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 Contentsvii

Porter’s Competitive Forces Model  94 • Information System Strategies for

Dealing with Competitive Forces  96
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology Nike Becomes a Technology Company  98
The Internet’s Impact on Competitive Advantage  100
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations Identifying Market Niches in the Age of Big
Data  101
The Business Value Chain Model  103 • Synergies, Core Competencies, and
Network-Based Strategies  106
3.4 What are the challenges posed by strategic information systems and how
should they be addressed?  110
Sustaining Competitive Advantage  110 • Aligning IT with Business
Objectives  111 • Managing Strategic Transitions  112
Review Summary  112 • Key Terms  113 • Review Questions  113 • Discussion
Questions  114
Hands-On MIS Projects  114
Management Decision Problems  114 • Improving Decision Making: Using
a Database to Clarify Business Strategy  115 • Improving Decision Making:
Using Web Tools to Configure and Price an Automobile 115
Collaboration and Teamwork:  115
◆Case
◆ Study: Who’s The World’s Top Retailer? Walmart and Amazon Duke It
Out  116
◆References:
◆ 119

Chapter 4 Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems  122

◆Opening
◆ Case: Content Pirates Sail the Web  123
4.1 What ethical, social, and political issues are raised by information
systems?  125
A Model for Thinking About Ethical, Social, and Political Issues  127 • Five
Moral Dimensions of the Information Age  128 • Key Technology Trends
That Raise Ethical Issues  128
4.2 What specific principles for conduct can be used to guide ethical
decisions?  131
Basic Concepts: Responsibility, Accountability, and Liability  131
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management Edward Snowden: Traitor or Protector of
Privacy?  132
Ethical Analysis  134 • Candidate Ethical Principles  134 • Professional
Codes of Conduct  135 • Some Real-World Ethical Dilemmas  135
4.3 Why do contemporary information systems technology and the Internet
pose challenges to the protection of individual privacy and intellectual
property?  136
Information Rights: Privacy and Freedom in the Internet Age  136 •
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology Big Data Gets Personal: Behavioral
Targeting  141
Property Rights: Intellectual Property  144
4.4 How have information systems affected laws for establishing accountability,
liability, and the quality of everyday life?   148
viii Contents

Computer-Related Liability Problems  148 • System Quality: Data

Quality and System Errors  149 • Quality of Life: Equity, Access,
and Boundaries  150
Review Summary  157 • Key Terms  157 • Review Questions  158 •
Discussion Questions  158
Hands-On MIS Projects  159
Management Decision Problems  159 • Achieving Operational
Excellence: Creating a Simple Blog  159 • Improving Decision
Making: Analyzing Web Browser Privacy  159
Collaboration and Teamwork:  160
◆
◆Case Study: Facebook Privacy: There Is No Privacy  160
◆◆References: 164

Part Two Information Technology Infrastructure  165

Chapter 5 IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies  166
◆
◆Opening Case: Portugal Telecom Offers IT Infrastructure for Sale  167
5.1 What is IT infrastructure and what are the stages and drivers of IT
infrastructure evolution?  169
Defining IT Infrastructure  170 • Evolution of IT
Infrastructure  171 • Technology Drivers of Infrastructure
Evolution  175
5.2 What are the components of IT infrastructure?  180
Computer Hardware Platforms  180 • Operating System
Platforms  182 • Enterprise Software Applications  183 • Data
Management and Storage  183 • Networking/Telecommunications
Platforms  184 • Internet Platforms  184 • Consulting and System
Integration Services  184
5.3 What are the current trends in computer hardware
platforms?  185
The Mobile Digital Platform  185 • Consumerization of IT and
BYOD  185 •
◆
◆Interactive Session: Technology Wearable Computers Go to Work  186
Quantum Computing  188 • Virtualization  188 • Cloud
Computing  188
◆
◆Interactive Session: Organizations Is It Time for Cloud Computing?  191
Green Computing  193 • High-Performance and Power-Saving
Processors  193
5.4 What are the current trends in computer software platforms?  194
Linux and Open Source Software  194 • Software for the Web: Java,
HTML, and HTML5  194 • Web Services and Service-Oriented
Architecture  195 • Software Outsourcing and Cloud Services  197
5.5 What are the challenges of managing IT infrastructure and
management solutions?  200
 Contentsix

Dealing with Platform and Infrastructure Change  200 • Management and

Governance  201 • Making Wise Infrastructure Investments  201
Review Summary  204 • Key Terms  205 • Review Questions  206 • Discussion
Questions  206
Hands-On MIS Projects  207
Management Decision Problems  207 • Improving Decision Making: Using
a Spreadsheet to Evaluate Hardware and Software Options  207 • Improving
Decision Making: Using Web Research to Budget for a Sales Conference  207
Collaboration and Teamwork:  208
◆Case
◆ Study: The Pleasures and Pitfalls of BYOD  209
◆References:
◆ 212

Chapter 6 Foundations of Business Intelligence: Databases and

Information Management  214
◆Opening
◆ Case: Better Data Management Helps the Toronto Globe and Mail Reach
Its Customers  215
6.1 What are the problems of managing data resources in a traditional file
environment?  218
File Organization Concepts  218 • Problems with the Traditional File
Environment  218
6.2 What are the major capabilities of database management systems (DBMS)
and why is a relational DBMS so powerful?  221
Database Management Systems  221 • Capabilities of Database Management
Systems  226 • Designing Databases  227
6.3 What are the principal tools and technologies for accessing information
from databases to improve business performance and decision making?  230
The Challenge of Big Data  230 • Business Intelligence Infrastructure  231
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology Driving ARI Fleet Management with Real-Time
Analytics  233
Analytical Tools: Relationships, Patterns, Trends  235 • Databases and the
Web  238
6.4 Why are information policy, data administration, and data quality assurance
essential for managing the firm’s data resources?  240
Establishing an Information Policy  240 • Ensuring Data Quality  241
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management American Water Keeps Data Flowing  243
Review Summary  244 • Key Terms  245 • Review Questions  246 • Discussion
Questions  247
Hands-On MIS Projects  247
Management Decision Problems  247 • Achieving Operational Excellence:
Building a Relational Database for Inventory Management  247 • Improving
Decision Making: Searching Online Databases for Overseas Business
Resources  248
Collaboration and Teamwork:  248
◆Case
◆ Study: Does Big Data Bring Big Rewards?  249
◆References:
◆ 252
x Contents

Chapter 7 Telecommunications, the Internet, and Wireless

Technology  254
◆Opening
◆ Case: Wireless Technology Makes Dundee Precious Metals Good as
Gold  255
7.1 What are the principal components of telecommunications networks and
key networking technologies?  257
Networking and Communication Trends  257 • What is a Computer
Network?  258 • Key Digital Networking Technologies  260
7.2 What are the different types of networks?  263
Signals: Digital vs. Analog  263 • Types of Networks  264 • Transmission
Media and Transmission Speed  265
7.3 How do the Internet and Internet technology work and how do they
support communication and e-business?  266
What Is the Internet?  266 • Internet Addressing and Architecture  267 •
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations The Battle Over Net Neutrality  270
Internet Services and Communication Tools  272
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management Monitoring Employees on Networks:
Unethical or Good Business?  275
The Web  277
7.4 What are the principal technologies and standards for wireless networking,
communication, and Internet access?  286
Cellular Systems  287 • Wireless Computer Networks and Internet
Access  287 • RFID and Wireless Sensor Networks  290
Review Summary  293 • Key Terms  294 • Review Questions  294 • Discussion
Questions  295
Hands-On MIS Projects  295
Management Decision Problems  295 • Improving Decision Making:
Using Spreadsheet Software to Evaluate Wireless Services  295 •
Achieving Operational Excellence: Using Web Search Engines for Business
Research  296
Collaboration and Teamwork:  296
◆Case
◆ Study: Google, Apple, and Facebook Struggle for Your Internet
Experience  297
◆References:
◆ 300

Chapter 8 Securing Information Systems  302

◆Opening
◆ Case: The 21st Century Bank Heist  303
8.1 Why are information systems vulnerable to destruction, error, and
abuse?  305
Why Systems Are Vulnerable  306 • Malicious Software: Viruses, Worms,
Trojan Horses, and Spyware  308 • Hackers and Computer Crime  311
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management Target Becomes the Target for Massive Data
Theft  315
Internal Threats: Employees  317 • Software Vulnerability  317
 Contentsxi

8.2 What is the business value of security and control?  318

Legal and Regulatory Requirements for Electronic Records
Management  319 • Electronic Evidence and Computer Forensics  320
8.3 What are the components of an organizational framework for security and
control?  321
Information Systems Controls  321 • Risk Assessment  322 • Security
Policy  323 • Disaster Recovery Planning and Business Continuity
Planning  324 • The Role of Auditing  325
8.4 What are the most important tools and technologies for safeguarding
information resources?  325
Identity Management and Authentication  325 • Firewalls, Intrusion
Detection Systems, and Antivirus Software  327 • Securing Wireless
Networks  330 • Encryption and Public Key Infrastructure  330 • Ensuring
System Availability  332 • Security Issues for Cloud Computing and the
Mobile Digital Platform  333 • Ensuring Software Quality  334
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology BYOD: It’s Not So Safe  335
Review Summary  337 • Key Terms  337 • Review Questions  338 • Discussion
Questions  339
Hands-On MIS Projects  339
Management Decision Problems  339 • Improving Decision Making:
Using Spreadsheet Software to Perform a Security Risk Assessment  340 •
Improving Decision Making: Evaluating Security Outsourcing Services  340
Collaboration and Teamwork:  340
◆Case
◆ Study: The Looming Threat of Cyberwarfare  341
◆References:
◆ 344

Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age  345

Chapter 9 Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy:
Enterprise Applications 346
◆Opening
◆ Case: ACH Food Companies Transforms Its Business with Enterprise
Systems  347
9.1 How do enterprise systems help businesses achieve operational
excellence?  349
What Are Enterprise Systems?  350 • Enterprise Software  351 • Business
Value of Enterprise Systems  352
9.2 How do supply chain management systems coordinate planning,
production, and logistics with suppliers?  353
The Supply Chain  353 • Information and Supply Chain Management  354 •
Supply Chain Management Software  355
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management Scotts Miracle-Gro Cultivates Supply Chain
Proficiency  357
Global Supply Chains and the Internet  359 • Business Value of Supply
Chain Management Systems  360
xii Contents

9.3 How do customer relationship management systems help firms achieve

customer intimacy?  361
What is Customer Relationship Management?  362 • Customer Relationship
Management Software  362 • Operational and Analytical CRM  366 •
Business Value of Customer Relationship Management Systems  367
9.4 What are the challenges posed by enterprise applications and how are
enterprise applications taking advantage of new technologies?  367
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations Graybar Goes for Customer Analytics  368
Enterprise Application Challenges  369 • Next Generation Enterprise
Applications  371
Review Summary  372 • Key Terms  373 • Review Questions  373 • Discussion
Questions  374
Hands-On MIS Projects  374
Management Decision Problems  374 • Improving Decision Making:
Using Database Software to Manage Customer Service Requests  375 •
Achieving Operational Excellence: Evaluating Supply Chain Management
Services  375
Collaboration and Teamwork:  375
◆Case
◆ Study: Vodafone: A Giant Global ERP Implementation  376
◆References:
◆ 378

Chapter 10 E-Commerce: Digital Markets, Digital Goods  380

◆Opening
◆ Case: Pinterest: How Much Is a Picture Worth? 381
10.1 What are the unique features of e-commerce, digital markets, and digital
goods?  383
E-Commerce Today  384 • The New E-Commerce: Social, Mobile, Local  385
• Why E-Commerce Is Different  387 • Key Concepts in E-Commerce:
Digital Markets and Digital Goods in a Global Marketplace  390
10.2 What are the principal e-commerce business and revenue models?  394
Types of E-commerce  394 • E-commerce Business Models  394 •
E-Commerce Revenue Models  397
10.3 How has e-commerce transformed marketing?  399
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations Can Pandora Succeed with Freemium?  400
Behavioral Targeting  402 • Social E-commerce and Social Network
Marketing  405
10.4 How has e-commerce affected business-to-business transactions?  408
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)  409 • New Ways of B2B Buying and
Selling  410
10.5 What is the role of m-commerce in business and what are the most
important m-commerce applications?  412
Location-based Services and Applications  412
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology Will Mobile Technology Put Orbitz in the
Lead?  414
Other mobile commerce services  415
 Contentsxiii

10.6 What issues must be addressed when building an e-commerce

presence?  416
Develop an E-commerce Presence Map  416 • Develop a Timeline:
Milestones  417
Review Summary  418 • Key Terms  419 • Review Questions  420 • Discussion
Questions  420
Hands-On MIS Projects  420
Management Decision Problems  420 • Improving Decision Making: Using
Spreadsheet Software to Analyze a Dot-Com Business  421 • Achieving
Operational Excellence: Evaluating E-Commerce Hosting Services  421
Collaboration and Teamwork:  421
◆Case
◆ Study: Cultivating Customers the Social Way  422
◆References:
◆ 425

Chapter 11 Managing Knowledge  426

◆Opening
◆ Case: Jaguar Land Rover Transforms with New Design and
Manufacturing Technology  427
11.1 What is the role of knowledge management systems in business?  429
Important Dimensions of Knowledge  430 • The Knowledge Management
Value Chain  431 • Types of Knowledge Management Systems  434
11.2 What types of systems are used for enterprise-wide knowledge management
and how do they provide value for businesses?  435
Enterprise Content Management Systems  435 • Locating and Sharing
Expertise  437 • Learning Management Systems  437
11.3 What are the major types of knowledge work systems and how do they
provide value for firms?  438
Knowledge Workers and Knowledge Work  438 • Requirements of
Knowledge Work Systems  438 • Examples of Knowledge Work Systems  439
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology Is 3-D Printing a Game-Changer?  440
11.4 What are the business benefits of using intelligent techniques for
knowledge management?  442
Capturing Knowledge: Expert Systems  443 • Organizational Intelligence:
Case-Based Reasoning  446 • Fuzzy Logic Systems  446 • Machine
Learning  448
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations Facial Recognition Systems: Another Threat
to Privacy?  451
Intelligent Agents  453 • Hybrid AI Systems  455
Review Summary  455 • Key Terms  456 • Review Questions  456 • Discussion
Questions  457
Hands-On MIS Projects  457
Management Decision Problems  457 • Improving Decision Making:
Building a Simple Expert System for Retirement Planning  458 • Improving
Decision Making: Using Intelligent Agents for Comparison Shopping  458
Collaboration and Teamwork:  458
◆Case
◆ Study: What’s Up with IBM’s Watson?  459
◆References:
◆ 462
xiv Contents

Chapter 12 Enhancing Decision Making  464

◆Opening
◆ Case: Germany Wins the World Cup with Big Data at its Side  465
12.1 What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making
process work? How do information systems support the activities of
managers and management decision making?  467
Business Value of Improved Decision Making  468 • Types of Decisions  468 •
The Decision-Making Process  470 • Managers and Decision Making in the
Real World  471 • High-Velocity Automated Decision Making  474
12.2 How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision
making?  474
What is Business Intelligence?  475 • The Business Intelligence
Environment  475 • Business Intelligence and Analytics Capabilities  477 •
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology Big Data Make Cities Smarter  480
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management America’s Cup: The Tension between
Technology and Human Decision Makers  483
Management Strategies for Developing BI and BA Capabilities  485
12.3 How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use
business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping
people working in a group make decisions more efficiently?  486
Decision Support for Operational and Middle Management  486 • Decision
Support for Senior Management: Balanced Scorecard and Enterprise
Performance Management Methods  488 • Group Decision-Support Systems
(GDSS)  490
Review Summary  491 • Key Terms  492 • Review Questions  492 • Discussion
Questions  493
Hands-On MIS Projects  493
Management Decision Problems  493 • Improving Decision Making: Using
Pivot Tables to Analyze Sales Data  493 • Improving Decision Making: Using
a Web-Based DSS for Retirement Planning  494
Collaboration and Teamwork:  494
◆Case
◆ Study: How Much Does Data-Driven Planting Help Farmers?  495
◆References:
◆ 498

Part Four Building and Managing Systems  499

Chapter 13 Building Information Systems  500
◆Opening
◆ Case: New Systems Help Work Flow More Smoothly at Moen  501
13.1 How does building new systems produce organizational change?  503
Systems Development and Organizational Change 503 • Business Process
Redesign  505
13.2 What are the core activities in the systems development process?  509
Systems Analysis  509
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations Datacard Group Redesigns the Way It
Works  510
Systems Design  512 • Completing the Systems Development Process  513
 Contentsxv

13.3 What are the principal methodologies for modeling and designing
systems?  515
Structured Methodologies  515 • Object-Oriented Development  518 •
Computer-Aided Software Engineering  519
13.4 What are alternative methods for building information systems?  520
Traditional Systems Life Cycle  520 • Prototyping  521 • End-User
Development  523 • Application Software Packages and Outsourcing  524
13.5 What are new approaches for system building in the digital firm era?  526
Rapid Application Development (RAD)  527 • Component-Based
Development and Web Services  527 • Mobile Application Development:
Designing for a Multi-Screen World  528
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Technology The Challenge of Mobile Application
Development  530
Review Summary  532 • Key Terms  533 • Review Questions  533 • Discussion
Questions  534
Hands-On MIS Projects  534
Management Decision Problems  534 • Improving Decision Making:
Using Database Software to Design a Customer System for Auto Sales  535
• Achieving Operational Excellence: Analyzing Web Site Design and
Information Requirements  536
Collaboration and Teamwork:  536
◆Case
◆ Study: SourceGas Goes for Better Workforce Scheduling Systems  536
◆References:
◆ 539

Chapter 14 Managing Projects  540

◆Opening
◆ Case: Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Wins with Sound Project
Management  541
14.1 What are the objectives of project management and why is it so essential in
developing information systems?  543
Runaway Projects and System Failure  543
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management New York’s CityTime: An IS Project Goes
Awry  545
Project Management Objectives  546
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations Britain’s National Health Service Jettisons
Choose and Book System  547
14.2 What methods can be used for selecting and evaluating information systems
projects and aligning them with the firm’s business goals?  549
Management Structure for Information Systems Projects  549 • Linking
Systems Projects to the Business Plan  550 • Information Requirements
and Key Performance Indicators  552 • Portfolio Analysis  552 • Scoring
Models  552
14.3 How can firms assess the business value of information systems?  553
Information System Cost and Benefits  553 • Real Options Pricing
Models  556 • Limitations of Financial Models  557
14.4 What are the principal risk factors in information systems projects, and how
can they be managed?  557
xvi Contents

Dimensions of Project Risk  557 • Change Management and the Concept

of Implementation  558 • Controlling Risk Factors  560 • Designing for the
Organization  563 • Project Management Software Tools  564
Review Summary  565 • Key Terms  566 • Review Questions  566 • Discussion
Questions  567
Hands-On MIS Projects  567
Management Decision Problems  567 • Improving Decision Making: Using
Spreadsheet Software for Capital Budgeting for a New CAD System  568 •
Improving Decision Making: Using Web Tools for Buying and Financing a
Home  568
Collaboration and Teamwork:  568
◆Case
◆ Study: A Shaky Start for Healthcare.Gov  569
◆References:
◆ 572

Chapter 15 Managing Global Systems  574

◆Opening
◆ Case: New Systems Help Fiat Become a Global Powerhouse  575
15.1 What major factors are driving the internationalization of business?  577
Developing an International Information Systems Architecture  578 •
The Global Environment: Business Drivers and Challenges  579 • State of
the Art  582
15.2 What are the alternative strategies for developing global businesses?  583
Global Strategies and Business Organization  583 • Global Systems to Fit the
Strategy  584 • Reorganizing the Business  585
15.3 What are the challenges posed by global information systems and
management solutions for these challenges?  586
A Typical Scenario: Disorganization on a Global Scale  586 • Global Systems
Strategy  587 • The Management Solution: Implementation  590
15.4 What are the issues and technical alternatives to be considered when
developing international information systems?  591
Computing Platforms and Systems Integration  591 • Connectivity  592 •
Software Localization  593
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Organizations E-Commerce Russian-Style  594
◆Interactive
◆ Session: Management South Korea’s Restricted Internet  596
Review Summary  597 • Key Terms  598 • Review Questions  598 • Discussion
Questions  599
Hands-On MIS Projects  599
Management Decision Problems  599 • Achieving Operational Excellence:
Building a Job Database and Web Page for an International Consulting
Firm  600 • Improving Decision Making: Conducting International
Marketing and Pricing Research  600
Collaboration and Teamwork:  600
◆Case
◆ Study: Unilever’s Push Toward Unified Global Systems  601
◆References:
◆ 604
Glossary G 1
Indexes I1
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Business Cases and interactive sessions
Here are some of the business firms you will find described in the cases and Interactive Sessions of this
book:

Chapter 1: Information Systems in Global Business Today

The San Francisco Giants Win Big with Information Technology
Meet the New Mobile Workers
UPS Competes Globally with Information Technology
Home Depot Renovates Itself with New Systems and Ways of Working

Chapter 2: Global E-Business and Collaboration

Social Networking Takes Off at Kluwer
Vail Ski Resorts Goes High-Tech for High Touch
Is Social Business Working Out?
Should a Computer Grade Your Essays?

Chapter 3: Information Systems, Organizations, and Strategy

Should T.J. Maxx Sell Online?
Nike Becomes a Technology Company
Identifying Market Niches in the Age of Big Data
Who’s The World’s Top Retailer? Walmart and Amazon Duke It Out

Chapter 4: Ethical and Social Issues in Information Systems

Content Pirates Sail the Web
Edward Snowden: Traitor or Protector of Privacy?
Big Data Gets Personal: Behavioral Targeting
Facebook Privacy: There Is No Privacy

Chapter 5: IT Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies

Portugal Telecom Offers IT Infrastructure for Sale
Wearable Computers Go to Work
Is It Time for Cloud Computing?
The Pleasures and Pitfalls of BYOD

Chapter 6: Foundations of Business Intelligence: Databases and Information Management

Better Data Management Helps the Toronto Globe and Mail Reach Its Customers
Driving ARI Fleet Management with Real-Time Analytics
American Water Keeps Data Flowing
Does Big Data Bring Big Rewards?

Chapter 7: Telecommunications, the Internet and Wireless Technology

Wireless Technology Makes Dundee Precious Metals Good as Gold
The Battle Over Net Neutrality
Monitoring Employees on Networks: Unethical or Good Business?
Google, Apple, and Facebook Struggle for Your Internet Experience
Chapter 8: Securing Information Systems
The 21st Century Bank Heist
Target Becomes the Target for Massive Data Theft
BYOD: It’s Not So Safe
The Looming Threat of Cyberwarfare

Chapter 9: Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications

ACH Food Companies Transforms Its Business with Enterprise Systems
Scotts Miracle-Gro Cultivates Supply Chain Proficiency
Graybar Goes for Customer Analytics
Vodafone: A Giant Global ERP Implementation

Chapter 10: E-Commerce: Digital Markets, Digital Goods

Pinterest: How Much Is a Picture Worth?
Can Pandora Succeed with Freemium?
Will Mobile Technology Put Orbitz in the Lead?
Cultivating Customers the Social Way

Chapter 11: Managing Knowledge

Jaguar Land Rover Transforms with New Design and Manufacturing Technology
Is 3-D Printing a Game-Changer?
Facial Recognition Systems: Another Threat to Privacy?
What’s Up with IBM’s Watson?

Chapter 12: Enhancing Decision Making

Germany Wins the World Cup with Big Data at Its Side
Big Data Make Cities Smarter
America’s Cup: The Tension between Technology and Human Decision Makers
How Much Does Data-Driven Planting Help Farmers?

Chapter 13: Building Information Systems

New Systems Help Work Flow More Smoothly at Moen
Datacard Group Redesigns the Way It Works
The Challenge of Mobile Application Development
SourceGas Goes for Better Workforce Scheduling Systems

Chapter 14: Managing Projects

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Wins with Sound Project Management
New York’s CityTime: An IS Project Goes Awry
Britain’s National Health Service Jettisons Choose and Book System
A Shaky Start for Healthcare.Gov

Chapter 15: Managing Global Systems

New Systems Help Fiat Become a Global Powerhouse
E-Commerce Russian-Style
South Korea’s Restricted Internet
Unilever’s Push Toward Unified Global Systems
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
We wrote this book for business school students who wanted an in-depth look at
how today's business firms use information technologies and systems to achieve
corporate objectives. Information systems are one of the major tools available
to business managers for achieving operational excellence, d ­ eveloping new
products and services, improving decision making, and achieving c­ ompetitive
advantage. Students will find here the most up-to-date and comprehensive
overview of information systems used by business firms today. After ­reading
this book, we expect students will be able to participate in, and even lead,
­management discussions of information systems for their firms.
When interviewing potential employees, business firms often look for new
hires who know how to use information systems and technologies for ­achieving
bottom-line business results. Regardless of whether you are an accounting,
finance, management, operations management, marketing, or information
­systems major, the knowledge and information you find in this book will be
valuable throughout your business career.

What’s New in This Editio

Currency
The 14th edition features all new opening, closing and Interactive Session
cases. The text, figures, tables, and cases have been updated through October
2014 with the latest sources from industry and MIS research.

New features
• Assisted-graded Writing Questions at the end of each chapter with
­prebuilt grading rubrics and computerized essay scoring help instructors
prepare, deliver, and grade writing assignments.
• New Video Cases collection: 39 video cases (2 or more per chapter)
and 18 additional instructional videos covering key concepts and
­experiences in the MIS world.
• Learning Tracks: 47 Learning Tracks for additional coverage of ­selected
topics.
• Video Cases and Chapter Cases are listed at the beginning of each
chapter.

New topics
• Social, Mobile, Local: New e-commerce content in Chapter 10 describ-
ing how social tools, mobile technology, and location-based services are
­transforming marketing and advertising.


xxi

xxii Preface

• Big Data: Chapter 6 on Databases and Information Management updated

to provide in-depth coverage of Big Data and new data management
­technologies, including Hadoop, in-memory computing, non-relational
databases, and analytic platforms.
• Cloud Computing: Updated coverage of cloud computing in Chapter
5 (IT Infrastructure), with more detail on types of cloud services, private
and public clouds, hybrid clouds, managing cloud services, and a new
Interactive Session on using cloud services. Cloud computing also covered
in Chapter 6 (databases in the cloud); Chapter 8 (cloud security); Chapter
9 (cloud-based CRM and ERP); Chapter 10 (e-commerce); and Chapter 13
(cloud-based ­systems development ).
• Social Business: Extensive coverage of social business, introduced in
Chapter 2 and discussed in throughout the text. Detailed discussions of
enterprise (internal corporate) social networking as well as social network-
ing in e-commerce.
• Consumerization of IT and BYOD
• Internet of Things
• Visual Web
• Location analytics
• Location-based services (geosocial, geoadvertising, geoinformation
services)
• Building an e-commerce presence
• Wearable computers
• Mobile application development, mobile and native apps
• Operational intelligence
• Expanded coverage of business analytics including big data analytics
• Software-defined networking
• 3-D printing
• Quantum computing
• Two-factor authentication
• Ransomware
• Chief data officer
• MOOCs

What’s New in MIS?

Plenty. In fact, there’s a whole new world of doing business using new
­technologies for managing and organizing. What makes the MIS field the most
exciting area of study in schools of business is the continuous change in technol-
ogy, management, and business processes. (Chapter 1 describes these changes
in more detail.)
IT Innovations. A continuing stream of information technology innovations
is transforming the traditional business world. Examples include the emergence
of cloud ­computing, the growth of a mobile digital business platform based on
­smartphones and tablet computers, and not least, the use of social networks by
managers to achieve business objectives. Most of these changes have occurred
in the last few years. These innovations enabling entrepreneurs and innovative
 Preface xxiii

traditional firms to create new products and services, develop new business
models, and transform the day-to-day conduct of business. In the process, some
old businesses, even industries, are being destroyed while new businesses are
springing up.
New Business Models. For instance, the emergence of online video stores like
Netflix for streaming, and Apple iTunes for downloading, has forever changed
how premium video is distributed, and even created. Netflix in 2013 attracted
30 million subscribers to its DVD rental and streaming movie b
­ usiness. Netflix
now accounts for 90 ­percent of streaming premium movies and TV shows,
and consumes an estimated 33 percent of Internet bandwidth in the United
States. Netflix has moved into premium TV show production with House of
Cards, and Arrested Development, challenging cable networks like HBO, and
potentially disrupting the cable channels dominance of TV show production.
Apple’s iTunes now accounts for 67 percent of movie and TV show downloads
and has struck deals with major Hollywood studios for recent movies and TV
shows. A growing trickle of viewers are unplugging from cable and using only
the Internet for entertainment.
E-commerce Expanding. E-commerce will generate an estimated $470
­billion in revenues in 2014, and is estimated to grow to nearly $700 billion in
2018. Amazon's revenues grew 21 percent to $74 billion in 2013, despite a slowly
expanding economy growing at 2 percent annually, while offline retail grew by
only 5 percent. E-commerce is changing how firms design, produce and deliver
their products and services. E-commerce has reinvented itself again, disrupting
the traditional marketing and advertising industry and putting major media
and content firms in jeopardy. Facebook and other social networking sites such
as YouTube, Twitter, and Tumblr, exemplify the new face of e-commerce in the
21st Century. They sell services. When we think of e-commerce we tend to
think of a selling physical products. While this iconic vision of e-commerce is
still very powerful and the fastest growing form of retail in the U.S., growing
up alongside is a whole new value stream based on selling services, not goods.
It’s a services model of e-commerce. Growth in social commerce is spurred by
­powerful growth of the mobile platform: 60 ­percent of Facebook’s users access
the service from mobile phones and tablets. Information systems and technolo-
gies are the foundation of this new services-based e-commerce.
Management Changes. Likewise, the management of business firms has
changed: With new mobile smartphones, high-speed wireless Wi-Fi networks,
and wireless laptop ­computers, remote salespeople on the road are only seconds
away from their m ­ anagers’ questions and oversight. Managers on the move are
in direct, continuous ­contact with their employees. The growth of enterprise-
wide information ­systems with extraordinarily rich data means that manag-
ers no longer operate in a fog of ­confusion, but instead have online, nearly
instant, access to the really important information they need for accurate and
timely decisions. In addition to their public uses on the Web, wikis and blogs
are becoming important corporate tools for communication, collaboration, and
information sharing.
Changes in Firms and Organizations: Compared to industrial organizations
of the previous century, new fast-growing 21st Century business firms put less
emphasis on ­hierarchy and structure, and more emphasis on employees taking
on multiple roles and tasks. They put greater emphasis on competency and skills
rather than ­position in the hierarchy. They emphasize higher speed and more
accurate decision making based on data and analysis. They are more aware of
xxiv Preface

changes in technology, consumer attitudes, and culture. They use social media to
enter into conversations with consumers, and demonstrate a greater w ­ illingness
to listen to consumers, in part because they have no choice. They show better
understanding of the importance of i­nformation technology in c­ reating and
­managing business firms and other o ­ rganizations. To the extent organizations
and business firms d­ emonstrate these characteristics, they are 21st Century
­digital firms.

The 14th Edition: The Comprehensive Solution

for the MIS Curriculum
Since its inception, this text has helped to define the MIS course around the
globe. This edition continues to be authoritative, but is also more customizable,
flexible, and geared to meeting the needs of different colleges, universities, and
individual instructors. Many of its learning tools are now available in digital
form. This book is now part of a complete learning package that includes the
core text, Video Case Package, and Learning Tracks.
The core text consists of 15 chapters with hands-on projects covering the
most essential topics in MIS. An important part of the core text is the Video
Case Study and Instructional Video Package: 39 video case studies (2-3 per
chapter) plus 18 instructional videos that illustrate business uses of information
systems, explain new technologies, and explore concepts. Videos are keyed to
the topics of each chapter.
In addition, for students and instructors who want to go deeper into selected
topics, there are 47 online Learning Tracks that cover a variety of MIS topics in
greater depth.

The CORE Text

The core text provides an overview of fundamental MIS concepts using an
integrated framework for describing and analyzing information systems.
This framework shows information systems composed of people, organiza-
tion, and technology elements and is reinforced in student projects and case
studies.

Chapter Organization
Each chapter contains the following elements:
• A Chapter Outline based on Learning Objectives
• Lists of all the Case Studies and Video Cases for each chapter
• A chapter-opening case describing a real-world organization to establish
the theme and importance of the chapter
• A diagram analyzing the opening case in terms of the management,
­organization, and technology model used throughout the text
• Two Interactive Sessions with Case Study Questions
• A Review Summary keyed to the Student Learning Objectives
• A list of Key Terms that students can use to review concepts
• Review questions for students to test their comprehension of chapter
material
• Discussion questions raised by the broader themes of the chapter.
 Preface xxv

A diagram accompanying
each chapter-opening case
graphically illustrates how
management, organization,
and technology elements work
together to create an informa-
tion system solution to the
business challenges discussed
in the case.

• A series of Hands-on MIS Projects consisting of two Management

Decision Problems, a hands-on application software project, and a project
to develop Internet skills
• A Collaboration and Teamwork Project to develop teamwork and
­presentation skills, with options for using open source collaboration tools
• A chapter-ending case study for students to apply chapter concepts
• Two assisted-graded writing questions with prebuilt grading rubrics
• Chapter references

Key features
We have enhanced the text to make it more interactive, leading-edge, and
appealing to both students and instructors. The features and learning tools are
described in the following sections:

B u s i n e s s - D r i v e n w i t h R e a l - Wo r l d B u s i n e s s C a s e s a n d
Examples
The text helps students see the direct connection between information s­ ystems
and business performance. It describes the main business objectives ­driving the
use of information systems and technologies in corporations all over the world:
operational excellence; new products and services; customer and ­supplier
­intimacy; improved decision making; competitive advantage; and s­urvival.
In-text examples and case studies show students how specific companies use
information systems to achieve these objectives.
We use only current (2014) examples from business and public organiza-
tions throughout the text to illustrate the important concepts in each chapter.
All the case studies describe companies or organizations that are familiar to
­students, such as The San Francisco Giants, Facebook, Walmart, Google, Target,
and Home Depot.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 CHAPTER VII
IS THE UNIVERSE INFINITE?
Kant and the number of the stars—Extinct stars and dark
nebulæ—Extent and aspect of the astronomical universe
—Different kinds of universes—Poincaré’s calculation—
Physical definition of the infinite—The infinite and the
unlimited—Stability and curvature of cosmic space-time—
Real and virtual stars—Diameter of the Einsteinian
universe—The hypothesis of globes of ether.

Is the universe infinite? It is a question that men have asked in all

ages, though they have not defined its meaning very accurately. The
theory of Relativity enables us to approach it from a new and subtle
point of view.
Kant—the genial grumbler who found it so horribly monotonous
to see the same sun shining, and the same spring blossoming, every
year—took his stand on metaphysical considerations when he
affirmed that space is infinite, and is sown with similar stars in all
parts.
It is, perhaps, better to confine ourselves in such a matter to the
results of recent observation, and close the doors of our debating-
room against the fog of metaphysics. Indeed, the latter would compel
us to define pure space, about which we know nothing—not even if
there is such a thing.
The proof that we know little about it is the fact that the
Newtonians believe in it, while the Einsteinians regard it merely as
an inseparable attribute of material things. They define space by
matter; and they then have to define the latter. Descartes, on the
contrary, defined matter in terms of extension, which is the same
thing as space. It is a vicious circle. It is therefore better to leave
Kant’s metaphysical arguments out of our discussion, and adhere
strictly to experience, to what is measurable.
To simplify matters, we will admit the reality of this continuum in
which the stars float, which is traversed by their radiations, which
common sense calls space. If there were stars everywhere—if they
were infinite in number—there would also be space and matter
everywhere. Newtonians might find this a triumph equally with
Einsteinians. Those who believe in absolute space and those who
deny it—Absolutists and Relativists—would equally rejoice.
It would be fortunate if astronomical observation were to show
that the number of the stars is infinite, and thus the holders of
contrary opinions could both chant a victory in their writings. But
what does astronomical observation actually report?
There are those who deny a priori that the number of the stars
can be infinite. That number, they said, is capable of increase; it is
therefore not infinite, because nothing can be added to the infinite.
The argument is specious, but unsound; although Voltaire himself
was seduced by it. One need not be a great mathematician to see
that it is always possible to add to an infinite number, and that there
are infinite quantities which are themselves infinitely small in
comparison with others. Let us get on to the facts.
If the stellar universe has no limits, there is no visual line drawn
from the earth to the heavens which will not encounter one of the
stars. The astronomer Olbers has said that the whole nocturnal sky
would in that case shine with the brilliance of the sun. But the total
brilliance of all the stars put together is only three thousand times
greater than that of a star of the first magnitude, or thirty million times
less than the light of the sun.
But that proves nothing, as Olbers’ argument is wrong, for two
reasons. On the one hand, there are necessarily a good many
extinct or dark stars in the heavens. Some of them have been
closely studied, even weighed. They betray their existence by
periodically eclipsing brighter stars, with which they revolve. On the
other hand, it was discovered some time ago that celestial space is
occupied over large stretches by dark gaseous masses and clouds
of cosmic dust, which absorb the light of more distant stars. We thus
see that the existence of an infinite number of stars is quite
compatible with the poorness of the light of the heavens at night.

Now let us put on our spectacles—our telescopes, I mean—and

turn from the province of possibility to that of reality, and we shall see
that recent astronomical observation has yielded a number of
remarkable facts which lead irresistibly to the following conclusions.
The number of the stars is not, as was long supposed, limited by
the range of our telescopes alone. As we get further away from the
sun, the number of stars contained in a unity of space, the frequence
of the stars, the density of the stellar population, do not remain
uniform, but decrease in proportion as we approach the limits of the
Milky Way.
The Milky Way is a vast archipelago of stars, our sun lying in its
central region. This mass of stars, to which we belong, has, roughly,
the shape of a watch-case, the thickness being only about half the
width of the structure. Light, which travels from the earth to the moon
in little over a second, from the earth to the sun in eight minutes, and
from the earth to the nearest star in three years, needs at least
30,000 years—three hundred centuries—to pass from end to end of
the Milky Way.
The number of stars in the Milky Way is something between 500
and 1,500 millions. It is a small number: scarcely equal to the human
population of the earth, much smaller than the number of molecules
of iron in a pin’s head.
In addition to these we have discovered dense masses of stars,
such as the Magellanic Clouds, the cluster in Hercules, and so on,
which seem to belong to the fringes of our Milky Way—to be suburbs
of it, so to say. These suburbs seem to stretch a considerable
distance, particularly on one side of the Milky Way. The furthest
away is, perhaps, not less than 200,000 light-years from us.
Beyond these, space seems to be deserted, devoid of stars over
expanses which are enormous in comparison with the dimensions of
our galactic universe as we have described it. What is beyond this?
Well, beyond this we find those strange bodies, the spiral
nebulæ, lying like silver snails in the garden of the stars. We have
discovered several hundred thousand of them. Some astronomers
believe that these spiral masses of stars may be annexes of the
Milky Way, reduced models of it. Most astronomers incline to think,
for very good reason, that the spiral nebulæ are systems like the
Milky Way, and comparable to it in their dimensions. If the former
view is correct, the entire system of stars accessible to our
telescopes could be traversed by light in some hundreds of
thousands of years. On the second hypothesis the dimensions of the
stellar universe to which we belong must be multiplied by ten, and
light would take at least millions of years to traverse it.
On the first view the entire stellar universe, in so far as it is
accessible to us, consists of the Milky Way and its annexes: that is to
say, a local concentration of stars, beyond which we can see
nothing. The stellar universe is, in other words, practically limited, or
at least finite.
On the second view our Milky Way is simply one of the myriads of
spiral universes we see. The spiral nebula (with its hundreds of
millions of stars) plays the same part in this vaster universe that a
star has in the Milky Way. We have the same problem as before, but
on a vaster scale: if the Milky Way consists of a concentration of a
finite number of stars, as observation proves, does the accessible
universe consist of a finite number of spiral nebulæ?
Experience has as yet not pronounced on this point. But in my
opinion it is probable that, when our instruments are powerful
enough to tackle such a problem—in several centuries, perhaps—
science will answer “yes.”
If it were otherwise, if the spiral nebulæ were fairly evenly
distributed as we go outward, we can show by calculation that,
attraction being in inverse proportion to the square of the distance,
gravitation would have an infinite intensity in such a universe, even
in the part in which we live. But this is not the case. It follows that,
either the attraction of two masses decreases at great distances
rather more rapidly than in inverse proportion to the square of the
distance (which is not wholly impossible), or that the number of
stellar systems and stars is finite. Personally I favour the second
hypothesis, but it is incapable of proof. In such matters there is
always an alternative, always a way of escaping in accordance with
one’s bias, and there is really nothing that compels us to say that the
stars are finite in number.

Starting from the mean value, as it has been observed, of the

proper motions of the nearer stars, Henri Poincaré has calculated
that the total number of stars in the Milky Way must be about one
thousand million. The figure agrees fairly well with the results of the
star-gauges effected by astronomers by means of photographic
plates.
He has also shown that the proper motions of stars would be
greater if there were many more stars than those which we see.
Thus Poincaré’s calculations are opposed to the hypothesis of an
indefinite extension of the stellar universe, as the number of stars
“counted” agrees fairly closely with the number “calculated.” We
should add, however, that these calculations prove nothing if the law
of attraction is not quite the inverse proportion of the square at
enormous distances.
On the other hand, if the universe is finite in space as it is
conceived in classic science, the light of the stars, and isolated stars
themselves, would gradually drift away into the infinite, and the
cosmos would disappear. Our mind resents this consequence, and
astronomical observation discovers no trace whatever of such a
dislocation.
In a word, in the space of the “Absolutists” the stellar universe
can only be infinite if the law of the square of distances is not quite
exact for very remote masses; and it cannot be finite except on the
condition that it is ephemeral in point of time.
For Newton, indeed, the stellar universe might be finite within an
infinite universe, because in his view there can be space without
matter. For Einstein, on the contrary, the universe and the material or
stellar universe are one and the same thing, because there is no
space without matter or energy.

These difficulties and obscurities disappear in great part when we

consider space, or space-time, from the Einsteinian standpoint of
General Relativity.
What is the meaning of the sentence, “The universe is infinite”?
From either the Einsteinian, the Newtonian, or the Pragmatist point
of view it means: If I go straight ahead, going on eternally, I shall
never get back to my starting-point.
Is it possible? Newton is compelled to say yes, because in his
view space stretches out indefinitely, independent of the bodies that
occupy part of it, whether the number of the stars is or is not limited.
But Einstein says no. For the Relativist the universe is not
necessarily infinite. Is it therefore limited, fenced in by some sort of
railings? No. It is not limited.
A thing may be unlimited without being infinite. For instance, a
man who moves on the surface of the earth may travel over it
indefinitely in every direction without ever reaching a limit. The
surface of the earth, thus regarded, or the surface of any sphere
whatsoever, is therefore both finite and unlimited. Well, we have only
to apply to space of three dimensions what we find in two-
dimensional space (a spherical surface), to see how the universe
may be at one and the same time finite and unlimited.
We saw that, in consequence of gravitation, the Einsteinian
universe is not Euclidean, but curved. It is, as we said, difficult, if not
impossible, to visualise a curvature of space. But the difficulty exists
only for our imagination, which is restricted by our life of sense, not
for our reason, which goes farther and higher. It is one of the
commonest of errors to suppose that the wings of the imagination
are more powerful than those of reason. If one wants proof of the
contrary, one has only to compare what the most poetic of ancient
thinkers made of the starry heavens with what modern science tells
about the universe.
Here is the way to approach our problem. Let us not notice for
the moment the rather irregular distribution of stars in our stellar
system, and take it as fairly homogeneous. What is the condition
required for this distribution of the stars under the influence of
gravitation to remain stable? Calculation gives us this reply: The
curvature of space must be constant, and such that space is bent
like a spherical surface.
Rays of light from the stars may travel eternally, indefinitely,
round this unlimited, yet finite, universe. If the cosmos is spherical in
this way, we can even imagine the rays which emanate from a star—
the sun, for instance—crossing the universe and converging at the
diametrically opposite point of it.
In such case we might expect to see stars at opposite points in
the heavens, of which one would be the image, the spectre, the
“double” of the other—in the sense which the ancient Egyptians gave
to the word. Properly speaking, this “double” would represent, not
the generating star as it is, but as it was at the time when it emitted
the rays which form the double, or millions of years earlier.
If we observe the original and the double star, the reality and the
mirage, simultaneously from some remote part of the stellar system,
such as our planet, we shall see a great difference between them,
since the “copy” will show us the original as it was thousands of
centuries before. It may, in fact, happen that the second star is more
brilliant than the first, because in the meantime the first has gradually
cooled, and may even be extinct.

It is improbable that we should find many of these phantom-stars,

or virtual stars, luminous and unreal daughters of heavy suns. The
reason is that the rays in their passage through the universe will
generally be diverted by the stars near which they pass.
Concentration or convergence of them at the antipodes of the real
star must be rare. Moreover, the rays are to some extent absorbed
by the cosmic stuff they meet in space. It is, however, not impossible
that the astronomers of the future may discover such phenomena. It
is, in fact, not impossible that we have already observed such things
without knowing it.
In any case, what observers have not done in the past they may
very well do in the future, thanks to the suggestions of the new
science. Possibly it is going to have a great effect on observational
astronomy and induce it to furnish brilliant new verifications of theory.
There may be astonishing results, unforeseen by our folly, of the new
conceptions, surpassing in their fantastic poetry the most romantic
constructions of the imagination. Reality, or at least the possible, is
rising to giddy heights that were far beyond the reach of the golden
wings of fantasy.
I spoke on a previous page of the millions of years which light
takes to travel round our curved universe. Starting from the fairly
well-ascertained value of the quantity of matter comprised in the
Milky Way, it is possible to calculate the curvature of the world and
its radius. We find that the radius has a value equal to at least
150,000,000 light-years.
It therefore takes light at least 900,000,000 years, at a speed of
186,000 miles a second, to travel round the universe, assuming that
it consists only of the Milky Way and its annexes. The figure is quite
consistent with the figures we get from astronomical observation for
the dimensions of the galactic system, and also with the much larger
figures which we find if we regard the spiral nebulæ as Milky Ways.
Thus for the Relativist the universe may be unlimited without
being infinite. As to the Pragmatist, who goes straight ahead—who
follows what he calls a straight line, or the path of light—he will get
back in the end to the body from which he started, provided that he
has time enough at his disposal. He will then say that, if that is the
nature of things, the universe is not infinite.
Hence the question of the infinity or finiteness of the universe can
be controlled by experience, and some day it will be possible to
prove whether the whole cosmos and space are Newtonian or
Einsteinian. Unfortunately, it will have to be a very long experience,
with various little practical difficulties to overcome.
We may therefore prefer not to commit ourselves without further
instructions. We may not feel ourselves obliged to choose between
the two conceptions, and we may leave the benefit of the doubt to
whichever of the two is false.

Moreover, there is perhaps a third issue: if not for the Pragmatist,

at least for the philosopher—I mean, seeing that in England physics
comes under the head of “Natural Philosophy,” for the physicist.
Here it is. If all the heavenly bodies we know belong to the Milky
Way, other and very remote universes may be inaccessible to us
because they are optically isolated from us; possibly by the
phenomena of the cosmic absorption of light, to which we have
already referred.
But this might also be due to something else which will, perhaps,
shock Relativists, but will seem to Newtonians quite possible. The
ether, the medium that transmits the luminous waves, and which
Einstein has ended by admitting once more (refusing, however, to
give it its familiar kinematic properties), and matter seem more and
more to be merely modalities. We explained this, on the strength of
the most recent physical discoveries, in a previous chapter. There is
nothing to prove that these two forms of substance are not always
associated.
Does this not give me the right to think that perhaps our whole
visible universe, our local concentration of matter, is only an isolated
clump or sphere of ether? If there is such a thing as absolute space
(which does not mean that it is accessible to us), it is independent of
ether as well as matter. In that case there would be vast empty
spaces, devoid of ether, all round our universe. Possibly other
universes palpitate beyond these; and for us such worlds would be
for ever as if they did not exist. No ray of knowledge would ever
reach us from them. Nothing could cross the black, dumb abysses
which environ our stellar island. Our glances are confined for ever
within this giant—yet too small—monad.
“Are there, then,” some will cry in astonishment, “things which
exist, yet we will never know them?” Naive pretension—to want to
embrace everything in a few cubic centimetres of grey brain-stuff!
 CHAPTER VIII
SCIENCE AND REALITY
The Einsteinian absolute—Revelation by science—
Discussion of the experimental bases of Relativity—Other
possible explanations—Arguments in favour of Lorentz’s
real contraction—Newtonian space may be distinct from
absolute space—The real is a privileged form of the
possible—Two attitudes in face of the unknown.

We approach the end of our work. Has reality, seen through the
prism of science, changed its aspect with the new theories? Yes,
certainly. The Relativist theory claims to have improved the
achromatism of the prism and by this means improved the picture it
gives us of the world.
Time and space, the two poles upon which the sphere of
empirical data turned, which were believed to be unshakeable, have
been dislodged from their strong positions. Instead of them Einstein
offers us the continuum in which beings and phenomena float: four-
dimensional space-time, in which space and time are yoked
together.
But this continuum is itself only a flabby form. It has no rigidity. It
adapts itself docilely to everything. There is nothing fixed, because
there is no definite point of reference by means of which we could
distribute phenomena; because on the shores of this great ocean in
which things float there are none left of those solid rings to which
mariners once fastened their vessels.
Up to this point the theory of Relativity well deserves its name.
But now, in spite of it and its very name, there rises something which
seems to have an independent and determined existence in the
external world, an objectivity, an absolute reality. This is the “Interval”
of events, which remains constant and invariable through all the
fluctuations of things, however infinitely varied may be the points of
view and standards of reference.
From this datum, which, speaking philosophically, strangely
shares the intrinsic qualities with which the older absolute time and
absolute space were so much reproached, the whole constructive
part of Relativity, the part which leads to the splendid verifications we
described, is derived.
Thus the theory of Relativity seems to deny its origin, even its
very name, in all that makes it a useful monument of science, a
constructive tool, an instrument of discovery. It is a theory of a new
absolute: the Interval represented by the geodetics of the quadri-
dimensional universe. It is a new absolute theory. So true is it that
even in science you can build nothing on pure negation. For creation
you need affirmation.
The theory of Relativity has won brilliant victories, crowned by the
decisive sanction of facts. We have given some astonishing
instances of these in our earlier chapters. But to say that the theory
is true because it has predicted phenomena that were afterwards
verified would be to judge it from too narrowly Pragmatist a
standpoint. It would also—there is real danger in this—be to close
against the mind other paths where there are still flowers to cull. We
will not do that.
It is therefore important, in spite of its successes—nay, on
account of them—to turn the light of criticism upon the foundations of
the new doctrine. Even Cæsar, as he mounted the Capitol, had to
listen to the jokes of the soldiers round his chariot and lower his
pride. The theory of Relativity also, as it advances in all its
magnificence along the Triumphal Way, must learn that it has its
limits, perhaps its weaknesses.

But before we go further into it, before we turn the raw light upon
it, let us make one observation.
 Whatever be the obscurities of physical theories, whatever be the
eternal and fated imperfection of science, one thing may be
positively laid down here: scientific truths are the best established,
the most certain, the least doubtful of all the truths we can know in
regard to the external world. If science cannot reveal to us the nature
of things in its entirety, there is nothing else that can do it as well.
The truths of sentiment, of faith, of intuition, have nothing to do with
those of science as long as they remain strictly truths of the interior
world. They are on another plane. But the moment they claim to be
measures of the external world—which would be their only cause of
weakness—they subject themselves to the material reality, to the
scientific investigation of the truth.
It is therefore nonsense to speak of a “bankruptcy of science” as
contrasted with the certainty which other disciplines may give us
respecting the external world. The bankruptcy of one would make all
the others bankrupt. When it is not a question of the intimate oasis in
which the serene realities of sentiment flourish, but of the arid and
imperfectly explored desert of the material world, the scientific facts
are the basis of all constructions. Destroy those and you destroy
everything. If you ram the ground floor of a house and bring it down,
you bring down also the upper stories.
To say the truth, it would seem that nothing here below so much
reveals the mystic presence of the divine as does the eternal and
inflexible harmony that unites phenomena, and that finds expression
in the laws of science.
Is not this science which shows us the vast universe well-
ordered, coherent, harmonious, mysteriously united, organised like a
great mute symphony, dominated by law instead of caprice, by
irrefragable rules instead of individual wills—is this not a revelation?
There you have the only means of reconciling the minds which
are devoted to external realities and those which bow to
metaphysical mystery. To talk of bankruptcy of science—if it means
anything more than to point out human weakness, which is, alas!
obvious enough—is really to calumniate that part of the divine which
is accessible to our senses, the part which science reveals.
 In sum, the whole Einsteinian synthesis flows from the issue of
the Michelson experiment, or at least from a particular interpretation
of that issue.
The phenomenon of stellar aberration proves that the medium
which transmits the light of the stars to our eyes does not share the
motion of the earth as it revolves round the sun. This medium is
known to physicists as ether. Lord Kelvin, who was honoured by
being buried in Westminster Abbey not far from the tomb of Newton,
rightly regarded the existence of interstellar ether as proved as fully
as the existence of the air we breathe; for without this medium the
heat of the sun, mother and nurse of all terrestrial life, would never
reach us.
In his theory of Special Relativity, Einstein, as we saw, interprets
phenomena without introducing the ether, or at least without
introducing the kinematic properties which are usually attributed to it.
In other words, Special Relativity neither affirms nor denies the
existence of the classic ether. It ignores it.
But this indifference to or disdain of the ether disappears in the
theory of General Relativity. We saw in a previous chapter that the
trajectories of gravitating bodies and of light are directly due, on this
theory, to a special curvature and the non-Euclidean character of the
medium which lies close to massive bodies in the void—that is to
say, ether. This, therefore, though Einstein does not give it the same
kinematic properties as classic science did, becomes the substratum
of all the events in the universe. It resumes its importance, its
objective reality. It is the continuous medium in which spatio-
temporal facts evolve.
Hence in its general form, and in spite of the new kinematic
attitude which is ascribed to it, Einstein’s general theory admits the
objective existence of ether.
Stellar aberration shows that this medium is stationary relatively
to the orbital motion of the earth. The negative result of Michelson’s
experiment tends, on the contrary, to prove that it shares the earth’s
motion. The Fitzgerald-Lorentz hypothesis solves this antinomy by
admitting that the ether does not really share the earth’s motion, but
saying that all bodies suddenly displaced in it are contracted in the
direction of the movement. This contraction increases with their
velocity in the ether, which explains the negative result of the
Michelson experiment.
Lorentz’s explanation seemed to Einstein inadmissible on
account of certain improbabilities which we pointed out, and
especially because it assumes that there is in the universe a system
of privileged references which recalls Newton’s “absolute space.”
Einstein, taking his stand on the principle that all points of view are
equally relative, does not admit that there are in the universe
privileged spectators—spectators who are stationary in the ether—
who could see things as they are, whereas these things would be
deformed for every other observer.
Then, while preserving the Lorentz contraction and the formulæ
in which it is expressed, Einstein says that this contraction, while it
really exists, is only an appearance, a sort of optical illusion, due to
the fact that the light which shows us objects does not travel
instantaneously, but with a finite velocity. This spread of light follows
laws of such a nature that apparent space and time are changed in
precise accordance with the formulæ of Lorentz. That is the
foundation of Einstein’s Special Relativity.
Hence the two immediate possible explanations of the negative
result of the Michelson experiment are:
1. Moving objects are contracted in the stationary
ether, the fixed substratum of all phenomena. This
contraction is real, and it increases with the velocity of
the body relatively to the ether. That is Lorentz’s
explanation.
2. Moving objects are contracted relatively to any
observer whatsoever. This contraction is only
apparent, and is due to the laws of the propagation of
light. It increases with the velocity of the moving body
relatively to the observer. That is Einstein’s
explanation.
 But there is at least one other possible explanation. It introduces
new and strange hypotheses, but they are by no means absurd.
Indeed, it is especially in physics that truth may at times seem
improbable. This explanation will show how we may account for the
result of the Michelson experiment apart from either Lorentz or
Einstein.
This third explanatory hypothesis is as follows. Every material
body bears along with it, as a sort of atmosphere, the ether that is
bound up with it. There is, in addition, a stationary ether in the
interstellar spaces; an ether insensible to the motion of the material
bodies that move in it, and which we may, to distinguish it from the
ether bound up with bodies, call the “super-ether.” This super-ether
occupies the whole of interstellar space, and near the heavenly
bodies it is superimposed upon the ether which they bear along. The
ether and the super-ether interpenetrate each other just as they
penetrate matter, and the vibrations they transmit spread
independently. When a material body sends out series of waves in
the ether which surrounds it, these move relatively to it with the
constant velocity of light. But when they have traversed the relatively
thin stratum of ether bound up with the material body, which merges
gradually in the super-ether, they spread in the latter, and it is
relatively to this that they progressively take their velocity.
It is like a boat crossing the Lake of Geneva at a certain speed.
About the middle of the lake it has this speed relatively to the narrow
current which the River Rhone makes there, and then it resumes it
relatively to the stationary lake.
In the same way the luminous rays of the stars, although they
come from bodies which are approaching or receding from us, have
the same velocity when they reach us, and this will be the common
velocity which the super-ether imposes upon them. Thus also, on the
other hand, the stellar rays that reach our telescopes will be
transmitted to us by the super-ether, without the very thin stratum of
mobile ether bound up with the earth being able to disturb their
propagation.
 These hypotheses explain and reconcile all the facts: (1) the fact
of stellar aberration, because the rays which reach us from the stars
are transmitted to us unaltered by the super-ether; (2) the negative
result of the Michelson experiment, because the light which we
produce in the laboratory travels in the ether that is borne along by
the earth, where it originates; (3) the fact that, in spite of the
approach or recession of the stars, their light reaches us with the
common velocity which it had acquired in the super-ether, shortly
after it started.
However strange this explanation may seem, it is not absurd, and
it raises no insurmountable difficulty. It shows that, if the result of the
Michelson experiment is a sort of no-thoroughfare, there are other
ways out of it besides Einstein’s theory.
To resume the matter, we have offered to us three different ways
of escaping the difficulties, the apparent contradictions, involved in
our experience—the antinomy arising from aberration and the
Michelson result—and they are reduced to these alternatives:
1. The contraction of bodies by velocity is real
(Lorentz).
2. The contraction of bodies by velocity is only an
appearance due to the laws of the propagation of light
(Einstein).
3. The contraction of bodies by velocity is neither
real nor apparent: there is no such thing (hypothesis of
super-ether connected with ether).
This shows that the Einsteinian explanation of phenomena is by
no means imposed upon us by the facts, or is at least not absolutely
imposed by them to the exclusion of any other explanation.

Is it at least imposed by reason, by principles, by the evidential

character of its rational premises, or because it does not conflict with
our good sense and mental habits as the others do?
 One would suppose this at first, when one compares it with the
teaching of Lorentz; and, in order to relieve this discussion, I will for
the moment leave out of account the third theory which I sketched,
that of a super-ether.
What seemed most difficult to admit in Lorentz’s hypothesis of
real contraction was that the contraction of bodies was supposed to
depend entirely upon their velocity, not in any way upon their nature;
that it was supposed to be the same for all bodies, no matter what
was their chemical composition or physical condition.
A little reflexion shows that this strange suggestion is not so
clearly inadmissible. We know that the atoms are all formed of the
same electrons, and they differ, and differentiate bodies, only in their
number and arrangement. If, then, the electrons common to all
matter and their relative distances experience simultaneously a
contraction due to velocity, it is natural enough to suppose that the
result maybe the same for all objects. When an iron grating of a
given length is dilated by heat, the extent to which a temperature of a
hundred degrees dilates it will be the same whether it counts ten or a
hundred steel bars to the square yard, provided they are identical.
Hence it is not really here that we find the improbability which
caused Relativists to reject the Lorentz theory. It is in the principles
of the theory. It is because the theory admits in nature a system of
privileged reference—the stationary ether relatively to which bodies
move.
Let us examine this more closely. It has been said that Lorentz’s
stationary ether is merely a resuscitation of Newton’s absolute
space, which the Relativists have so vigorously attacked. That is
very far from the truth. If, as we supposed in the preceding chapter,
our stellar universe is only a giant globe of ether rolling in a space
that is devoid of ether—one of many such globes that will remain for
ever unknowable to man—it is obvious that the drop of ether which
represents our universe may very well be moving in the environing
space, which would then be the real “absolute space.”
From this standpoint the Lorentzian ether cannot be identified
with absolute space. To do so amounts to saying that the space
called “absolute” by Newton does not deserve the name. If
Newtonian space is only the physical continuum in which the events
of our universe happen, it is anything but stationary.
In that case the whole fault one has to find with Newton is that he
used a wrong expression: that he called something absolute which is
merely privileged for a given universe. It would be a quarrel about
grammar; and such things have never succeeded in revolutionising
science.
But the Relativists—at least those impenitent Relativists, the
Einsteinians—will not be content with that. It is not enough for them
that the Newtonian space with all its privileges may not be absolute
space.
Our conception of the universe, as a moving island of ether, is
well calculated to reconcile the pre-eminence of Newtonian space
with that agnosticism which forbids us to hope to attain the absolute.
But this again is not enough for the Einsteinians. What they mean to
do is to strip of all its privileges the Newtonian space on which the
structure of classical mechanics has been reared. They mean to
reduce this space to the ranks, to make it no more than analogous to
any other spaces that can be imagined and which move arbitrarily in
reference to it.

From the agnostic, the sceptical, point of view this is a fine and
strong attitude. But in the course of this volume we have so much
admired Einstein’s powerful theoretical synthesis and the surprising
verifications to which it led that we are now entitled to make some
reserves. It is legitimate to call into question even the denials of
doubters, because, after all, they are really themselves affirmations.
We believe that in face of this philosophic attitude of the
Einsteinians—in face of what I should like to call their absolute
relativism—we are justified in rebelling a little and saying something
like this:
“Yes, everything is possible; or, rather, many things are possible,
but all things are not. Yes, if I go into a strange house, the drawing-
room clock may be round, square, or octagonal. But once I have
entered the house and seen that the clock is square, I have a right to
say: ‘The clock is square. It has the privilege of being square. It is a
fact that it is neither round nor octagonal.’
“It is the same in nature. The physical continuum which contains,
like a vase, all the phenomena of the universe, might have, relatively
to me—and as long as I have not observed it—any forms or
movements whatever. But as a matter of fact, it is what it is. It cannot
be different things at the same time. The drawing-room clock cannot
at one and the same time be composed entirely of gold and entirely
of silver.
“There is therefore one privileged possibility amongst the various
possibilities which we imagine in the external world. It is that which
has been effectively realised: that which exists.”
The complete relativism of the Einsteinians amounts to making
the universe external to us to such an extent that we have no means
of distinguishing between what is real and what is possible in it, as
far as space and time are concerned. The Newtonians, on the other
hand, say that we can recognise real space and real time by special
signs. We will analyse these signs later.
In a word, the pure Relativists have tried to escape the necessity
of supposing that reality is inaccessible. It is a point of view that is at
once more modest and much more presumptuous than that of the
Newtonians, the Absolutists.
It is more modest because according to the Einsteinian we
cannot know certain things which the Absolutist regards as
accessible: real time and space. It is more presumptuous because
the Relativist says that there is no reality except that which comes
under observation. For him the unknowable and non-existent are the
same thing. That is why Henri Poincaré, who was the most profound
of Relativists before the days of Einstein, used to repeat constantly
that questions about absolute space and time have “no meaning.”
One might sum it up by saying that the Einsteinians have taken
as their motto the words of Auguste Comte: “Everything is relative,