专业描述

Research by the Information Systems group in the department focuses on the digital transformation of organizations, teams, value chains, collaborative communities, and business ecosystems. This includes topics such as digital business strategy for enterprises in turbulent and dynamic environments, knowledge management and collaboration in virtual teams, the design of digital business models and services, and the adoption and implementation of social networks. Recent PhD dissertation topics of IOM graduates have included the study of IT-enabled dynamic capabilities in turbulent environments and their effect on competitive advantage, the use of IT-enabled capabilities to manage strategic threats and opportunities, knowledge sharing in virtual teams, and the nature of piracy propagation for digital goods. Both the faculty and PhD students publish in the top research journals in information systems, and have won awards for their work. The faculty serve as editors and editorial board members of top journals in the area, and are active in securing research grants from foundations in the US (such as the National Science Foundation) and around the world (such as CIGREF). In the last 2010 ranking of scholars who publish in the top research journals in Information Systems, the Information Systems faculty and PhD graduates occupied 5 of the top 30 spots. On the teaching side, at the MBA level we offer courses in digital transformation for the global enterprise, business models for interactive digital media and services, and digital strategies for sustainability in emerging markets. At the undergraduate level, we offer courses in managing the digital revolution, information systems consulting, database management, spreadsheet modeling and managing a business on the internet. We also offer a variety of teaching modules for the Executive MBA and Executive programs. The faculty are well-connected to the practices of digital transformation in industry, and have won national awards for their participation in innovative applications of information systems in practice. In today’s volatile business environment, a good operations strategy can provide firms with a significant competitive advantage and can be the difference between success and failure. The Operations Management faculty strives to expand the frontiers of the knowledge in this field and to teach both the fundamentals of this field as well as the state-of-the-art methods in aligning the firm’s operations with the corporate goal to generate higher profits. The faculty’s research focuses on the topics of supply chain management, service design and operations, revenue management, global operations, and health care delivery. Our faculty members have strong research reputations in these areas and publish regularly numerous articles in the top journals in the area and several of the faculty members serve as senior or associate editors for major journals in the area. With respect to teaching, the group offers a variety of electives on topics related to supply chain management, service management, and project management that encompass the wide spectrum of operations management. These courses not only equip the students with technical knowhow, but also teach them how to apply their knowledge to the real world. This bridging of the theory to practice gap is best embodied in an elective entitled Operations Consulting that provides students an opportunity to work on a live consulting project with a firm. An article in OR/MS Today (December 2002) ranks the IOM department at Marshall 6th in research productivity during the period 1990 - 2002 among similar departments at business schools based upon publications in four major INFORMS journals (Management Science, Information Systems Research, Operations Research and INFORMS Journal on Computing). As appropriate of a business school, research by the Statistics faculty emphasizes developing new methodology that grows out of business and public policy applications. In methodology, the statistics faculty's research covers a wide segment of the field of statistics including Bayes and empirical Bayes methods, data mining, categorical data, hidden state Markov models, classification rules, clustering methods, econometric and psychometric models, and general linear models. Applications include finance, marketing, real estate, health policy, defense system testing, computer science and discrimination in employment and in sentencing. One senior faculty member plays a leading role in the profession's advice to the federal government on statistical methodology. The department maintains a highly supportive and collegial atmosphere that fosters close cooperation and coordination among the faculty to ensure the integration of the several specific disciplines represented by individual members of the group. This collaborative imperative guarantees the continued relevance and timeliness of our teaching and research programs. For example, the department encourages research in the uses of statistics and information technology to provide better customer service, improve quality, and increase the productivity and flexibility of business processes. Another example is studying the role of information systems as a resource for fast response management in terms of new product development and order-to-delivery service.