BUS401 Chapter 1

Which of the following choices 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, and 3

An example of a business using information systems for survival is:

China Telecom's enterprise system designed to comply with international reporting regulations.

Dell Computer's use of information systems to improve efficiency and implement "mass customization" techniques to maintain consistent profitability and an industry lead illustrates which business objective?

Competitive advantage

Legal and regulatory compliance is an example of which dimension of business problem?

People

Aging hardware and outdated software are examples of which dimension of business problem?

Technical

In choosing the best solution for a business problem, one of the most important considerations is:

existing resources and skills.

Assume you work for a package delivery service in a major metropolitan area, and that the business has been losing customers for several years. You have been asked to find a solution to this problem, perhaps one which uses modern information technologies. What is the correct way to proceed:

identify the problem, design alternative solutions, choose the best solution, and then implement the solution.

The first step in the four-step model of business problem solving is:

identifying the problem.

The final step in the four-step model of business problem solving is:

implementation.

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.

The six important business objectives of information technology are new products, services, and business models; customer and supplier intimacy; survival; competitive advantage, operational excellence, and:

improved decision making.

Verizon's implementation of a Web-based digital dashboard to provide managers with real time information such as customer complaints is an example of:

improved decision-making

Business processes:

include informal work practices.

Operations management as a discipline is directly relevant to three occupational categories:

industrial production managers, operations analysts, and administrative service managers.

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

input, processing, and output.

An intranet uses:

internet technology within the boundaries of the firm.

An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support:

decision making and control in an organization

One of the recent critical challenges facing Major League Baseball was:

decreasing ticket sales.

A hierarchy:

is a pyramid structure or rising authority and responsibility.

The field that 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 is called:

management information systems.

In a hierarchical organization, the upper levels consist of:

managerial, professional, and technical workers.

The average number of tickets sold daily online is an example of:

meaningful information.

Electronic computers and related software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of:

modern information systems.

The hardware and software used to transfer data in an organization is called:

networking and telecommunications technology.

Poor business processes and unsupportive culture are examples of which dimension of business problem:

organizational

Flapjack Flats, a new pancake chain, is having difficulty finding pancake chefs. This is a business problem that falls into the:

organizational dimension.

The owners of Speed-EZ, a new bike messenger service, are concerned about how they will manage their messengers once they have left the office. This is a business problem that falls into the:

people dimension.

Converting raw data into a more meaningful form is called:

processing.

Types of marketing managers include:

promotion managers and sales managers.

Order data for baseball tickets and bar code data are examples of:

raw input.

One of the most frequent errors in problem solving is:

rushing to judgment.

Promoting the organization's products and services is a business function of:

sales and marketing.

Financial managers work directly with ______________ to ensure investments in information systems help achieve corporate goals.

senior managers

What was the most important impact of Major League Baseball's Web site development efforts:

strengthened the relationship with customers and suppliers.

The use of information systems because of necessity is:

survival

The move of retail banking to use ATMs after Citibank unveiled its first ATMs illustrates the information system business objective of:

survival.

Inadequate data management is an example of the ___________ dimension of business problems.

technical

For the U.S., the most common and successful offshore outsourcing has been:

technical positions in information systems.

The fact that online advertising revenues are growing at 30% a year, while offline traditional advertising is growing at about 5% a year, suggests that:

the Internet is transforming the traditional advertising business model.

What term is used to refer to all of the computer-based information systems used by organizations and their underlying technologies?

Information technology

An example of a business using information systems to create new products and services is:

MLB's Web sites for online "fantasy" games.

An example of a business using information systems to attain competitive advantage is:

Blockbuster's creation of a new online movie-rental system similar to that of Netflix.

Networking and telecommunications technologies, along with the people required to run and manage them, constitute an organization's:

IT infrastructure.

An example of raw data from a national chain of automobile stores would be:

a. 13 Toyotas sold daily in Kentucky b. 13 Toyota RAV 4s sold during March 2006 in Louisville, Kentucky c. 1 Toyota RAV4s sold March 3, 2005 in Louisville, Kentucky d. All of the above

Maintaining the organization's financial records is a business function of

accounting.

One of the very first business applications of information systems was:

accounting.

An information skill important for a marketing major would be:

an understanding of product management enterprise systems.

An information skill important for an accounting major would be:

an understanding of system and network security issues.

In the UPS case the company's culture places service to the customer among the company's highest business objectives. Based on your reading of Chapter 1, why is "culture" an important factor to consider when building information system solutions to business problems?

the business culture provides the vision and inspiration for information system solutions

The failure of NASA's initial solution to preventing the space shuttle shedding foam illustrates:

the continuous nature of problem solving.

Data management technology consists of:

the software governing the organization of data on physical storage media.

Output:

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

Based on your reading of the Sonic case and other examples in the chapter, if you were asked to formulate a plan for a regional drive-in restaurant chain's efforts to use information technology to attract customers, what would be the best use of information technology from the list below:

use IT to achieve customer intimacy.

A major criterion in deciding the most important perspectives of a business problem is:

usefulness.

Sonic's use of point-of-sales terminals to track purchasing trends at different outlets is an example of:

using information systems to achieve customer intimacy.