MIS 517

E-Business Strategies
Fall 2020
Course Syllabus

Instructor: Amer Aljarallah

Office: Vice Dean for Dev. & Quality Office, 1st fl. / Office 114, 2nd fl.
Office Hours: TBD, or by appointment
Email: ajarallah@ksu.edu.sa
Phone: 011-4693410
Section number(s): 48157 and 63523
Class time and location: Sundays 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Online (Blackboard Collaborate Ultra)
KSU credits: 3 credit hours
Lecture timetable: One 3-hour lecture a week

Course description
This course exposes students to contemporary management thinking, methods, and strategies
necessary to effectively build and manage e-business systems. The course emphasizes on
opportunities and challenges associated with strategic management of information technology
(IT), examining strategic and managerial issues associated with using IT for enhancing business
performance, and learning about the key issues confronting senior IT executives and understand
the managerial decisions facing them. The course largely adopts a managerial approach. Skills of
critical reasoning, ability to communicate clearly both orally and in writing, and creativity are
emphasized in this class.

Course objectives
Using a combination of lectures, case studies and discussions, in-class assignments, and term
project, this course aims at:
 Introducing students to the fundamental concepts and approaches of strategic
management and IS strategies
 Providing students with a comprehensive framework for understanding the business
models and strategies for e-business
 Preparing students to be active participants in formulating and implementing e-business
strategies for organizations

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Course topics
 Linking Systems Strategy and the Organization
 Strategic Use of Information Resources in a Global Economy
 Organizational Strategy: Managerial Levers
 Work Design: Enabling Global Collaboration
 Building and Changing Global Business Processes
 Information Systems Strategy: Architecture and Infrastructure
 Cost Recovery of Information Systems
 Governance of the Information Systems Organization
 Sourcing Information Systems around the World
 Managing Projects in a Global Ecosystem
 Business Analytics and Knowledge Management
 Ethical Guidelines for Information Use
Business Strategy Tools
 Business models
 Business model canvas
 Porter’s five forces model
 Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis
 Key performance indicators (KPIs)

Required textbook
 Keri E. Pearlson, Carol S. Saunders, “Strategic Management of Information Systems,”
5th Edition International Student Version
 Keri E. Pearlson, Carol S. Saunders, Dennis F. Galletta, “Managing and Using
Information Systems: A Strategic Approach,” 6th Edition
Additional textbook and readings
 A list of articles, case studies, and reading material will be provided in learning
management system (LMS)
Grading scheme
 Attendance, class participation, and exercises (10%)
 Individual case study analysis reports (2*12.5% = 25%)
 Case study discussion lead (10%)
 Exams (15%)
 Group field project (40%)
o Project proposal (5%) and progress report (5%)
o Project report (20%)
o Project presentation (10%)

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Individual case study analysis report: each student will choose two case studies (one from the
first half of the semester and another from the second half) provided by the instructor and submit
a write-up as response to the case study questions. The response should not exceed 4 pages that
summarizes the answers to the case questions. The idea of this exercise is to help you gain both
analytical as well as written communication skills. The write-ups should be submitted before the
commencement of the class on scheduled dates. The write-ups are primarily intended to provide
an indication on the extent of analysis and thinking-through that has been done by the student.
An important aspect is that the write-ups are focused on case analysis rather than repetition of
the case facts. If the write-ups are not satisfactory, they will be returned for resubmission; this
applies only to the first case analysis report. You are encouraged to search for more information
on the organization or the subject matter using library resources or the Internet, or provide
additional examples that are relevant from your own experience or opinion.

Case study discussion lead: Each class will include one or more case studies for discussion and
illustration of the topic(s) covered. Each student will be assigned one of these case studies to lead
the discussion during the class. The discussion on the case may take half of the class time, but we
will try to make it for about 45 minutes. It is important to note that this case study is different
from the two case studies chosen for individual analysis and report. All students, however, are
required to read every case study and participate in the discussions. The following are some
useful guidelines for the discussion lead:
 Summarize major points of the case studies, using bullet-points
 In the interest of time, avoid repeating the case facts, and only focus on your analysis
 Answer the specific questions that are given. For some cases, you need to prepare extra
discussion questions
 Be precise and to the point
 Take a position, provide arguments, justifying your position, and pose questions to
classmates to make the discussion more useful
 Analyze critically, giving both pros & cons of different issues at hand
 Relate your answers to the theory discussed in class or in the readings
 Keep the time-frame of the case study in mind

Group field project: teams of up to 4 students are to collaborate on a group field project
covering various topics, data types, and techniques. A one-page project proposal (worth 5% of
the grade) should state and describe the company, outline the problem/topic of study, the
method, and the expected outcome of the project. The proposal should also contain the roles of
the participants (team members). Another halfway progress report needs to be submitted and
discussed with the instructor (worth another 5%). A project final report is submitted towards the
end of the semester according to the tentative schedule below. Each submitted project report
should contain a cover page (title and names of students) and the body of the report. The report
should be prepared as business style report, with consistency in presenting the content. The
report should be maximum 15 pages; cover page and other appendices are not part of the page

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count. Use 12-point Times New Roman font, and single space for all submissions. Also, students
will present their work on the group project in the last class of the semester (or during final
exams week). More details on the class presentations will be provided at later time. All
submissions are through LMS (blackboard), and exact due dates will be given later.

Exams: there will be one midterm exam according to the tentative schedule below.

List of case studies

You may obtain your cases from the following link: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/import/755751

Introductory case Case Study 0: mGames

First half Case Study 1: Alibaba Group

Case Study 2: CPOE at Emory Healthcare
Case Study 3: Dubai Ports Authority
Case Study 4: The CIM Project
Case Study 5: MedNet.com
Case Study 6: Strategies of Two Banking Giants

Second half Case Study 7: American Hardware

Case Study 8: GlobShop
Case Study 9: Volkswagen of America
Case Study 10: CVS Web Strategy
Case Study 11: Sears
Case Study 12: Stefanini

Code of conduct
 This class relies heavily on materials reading and preparation, so attendance to all classes
is mandatory. Unexcused absenteeism of more than 25% leads to DN
 Come prepared for each class; read assigned materials, and participate actively
 Plagiarism is not tolerated by any means. All submitted work should be original
o For any borrowed work, use proper citation using paraphrasing and academic
referencing methods
o Direct quotes should not exceed 10% of your work, with proper citation
o For non-direct referencing, use paraphrasing with proper citation
o Include list of referenced (cited work) at the end of your submitted manuscript

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 Tentative Schedule

Week Date Topics Due

Group formation
1 Aug 30 Course introduction
Case assignments
Ch1: Linking Systems Strategy and the Organization
2 Sep 6 Case study 0
Strategy Tools: business models
Ch2: Strategic Use of Information Resources in a Case study 1
3 Sep 13
Global Economy

4 20 Sep 20 Ch3: Organizational Strategy: Managerial Levers Case study 2

Ch4: Work Design: Enabling Global Collaboration

5 27 Sep 27 Case study 3
Strategy Tools: business model canvas
Ch5: Building and Changing Global Business Case study 4
6 4 Oct 4
Processes Project proposal
Ch6: Information Systems Strategy: Architecture Case study 5
7 Oct 11
and Infrastructure
Ch7: Cost Recovery of Information Systems Case study 6
8 Oct 18
Strategy Tools: Porter’s five forces model

9 Oct 25 In-class activity Midterm

Ch8: Governance of the Information Systems

Case study 7
10 Nov 1 Organization

Ch9: Sourcing Information Systems around the

Case study 8
11 Nov 8 World
Project progress report
Strategy Tools: SWOT analysis

12 Nov 15 Ch10: Managing Projects in a Global Ecosystem Case study 9

Ch11: Business Analytics and Knowledge

13 Nov 22 Case study 10
Management

14 Nov 29 Ch12: Ethical Guidelines for Information Use Case study 11

15 Dec 6 Strategy Tools: KPIs Case study 12

16 Dec 13 Final exams week

Project report due
17 Dec 20 Final exams week
Project presentations

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