MBUS302-Quiz 1

What is information that returns to its original transmitter and modifies the transmitter's actions?

Feedback

If you were asked to analyze Payless Shoes, which of Porter's three generic strategies would you determine that it was following?

Focused cost leadership

Of the below generic strategies, which one best represents the business strategy implemented by Tiffany & Co.?

Focused differentiation

Which of the following is one of Porter's three generic strategies?

Focused strategy

When analyzing the organic milk industry, which of the following represents supplier power?

Horizon Organic, Organic Valley, Whole Foods Organic, and Safeway Organic

Which of the following is a potential feature of a digital dashboard?

A hot list of KPIs refreshed every 15 minutes A running line graph of planned versus actual production for the past 24 hours A graph of stock market prices

Which of the following most accurately describes systems thinking?

A way of monitoring the entire system by viewing multiple inputs being processed or transformed to produce outputs while continuously gathering feedback on each part

Which of the following is considered a core driver of the information age?

Information Business Intelligence Knowledge

Knowledge includes the skills, experience, and expertise coupled with information and _________ that creates a person's intellectual resources.

Intelligence

If you were working for FedEx and your boss asked you to help a customer track down a lost package, which business process would you be using?

Customer-facing process

Which industry did Netflix revolutionize?

Netflix revolutionized the movie rental industry.

What is a category of AI that attempts to emulate the way the human brain works?

Neural network

John Cleaver is the CEO of Tech World, which is a retail store that sells computers, monitors, cameras, televisions and many other electronic products. John and his executive team are meeting to brainstorm new ideas on how to grow the business. One idea is to mimic a competitor's product that is attempting to sell a new product in a different industry. After performing a Porter's Five Forces analysis John determines that all of the forces are high in this new industry. What should John do?

Not introduce the product because all five forces are strong and this would be a highly risky business strategy.

Recall the decision-making process highlighted in your text. Which of these represents the first step in the process?

Problem identification

What is it called when a company develops unique differences in its products or services with the intent to influence demand?

Product differentiation

What is the MIS definition of knowledge?

Skills, experience, and expertise, coupled with information and intelligence, that creates a person's intellectual resources.

If you were thinking about a home theater system which of the following represents the process?

Spinning the disk to play, pause, rewind, or fast forward.

What factor significantly contributed to Netflix's need to use information systems to make decisions?

The amount of information people must understand to make good decisions is increasing significantly.

When thinking about a washing machine as a system, which of the following represents the inputs?

The dirty clothes, water, and detergent

When thinking about a washing machine as a system, which of the following represents the feedback?

The light indicating that the washer is off balance and has stopped

Sandy Fiero works as the Chief Knowledge Officer for Bend Lumbar Company. She has been given the responsibility to create a product or service that will bring an added value to its customers to increase the company's revenue. Sandy determines that the best value she can add is by creating a service that offers free next day shipping on any order over $50. Where in the value chain is Sandy adding value?

The primary value activity outbound logistics.

The threat of substitute products or services refers to the power of customers to purchase alternatives.

True

Goal-seeking _________ could answer the question "How many customers are required to purchase our new product line to increase gross profits to $5 million?"

analysis

Which of the below processes attempt to understand and measure the current process and make improvements?

business process improvement

Which of the following is considered a good?

cars

Who is responsible for overseeing all uses of MIS and ensuring that MIS strategically aligns with business goals and objectives?

chief information officer

Transaction processing systems are primarily used to automate business processes. Automation increases efficiency and effectiveness, while reducing head count which in turn reduces the overall operational _____________.

costs

Gather problem-related data, including who, what, where, why, and how. Be sure to gather facts not rumors or opinions about the problem.

data collection

Rivalry among existing competitors is ________ when competition is fierce in a market and ________ when competitors are more complacent.

high; low

An executive __________ system is a specialized DSS that supports senior-level executives and unstructured, long-term, nonroutine decisions requiring judgment, evaluation, and insight.

information

Three of the main FedEx sorting facilities are shut down due to a major hurricane on the East Coast. The ______________ decision-making skill set would be used to solve this problem.

unstructured

Knowledge __________ are individuals valued ...

workers

What is a special case of what-if analysis that studies the impact on other variables when one variable is changed repeatedly?

Sensitivity analysis

Which is not a type of organizational information system?

Analysis processing system

Which type of model represents the current state of the operation that has been mapped, without any specific improvements or changes to existing processes?

As-Is process model

What typically occurs during operational business process improvement?

Automation

Based on the examples of Porter's three generic strategies in your textbook, which of the following is Walmart following?

Broad cost leadership

In analyzing Neiman Marcus, which of Porter's three generic strategies would you determine that it was following?

Broad differentiation

What is a graphic description of a process, showing the sequence of process tasks, that is developed for a specific purpose and from a selected viewpoint?

Business process model

__________________ is the activity of creating a detailed flow chart or process map of a work process showing its inputs, tasks, and activities, in a structured sequence.

Business process modeling

Which of the following is not part of Porter's three generic strategies?

Business process strategy

How do decision-making information systems work?

By building models out of organizational information to lend insight into important business issues and opportunities

What is the business process called when waiting in line at the grocery store?

Checkout

Jeremy Bridges is an executive for Green Web Designs, where his primary role is to ensure the security of business systems and develop strategies to protect the company from online viruses and hackers. What is Jeremy's role within the company?

Chief Security Officer (CSO).

Your boss, Kerry Miller, has asked you to analyze the soft drink industry using Porter's five forces model. Which of the following represents rivalry in the soft drink industry?

Coke and Pepsi submit bids to the owner of a football stadium for the exclusive sale of their products during games.

According to Porter companies that wish to dominate broad markets should operate using a ________ strategy.

Cost leadership with a low cost

_________________ are the crucial steps companies perform to achieve their goals and objectives and implement their strategies.

Critical success factors

Which of the below represents a variable?

Data characteristic that stands for a value that changes or varies over time

Which of the below represents information?

Data converted into a meaningful and useful context

What is drill-down?

Enables users to view details, and details of details, of information

What is an extension of goal-seeking analysis that finds the optimum value for a target variable by repeatedly changing other variables, subject to specified constraints?

Optimization analysis

Which of the following is not a reason for the growth of decision-making information systems?

People no longer have to worry about protecting the corporate asset of organizational information

What is not a reason for the growth of decision-making information systems?

People no longer have to worry about protecting the corporate asset of organizational information.

Key performance indicators are the quantifiable metrics a company uses to evaluate progress toward critical success factors. Which one of the following is a key performance indicator?

Percentage of help-desk calls answered in the first minute

What is a customer facing process?

Results in a product or service that is received by an organization's external customer

Which of the following represents buyer power for the organic milk industry?

Safeway, Whole Foods, King Soopers, and Kroger

Decision making is a challenging task. Review the below lists and determine which employees typically do not make operational decisions.

Senior management

What is the decision-making skill set that should be used to solve the following problem? One of the FedEx planes is grounded and all of the packages must be rerouted.

Semistructured decision

_____________ typically occurs during managerial business process improvement.

Streamlining

A package at the FedEx plant falls off the conveyor belt while being sorted; which type of decision-making skills would be used to solve this problem?

Structured decision

What makes customers reluctant to move to another product or service?

Switching costs

When thinking about a washing machine as a system, which of the following represents the process?

The wash and rinse cycle

Which of these is a challenge of managerial decision making?

They must apply sophisticated analysis techniques, such as Porter's strategies, to make decisions.

Fedex is a great example of a company that created a competitive advantage through combining MIS and _______________.

Traditional distribution and logistics processes

According to Porter it is recommended to adopt only one of the three generic strategies.

True

Which of the following is an example of an unstructured decision?

What industry trends are worth analyzing? What new products and new markets does the company need to create competitive advantages? How will a recession over the next years impact business?

Define the problem as clearly and precisely as possible.

problem identification

Detail every solution possible, including ideas that seem farfetched.

solution generation

If the solution solves the problem, then the decisions made were correct. If not, then the decisions were incorrect and the process begins again.

solution implementation

Select the solution that best solves the problem and meets the needs of the business.

solution selection

Evaluate solutions in terms of feasibility (can it be completed?), suitability (is it a permanent or a temporary fix?), and acceptability (can all participants form a consensus?).

solution test

Operational decisions are considered___________, which arise in situations in which established processes offer potential solutions.

structured decisions

Business intelligence is information collected from multiple sources. Which of the following provides an example of a source that would be included in business intelligence?

suppliers, competitors, and customers

A _____________ lane layout arranges the steps of a business process into a set of rows depicting the various elements.

swim

A(n) __________ is a collection of parts tha...

system

The factor that significantly contributed to people's needs to use information systems to make decisions is:

the amount of information people must understand to make good decisions is increasing exponentially

Productivity is the rate at which goods and services are produced based upon total output given total inputs.

true