This text is based on the fundamental premise that the major role of information technology (IT) is to support employees, regardless of their functional area (e.g. sales, marketing, accounting, HR) or level in the organization. Intense global competition, a heightened focus on the bottom line, and an increasingly rapid pace of change are forcing organizations, and their employees, to continuously improve their performance. IT provides the tools that enable all employees to better perform their jobs, especially in solving problems and seizing opportunities. The book contains: stories that provide examples of successful uses of IT as well as failures; material covering diversified examples from different disciplines, industries, and companies; text showing how IT facilitates export and import, managing multinational companies, and electronic trading around the globe; teaching the fundamentals of the Internet and a comprehensive chapter on e-commerce; and the virtual company - a Web-based case for a simulated company manufacturing snowboards.