MGMT3300

What is a disruptive innovation? How is it different from sustaining technologies?

A disruptive innovation is a new product or service, often springing from technological advances, that has the potential to reshape an industry. For example, Kodak, Casio, Olympus, and other companies began offering digital cameras that needed no film in the 1990s, transforming the industry within a few short years. Sustaining technologies, on the other hand, offer important improvements to streamline existing processes and give companies marginal advantages.

Which of the following best illustrates a network effect?

A telecom service provider introduces a family plan that provides free calls within the family.

The ________ code defines how keyboard characters are encoded into digital strings of ones and zeros.

ASCII

Which of the following is an example of a peer-to-peer network?

BitTorrent

________ refers to a technology that uses radio waves for connectivity and is commonly used for wireless connections over very short distances.

Bluetooth

________ refers to the information that managers draw from both the company's own information systems and external sources to make decisions.

Business intelligence

________ focuses on designing, optimizing, and streamlining business processes throughout the organization, taking into account the human element.

Business process management

Which of the following illustrates a low-cost leadership strategy?

CGlass sells inexpensive, fashionable eyewear in comparison with its competitors.

________ plays a leading role in managing efforts to improve an organization's ability to capture, nurture, and disseminate expertise.

Chief Knowledge Officer

"The information and communications technology (ICT) component is at the very heart of the company's competitive advantage." Which of the following statements is the most accurate justification of this claim?

Companies benefit from cost savings made possible through information systems.

Why is the IT department often perceived as impenetrable to people from other areas of an organization?

Disconnects in communication between IT staff and others in the organization often arise due to the jargon barrier. People often get frustrated when IT doesn't respond immediately to their ideas or suggestions. Like all functional business units, IT has a full plate of ongoing projects, prioritized by the CIO working with the CEO and other top executives to ensure that resources are wisely spent with a solid return on investment. Because of this, technicians are forced to move onto the next trouble ticket, and are unable to spend a long time on each ticket. Such communication barriers make the IT department seem impenetrable.

Which network protocol is most widely used for local area networks?

Ethernet

Commercially produced information systems are inept at handling back-office information needs.

False

Speech input devices have overtaken all other input devices.

False

What impact do government policies have on business? How do businesses try to influence government policies?

Government policies and funding priorities can have dramatic effects on how industries operate and how they evolve. Patents reduce the threat of new entrants. Government's market actions, taxes, and regulations also affect business. Government also affects the industry structure through judges and courts. For instance, anti-trust laws prevent dominant players from exploiting their power and becoming monopolies. Organizations frequently lobby for government action to influence how the five forces operate and to improve industry profitability. Lobbyists concentrate on regulatory policy, taxes, government subsidies, and other issues that affect the industry.

Explain how information systems can contribute to gaining competitive advantage.

Information systems play what could be their most valuable role when they are tied closely to strategy and to the major initiatives that will help achieve competitive advantage. Information systems are a fundamental part of a company's strategic vision. The vision itself is often shaped by what these systems can achieve today and what is possible for the future. Strategy is equally important to nonprofit organizations and government agencies, and their information systems break new ground by offering new services to the public, increasing access for all citizens, streamlining operations, reducing costs, and improving decision making

How does implementing information systems impact business processes?

It helps eliminate business processes that aren't necessary.

Which of the following is a fundamental characteristic of an ecosystem?

It includes the related industries making complementary products and services, the competitors themselves, the suppliers, and the consumers.

Which of the following is a shortcoming of the extended value chain?

It is difficult to allocate responsibility in the event of a mishap.

Which of the following best describes wavelength?

It is the distance between one peak of an electromagnetic wave to the next.

Which of the following is a drawback of cloud computing?

It requires an extremely reliable Internet connection.

Which of the following statements is true of a strategic enabler?

It transforms a business or helps build a new business model.

Which of the following is an open source software product?

Mozilla Firefox

How do information systems improve business processes?

Organizations implement information systems to support, streamline, and sometimes eliminate business processes. Countless decisions are made about how each process should operate, what rules it should follow, how information should be handled from input to output, and especially how the information system will support the process. Managers develop policies that affect information system processes and the systems can enforce those policies. A major policy category involves security. The steps in any process are affected by thousands of decisions people make, and these are influenced by the way people look at process improvements. Information systems help bring in these improvements.

In the context of Porter's five forces, what impact will patents have on a business?

Patents will reduce the threat of new entrants in an industry.

________ refers to technology that manages all the office phone lines, voice mail, internal billing, call transfers, forwarding, conferencing, and other voice services.

Private branch exchange (PBX)

Which of the following is a characteristic of random access memory (RAM)?

RAM is volatile storage that is erased when power is turned off or lost.

Which of the following situations is representative of the last mile issue in telecommunications?

Subscribers of an Internet service provider that uses optical fiber for Internet connectivity complain of poor Internet speeds as DSL lines have been used as wiring to their homes.

Sensors that pick up geographic location, temperature, motion, wind speed, heart rate, and much more are combining to form what?

The Internet of Things

The keyboard layout evolved from the typewriter. Why did this turn out to be a disadvantage?

The QWERTY layout popularly used in typewriters was originally designed to slow down data entry to prevent collisions of the hammers striking the paper. Since the first keyboard layouts were based on the QWERTY layout used in typewriters, they were not designed to maximize typing speed. Attempts to introduce a better design failed because many people already knew the QWERTY layout.

What is cloud computing? Explain with an example.

The emerging ICT architecture called cloud computing draws on IT resources outside of the corporation's own data centers or local desktops. With an Internet connection, employees can access virtual servers, storage space, video streaming, specialized software, and other cloud-based services from any location, using many different devices. The services are not in a cloud. The physical hardware that supports them is located in very large data centers operated by Amazon, eBay, Google, and other providers. Google, for example, cuts hardware costs to the bone by building its own servers from inexpensive parts, and distributing the applications over a large number of them. They share the load, and if one goes down, another just takes over.

What are the four hardware components of a computer? Give an example of each component.

The four hardware components of a computer are input, output, the central processing unit, and storage. Input devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, and joystick, accept signals and convert them to a digital format that matches the signal's meaning. The most common output device is the flat panel display. Other common output devices include computer printers and speakers, as well as a variety of controllers that operate machinery, from lawn sprinklers and lights to an aircraft's landing gear. The central processing unit (CPU) handles information processing, calculations, and control tasks. Information is stored in the computer in primary storage areas such as random access memory (RAM) and secondary storage devices such as computer hard drives, magnetic tapes, etc.

Which of the following is true of IT spending in an organization?

The funds used to run a business are mainly for the kinds of IT resources that now fall into the commodity category

Explain various competitive strategies in business, with examples.

The low-cost leadership strategy means offering a similar product at a lower price compared to competitors. A relentless search for ways to reduce operating expenses and achieve efficiencies pervades this strategy. An example is Walmart. Another approach is product differentiation, adding special features or unique add-ons for which customers are willing to pay more. The strategy tends to reduce threats from substitute products and also erects barriers to new entrants. An example is Apple. Differentiating the product or service for a particular market niche is called a focused niche strategy. Research in Motion (RIM), for example, positions its Blackberry smartphone for the business and government segment, with its conservative looks and business-oriented features.

Which of the following statements is true of the value chain?

The value chain includes primary and support activities used to produce a product.

Which of the following statements is true of information systems that support collaborative human activities?

These systems, being in their early stages, offer a framework for more improvements and features to be included.

Which of the following statements is true about netbooks?

They are smaller laptops that provide a cost-effective means to wirelessly connect to the Internet.

Which of the following statements is true of data, information, and knowledge?

They blend together and form a continuum.

How do web-based online self-service applications transform an organization's relationships with its customers?

They free customers from time-consuming forms of direct contact.

Which of the following is true according to Porter's model?

When start-up costs are low, the threat of new entrants to existing businesses is high.

Which of the following best describes a transistor?

a small electrical circuit made from a semiconductor material such as silicon

A quantitative analyst working in an investment bank will be able to ________.

access some information on the bank's servers

How can a company avoid the trap of competing only on price?

by differentiating the products or services that it offers

Which of the following tasks is performed by utility software?

compressing and backing up files

Which of the following is typically the biggest cost component in an organization's IT spending?

cost of keeping the IT services running

A single high-temperature reading of a patient at Patient First, a 24-hour walk-in clinic in Florida, is a piece of ________.

data

A Joystick is an example of an output device.

false

Differentiating the product or service for a particular market niche is called a product differentiation strategy.

false

Network effects refer to the ability of a product to fit into a new system.

false

Sustaining technologies are radical and unexpected breakthroughs that replace lower-end products and rapidly overtake high-end products of the market.

false

The presence of loyalty programs reduces the switching costs of a product or service.

false

Which of the following is the role of a Chief Privacy Officer in an organization?

helping shape the policies that govern the protection of confidential information

Which of the following factors increases the power of suppliers?

high switching costs

Which of the following is most closely associated with sustaining technologies?

improvements that streamline existing processes

Which of the following was a disadvantage of VoIP communication in its initial stages?

increased rate of dropped calls or bad audio

Network effects refer to the ________.

increased value of a product or service because there are more people using it

Which of the following refers to facts that are assembled and analyzed to add meaning and usefulness?

information

Most applications rely on texting, email, and instant messaging rather than speech recognition because speech recognition ________.

is less accurate

Which of the following classes of computers is still used for massive bulk processing tasks and financial transactions that require high reliability?

mainframe computers

Software that is freely distributed, along with the code underlying the program, so that people can access the code to improve it is known as ________.

open source software

The function of which of the following components of an information system is to oversee if every data transaction made by an employee is logged in the information system?

process

Which of the following is a function of accounting information systems?

procuring goods and services

Which type of software controls basic operations such as file management, disk storage, and hardware interfaces?

system software

Which of the following best describes the primary goal of a focused niche strategy?

tailoring products and services based on the special preferences of a small group of customers

Roland Inc. is a fashion apparels retailer in the United States. It wants to measure how its investment is helping create value in comparison with its competitors. Which of the following metrics used by Roland can be classified as a benchmark in this scenario?

the average number of sales made per day

Which of the following events led to tighter standards for accounting practices and a demand for more transparency in reporting?

the global financial crisis of 2009

Which of the following poses a hindrance to the adoption of information systems in nonprofit organizations and government?

the lack of dedicated funding

Which of the following is a concern regarding information systems that support virtual teamwork?

the relative stage of infancy of such systems

A wireless router has a wired connection to the network and sends radio signals from the antennae.

true

Analysts can use software to simulate business processes and conduct "what if" experiments to find innovative approaches that leverage the power of information systems.

true

The study of information systems-how people, technology, processes, and data work together-is referred to as management information systems.

true

Purple Stones, an interior decorator, has an online store to enable quicker purchase of its products. The website allows users to post reviews of products. This helps other customers evaluate the quality of a product before buying it. Which of the following is illustrated in this scenario?

user-generated content

Which of the following is a method employed by some organizations to prevent access to USB ports in order to keep employees from copying data?

using epoxy glue

eBay's customers enrich the website by reviewing products that they purchase. These reviews are used by buyers to evaluate sellers on eBay. eBay also provides special privileges to sellers who have higher ratings. This is an example of ________.

value chain extension

Which of the following was the main function of computers in the 1980s?

word processing