Decision making and problem solving in today’s electronic world encompass largescale,
opportunity-oriented, strategically focused solutions. The traditional “cookbook”
approach to decisions simply will not work in the e-business world.
Decision-making and problem-solving abilities are now the most sought-after
traits in up-and-coming executives, according to a recent survey of 1,000 executives
by Caliper Associates, as reported in The Wall Street Journal. To put it mildly,
decision makers and problem solvers have limitless career potential.2
E-business is the conducting of business on the Internet, not only buying and
selling, but also serving customers and collaborating with business partners. (Unit
Four discusses e-business in detail.) With the fast growth of information technology
and the accelerated use of the Internet, e-business is quickly becoming standard.
This unit focuses on technology to help make decisions, solve problems, and
find new innovative opportunities. The unit highlights how to bring people together
with the best IT processes and tools in complete, flexible solutions that can seize
business opportunities (see Figure Unit 3.1).
The chapters in Unit 3 are:
■ Chapter Nine—Enabling the Organization—Decision Making.
■ Chapter Ten—Extending the Organization—Supply Chain Management.
■ Chapter Eleven—Building a Customer-centric Organization—Customer Relationship
Management.
■ Chapter Twelve—Integrating the Organization from End to End—Enterprise Resource
Planning.