systems
Operational Data Can’t Always Be Queried
16.5: Data Warehouses, Data Marts, Data Lakes, and the Technology behind “Big Data”
Even More Speed and Flexibility from Data Lakes and the Data Cloud
It’s Not One or The Other
Implementing Large-Scale Data Projects
Know Data Science? Firms Need Your Skill!
16.6: The Business Intelligence Toolkit
Query and Reporting Tools
Data Mining
16.7: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Machine Learning: It’s Now Everywhere!
Understanding Popular€Types of AI
Examples of AI in Action
It’s Not as Easy as the Press Might State: Technical, Organizational, Legal, and Societal Challenges of AI and Machine Learning
16.8: Ethical Information Systems: Understanding Risks and Building More Responsible Technology
What If We Can’t Understand How It Thinks?
Is Your Algorithm Racist or Sexist?
Used for Good and Evil
Recognizing Risks and Setting Standards
Steps in Developing and Deploying More Ethical, Less Risk-Prone Systems
16.9: Data Asset in Action: Technology and the Rise of Walmart
A Data-Driven Value Chain
Data Mining Prowess
Sharing Data, Keeping Secrets
HR, Meet VR
In-Store Innovations: Keeping Pace with Amazon Go and Leading with Skills and Scale
Betting Big on E-Commerce: Acquiring Jet.com, Bonobos, Flipkart, and More
Challenges Abound
Endnotes
Chapter 17: Advertising Technologies: Balancing Personalization with Privacy as Technology and Regulation Evolve
17.1: Understanding Online Advertising
Online Advertising is Booming: Here’s Why
Ad Formats and Ad Purchasing
17.2: Web Tracking: The Cookie Crumbles and Ad Tech Evolves
Introduction
Want a Cookie? Great—Now I Can Track You!
Retiring the Third-Party Cookie and Figuring Out What Comes Next
Browser Profiling After Third-Party Cookies
17.3: App Tracking: Apple and Facebook Go to War Over In-App Tracking
The Battle over iOS Privacy
The IDFA in China
17.4: Device Profiling: From Geotargeting to Televisions That Watch You
IP Addresses and Geotargeting
Geotargeting Beyond IP Address
Your TV is Probably Watching You Back
17.5: Privacy Regulation: A Moving Target
17.6: Privacy, Data Protection, Governance, and Management Policies
Endnotes
Chapter 18: A Manager’s Guide to the Internet and Telecommunications
18.1: Introduction
18.2: Internet 101: Understanding How the Internet Works
The URL: “What Are You Looking For?”
Hosts and Domain Names
Path Name and File Name
IP Addresses and the Domain Name System: “Where Is It? And How Do We Get There?”
The IP Address
The DNS: The Internet’s Phone Book
18.3: Getting Where You’re Going
TCP/IP: The Internet’s Secret Sauce
What Connects the Routers and Computers?
18.4: Last Mile: Faster Speed, Broader Access
Cable Broadband
DSL: Phone Company Copper
Fiber: A Light-Filled Glass Pipe to Your Doorstep
Wireless
5G: A Slow Rollout to a Faster Wireless Network
Satellite Wireless and Schemes to Reach the Remote
Wi-Fi and Other Hotspots
Net Neutrality: What’s Fair?
Summing Up
Endnotes
Chapter 19: Information Security: Barbarians at the Gateway (and Just About Everywhere Else)
19.1: Introduction
Got a Bank Account or Credit Card? You’ve Been Hacked!
A Look at the Target Hack
19.2: Why Is This Happening? Who Is Doing It? And What’s Their Motivation?
19.3: Where Are Vulnerabilities? Understanding the Weaknesses
User and Administrator Threats
Bad Apples
Social Engineering
Phishing
Passwords
Technology Threats (Client and Server Software, Hardware, and Networking)
Malware
Compromising Poorly Designed Software
Push-Button Hacking
Network Threats
Physical Threats
19.4: Taking Action
Taking Action as a User
Taking Action as an Organization
Frameworks, Standards, and Compliance
Education, Audit, and Enforcement
What Needs to Be Protected, and How Much Is Enough?
Technology’s Role
Endnotes
Chapter 20: Google in Three Parts: Search, Online Advertising, and an Alphabet of Opportunity
20.1: Introduction
Why Study Google?
20.2: Understanding Search
20.3: Search Advertising
How Much Do Advertisers Pay per Click?
Mobile Apps and the Challenge for Google Search
20.4: The Google Ad Network: Distribution beyond Search
Ad Networks and Competitive Advantage
20.5: The Battle Unfolds
Strategic Issues
Google Rules Search, But It Isn’t Over
Android Everywhere
YouTube
Google Pay
Google and Social
Apps, Cloud, and the Post-Hard-Drive World
Endnotes
Appendix A: Essential Skills for Excel
A.1: Introduction and Using Formulas
A.2: Basic Formatting and Understanding References
A.3: Manipulating Sheets
A.4: Freezing Panes, Sorting, and Using Filters
A.5: Tables and Autofill
A.6: Paste Special and Copy as Picture
A.7: Column, Bar, Pie, Line, and Scatter Charts
A.8: Functions Related to IF
A.9: The VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP Functions
A.10: Conditional Formatting
A.11: Pivot Tables and Slicers
A.12: Excel for Mac versus Excel for Windows
Index
