Introduction to Information Technology or Globalization and Social Policy

Introduction to Information Technology

Author: Efraim Turban

It makes your business soar! Without Information Technology (IT), the snowboard on the cover simply would never make it to the slopes. As you read Introduction to Information Technology, you'll discover that IT integrates and enhances all functions of a business-from the research and development that goes into designing a faster, more flexible board, to the delivery systems that make sure stores receive stock in time for winter, to the point-of-sale systems that track sales trends and customers' buying preferences. Written in language you can easily understand, the text gradually presents complex technical information on a need-to-know basis, so that you won't get overwhelmed by the details. Each chapter is filled with dozens of real-world examples that demonstrate IT's relevance to different disciplines, industries, and companies. Throughout the text, you'll also find numerous opportunities to apply what you've learned. Features
* Relevance: The authors explain why IT is important to all individuals and functions within an organization by relating topics to specific business majors (finance, marketing, MIS, production/operations, HR, etc.).
* Real-World Examples: Extensive examples show you the capabilities of IT, its cost and justifications, and innovative ways actual corporations are using IT in their operations.
* Global Perspective: The text explains how IT facilitates export and import, managing multinational companies, and electronic trading around the globe.
* Integrated Systems: Integrated systems (e.g. SAP R/3; extranets) are stressed and related to supply chain management and multinational corporations.
* Making Connections: The text emphasizes the importance of connections among individuals, groups, and organizations, and the support that IT provides in enabling these connections.
* The Web: In addition to teaching the fundamentals of the Internet, the text presents a comprehensive chapter on e-commerce. All chapters include Web-based, real-world applications, "integration with the Web" exploration, and Internet exercises.
* The Virtual Company: A Web-based case for a simulated company manufacturing snowboards enables you to create and operate a small business a small business on the Web.

Booknews

Aiming to teach undergraduate business majors how to use information technology (IT) to the benefit of their future organizations, this textbook covers IT infrastructure, IT applications, and system development and management. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

New interesting book: Wild About Turkey or Dulce lo vivas

Globalization and Social Policy

Author: Nicola Yeates

'This book exhibits the characteristics of all good social policy texts. It is fired by a commitment to welfare. It is informed by extensive multidisciplinary scholarship. It debunks fashionable myths. Nicola Yeates argues convincingly that while globalization in its many manifestations and dimensions (economic, cultural and political) has to be built into the analytical framework used by social policy scholars, globalizing pressures are not immutable nor guaranteed success in overriding local and national social and political forces... . Essential reading on all social policy courses'- Bob Deacon, Professor of Social Policy, University of Sheffield/STAKES, Finland

'Many social scientists have not yet woken up to the fact that globalization

has transformed the nature of social policy. The severity and the causes of

many problems are harder to pin down; research and teaching programmes have to be re-cast. This book offers a penetrating assessment of the changes that have to be made'- Peter Townsend, Professor of International Social Policy, LSE

This timely textbook critically evaluates the relevance and implications of globalisation in relation to both the academic study of social policy and social welfare provision.

Globalisation and Social Policy:

· Examines the implications of globalization for social policy analysis and provision

· Analyses how social policies and politics contribute to and shape globalizing strategies

· Argues that the degree to which globalization gives rise to systematic changes in the funding, regulation and provision of welfare has been overestimated and

·Demonstrates that national and local forces remain decisive in understanding the development of social policy

Globalization and Social Policy provides an invaluable guide to the expanding field. It provides a refreshing antidote to 'victorious' and 'defeatist' accounts of globalization and its implications for social welfare, and argues that politics matter now as much as they ever did. It will be welcomed by all students of social policy, and will also be of interest to other social science students engaged in issues of globalization.

Table of Contents:

	Globalization and Social Policy
	Mapping the Territory
	Global Economic Structures and Processes
	Globalization and the State
	From Defeat to Political Struggle
	International Governmental Organizations and Social Policy
	The Globalization of Social Conflict and Political Struggle