MIS Books - Page 4

Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases (12th Edition)

Fred David

Amazon Price: $141.86 List Price: $177.33 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $88.90

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Strategic Management: Concepts & Cases 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

It is a helpfull book, especially for anyone who deal with the strategy formulation. This book provide some valuable tools for analyzing the organization's environment, both external and internal, which is something special with this book that make it different with the other.

A good book, but not spectacular 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This is a good, step-by-step book for strategic management.

It lays out the steps very well, but it could use a bit more information.

The financial ratios section could use more information, and the case studies are often unequal in the types of information that they carry. This makes it difficult to do competitor comparisons.

How do you rank a company's workers policy when only one case has information on it and the other does not? You cannot simply discount such information when it could be an important competitve factor.

Essentially, this is a good book for teaching you a process, but it could use some work on giving you more details.

Editorial Review:

KEY BENFIT: David’s Strategic Management offers a skills-oriented, practitioner perspective that has been updated with modern cases to reflect current research and strategy.

This text covers strategy formulation issues such as business ethics, global vs. domestic operations, vision/mission, matrix analysis, partnering, joint venturing, competitive analysis, and includes a brand new cohesion case on the Walt Disney Company.

  For management professionals, small business owners and others involved in business.

Systems Analysis and Design

Gary B. Shelly, Harry J. Rosenblatt

Amazon Price: $129.95 List Price: $129.95 Not yet published By: Course Technology

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Comprehensive Introduction 4 out of 5 stars.
15 of 18 people found this review helpful.

Ok, firstly this book has excellent presentation and pedagogy. Somebody took some serious care to ensure this book is visually pleasing and well organized. It contains a CD-rom with summaries of each chapter as well as well as weblinks, glossaries of each chapter and chapter outlines. There are no design tools CASE tools however.

Content: This book is a very good introduction to systems analysis and design: the operative word being INTRODUCTION. It paints a very broad picture in reasonable detail. There are enough examples and explanation to be able to extrapolate how to do very basic structured systems analysis. Object oriented analysis on the other hand while covered, is done so in a fairly rudimentary manner (in a toolkit- ie. appendix- rather than in the body of the book). This book is less about the mechanics of how and more about the why and why not and what you're likely to need before you do do some systems analysis. Personally I think the book by WHitten (isbn 0072552360) provides more bang for your buck in that it covers functional decomposition, functional primitives, decision tables, databases, ERDs, prototyping, OO analysis and design in greater depth and with more reality and for significantly less money. WHitten is far less accessible though, the price of being far more technical than this one- and it is fairly old now. This book is very accessible, but that comes at the cost of content. If you want deeper how-to, try Whitten...if you want a easier overview then try this. However the price is quite significant for this book.

Pedagogy wise, this book is very good. Lots of pratical examples and expositions of real life situations, review questions (no answers) directions to a web site to chase down further understanding and knowledge. A case study permeates the book which makes it very accessible because the case study I found was interesting and quite 'likely'. The toolkits (ie. appendices) are quite interesting, if somewhat 'lite'. To me, they seemed more of a checklist and point of reference than a substantive learning source.

So, in all, a nice, neat book, if rather expensive though. Look at it if you're looking for a broad overview and/or a jumping off point for systems analysis and design. ELsewhere may provide you with work of a more concrete, down to brass-tacks (leveling) nature. It can also serve as a reasonable adjunct to a more technical text, to clarify concepts and provide a philosophical overview of systems analysis and design as well as clarifying some concepts in a clear, concise way. It probably won't teach you 'deep thought' systems analysis and design however.

Editorial Review:

Building on the proven pedagogy of its predecessors, Systems Analysis and Design, Sixth Edition presents a clear introduction to systems analysis and design. Students will find concepts easy-to-understand through the clear writing style and full-color figures that illustrated current technology and trends.

Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization

Michael A.; Hoskisson, Robert E.; Ireland, R. Duane Hitt

By: West Group Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $0.47

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Timing 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I will never again order anything sent via "media mail". It must go around the world and back before it gets to you. There was also no confirmation on when the item shipped. I had to ask multiple times. It would be good if there was another shipping option. I would have happily paid more to get it in time for my class.

fast shipping 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The book arrived in the condition they specified. I was buying used so I didn't expect anything perfect. The cover only had a few abrasions and only some of the pages were highlighted. They shipped it fast. I believe I got the book by the end of the week I ordered it.

Book Review 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The book was accurately described, and only took a few days to get here. Very satisfied!

great book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

this is a great book, you can find information that you can apply and make better your management skills

Excellent book 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I love the case studies they are well thought out, relevant, and made me feel like I was in the know. It's a great conversation piece because it puts you ahead of the curve in the area of practical business.

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvard Business School Press Amazon Marketplace: 88 new & used starting at $5.88

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The market for business knowledge is booming, as companies looking to improve their performance pour billions of dollars into training programs, consultants, and executive education. Why, then, are there so many gaps between what firms know they should do and what they actually do? Why do so many companies fail to implement the experience and insight they've worked so hard to acquire? "The Knowing-Doing Gap" is the first book to confront the challenge of turning knowledge about how to improve performance into actions that produce measurable results. Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, well-known authors and teachers, identify the causes of the knowing-doing gap and explain how to close it. The message is clear - firms that turn knowledge into action avoid the "smart talk trap."Executives must use plans, analysis, meetings, and presentations to inspire deeds, not as substitutes for action. Companies that act on their knowledge also eliminate fear, abolish destructive internal competition, measure what matters, and promote leaders who understand the work people do in their firms. The authors use examples from dozens of firms that show how some overcome the knowing-doing gap, why others try but fail, and how still others avoid the gap in the first place. "The Knowing-Doing Gap" is sure to resonate with executives everywhere who struggle daily to make their firms both know and do what they know. It is a refreshingly candid, useful, and realistic guide for improving performance in today's business.

ITIL Service Support and Service Delivery Process Model

Key Skills ILX

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great immediate insight into ITIL 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is really helpful in having a one-page insight into ITIL's processes, activities and dependencies hanging on the wall.

Must have, especially for ITIL version 3

Too small 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This ITIL v2 "Wall Chart" is entirely too small to be proclaimed a wall chart but is laid out well and easy to follow

Great presentation material! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very useful for walking people through ITIL process framework; but only a piece of reference material.

Format is not adequate 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great product, but the format, really, is not good. The charts must be separated (they did not) and it's difficult to manipulate it. But, the content it's very, very good.

Five Stars (Barely) 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Well done. A very useful tool for passing the ITIL exam, especially if you are a visual learner.

Even though it could have been (much) larger, I gave it five stars because of the clarity and accuracy of the diagrams. One of the books I read for the exam stated, "it is impossible to diagram the all the interrelationships of ITIL," but this proves them wrong --this chart has done a very good job of simplyfying a complex set of relationships and providing most important content.

I used this chart and the (boring) IT Foundations by Von Bon and a Transcender Practice Exam as my only study materials and passed Foundations with room to spare.

This chart is a 'keeper'

Editorial Review:

Key Skills ILX have designed an A3 double sided process model, giving a graphical overview of all major Service Support and Service Delivery Processes. This is an excellent tool to use as part of your preperation for your ITIL examinations.

CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor Study Guide

David L. Cannon

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Learn to Think like an Auditor 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

After waiting eight weeks for my score, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief: I passed the CISA exam!

Preparing for and taking the CISA exam is a painful and frustrating process. I used this book in combination with the CD of 700+ questions from ISACA. I work as a network security professional, so I also relied heavily on my own experience and the experience of my colleagues. I interviewed colleagues extensively, particularly those with bank auditing experience and background in the financial industry.

My own background includes 10 years as a Network Administrator. I had few worries about the technical material: my main concern was how to think like an auditor. In that, I found this book very helpful. I read through it more than once. The chapters introducing audit concepts I read three times, taking notes and paying close attention. It was important to learn how to translate my technical knowledge into the framework of auditing: concepts such as auditor independence, material evidence, chain-of-custody -- these were issues that were new to me, or at least new in this context.

I strongly recommend the book to technical people who need a way to shift their viewpoint into the mindset of an auditor. There is a structure to auditing that is not covered in most IT training, and thus is new to us. But the knowledge gained is immediately useful and has real-world applications, especially if you already work in the IT security field.

For familiarity with the actual CISA exam questions, I recommend use of the CD available from ISACA. The exam itself is full of ambiguous questions. Even now, I don't know if my passing score reflects actual auditing skill or luck in interpreting the questions. The exam was also grueling due to uncomfortable seating with very little elbow room. It's an unpleasant ordeal all the way through, but I did gain a lot from the process of studying for the test and I hope the certification will be good for my career.

Editorial Review:

Prepare for CISA certification and improve your job skills with the training you'll receive in this valuable book. Covering the very latest version of the exam, it's packed with instruction on all exam content areas, including the most up-to-date regulations, IS auditing best practices, and compliances. You'll find practical exercises and plenty of real-world scenariosjust what you need for the CISA exam, and beyond.

Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy

Carl Shapiro, Hal R. Varian

Amazon Price: $25.08 List Price: $38.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvard Business School Press Amazon Marketplace: 126 new & used starting at $0.87

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In a marketplace that depends so thoroughly on cutting-edge information technology, can classic economic principles still offer any real strategic value? Yes! say Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian. In "Information Rules", they reveal that many long-standing economic concepts can provide the insight and understanding necessary to succeed in the information age. Shapiro and Varian argue that if managers seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, they must understand the fundamental economics of information technology. Whether information takes the form of software code or recorded music, is published in a book or magazine, or even posted on a web site, managers must know how to evaluate the consequences of pricing, protecting, and planning new versions of their information products, services, and systems. The first book to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, "Information Rules" is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders-from writers, lawyers, and finance professionals to executives in the entertainment, publishing, and hardware and software industries navigate successfully through the information economy.

The Inmates Are Running the Asylum

Alan Cooper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 135 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

an essential handbook for designing software 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Cooper's argument in this book is simple: you have to know your users, and you have to understand what they're trying to accomplish with your software. The method that he puts forth for achieving this understanding is personas, richly-described archetypical users.

The book is easy to read and understand. He begins with a detailed description of the problem with software design as carried about by programmers who can only imagine themselves as the users of their software, resulting in software that makes really difficult things possible but doesn't bother to make easy or common things quick and easy.

After making the argument that programmers shouldn't design interfaces and making the case both for usability and interaction design, he lays out the personas concept. Cooper's guidelines for creating personas and using them are well-written and well-thought-out. However, his examples of applying them to some of his own customers are rather repetitive, and sometimes come across as somewhat whiny.

Now that it's time for my group at Microsoft to revisit our personas and determine what needs to be tweaked for our next version, I decided that I should revisit the book that first advanced the idea. It has stood up well to the test of time (something that not many computer books can do). I highly recommend it, both to usability and design professionals, as well as programmers.

Editorial Review:

The Inmates are Running the Asylum argues that, despite appearances, business executives are simply not the ones in control of the high-tech industry. They have inadvertently put programmers and engineers in charge, leading to products and processes that waste huge amounts of money, squander customer loyalty, and erode competitive advantage. They have let the inmates run the asylum. Alan Cooper offers a provocative, insightful and entertaining explanation of how talented people continuously design bad software-based products. More importantly, he uses his own work with companies big and small to show how to harness those talents to create products that will both thrill their users and grow the bottom line.

Business Intelligence For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))

Swain Scheps

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

You're intelligent, right? So you've already figured out that Business Intelligence can be pretty valuable in making the right decisions about your business. But you’ve heard at least a dozen definitions of what it is, and heard of at least that many BI tools. Where do you start?

Business Intelligence For Dummies makes BI understandable! It takes you step by step through the technologies and the alphabet soup, so you can choose the right technology and implement a successful BI environment. You'll see how the applications and technologies work together to access, analyze, and present data that you can use to make better decisions about your products, customers, competitors, and more.

You’ll find out how to:

• Understand the principles and practical elements of BI
• Determine what your business needs
• Compare different approaches to BI
• Build a solid BI architecture and roadmap
• Design, develop, and deploy your BI plan
• Relate BI to data warehousing, ERP, CRM, and e-commerce
• Analyze emerging trends and developing BI tools to see what else may be useful

Whether you’re the business owner or the person charged with developing and implementing a BI strategy, checking out Business Intelligence For Dummies is a good business decision.

Seven Steps to Mastering Business Analysis

Barbara A. Carkenord

Amazon Price: $62.95 List Price: $69.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: J. Ross Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $62.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book provides a how to approach to mastering business analysis work. It will help build the skill sets of new analysts and all those currently doing analysis work, from project managers to project team members such as system analysts, product managers and business development professionals, to the experienced business analyst. It also covers the tasks and knowledge areas for the new 2008 v.2 of The Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK®) and will help prepare business analysts for the IIBA CBAP® certification exam.

KEY FEATURES
-Explains the business analysis fundamental concepts and terms for new analysts in language they can understand
-Presents detailed explanations of business analysis strategies, tasks and recommended techniques, and includes examples of successful and less-than-successful project situations to enhance learning
-Provides valuable insights for experienced business analysts and project team members performing analysis and critical thinking work in order to reach a higher level of success
-Includes knowledge area keys throughout the text that map BABOK competencies to tasks or techniques discussed, in a manner that will help prepare the business analyst for the IIBA CBAP certification exam
-WAV offers a free downloadable business analysis planning white paper and a series of template worksheets that can be customized to fit each organization s needs available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at jrosspub.com