
001
An Overview to
Business Decisions.....
Essential Courses of Business Decisions Making for Upper Management Executives
Please note
that these selection of chapters are selected from books already on the
site but under the specific subjects ( Strategy, Management, Information
Technology.....)

[1] Strategic Management, 3/e,
[2] Crafting and Executing Strategy: The Quest for
Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases, 15/e
[3] Modern Competitive Strategy, 2/e
[5] Strategy: Winning in the Marketplace: Core
Concepts, Analytical Tools, Cases, 2/e
Arthur A. Thompson Jr., University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, John E. Gamble, University of South Alabama,
A. J. Strickland III, University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, ISBN: 0072989904 Copyright year: 2006
here (2976.0K)
Our
Server Analyzing a Company's External
Environment
Financial Ratios.pdf (157.0K)
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[6] BSC

[B]
Database & I.
Technology |
[1] Database Design, Application, Development & Administration, 3/e
[2] Decision Support Systems & Intelligent Systems,
Efraim Turban,
University of Hawaii,
Jay E. Aronson,
University of Georgia
Ting-Peng Liang,
Chinese University of Hong Kong
© 2005 / 0-13-046106-7 / Prentice
Hall Chapter 1: Management Support Systems: An
Overview
PowerPoint Presentation
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Chapter 2: Decision Making, Systems,
Modeling, and Support
PowerPoint Presentation
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Chapter 3: Decision Support Systems: An
Overview
PowerPoint Presentation
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Chapter 5: Business Intelligence: Data
Warehousing, Data Acquisition, Data Mining, Business Analytics, and
Visualization
PowerPoint Presentation
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Chapter 6: Decision Support System
Development
PowerPoint Presentation
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Chapter 8: Enterprise Information Systems
PowerPoint Presentation
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[3]
Essentials
of Management Information Systems (activebook) (Laudon,
Laudon).Chapter 6: Managing Hardware and
Software Assets
Computer hardware,
provides the underlying physical foundation for the firm's IT
infrastructure. Other infrastructure components—software, data, and
networks—require computer hardware for their storage or operation.
Although Rogers Communications
provides leading-edge technology services, its own internal operations and
business processes were hampered by outdated technology. The company found it
could improve the performance of its human resources function by using the right
hardware and software. In order to select the technology it needed, Rogers had
to understand the capabilities of computer hardware and software technology, how
to select hardware and software to meet its specific business requirements, and
the financial and business rationale for its hardware and software investments.
The workforce management software Rogers selected transformed a jumble of
tangled paperwork into manageable information and became an important technology
asset. Computer hardware and software technology can improve organizational
performance, but they raise the management challenges.
Glossary - glossary.html
PowerPoint Slides: All Chapters - Laudon5PPTs.zip
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[4]
CRM
[5]
I.
Technology

[1] Corporate Finance, 8/e, and Other books of
same authors
[1] Core
Concepts of Management John R. Schermerhorn, Jr., Ohio Univ.
ISBN: 0-471-23055-3
©2004
Download all files in ZIP Format. (3.15MB)
Our Server Chapter 5: Planning -- To Set Direction
Chapter 6: Strategic Management and
Entrepreneurship
Chapter 7: Controlling -- To Ensure
Results
Chapter 8: Organizing -- To Create
Structures
[2] Exploring Management
John R. Schermerhorn, Jr., Ohio University
ISBN: 0-471-73460-8
©2007
Module 9: Managers as Decision Makers: Decide,
then act
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Module 10: Plans and Planning Techniques: Goals
and objectives get you there faster
Our Server
Module 11: Controls and Control Systems: What
gets measured happens
Our
Server
Module 12: Strategic Management: Insights and
hard work deliver results
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Module 13: Organizational Structures: Its all
about working together
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[3] Management 8th Edition Update: Personal Management Edition packaged with
Workbook
John R. Schermerhorn, Jr., Ohio University
ISBN: 0-471-76850-2©2006
Chapter 7: Information and Decision Making
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Chapter 8: Planning and Controlling
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Chapter 9: Strategic Management
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Chapter 10: Organizing
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Chapter 11: Organizational Design and Processes
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Chapter 12: Human Resource Management
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[4] Contemporary Management, 4/e
[5] Management: The New Competitive Landscape, 6/e
[6] Management: A Practical Introduction, 2/e
Angelo Kinicki, Arizona State University---Tempe
Brian K. Williams
ISBN: 0072920378 Copyright year: 2006
Chapter 6
Strategic Management: How Star
Managers Realize a Grand Design
Chapter Summary
Student PowerPoint Presentation
OurServer
Chapter 7 Sample Chapter (505.0K)
Individual & Group Decision Making: How Managers Make Things Happen
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Student PowerPoint Presentation
Our Server In this chapter the authors describe decision making and types of
decisions, and describe the range of decision-making conditions.
Next they distinguish between rational and nonrational decision
making, and describe five nonrational models. Then, they consider
four steps in practical decision making. And follow with a
discussion of group decision making, including participative
management and group problem-solving techniques. They conclude by considering how individuals respond to decision
situations and four common decision-making biases.
7.1 The Nature of Decision Making
■ A decision is a choice made from among available alternatives.
Decision making is the process of identifying and choosing alternative
courses of action. ■ Decisions are of two types: programmed and nonprogrammed. Programmed decisions are repetitive and routine. They tend to follow
established rules and so are virtually automatic. Nonprogrammed
decisions are those that occur under nonroutine, unfamiliar
circumstances. Because they occur in response to unusual, unpredictable opportunities and threats, nonprogrammed
decisions are relatively unstructured. ■ A decision-making style reflects the combination of how an individual
perceives and responds to information. Decision-making styles may tend
to have a value orientation, which reflects the extent to which a person focuses on
either task or technical concerns versus people and social concerns when
making decisions. Decision-making styles may also reflect a person’s tolerance for
ambiguity, the extent to which a person has a high or low need for
structure or control in his or her life. When the dimensions of value
orientation and tolerance for ambiguity are combined, they form four
styles of decision making: directive, analytical, conceptual, and behavioral.
7.2 Two Kinds of Decision Making:
Rational & Nonrational
■ Two models managers follow in making
decisions are rational and nonrational. ■ In the rational model, there are four steps in making a decision:
Stage 1 is identifying the problem or opportunity. A problem is a
difficulty that inhibits the achievement of goals. An opportunity is a situation that presents
possibilities for exceeding existing goals. This is a matter of
diagnosis—analyzing the underlying causes. Stage 2 is thinking up
alternative solutions. For programmed decisions, alternatives will be
easy and obvious. For nonprogrammed decisions, the more creative and
innovative the alternatives, the better. Stage 3 is evaluating the
alternatives and selecting a solution. Alternatives should be evaluated
according to cost, quality, ethics, feasibility, and effectiveness.
Stage 4 is implementing and evaluating the solution chosen. ■ The rational model of decision making assumes managers will make
logical decisions that will be the optimum in furthering the
organization’s best interests. The rational model is prescriptive, describing how managers ought to
make decisions. It assumes that managers have complete information and
there is no uncertainty, that they can do unemotional analysis, and that they are
coolly capable of making the best decision for the organization.
Nonrational models of decision making assume that decision making is
nearly always uncertain and risky, making it difficult for managers to
make optimum decisions. Two nonrational models are satisficing and
incremental. (1) Satisficing falls under the concept of bounded
rationality—that is, that the ability of decision makers to be rational
is limited by enormous constraints, such as time and money. These
constraints force managers to make decisions according to the
satisficing model—that is, managers seek alternatives until they find
one that is satisfactory, not optimal. (2) In the incremental model,
managers take small, short-term steps to alleviate a problem rather than steps that will accomplish a long-term solution.
7.3 Making Ethical Decisions
■ Corporate corruption has made
ethics in decision making once again important. Many companies have an ethics officer to resolve ethical dilemmas, and
more companies are creating values statements to guide employees as to
desirable business behavior. ■ To help make ethical decisions, a decision tree—a graph of decisions
and their possible consequences— may be helpful. Managers should ask
whether a proposed action is legal and, if it is intended to maximize
shareholder value, whether it is ethical—and whether it would be ethical
not to take the proposed action. ■ A goal for managers should be to rely on moral principles so that
their decisions are principled, appropriate, and defensible, in
accordance with “the magnificent seven” general moral principles for managers.
7.4 Group Decision
Making: How to Work with Others
■ Groups make better decisions
than most individuals acting alone, though not as good as the best
individual acting alone. ■ Using a group to make a decision offers five possible advantages: (1)
a greater pool of knowledge; (2) different perspectives; (3)
intellectual stimulation; (4) better understanding of the reasoning
behind the decision; and (5) deeper commitment to the decision. It also
has four disadvantages: (1) a few people may dominate or intimidate; (2)
it will produce groupthink, when group members strive for agreement among themselves for the sake of unanimity and so avoid accurately
assessing the decision situation; (3) satisficing; and (4) goal
displacement, when the primary goal is subsumed to a secondary goal. ■ Some characteristics of groups to be aware of are (1) groups are less
efficient, (2) their size affects decision quality, (3) they may be too
confident, and (4) knowledge counts—decision-making accuracy is higher
when group members know a lot about the issues.
■ Participative
management (PM) is the process of involving employees in setting goals,
making decisions, solving problems, and making changes in the
organization. PM can increase employee job involvement, organizational
commitment, and creativity and can lower role conflict and ambiguity. ■ Using groups to make decisions generally requires that they reach a
consensus, which occurs when members are able to express their opinions
and reach agreement to support the final decision. ■ Three group problem-solving techniques aid in problem solving. (1) In
interacting groups, members interact and deliberate with one another to
reach a consensus. (2) In nominal groups, members generate ideas and evaluate solutions by
writing down as many ideas as possible; the ideas are then listed on a
blackboard, then discussed, then voted on. (3) In Delphi groups,
physically dispersed experts fill out questionnaires to anonymously
generate ideas; the judgments are combined and in effect averaged to achieve consensus of expert opinion. These
three groups may be assisted by computer-aided decision making, using
either chauffeur- driven systems, which ask participants to answer predetermined questions
on electronic keypads or dials, or group-driven systems, in which
participants in a room express their ideas anonymously on a computer network.
7.5
How to Overcome Barriers to Decision Making
■ When confronted with
a challenge in the form of a problem or an opportunity, individuals may
respond in perhaps four ineffective ways and three effective ones. ■ The ineffective reactions are as follows: (1) In relaxed avoidance, a
manager decides to take no action in the belief that there will be no
great negative consequences. (2) In relaxed change, a manager realizes
that complete inaction will have negative consequences but opts for the
first available alternative that involves low risk. (3) In defensive
avoidance, a manager can’t find a good solution and follows by
procrastinating, passing the buck, or denying the risk of any negative
consequences. (4) In panic, a manager is so frantic to get rid of the
problem that he or she can’t deal with the situation realistically. ■ The effective reactions consist of deciding to decide—that is, a
manager agrees that he or she must decide what to do about a problem or
opportunity and take effective decision-making steps. Three ways to help
a manager decide whether to decide are to evaluate (1) importance—how
high priority the situation is; (2) credibility—how believable the
information about the situation is; and (3) urgency—how quickly the
manager must act on the information about the situation.
Learning
Portfolio
■ Heuristics are rules of thumb or strategies that
simplify the process of making decisions. Some heuristics or barriers
that tend to bias how decision makers process information are availability, representativeness, anchoring and
adjustment, and escalation of commitment. (1) The availability bias
means that managers use information readily available from memory to
make judgments. (2) The representativeness bias is the tendency to
generalize from a small sample or a single event. (3) The anchoring and
adjustment bias is the tendency to make decisions based on an initial
figure or number. (4) The escalation of commitment bias describes when
decision makers increase their commitment to a project despite negative
information about it. An example is the prospect theory, which suggests
that decision makers find the notion of an actual loss more painful than
giving up the possibility of a gain.
|

Your Reading Corner......

From
Harvard Business School
Working Knowledge
Leadership & Management
There are
128 articles in this topic.
|
What You Don't
Know About Making Decisions
Research &
Ideas - October 15, 2001
Unfortunately, superior decision
making is distressingly difficult to
assess in real time. Successful
outcomes—decisions of high quality, made
in a timely manner and implemented
effectively—can be evaluated only after
the fact. But by the time the results
are in, it's normally too late to take
corrective action. Is there any way to
find out earlier whether you're on the
right track?
There
is indeed. The trick, we
believe, is to periodically
assess the decision-making
process, even as it is under
way. Scholars now have
considerable evidence
showing that a small set of
process traits is closely
linked with superior
outcomes. While they are no
guarantee of success, their
combined presence sharply
improves the odds that
you'll make a good decision.
More
Working Knowledge from David
Garvin.
More
Working Knowledge from
Michael Roberto

David Garvin
is the C. Roland
Christensen
Professor of
Business
Administration at
Harvard Business
School. |

Michael
A. Roberto |
-
Four Questions for David
Garvin and Michael
Roberto
-
Q&A with David Garvin
-
Research & Ideas -
October 15, 2001
More Working Knowledge
from David Garvin.
More Working Knowledge
from Michael Roberto
Editor's Note: When we perceive a competitor's groundbreaking innovation as a threat, we may act defensively and hastily. But if we see that same event as an opportunity, our response might be more deliberate and unhurried. As a leader, how you frame that challenge inside your organization controls how resources are allocated to respond. The dilemma: Create a response that is neither overreaction (threat) nor insufficient (opportunity).
In this excerpt from their Harvard Business Review article, Harvard Business School professors Clark Gilbert and Joseph L. Bower say that the leader must frame the competitor's action as both a threat and an opportunity. Here are organizational and process changes that can help meet the challenge. More Working Knowledge from Joseph Bower. More Working Knowledge from Clark Gilbert

Joseph Bower is the Donald K. David
Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. |

Clark Gilbert |
It's not easy to transform a trusty but ailing old stalwart. In an excerpt from their book, Changing Fortunes: Remaking the Industrial Corporation, HBS professor Nitin Nohria and co-authors Davis Dyer and Frederick Dalzell discuss how General Motors and Kodak are attempting precisely that. More Working Knowledge from Nitin Nohria
Nitin Nohria is the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at
Harvard Business School.
On May 10, 1996, five mountaineers from two teams perished while climbing Mount Everest. Is there anything business leaders can learn from the tragedy? HBS professor Michael A. Roberto used the tools of management to find out. Plus: Q&A with Michael Roberto. More Working Knowledge from Michael Roberto
James
Heskett is a Baker
Foundation Professor at
Harvard Business School.
Shooter on site. Epidemic. Major power outage. Is your organization prepared to deal with crisis? HBS professor Michael Watkins explains what you need to know, and offers a checklist to evaluate your preparedness. More Working Knowledge from Michael Watkins
Sometimes a seemingly harmless corporate decision such as a budget trim can lead to big problems elsewhere. HBS professor W. Earl Sasser tells what happens when budget constraints and customers collide. More Working Knowledge from W. Earl Sasser W. Earl Sasser is the UPS Foundation Professor of Service Management at Harvard Business School.
No one doubts business schools are expert at teaching management theory. But what about teaching real-world basics? In short, can students be taught execution? More Working Knowledge from James Heskett
- Three Steps for Crisis Prevention
- Research & Ideas - April 7, 2003
Most top executives are smart and far sighted, so why can't they change gears fast enough to meet change? Professor Donald N. Sull provides answers in a new book. More Working Knowledge from Donald Sull
Let’s say you are left in charge of an MBA program. How would you and your students sort through the tensions in corporate life vis-à-vis society, employees, and investors? How would you build those learnings into your program and make them stick? More Working Knowledge from James Heskett
What are the critical skills global managers need today compared to ten years ago? An interview with Harvard Business School professor Christopher A. Bartlett. More Working Knowledge from Christopher Bartlett Christopher Bartlett is the Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School.
People make decisions every day by weighing their own opinions with advice from other sources. But do we know whether people use advice in a way that is helpful to them? In two experiments performed under controlled, laboratory conditions, Gino found that all else being equal, people weigh advice differently according to the amount of money they pay for it. Also, the cost of advice affects the degree to which people use it. Key concepts include:
- Decision makers may rely on costly advice more heavily than free advice.
- The cost of advice did not affect the value gained by following the advice.
- Cost-of-advice research results might interest the consulting and medical professions.
- We need to better understand decision makers' sensitivity to the cost they pay to gain advice.

A company doesn't need a crystal ball to see impending disasters. Harvard Business School professor Max H. Bazerman and INSEAD professor Michael D. Watkins explain how to foresee and avoid predictable surprises. More Working Knowledge from Max Bazerman
Malcolm Gladwell's popular new book is about the power of snap judgements and the ways in which people develop the ability to make them. Can—and should—people make typical business decisions in the blink of an eye? More Working Knowledge from James Heskett
-
It's essential for leaders to spark conflict in their organizations, as long as it is constructive. A Q&A with Professor Michael Roberto, author of the new book Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer. More Working Knowledge from Michael Roberto
Business leadership is at the core of Asian economic development, says HBS professor D. Quinn Mills. As he explained recently in Kuala Lumpur, the American and Asian leadership styles, while very different, also share important similarities. More Working Knowledge from D. Quinn Mills D. Quinn Mills is the Alfred J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
-
- Balancing the Future Against Today's Needs
- Research & Ideas - August 22, 2005
It's hard to dream five years out when your organization is doing all it can to take care of the here and now. This article from Harvard Management Update offers a new lens for positioning growth efforts within your company while staying focused on your core strengths today. More Working Knowledge from Michael Tushman Michael Tushman is the Paul R. Lawrence Class of 1942 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
We make most of our choices by weighing other people's advice counter to our own opinions. People generally underweight advice from others, though the practice is not universal. In two studies, it is determined that people overweight advice on difficult tasks but underweight it on the easy ones. Key concepts include:
- Understand built-in biases when weighing advice, especially on difficult tasks. Don't automatically give more credence to the opinions of advisers or consultants over your own experience.
More Working Knowledge from Francesca Gino
Malcolm P. McLean (1914-2001) hit on an idea to dramatically reduce labor and dock servicing time. An excerpt from In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century by Harvard Business School's Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria. More Working Knowledge from Nitin Nohria
In a recent HBS Working Paper, HBS professor Max Bazerman and colleagues explore how biases and human psychology impede policy-making efforts that could vastly improve people's lives. More Working Knowledge from Max Bazerman
Company-specific skills may be valuable in a new job under the right conditions, say Harvard Business School's Boris Groysberg, Andrew N. McLean, and Nitin Nohria. They studied GE; here's an excerpt from Harvard Business Review.
Most of us trust our intuition more than we should, especially when the pressure is on in negotiations. Professors Max Bazerman and Deepak Malhotra on negotiating more rationally. From Negotiation. More Working Knowledge from Deepak Malhotra
|

003

Management Department
Daniel A. Levinthal,
Chairperson
2000 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall
Professors
Amit, Raphael (Raffi)
Cappelli, Peter
Gerrity, Thomas P.
Guillén, Mauro
Hamilton, William F.
House, Robert
Kimberly, John R.
Klein, Katherine
Kobrin, Stephen J.
Levinthal, Daniel A.
MacMillan, Ian C.
Meyer, Marshall W.
Pennings, Johannes M.
Singh, Harbir
Singh, Jitendra V.
Useem, Michael
Weigelt, Keith
Winter, Sidney G.
|
Associate
Professors
Barsade, Sigal
Henisz, Witold
Hrebiniak, Lawrence G.
MacDuffie, John Paul
O'Sullivan, Mary A.
Raff, Daniel
Rosenkopf, Lori
Siggelkow, Nicolaj
Thomas, Louis A.
Yakubovich, Valery
|
Assistant Professors
Benner, Mary J.
Berry, Heather
Campbell, Benjamin
Chaudhuri, Saikat
Conyon, Martin J.
Dushnitsky, Gary
Hsu, David
Kaplan, Sarah
McDermott, Gerald A.
Mueller, Jennifer S.
Rothbard, Nancy P.
Wulf, Julie |

Finance Department
Michael R. Gibbons,
Chairperson
2300 Steinberg Hall-Dietrich Hall

Marketing Department
Robert Meyer,
Chairperson
700 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
Professors
Armstrong, J. Scott
Bradlow, Eric T.
Day, George S.
Eliashberg, Jehoshua
Fader, Peter S.
Hoch, Stephen J.
Hutchinson, John Wesley
Iacobucci, Dawn
Kahn, Barbara E.
Lodish, Leonard M.
Meyer, Robert
Raju, Jagmohan S.
Reibstein, David J.
Schmittlein, David C.
Wind, Yoram (Jerry)
|
Associate
Professors
Bell, David R.
Van den Bulte, Christophe
Zhang, Z. John
Williams, Patricia
Zauberman, Gal
|
Assistant Professors
Bolton, Lisa E.
Drèze, Xavier
Iyengar, Raghuram
Reed II, Americus
Small, Deborah
|

Operations and Information Management Department
Karl T. Ulrich,
Chairperson
500 Jon M. Huntsman Hall
Professors
Cachon, Gerard P.
Clemons, Eric K.
Cohen, Morris A.
Fisher, Marshall L.
Guignard-Spielberg, Monique
Harker, Patrick T.
Hershey, John C.
Kimbrough, Steven O.
Kunreuther, Howard
Ulrich, Karl T.
Zheng, Yu-Sheng |
Associate
Professors
Croson, Rachel T.A.
Gans, Noah F.
Hitt, Lorin M.
Schweitzer, Maurice E.
Terwiesch, Christian |
Assistant Professors
Anand, Krishnan S.
Hill, Shawndra
Hosanagar, Kartik
Lee, Chris P.
Lee, Thomas Y.
Netessine, Serguei
Padmanabhan, Balaji
Simonsohn, Uri
Tucker, Anita L.
Veeraraghavan, Senthil
|

Statistics Department
Abba M. Krieger,
Chairperson
400 Jon M. Huntsman Hall |

004
Examples Of Resources For Decision Making Colin
Shearer, senior vice president of market strategy at SPSS, says, "Almost
any decision in an organization has to be subject to scrutiny--what's
gone down is, companies are making decisions on gut feel or by the seat
of their pants." Driven by SARBOX and other legislated imperatives,
however, marketers now look to find hard numbers to defend their
decisions. BI solutions have stepped in to lend concrete support, and
marketers have increasingly made deeper use of their functionality. "The
art-plus-science imperative is moving marketers away from art and toward
science. Slowly but surely, we're getting there," Ament says.
This science has been injected into marketing strategies in part due
to the development of solutions that are easier for the average
businessperson to use. Many BI vendors are now working to offer products
that integrate the front-end graphical user interface with the back-end
engine. Ament cites SPSS, Genalytics, and Business Objects as vendors at
the forefront of the ease of use trend. Shearer explains SPSS's product
strategy to increase ease of use: "Vendors like us have taken what are
very, very complex analytics and have wrapped them up and configured
them inside a front end that a marketer can use. The interface is
following the marketing work rather than the analytical work." |
watch presentations at this address:
http://www.streamcenter.com/spss/






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