MIS Test 1

Which of the following technologies disrupted the traditional publishing industry?

World Wide Web

Which of the following is an example of synergy in business?

Bank of America acquiring Countrywide Financial to reach a large pool of new customers

Which of the following would a company employ to measure and compare its business processes to similar processes of other companies within their industry?

Benchmarking

Which of the following statements about business processes is not true?

Business processes are typically unaffected by changes in information systems.

Walmart's attempt to increase its online presence is an example of a firm using information systems to:

achieve low-cost leadership.

A ________ is a senior manager who oversees the use of IT in the firm.

CIO

The ________ helps design programs and systems to find new sources of knowledge or to make better use of existing knowledge in organizational and management processes.

CKO

Which of the following types of system would you use to manage relationships with your customers?

CRM

The most successful solutions or methods for achieving a business objective are called:

best processes.

The enormous volume of data generated by Internet activity, such as web traffic, email, and social media is referred to as:

big data.

All of the following are new technology-related trends in MIS except:

co-creation of business value.

Which of the following is an example of a cross-functional business process?

Creating a new product

All of the following job categories are expected to grow over the next eight years except:

computer programmers.

In ________, digital technology and the Internet are used to execute the major business processes in the enterprise.

e-business

A(n) ________ social networking tool creates business value by connecting the members of an organization through profiles, updates, and notifications that are tailored to internal

enterprise

All of the following are competitive forces in Porter's model except:

external environment.

The value chain model:

highlights specific activities in the business where competitive strategies can best be applied.

Psychologists study information systems with an eye to understanding:

how human decision makers perceive and use formal information.

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

input, processing, and output.

All of the following statements are true about information technology's impact on business firms except:

it helps firms expand in size.

Order fulfillment involves all of the following business processes except:

making customers aware of the product.

The Internet increases the bargaining power of customers by:

making information available to everyone.

An information systems manager:

manages data entry staff

Firms use a ________ strategy to provide a specialized product or service for a narrow target market better than competitors.

market niche

The ability to offer individually tailored products or services using the same production resources as bulk production is known as:

mass customization.

According to the ________ definition of organizations, an organization is seen as a means by which capital and labor are transformed by the organization into outputs to the environment.

microeconomic

Which type of information system would you use to forecast the return on investment if your firm planned to switch to a new supplier that offered products at a lower cost?

DSS

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

Digital dashboard

The four major types of enterprise applications are:

ERP, SCM, CRM, and KMS.

Which of the following systems would you expect to deliver integrated, personalized business content through a web-based interface?

ESS

What is the most important function of an enterprise application?

Enabling business functions and departments to share information

Which of the following is a firm's CPO responsible for?

Ensuring that the company complies with existing data privacy laws

Which of the following systems is designed to support organization-wide process coordination and integration?

Enterprise applications

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

Finance and accounting

Which of the following is an example of a divisionalized bureaucracy?

Fortune 500 firm

Which main business function is responsible for maintaining employee records?

Human resources

Disciplines that contribute to the technical approach to information systems include:

operations research, management science, and computer science.

Which of the following is not one of the six strategic business objectives of information systems?

Improved employee morale

Which of the following statements is not true?

In general, the technical occupations in IT are showing faster expansion than occupations involved with the management of IT.

Which of the following statements about network economics is not true?

In network economics, the marginal cost of adding new members to the network is higher than the marginal gain.

Which of the following represent the primary activities of a firm?

Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales and marketing, and service

Which of the following statements regarding IBM Notes is not true?

It began as an e-mail and messaging client.

Which of the following statements about the technical view of organizations is not true?

It sees the inputs and outputs, labor and capital, as being infinitely malleable.

Which of the following statements about Plan International's new human resources system, as described in the chapter case, is not true?

It took six months to implement a working system at Plan International's international headquarters.

Personnel who design new products or services for a firm belong to which level of a business hierarchy?

Knowledge workers

An ESS supports which of the following?

Long-range planning activities of senior management

Amazon's use of the Internet as a platform to sell books more efficiently than traditional bookstores illustrates which of the following strategies?

Low-cost leadership

Which of the following would you use in order to determine which of your suppliers has the best and worst records for keeping to your production schedule?

MIS

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

Management information systems

The total number of food items with storage temperatures problems is an example of which of the following?

Meaningful information

Converting raw data into a more meaningful form is called:

processing.

SVF uses which of the following collaboration tools?

Microsoft SharePoint Online

Which of the following statements is not true?

Most PCs manufactured in China use microprocessor chips manufactured in Korea.

Under Mintzberg's classification of organizational structure, knowledge-based organizations fall under the category of:

professional bureaucracies.

Walmart's continuous replenishment system allows it to do all of the following except:

provide mass customization.

Which of the following marketplace forces would be of least concern to a manufacturer of deep-sea oil rigs?

New market entrants

Which of the following is an example of raw data from an automobile manufacturer?

One Subaru Outback sold July 27, 2016 in Mohegan Lake, New York for $24,000

Walmart exemplifies the power of information systems coupled with state-of-the-art business practices and supportive management to achieve which of the following?

Operational efficiency

In a business hierarchy, which of the following levels is responsible for monitoring the daily activities of the business?

Operational management

You are consulting for a natural food products distributor who is interested in determining the benefits it could achieve from implementing new information systems. What will you advise as the first step?

Perform a strategic systems analysis

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

Production workers

Thomas Friedman's description of the world as "flat" refers to:

the flattening of economic and cultural advantages of developed countries.

Which of the following substitute products would be of most concern for a cable TV distributor?

Satellite TV

Which of the following industries has the lowest barrier to entry?

Small retailer

According to the chapter case, ABB decided to switch from its existing corporate intranet for all of the following reasons except:

the intranet was too expensive to maintain.

Data management technology consists of which of the following?

Software governing the organization of data on physical storage media

The ________ function is responsible for identifying customers.

sales and marketing

All of the following are examples of environmental actors in an information system except:

sales force.

Which of the following is a competitive force challenging the publishing industry?

Substitute products or services

Which type of system integrates supplier, manufacturer, distributor, and customer logistics processes?

Supply Chain Management

A firm that invests in an information system because it is a necessity of doing business does so because it is seeking to achieve which of the following business objectives?

Survival

Competitors were seeking which of the following business objectives when they rushed to provide ATMs after Citibank introduced the first ATMs in New York?

Survival

If your main supplier was late in delivering goods, which type of system would you use to update your production schedule?

TPS

To monitor the status of internal operations and the firm's relations with the external environment, managers need which of the following types of system?

TPS

You have been hired by a non-profit agency to implement a system to handle their donations. The system must be able to handle and record telephone, SMS, and Internet donations, provide up-to-the-minute reports, and create highly customizable mailing lists. In addition, event fundraisers need to be able to quickly access a donor's information and history. Which of the following systems will best meet these needs?

TPS with MIS capabilities

In a hierarchical organization, the upper level consists of:

senior management

Which of the following is a support activity in a firm's value chain?

Technology

The three principal levels within a business organization hierarchy are:

senior management, middle management, and operational management.

Which of the following is a global network that uses universal standards to connect millions of different networks around the world?

The Internet

The expenses incurred by a customer or company in lost time and resources when changing from one supplier or system to a competing supplier or system are known as:

switching costs.

Procter and Gamble uses InnovationNet for which of the following?

To enhance its core competencies

________ is a collaboration tool that supports remote (different place), synchronous (same time) collaboration.

Video conferencing

Which of the following statements about organizations is not true?

An informal group can be considered to be an organization.

Which of the following is an example of a keystone firm within a business ecosystem?

Apple in the mobile platform ecosystem

A virtual company:

uses networks to link people, assets, and ideas.

In environmental scanning, a firm may use information systems to:

keep track of the temperature within its data centers.

Along with capital, ________ is the primary production input that the organization uses to create products and services.

labor

The four major competitive strategies are:

low-cost leadership, product differentiation, focus on market niche, and customer and supplier intimacy.

Mintzberg classifies a large bureaucracy existing in a slowly changing environment that produces standard products and is dominated by centralized management as a ________ bureaucracy.

machine

The term management information systems refers to a specific category of information systems serving:

middle management functions.

A firm can exercise greater control over its suppliers by having:

more suppliers.

The divergent viewpoints about how resources, rewards, and punishments should be distributed, and the struggles resulting from these differences are known as organizational:

politics.

RFID sensor-generated data on stored food items such as storage location is an example of:

raw input.

Sociotechnical changes affecting a firm adopting new information systems requiring organizational change can be considered:

strategic transitions.

The parts of an organization's infrastructure, human resources, technology, and procurement that make the delivery of the firm's products or services possible are known as ________ activities.

support

When two organizations pool markets and expertise that result in lower costs and generate profits, they are creating:

synergies.

The principal liaison between the information systems groups and the rest of the organization is a(n):

systems analyst.

According to research on organizational resistance, the four components that must be changed in an organization in order to successfully implement a new information system are:

tasks, technology, people, and structure.

Using ________ to enable government relationships with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government is called e-government.

the Internet and networking technologies

The idea that the more any given resource is applied to production, the lower the marginal gain in output, until a point is reached where the additional inputs produce no additional output, is referred to as:

the law of diminishing returns.

All of the following are reasons for the increased business focus on collaboration and teamwork, except for:

the need for more efficient work hierarchies.

All of the following are examples of business intelligence systems except a system that:

tracks the flows of materials in a factory.

When a firm buys on the marketplace what it cannot make itself, the costs incurred are referred to as:

transaction costs.

Output:

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

The ________ model highlights the primary or support activities that add a margin of value to a firm's products or services where information systems can best be applied to achieve a competitive advantage.

value chain

According to agency theory, the firm is viewed as a(n):

"nexus of contracts" among self-interested individuals.

Which of the following 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 1,2,3 all

Approximately how many Americans access the Internet using a smartphone or tablet?

194 million

In 2015, what percent of the U.S. economy resulted from foreign trade?

30 percent

How many service jobs move offshore to lower-wage countries in a typical year?

300,000

Which of the following best illustrates the use of information systems to focus on market niche?

A department store creating specialized products for preferred customers.

According to the chapter case, which of the following statements about Cisco's IX5000 telepresence system is not true?

A six-seat IX500 system costs about $500,000.

________ allows you to communicate with avatars using text messaging.

A virtual world

How much did American businesses spend on information systems hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment in 2015?

About $1 trillion

Approximately what percent of U.S. businesses have some form of remote work program?

About 60 percent

Which of the following is not a major feature of organizations that impacts the use of information systems?

Agency costs

Which of the following is a private corporate network extended to authorized users outside the organization?

An extranet

A(n) ________ is typically a major source of data for other systems.

TPS

Which of the following is an example of a social complementary asset?

Technology and service firms in adjacent markets

Which of the following statements about disruptive technologies is not true?

Firms that invent disruptive technologies as first movers always become market leaders.

Which of the following is a highly structured decision?

Granting credit to a customer

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

Growth in the PC platform

Which of the following is the key business metric behind the technologies implemented by Kroger, as discussed in the chapter-opening case?

Higher customer satisfaction levels

Which of the following is not a business benefit of collaboration?

Improved compliance with government regulations

Which of the following statements is not true?

In 2015, American businesses spent $500 billion on business and management consulting and information technology services.

Why does Amazon need to worry about competitors in online shopping?

Internet technologies are universal, and therefore usable by all companies.

Which of the following statements best describes organizational culture?

It is a fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things that has been accepted by most members of the organization.

Which of the following would you use to consolidate the relevant knowledge and experience in the firm and make it available to improve business processes and management decision making?

KMS

A relocation control system that reports summaries on the total moving, house hunting, and home financing costs for employees in all company divisions falls into which of the following categories?

MIS

Which of the following 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

Which of the following constitutes a managerial element in the UPS tracking system described in the chapter?

The decision to use automation

Which of the following 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?

Management information systems

Verizon's use of a web-based digital dashboard to provide managers with precise real-time information enabled it to improve which of the following?

Managerial decision making

Producing a bill of materials is a business process in which of the following functional areas?

Manufacturing and production

All of the following are IT-enabled products and services providing competitive advantage except:

Nike's use of celebrities to market their products.

To make sure they stock clothes that their customers will purchase, a department store implements a new application that analyzes spending levels at their stores and cross-references this data to popular clothing styles. Which of the following business objectives is this information intended to support?

Operational excellence

Which of the following disciplines focuses on mathematical techniques for optimizing parameters of organizations, such as transportation and inventory control?

Operations research

________ is a competitive strategy for creating brand loyalty by developing new and unique products and services that are not easily duplicated by competitors.

Product differentiation

Which of the following is not one of the four main classifications for collaboration tools identified by the space/time matrix?

Remote/colocated

Which of the following types of system enables management to make better decisions regarding organizing and scheduling sourcing, production, and distribution?

SCM - Supply Chain Management

Which level of the organization is an ESS specifically designed to serve?

Senior management

Which of the following decisions requires knowledge based on collaboration and interaction?

Should we work with outside vendors on new products and services?

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

Which of the following statements about collaboration is not true?

Successful collaboration can be achieved through technology regardless of the organization's culture or structure.

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

Survival

Which of the following job categories is expected to experience the most growth over the next eight years?

Systems analysts

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

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.

Which of the following tools would you use to evaluate and choose a collaboration tool for your organization?

The time/space collaboration and social tool matrix

Which of the following is the greatest obstacle in enabling collaboration between employees at different, distant corporate locations?

Time zones

Which of the following statements about digital firms is not true?

Today, most firms are fully digital.

Which of the following is an example of an organizational complementary asset?

Using the appropriate business model

Which of the following is not a true statement about value webs?

Value webs are inflexible and cannot adapt quickly to changes in supply and demand.

As discussed in the chapter opening case, which of the following statements about Verizon is not true?

Verizon is focusing on satellite-based television in its competition with AT&T.

In ________, raw data is systematically acquired and transformed during various stages that add value to that information.

an information value chain

A(n) ________ is a collection of independent firms that use information technology to coordinate their value chains to collectively produce a product or service for a market.

consortium

A(n) ________ is an activity for which a firm is a world-class leader.

core competency

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.

Sociologists study information systems with an eye to understanding:

how systems affect individuals, groups, and organizations.

In network economics, the value of a commercial software vendor's software products:

increases as more people use them.

All of the following describe the effects of globalization except:

increases in transaction costs.

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:

information technology (IT) infrastructure.

You have been hired by BizCom, a business communications consultancy that services many clients in different industries throughout the United States, to help it improve its profit margin. BizCom provides customized recommendations for the best use of a client's existing resources for improving internal communications, typically delivered via documentation in different media. The company has approximately 50 consultants, all of whom are located in its central headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. What type of system do you recommend that BizCom install to improve its business processes and increase its profit margin?

An extranet, to enable quick collaboration over the Internet, minimize the time spent communicating with the client, and minimize the amount of paperwork needed

Which of the following is an example of a business using information systems to create a new product?

Apple's creation of the iPod

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

Centralized hierarchical decision making

Which model is used to describe the interaction of external forces that affect an organization's strategy and ability to compete?

Competitive forces model

The Mandarin Oriental's use of computer systems to keep track of guests' preferences is an example of which of the following?

Customer intimacy

Non-typical business problems with causes and effects that are rapidly changing are typically handled by which of the following types of information system?

DSS

Which of the following types of information systems are especially suited to situations in which the procedure for arriving at a solution may not be fully defined in advance?

DSS

Which of the following types of systems typically use a digital dashboard to display an array of charts and graphs of a business's key performance indicators?

ESS

Which of the following would you use to forecast trends in your supplier's industry that could affect your firm over the next five years?

ESS

________ systems are also known as enterprise systems.

Enterprise resource planning

Which of the following types of system helps coordinate the flow of information between the firm and its suppliers and customers?

Extranet

You manage the IT department at a small startup Internet advertiser. You need to set up an inexpensive system that allows customers to see real-time statistics such as views and click-throughs about their current banner ads. Which type of system will most efficiently provide a solution?

Extranet

Information systems can be used at the industry level to achieve strategic advantage by:

building industrywide, IT-supported consortia and symposia.

The interaction between information technology and organizations is influenced:

by many factors, including structure, politics, culture, and environment.

Using the Internet to buy or sell goods is called:

e-commerce

Information systems enhance core competencies by:

encouraging the sharing of knowledge across business units.

A(n) ________ system collects data from various key business processes and stores the data in a single, comprehensive data repository, usable by other parts of the business.

enterprise