ISOM 210 Chapter One

Management information systems

a business function, like accounting and human resources, which moves information about people, products, and processes across the company to facilitate decision making and problem solving

stakeholder

a person or group that has an interest or concern in an organization; they can drive business strategies or can change them

Porter's five forces model

analyzes the competitive forces within the environment in which a company operates to assess the potential for profitability in an industry; its purpose is to combat these competitive forces by identifying opportunities, competitive advantages, and competitive intelligence; if the forces are strong, they increase competition; if the forces are weak, they decrease competition

Knowledge workers

are individuals valued for their ability to interpret and analyze information

Supply chain

consists of all parties involved, directly or indirectly, in obtaining raw materials or a product

SWOT analysis

evaluates an organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to identify significant influences that work for or against business strategies

The Internet of Things

in a world where interconnected, Internet enabled devices or "things" an collect and share data without human intervention—also called machine to machine, which refers to devices that connect directly to other devices

Knowledge

includes the skills, experience, and expertise, coupled with information and intelligence that create a person's intellectual resources

Business intelligence

information collected from multiple sources such as suppliers, customers, competitors, partners, and industries that analyze patterns, trends and relationship for strategic decision making; manipulates variables

business strategy

is a leadership plan that achieves a specific set of goals or objectives such as increasing sales, decreasing costs, entering new markets, or developing new products

Information

is data converted into a meaningful and useful context

Rivalry among existing competitors

is high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competitors are more complacent

Threat of new entrants

is high when it is easy for new competitors to enter a market and low when there are significant entry barriers to joining a market

Threat of Substitute Products or services

is high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and low when there are few alternatives from which to choose

Product differentiation

occurs when a company develops unique differences in its products or services with the intent to influence demand

Data

raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event or object

Buyer power

the ability of buyers to affect the price they must pay for an item. Factors used to assess buyer power include number of customers, their sensitivity to prices, size of orders, differences between competitors, and availability of substitute products; if buyer power is high, customers can force a company and its competitors to compete on a price, often driving down prices

Supplier power

the suppliers' ability to influence the prices they charge for supplies