Management Information Systems,4/E is a higher-level,longer edition (15 chapters) with longer,more complex case studies and more IT/IS and business theory throughout. Of the 3 O'Brien books (8/e,2Ae,and MIS,4/E),the MIS,4/e has the strongest focus on managers (versus end-users)of IT/IS with an introduction to the systems approach to problem solving and IS development early in the book in Chapter 3. This material comes later (Chapters 10 and 11) in the 8/e and 2Ae.