...Saint Mary's University Chapter 1 / Foundations of Information Systems in Business CASE 2 27 The New York Times and Boston Scientific: Two Different Ways of Innovating with Information Technology A and the resources to turn their ideas into reality. Typical projects are measured against criteria like revenue potential or journalistic value. R&D projects aren’t. “Since we build software, there’s no huge capital investment up front,” Frons says, “which allows us to experiment. The emphasis is on rapid development.” Times Widgets, a widget-making platform, was a contest winner, as was the recently launched Times Wire, a near real-time customizable interface for online content. “We’re trying to solve specific problems and think about where the business is going,” Frons says. Frons is focused on enhancing revenue, cutting costs, and increasing efficiency through process improvements and automation. The New York Times has launched a cool interactive map that shows the most popular Netflix rentals across 12 U.S. metropolitan areas: New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, and Miami. If you’re a Netflix junkie and a closet Twilight fan (and you live in a major U.S. city), your rental habits are now on display. To create the map, The New York Times partnered with Netflix. The map is a graphical database of the top 100 most-rented Netflix films of 2009 laid on top of maps. With it you can graphically...
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...consensus, it seems, is that it needs to change fundamentally or it could all but disappear. At The New York Times, tough times have elevated IT-enabled innovation to the top of the agenda. A research and development group, created in 2006, operates as a shared service across nearly two dozen newspapers, a radio station, and more than 50 Web sites. “Our role is to accelerate our entry onto new platforms by identifying opportunities, conceptualizing, and prototyping ideas,” explains Michael Zimbalist, the company’s vice president of R&D. Zimbalist’s staff of 12 includes experts in rapid prototyping, specialists in areas like mobile or cloud computing and data miners who probe Web site data for insight into what visitors do. They work within a common framework based on idea generation, development, and diffusion throughout the business. Recent projects included prototypes for new display ad concepts, as well as BlackBerry applications for Boston.com and the expert site About.com. The team’s work is intended to supplement and support innovation taking place within the business units. For example, the team is prototyping E-Ink, an emerging display technology; some business units can’t spare the resources to investigate it. At NYTimes.com, the design and product development group of Marc Frons, CTO of Digital Operations, worked with Zimbalist’s team and Adobe developers on the Times Reader 2.0 application, the next generation, on-screen reading system it developed on the Adobe AIR platform...
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...rest of the Globe’s staff find themselves contemplating earlier delivery times as a solution to their problem of readership decline. The first challenge that the organization is facing is their shortsighted goal of moving morning delivery times from 7 am to 6 am. Between 1950 and 1997, the number of U.S dailies suffered a 15% decline. Since that time there has been a steady decline in circulation of the paper, by 1997 circulation had dropped by over 5% in the preceding 5 years, sinking to 1955 level. An earlier delivery time is shortsighted because the scope of the project is too narrow for the company’s situation. The bigger picture is the overall decline in readership. The organization is faced with operating in a decline phase of the industry. Their current approach works to prolong the life of the company but it does not address the probable obsolescence if nothing more drastic is done. The second challenge that is facing the organization is Rick Daniels the Globe’s vice president of strategic planning. Rick Daniels does not appear to be fully engaged or committed to the project’s success. The case explains that there was “little attempt to “cost out” the benefits of earlier delivery” rather the implication is that the decision to move to an earlier delivery time was made because the 7am delivery was “obviously too late.” Rick Daniels had not even appointed a person in charge of the project full time until Anne Eisenmenger was appointed. A further example of Rick Daniels...
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...Unethical Behavior at Workplace- Company Time Misuse Ethics is based on the recognition of certain human rights. Unethical behavior can occur in the relationships between employees, in the way an employee goes about his business or how s/he uses company resources. Unethical behavior can even break the law in some situations. The problem here is that employees misuse company time. So the dilemma occurs when employees discover other employees are misusing company time. They know this is wrong by the company's standards. The employees own sense of what is right and what is wrong instantly comes into question. That employee needs to consider how she or he feels about that particular activity, as well as informing about that activity, or turning a blind eye. The unethical behavior of company time misuse is a trend because employees can see it occurring constantly within the workplace across multiple organizations. My target audience is all the lower and upper level employees in business areas such as sales and marketing. In order to solve this issue, there are three solutions. The first solution is to establish the implementation of company policy. The second solution is to set-up the implementation of ethical outline conferences. The last but not the least, the third solution is to create an implementation of ethics training program. The best solution is to set-up the implementation of ethical outline conferences, which will provide employees with a patent outline of what is expected...
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...parents will. Over a period of time banks also expect them to turn into loyal customer. Ideal Customer: Students are also ideal customer as they tend to carry more balances on their card than other bank customers. This has led to increase in burden of student debt which may impair their future credit capacity. This is more so because banks employed questionable marketing and sales tactics to issue credit cards to students. Growing Student Debt: It is also noted that student debt has been growing over a period of time. Not only the number of students having credit card has been going up, the average balance has also been going up over the years. Growing student debt causes serious problem for them in futures. Reasonable Reason for Credit Card: On the other hand, students seem to be getting credit cards to create a credit history and for emergency protection. They also get credit card for convenience and do not max out their credit limits. All these seem to be valid reason for them to have a credit card. Affinity Card: Recently, credit card companies have started issuing affinity card. Affinity card gives them exclusive right to issue credit card bearing the name of the university or college and its logo to the students of that university. A university in return, gets generous deals and pay-outs from the card company and from card usage. On one hand, a university can do with additional cash that it gets from affinity cards in these hard times. On the other hand, there are...
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...Annotated Bibliography Should Employees Be Allowed to Surf the Internet during Work Time? Linge Li 315668 Case, C., & Young, K. (August 01, 2002). Employee Internet Management: Current Business Practices and Outcomes. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 5, 4, 355-361. This paper explored the current practices to reduce or control the Internet misuse or abuse in organizations and analyzed the data collected from a wide range of respondents, as well as the related areas in the organizations that participated in this study. The authors also provided the Internet E-Management Framework to help analyze employees’ behavior, which concluded several behaviors and aspects that are mostly concerned in organizations. The results and implications of this study contribute to understand companies’ awareness, concerns, and practices on Internet misuse issues. Firms Control Employee Internet Use. (July 01, 2007). Information Management Journal, 41, 4. This article provides data regarding why companies restrict their employees’ Internet access. Therefore it is helpful to understand the attitude towards Internet usage issue from the employer’s side. Akman, I., & Mishra, A. (July 21, 2010). Predictive Effect of Gender and Sector Differences on Internet Usage among Employees. Engineering Economics, 21, 3, 295-305. This paper recognizes the increasing usage of Internet in organizations and the need from policy makers to understand their employees’ Internet usage patterns and purposes...
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...opted for automated software tools to manage staff access to Internet and e-mail. The advantages of such software tools are many, some of which have been outlined below. The use of automated software enables the management to keep a watchful eye on the employee activities, which would affect the productivity at work if the staffs indulge in personal activities online. It is important to emphasise that the manager or team leader cannot always observe his/her staffs and these software enables to record the activities of the employees at any time. Hence the management will be able to maximise productivity by managing employees’ web browsing habits. Unmanaged Internet access allows employees to download or share illegal or copyrighted content from peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Also employees can take part in other activities such as downloading and viewing pornography, which might be illegal in some countries. All this means that the company will be in danger of facing legal charges if staff access to Internet is not managed by the employer. Another benefit of using managed staff access to Internet and e-mail is when it comes to protecting the company’s confidential data. Such software makes sure that confidential information is not being shared by employees with unathorised personal by scanning in-coming and...
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...concern because drug misuse is a serious problem that can affect the business where the user works and sometimes their co-workers. Successfully tackling the drug issue correctly can benefit the employer by reducing absenteeism, reducing accidents related to drug use and promoting a more productive environment. The focus of this paper is to review current workplace policies on drug use and the challenges it brings employers. Drugs in the Workplace When it comes to drugs, employers have a legal responsibility to look after employees’ wellbeing, health and safety. Employers have a general duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 (HSW Act) to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees (Drug Misuse at Work A Guide for Employers, 2005). A good employer will want to help employees. In some cases, alcohol or drug misuse may be used to help cope with work-related stress. If there is a problem with alcohol or drug misuse in your workplace, then this may be part of a wider stress problem. A good starting point is to focus on the scope of the situation. Prescriptive drug use in the Unites States of America accounts for roughly 48 percent of the population using at least one drug every thirty days between 2009 through 2012 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. People use three or more prescription drugs in the past thirty days, accounts for 21.8% the population (Substance Misuse, 2013). People using...
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...tools are heavily relied on and recognized as an enormous company asset. Electronic communications equipment and services include internal and external electronic mail (e-mail), facsimiles, telephone systems, voice mail, internet access, cellular phones, as well as computer networks, files, hardware and software. While we encourage the use of these company resources, it is important to note they should only be used for their intended purposes and in a manner in which their integrity and performance is protected. “Company” will continually monitor the use of all company assets. Purpose: The guiding purpose of “Company’s” electronic communications policy is to set forth the expected standards of conduct, rules, restrictions, procedures, and disciplinary actions surrounding their use. Abuse and misuse of electronic communication tools potentially puts both the company and employees at risk. In an effort to minimize risks, “Company” is responsible for securing its electronic communications system against unauthorized access, prohibited uses, abuse, and violation of local, state, federal, and international laws. In addition, we will ensure any applicable electronic communications will be retained in accordance with any applicable laws. Employee acknowledgement and consent is required. Scope: The electronic communications policy applies to all electronic communications resources owned by, managed by, or provided by “Company” and any electronic communication records held by or...
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...information presented herein. © Proskauer Rose LLP. All Rights Reserved. Social Media in the Workplace Around the World 3.0 When we published our first survey in 2011, there was a sense of novelty and even mystery about social media usage in the workplace. There was a strong perception that social media and business did not mix. The art of harnessing social media for business lacked the sophistication and prominence that it now has. Today, business use of social media is mainstream. This shift from novel to normal in business is backed up by our survey results – 90% of businesses now use social media for business purposes. The near ubiquitous use of social media for business has led to a maturing appreciation of workplace risks arising out of its misuse – the more that people use social media for business purposes, the greater the chances that the fine line between personal use and...
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...Even though credit cards can be a source of paying for college-related expenses; credit card companies should not be on college campuses because most students will misuse the credit card, go into credit card debt and not realize the full financial hole they are in and struggle for years to pay off the debt. The first reason why credit card companies should not be on colleges marketing to college students is that it is very easy for a college student to misuse the new credit card. A college student most likely has limited financial means and a credit card could help today but hurt substantially more down the road. With a limited income, it would be very easy for the student to become financially dependent on the card. A 2009 Survey by Sallie Mae concluded the following. “The economic downturn has most Americans tightening their spending habits, but not all. College students are even more dependent upon credit cards, according to a survey conducted by Sallie Mae, the nation’s leading provider of student loans. The organization released its survey results last week in its National Study of Usage Rates and Trends. The study focused on undergraduate student’s ages 18 to 24 who were enrolled in public and private four-year colleges and universities during the spring of 2008.” [ (Phan, 2009) ] Another misuse of credit card spending occurs when the student is trying to fit into a social crowd among its peers. Many students feel a need to be part of socially acceptable “cool” crowd...
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...I recommended taking regarding Case 1-3 Ethical Dilemmas in Marketing Research. All decisions 1-6 will also list my justifications for every scenario. 1. Key criteria: Conducting telephone interviews to physicians using a fictitious company name. Ethical dilemma: The issue of not telling the truth about the company you are calling from. I can see the reason because if the physicians knew it was the pharmauctical company the responses would be different. Recommendations: Use the real name of the company because you should not use a fictitious name. Justifications: If you are true with the company then you will get true results. If you are fictitious with the company then you are not really getting a benefit from the survey. 2. Key criteria: An attitude study conducted for a client, findings show product’s marketing efforts are not effective. Ethical dilemma: Hiding results is not the right thing to do on any level. If you omit important information that shows the marketing efforts effective. This is info needed to be true to the research. Recommendations: The results cannot be hidden because a product will not be marketing properly to sell. The results must be presented and then other options can be voiced at this time to maybe correct the issue. Justifications: If you hide information then the marketing process will not be correct. You cannot try to sell something if you know the marketing is incorrect. 3. Key criteria: A questionnaire gets revised...
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...strategies. Advantages and disadvantages will be displayed in regards to the strategy of data collecting as part of a marketing process. This paper will additionally review the potential ethical dilemmas and concerns that can arise from companies holding this much personal data, which could lead to misuse, fraud and unethical practices. Big Data versus Big Dilemmas With the Relationship to Marketing Ethics In today’s technically advanced world, a door of data collection and marketing research has opened business around the world to learn the habits and trends of their customers. There are many advantages and disadvantages to collecting consumer’s information and using it as part of a marketing strategy. Companies have found great advantages to analyzing the information that they obtain from data collections to help better serve target market consumers while achieving a greater profit. While other firms misuse, take advantage or become victims themselves to the negative side of data gathering. At the expense of the consumers privacy some companies are making profits from tracking and selling their information to numerous buyers. As companies start to become more involved in these practices the greater the concern becomes in the ethical control and misuse of this information. “Data collection is the process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated research questions, test hypotheses, and...
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...usually in breach of the Sarbares Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). An available article inside the university student library website is going to be examined to be able to determine possible elements resulting in dishonest practices plus behavior. This content examined is known to as “Becoming a far more Relational Firm inside the Publish-Sarbans-Oxley Era”. As shown by the content, the effects of SOX have altered company practices in accounting which companies now use third party auditing services (Jelinek, Jelinek, 2010). The SOX act has changed conditions by which to disallow a business to purchase or trade services straight to business employees (Jelinek, Jelinek, 2010). This has triggered companies needing to go a third party panel to be able to purchase and trade services (Jelinek, Jelinek, 2010). The act also necessitates the third party auditor agencies to resale from services shortly after five years and not allow them to seek employment having a previous client within of the year of last audit (Jelinek, Jelinek, 2010). These brand new rules have triggered the companies to possess very strict rules of operation methods. Using the information acquired within the article, it continues to be relevant that auditing agencies are having difficulty rendering their services. Therefore if auditing agencies aren't doing auditing then businesses will turn and use internal auditors. With internal auditors the chances of dishonest practices and unethical behavior elevates. They are however...
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...statements rely heavily on the yearly financial statements of a company as they can use this information to make an informed decision about investment. They rely on the opinion of the accountants who prepared the statements, as well as the auditors that verified it, to present a true and fair view of the company. Knowledge of ethics can help accountants and auditors to overcome ethical dilemmas, allowing for the right choice that, although it may not benefit the company, will benefit the public who relies on the accountant/auditor's reporting The role of accountants is critical to society. Accountants serve as financial reporters and intermediaries in the capital markets and owe their primary obligation to the public interest. The information they provide is crucial in aiding managers, investors and others in making critical economic decisions. Accordingly, ethical improprieties by accountants can be detrimental to society, resulting in distrust by the public and disruption of efficient capital market operations Unethical behavior in the workplace can be defined as any action that does not conform with the standards of conduct established by the organization. Unethical behavior can occur in the relationships between employees, in the way an employee goes about his business or how he uses company resources. Unethical behavior can even break the law in some situations. Inappropriate Computer Use -Employees may use company computers to engage in unethical behavior. For example, an...
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