Customer Reviews

Management Information Systems: Organization and Technology in the Networked Enterprise

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The recommended reading list for the DANTES management information systems test listed "Management Information Systems: Organization and Technology by Kenneth and Jane Laudon" current edition. [Although this particular book's title is "Management Information Systems: organization and technology in the networked Enterprise"]

This one appeared to be the latest book that Kenneth and Jane Laudon had available.

The content was okay, but not sufficient to pass the DANTES MIS test. I had to supplement my studying with the MIS book by James A. O'Brien. If you are looking for a textbook to use for passing the DANTES MIS test, use the James A. O'Brien book.

The layout of the book is VERY distracting. Not an easy read. Not smooth flowing due to the hideous layout. The book's graphics designer probably thinks it's a work of art. But then they probably only had to "look" at it, not actually TRY to read it!

This book was comprehensive and covered a vast amount of material from ethics, and security to Artificial Intelligence and internet technology. Each chapter presented a management challenge and a wealth of great case studies and real world examples of Information Systems including intranets, extranets, VAN's and VPN's. I thoroughly enjoyed it and feel my knowledge has definately increased. No, this book will not make you an expert, there are other topic specific books for that, but it will expose you to a wide variety of digital technology and educate you about how it is being used and managed in organazations.

"Management Information Systems" provides an adequate general knowledge of the theme, a blend between technical/SW development knowledge and general managerial experience. It is very easy to read thanks to a nice predicable divition and layout.
Cases are quite good and summons up every chapter. Cases are showing examples from different countries and cultures.
The books' major strength is that it is understandable for readers with all types of background. This is also quite boring, because the authors are using a lot of words to explain quite basic facts known by 90% of the readers from the "real world".

I am a computer programmer and had to use this book as a requirement for CIS class for my MBA degree. In my class I did not meet a single person who liked the book or found it satisfactory. I don't claim that I know everything about MIS. But the terms I knew are not explained well in the book. And it is very hard to understand terms I did not know. To illustrate my point, here is book's definition of the term `hypertext markup language (html)' - "Page description language for creating Web pages and other hypermedia documents." In my opinion you don't explain word `hypertext' with `hypermedia'. "Page description language for creating Web pages" doesn't sound intuitive either. Most of the definitions sound like that. The only positive thing was that Book Store gave me 50% of the book price back when I returned it.

This is the second time I plan to teach with Laudon & Laudon, and suppose I'll do it again in the future. It's a luxury to have one book so much oriented to teaching, but teaching right now, in the XXI century, using multimedia and e-learning. I have never found such a quantity of references, business cases and the like. Well structured, well organized and very well presented. Leading-edge topics are also included, so it's a real updated material.

I'm living in Spain, so my comments need to be interpreted from this perspective. I plan to use this material in an MBA, and I'm sure my students will be delighted with this selection.

This is not the book of an author, this is the result of the work of tenths of people working together to produce such an useful material.

What I most appreciate is the structure of the chapters, the richness of Case Studies and the use of both multimedia and Internet.

With all this in mind I can hardly understand how one can give only 3 stars instead of 5.

It's informative, but it's sure a snoozer. The cases are the most interesting part of the book. Also, I think it makes some strong claims which are not true in many situations. In this industry, you should never say "This is the way it is everywhere" because by tomorrow something will have changed.

As an instructor, I would use it as a good book to pull examples and cases out of. As a student, I'd study the bold words and try and stay awake for the rest of it.

While studying for MBA, my course teacher suggested this book as text. After reading this book, I could not undertsnad why the book is still in market? It has so many technical mistakes. I am mentioning one here.
The authors described "Star Topology" as: consists of a central computer connected to a number of smaller computers or terminals. Anybody having basic knowledge on computer networking will disagree with this definition. Actually the computers are connected to a hub or switch, not to a computer, and the computers need not to be 'smaller'.
The definition of other network topologies are also flawed. At the end of section 'The Ring Network' the authors commented that: Both ring and bus topologies are used in local area networks (LANs)... Probably they want to say that Star topology is not used in LAN, but the fact is that most of LANs in today's world use Star topology.
Definition of RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) is also confusing. The authors said that "more than hundred small disks" make RAID. Can't we make RAID with 3 or 5 disks?

The emphasis of this book is how organizational change is required to implement an information system. At this point, we have all been involved in new implementations or updates to existing implementation. This book addresses logical approaches to managing the organization during these changes.

This book is **not** for techical administrators; however, it is an ideal resource for the non-technical manager who oversees a technical team, a technical business, or who wants to see the business grow to the Internet or use EDI type processes.

Because it uses current cases to introduce concepts about networking, it would be ideal for a graduate business program.

Because it is well written and clearly defines the key elements of networking, it would be a great desk reference for any business oriented manager or sales rep.

This book is really hard to follow sometimes - just because of the layout. That's a shame, because the information presented is generally clear, thought-provoking and right on the mark. The support website for the book is good and backs up lessons learned from the text very well.

I had to read this book for a graduate-level class. It's content is actually more suitable for the high-school level. The text's focus on artificial categories and terms does a disservice to someone actually trying to learn about information systems.