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OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
targeted strategies? What pricing strategies are thus enabled?
How can information be used to provide enhanced differentiation
strategies by allowing more accurate targeting of
individualized products and services?
• What is the appropriate distribution strategy as disintermediation
becomes possible, but intermediaries still retain
considerable power over segments of the customer population,
and thus will retaliate against premature attempts at
bypassing them?
• Once appropriate strategies are determined, how can they
be implemented with speed and agility and how can the
organization be led into its new vision?
These management challenges lead to the development of the
ISE major as an interdisciplinary program that draws upon
existing strengths in management, marketing, and information
management to create a powerful and innovative interdisciplinary
focus on information strategy. Understanding the strategic
aspects of information and information management is being
transformed; what were once skills of specialized technologists
are now critical aspects of the preparation of all executives.
This major prepares students for careers in consulting and
venture capital, and for senior management positions in a wide
range of industries already being transformed by the interacting
forces of information, globalization, and deregulation.
Course Requirements
Requirements for the major can be satisfied by selecting
from courses already offered in OPIM, Management, and
Marketing. The major is intended to allow great flexibility, as
individual students may wish to focus on issues of information
strategy applied to marketing, change management, internal
governance, or external alliances. Students are required to take
at least one course from an approved list of Marketing courses
and at least one course from an approved list of Management
courses. Additionally, students must complete at least three
credits within the OPIM Department.
Required Courses in Information Strategy
Both of the following courses:
OPIM 613 Managing the Productive Core of the Firm:
Information Technology and Business
Transformation (.5 cu)
OPIM 669 Advanced Topics in Information Strategy
(Intended as a second semester second year
capstone course to integrate the diverse subjects
covered in the major)
External Focus/Marketing
At least one course from the following list or other as negotiated
with the MBA Coordinator based on individual student’s
needs and preferences:
MKTG 756 Marketing Research
MKTG 776 Applied Probability Models in Marketing
MKTG 777 Marketing Strategy
MKTG 759 Channel Management (.5 cu)
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Internal Focus/Management
At least one course from the following list or other as negotiated
with ISE program coordinator based on individual student’s
needs and preferences:
MGMT 711 Competitive Strategy and Industry Structure
MGMT 773 Managing Organizational Change
MGMT 782 Strategic Implementation
MGMT 784 Managerial Economics and Game Theory
(.5 cu)
OPIM ISE Electives
At least two of the following, as needed so that approved courses
taken for the major total at least five credit units and the
approved OPIM courses total at least three credit units:
OPIM 615 Managing the Productive Core of the Firm:
Operations Strategy (.5 cu)
OPIM 658 Service Process Management (.5 cu)
OPIM 662 Enabling Technologies
OPIM 667 Business Transformation (.5 cu)
OPIM 668 Telecommunications Technology and
Competitive Strategy (.5 cu)
OPIM 670 Special Topics in Information Systems
OPIM 676 Electronic Markets (.5 cu)
OPIM 691 Negotiations
OPIM 899 Independent Study in Information Strategy
(Can be advised by faculty members in OPIM,
Marketing, Management, or Finance, as
appropriate to student needs.) (.5 cu or 1 cu)
MBA Advisor: Eric Clemons (telephone: 215.898.7747;
clemons@wharton.upenn.edu).
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
OPIM 611 (.5 cu)
Managing the Productive Core of the Firm:
Quality and Productivity
Description: Matching supply with demand is an enormous
challenge for firms: excess supply is too costly, inadequate
supply irritates customers. In the course, we will explore how
firms can better organize their operations so that they more effectively
align their supply with the demand for their products
and services. Throughout the course, we illustrate mathematical
analysis applied to real operational challenges — we seek
rigor and relevance. Our aim is to provide both tactical knowledge
and high-level insights needed by general managers and
management consultants. We will demonstrate that companies
can use (and have used) the principles from this course to significantly
enhance their competitiveness.
OPIM 612 (.5 cu)
Managing the Productive Core: Business Analytics
Description: This is a course on business analytics tools and
their application to management problems. Its main topics
are optimization, decision making under uncertainty, and