Quiz 3: Achieving Competitive Advantage with Information Systems

Which of the following statements about BPR is not true?

*BPR can lead to dramatic gains in productivity and efficiency.* (incorrect)

According to the chapter case, the Nike+ ecosystem is part of which of the following larger phenomena?

*BPR* (incorrect)

BPM tools can do all of the following except:

*Create a digital model of a part, product, or structure?* (incorrect) *Create models of improved processes* (incorrect)

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

*Information technology can be strategically useful from a network economics perspective.* (incorrect)

The Nike Vapor Talon is an example of which of the following?

*TQM* (incorrect) *BPM* (incorrect)

A virtual company:

*uses Internet technology to maintain a networked community of users.* (incorrect) *The law of diminishing returns does not always apply to every situation.?*

Which of the following illustrates the use of information systems to strengthen customer and supplier intimacy?

A PC manufacturer's use of information systems to facilitate direct access from suppliers to production schedules

Which of the following illustrates the use of information systems to achieve product differentiation?

A shoe manufacturer's use of information systems in selling custom, made-to-order shoes directly to customers

How are information systems used at the industry level to achieve strategic advantage?

By building industry-wide, IT-supported consortia and symposia

You are the production manager for a manufacturer of bicycle parts. Which of the following tools or technologies would you use to improve production precision?

CAD software

In a ________ system configuration, separate information systems are designed and managed by each foreign unit.

Decentralized

Caterpillar Corporation is example of which of the following?

Domestic exporter

________ systems are those in which development occurs at the home base, but operations are handed over to autonomous units in foreign locations.

Duplicated

Which of the following is not one of the competitive forces in Porter's model?

External environment

Which of the following is the first step in BPM?

Identify processes for change.

Which of the following technologies permits service calls to U.S. companies to be answered in India just as easily and inexpensively as if the help desk were in the United States?

Internet telephony

Which of the following companies used benchmarking to achieve an order-shipping accuracy of 99.9 percent?

L.L. Bean

________ is the ability to offer individually tailored products or services using the same production resources as bulk production.

Mass customization

Which of the following is pursuing a transnational strategy?

Nestle

All of the following are considered primary activities of a firm except:

Procurement

The reduction of errors to 3.4 defects per million opportunities is central to the concept of:

Six sigma

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

Small retailer

To what competitive force did the printed encyclopedia industry succumb?

Substitute products or services

Seeing quality as the responsibility of all people and functions in an organization is central to the concept of:

TQM

Which of the following can force a business and its competitors to compete on price alone?

Transparent marketplace

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

Value web

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

best practices

A firm that locates all systems development and operations at its headquarters is using a ________ system configuration.

centralized

Benchmarking:

compares the efficiency and effectiveness of your business processes against strict standards.

All of the following are psychological aspects of quality except:

effective marketing.

An information system can enhance core competencies by:

encouraging the sharing of knowledge across business units.

All of the following could be considered substitute products for industrial electricity generation except:

ethanol

All of the following are ways to improve quality except:

implementing a new information system.

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

increases as more people use them.

An information system can enable a company to focus on a market niche through:

intensive customer data analysis.

The Internet raises the bargaining power of customers most effectively by:

making information available to everyone.

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

more suppliers

The ________ strategy concentrates financial management and control out of a central home base while decentralizing production, sales, and marketing operations to units in other countries.

multinational

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

provide mass customization.

When the output of some units can be used as inputs to other units, or if two organizations pool markets and expertise that result in lower costs and generate profits, ________ are created.

synergies

The emergence of software as a web service has acted as a disruptive technology for:

traditional boxed software companies

Customer definitions of the quality of a product include all of the following except:

uniformity of the product.