Management Information Systems Ch. 1

An example of an organizational complementary asset is

using the appropriate business model.

An example of raw data from a national chain of automobile stores would be

1 Toyota RAV4 sold March 3, 2013, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Which of the following choices may lead to competitive advantage? 1. new products, services, and business models; 2. charging less for superior products; 3. responding to customers in real time?

1,2, and 3

Maintaining the organization's financial records is a central purpose of which main business function?

finance and accounting

Which of the following is not one of the current changes taking place in information systems technology?

growth in the PC platform

Psychologists study information systems with an eye to understanding

how human decision makers perceive and use formal information.

Sociologists study information systems with an eye to understanding

how systems affect individuals, groups, and organizations.

UPS's use of Web-based tools that allow customers to embed UPS functions such as tracking and cost calculations into their own Web sites was an information systems solution used to achieve customer intimacy.

True

Which of the following would not be used as an input for an information system?

digital dashboard

The three activities in an information system that produce the information organizations use to control operations are

input, processing, and output.

Engineers, scientists, or architects, who design new products or services for a firm, belong to which level of a business hierarchy?

knowledge workers

Which field of study focuses on both a behavioral and technical understanding of information systems?

management information systems

The field that deals with behavioral issues as well as technical issues surrounding the development, use, and impact of information systems used by managers and employees in the firm is called

management information systems.

In a hierarchical organization, the upper levels consist of

managerial, professional, and technical employees.

The average number of tickets sold daily online is an example of

meaningful information

In a business hierarchy, the level that is responsible for monitoring the daily activities of the business is

operational management

The discipline that focuses on mathematical techniques for optimizing parameters of organizations, such as transportation and inventory control, is

operations research

Disciplines that contribute to the technical approach to information systems are

operations research, management science, and computer science.

Converting raw data into a more meaningful form is called

processing

Which of the following roles in a firm would be least affected by using mobile devices to access firm information systems?

production workers

Order data for baseball tickets and bar code data are examples of

raw input

Which of the following is not one of the primary environmental actors that interacts with an organization and its information systems?

sales force

The three principal levels within a business organization hierarchy are

senior management, middle management, and operational management.

A corporation that funds a political action committee, which in turn promotes and funds a political candidate who agrees with the values of that corporation, could be seen as investing in which main category of complementary assets?

social

Detailed, programmed instructions that control computer hardware components in an information system are known as computer ________.

software

Data management technology consists of the

software governing the organization of data on physical storage media.

A firm that must invest in new information systems capabilities in order to comply with federal legislation can be said to be investing to achieve which business objective?

survival

The move of retail banking to use ATMs after Citibank unveiled its first ATMs illustrates the use of information systems to achieve which business objective?

survival

The six main business objectives of information technology are new products, services, and business models; customer and supplier intimacy; survival; competitive advantage; operational excellence; and

improved decision making.

The temp agency that you own is having serious difficulties placing temps because few of them are familiar with Internet research. Investing in training software to enhance your workers' skills is an example of using technology to achieve which business objective?

survival

The use of information systems because of necessity describes the business objective of

survival

An example of a social complementary asset is

technology and service firms in adjacent markets.

Thomas Friedman's declaration that the world was now "flat" meant that

the Internet has reduced the economic advantages of developed countries.

An example of a business using information systems for customer and supplier intimacy is

the Mandarin Oriental hotel's customer-preference tracking system.

A managerial element in the UPS tracking system described in the chapter is

the decision to use automation

From a business perspective, raw data is transformed systematically during various stages, transforming it into valuable information, in a process called

the information value chain.

Which of the following constitutes an organizational element in the UPS tracking system described in the chapter?

the specification of procedures for identifying packages with sender and recipient information

Output

transfers processed information to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used.

The behavioral approach to information systems leaves aside technical solutions to instead analyze the psychological, social, and economic impacts of systems.

true

The three main dimensions of information systems are management, organizations, and information technology

true

You need to know something about the hierarchy and culture of the company in order to understand how a specific business firm uses information systems

true

________ are private corporate networks extended to authorized users outside the organization.

Extranets

There are four major business functions: human resources; manufacturing and production; finance and accounting; and information technology.

false

Information systems literacy describes the behavioral approach to information systems, whereas computer literacy describes the sociotechnical approach.

false

________ is known as the enormous volume of data generated by Internet activity, such as Web traffic and e-mail.

Big Data

Information technology (IT) consists of all the hardware that a firm needs to use in order to achieve its business objectives, whereas information systems consist of all the software and business processes needed.

false

Knowledge workers make long-range strategic decisions about products and services.

false

An example of a business using information systems to create new products and services is

Apple Inc.'s iPod.

________ makes long-range strategic decisions about the firm's products and services.

Senior Management

Creative work driven by new knowledge and information is an insignificant part of management responsibility.

false

A fully digital firm produces only digital goods or services.

False

All business processes are formally documented by an organization.

False

There is little variation in returns on IT investment across firms.

False

________ is output returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.

Feedback

Which main business function is responsible for maintaining employee records?

Human Resources

Networking and telecommunications technologies, along with computer hardware, software, data management technology, and the people required to run and manage them, constitute an organization's

IT infrastructure

________ is data that has been shaped into a form that is meaningful to human beings.

Information

Which of the following statements best describes organizational culture?

It is a set of assumptions and values accepted by most members.

The key elements of an organization are its structure, business processes, politics, culture, and ________.

People

In a(n) ________ perspective, the performance of a system is optimized when both the technology and the organization mutually adjust to one another until a satisfactory fit is obtained.

Sociotechnical

________ is a global network that uses universal standards to connect millions of different networks around the world.

The Internet

The ________ is a service provided by the Internet that uses universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying information in a page format.

The World Wide Web, WWW

Which of the following best describes the primary reason for implementing a new information system, from a business perspective?

The system will create new value for the firm, beyond its costs.

A business model describes how a company produces, delivers, and sells a product or service to create wealth.

True

A firm that invests in a strong IS development team is making an investment in organizational complementary assets.

True

Developing a new product, hiring a new employee, and fulfilling an order are examples of business processes.

True

Intranets link different systems and networks within a firm.

True

Investment in IT is growing substantially as a percentage of all invested capital.

True

Laws and regulations creating fair, stable market environments are examples of complementary social assets required to optimize returns from IT investments.

True

improved decision making.

Verizon Corporation's use of a Web-based digital dashboard to provide managers with precise real-time information illustrates which business objective?

An example of a business using information systems to attain operational excellence is

Wal-Mart's Retail Link system.

All of the following are advantages, for a firm, of cloud computing except

ability to improve communication.

Apple Computer dominates the online legal music sales industry primarily because of a failure of recording label companies to

adopt a new business model

Which of the following would not be a complementary asset for a solar panel manufacturer?

centralized hierarchical decision making

The fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things that has been accepted by most of a company's members is called its

culture

The Mandarin Oriental hotel's use of computer systems to keep track of guests' preferences is an example of

customer and supplier intimacy

Computers make up the entirety of an information system.

false