OIM 210 Exam Two
The Fire Phone has struggled because it is fighting:
for consumers in a mature market high in switching costs against competitors that have strong network effects with a product that is not fully compatible with dominant smartphone standards
Amazon does not _____.
own the inventory of items sold through the 'Fulfilled by Amazon' program
Amazon reports a negative cash conversion cycle, which means it:
sells goods before it has to pay its suppliers
The acronym VoIP is considered by many to be a disruptive innovation. It refers to:
the technology used in internet telephony
Why is eBay an example of a two-sided network?
two-sided markets are network markets comprised of two distinct categories of participant, both of which that are needed to deliver value for the network to work. At eBay for transactions to work the market needs both buyers and sellers, and each category attracts the other.
A Web site anyone can edit directly within a Web browser is known as a _______.
A Web site anyone can edit directly within a Web browser is a wiki. Wikis can be one of the speediest ways to collaboratively create content online. Many popular online wikis serve as a shared knowledge repository in some domain.
In the context of network effects, the term "network" refers to:
A network doesn't refer to the physical wires or wireless systems that connect pieces of electronics. It just refers to a common user base that is able to communicate and share with one another.
A(n) _____ is the one that derives most of its value from a single class of users.
A one-sided market is the one that derives most of its value from a single class of users.
A(n) _____ is an online community that allows users to establish a personal profile and communicate with others.
A social network is an online community that allows users to establish a personal profile and communicate with others. The foundation of a social network is the user profile, but utility goes beyond the sort of listing found in a corporate information directory. Large public social networks include MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google's Orkut.
_____ refers to a false online persona created to promote a particular point of view often in praise of a firm, product, or individual.
A sock puppet refers to a false online persona created to promote a particular point of view often in praise of a firm, product, or individual.
This firm's processor designs power the majority of smart phones on the planet.
ARM
A company using a(n) _____ strategy would seek to create and compete in uncontested market spaces, rather than competing in spaces and ways that have attracted many, similar rivals.
According to the blue ocean strategy, instead of competing in blood-red waters where the sharks of highly competitive firms vie for every available market scrap, firms should seek the blue waters of uncontested, new market spaces.
Which of the following is a benefit derived from Amazon's use of Kiva robots in its fulfillment centers?
Allows warehouses to store more product, Reduces unload time for inbound inventory, Cuts average order fulfillment time
In which ways is Amazon becoming a publisher?
Amazon has gotten into the book publishing business as well, creating several of its own "imprints" (publishing divisions). Amazon is also pulling a Netflix, moving aggressively into original programming. And Amazon's digital publishing ambitions aren't limited to the printed word. The firm's Amazon Game Studios has released titles for Kindle Fire as well as Android, iOS, and Facebook.
A(n) _____ to social media refers to an established online presence where customers can reach and interact with a firm.
An embassy approach to social media refers to an established online presence where customers can reach and interact with a firm.
A(n) _____ refers to a market dominated by a small number of powerful sellers.
An oligopoly is a market which is dominated by a small number of powerful sellers.
Engineering the posting of positive comments and reviews of a firm's product and services on feedback forums is known as _____.
Astroturfing is the practice of lining comment and feedback forums with positive feedback. It also involves engineering posting of negative comments pertaining to a firm's competitors.
Which of the following is an example of a web service that enables crowdsourcing. Innocentive
At InnoCentive over 120,000 "solvers" have registered to seek solutions for tasks put forward by seekers that include Dow Chemical, Eli Lilly, and Procter & Gamble. On Amazon's Mechanical Turk, anyone with a task to be completed or problem to be solved can set a price for completion or solution. TopCoder stages coding competitions that deliver real results for commercial clients, such as ESPN. Contests have attracted hundreds of thousands of participants globally. The GE Aros air conditioner was born from ideas shared via the crowdsourcing platform at Quirky.com.
The ability to take advantage of complementary products developed for a prior generation of technology is known as _____.
Backward compatibility refers to the ability of a firm to take advantage of complementary products developed for a prior generation of technology. Those firms that control a standard should ensure that new products have backward compatibility with earlier offerings. If not, they re-enter a market at installed-base zero and give up a major source of advantage-the switching costs built up by prior customers.
Benefits derived by interaction among members of a single class of participants are called _____ exchange benefits.
Benefits derived by interaction among members of a single class of participants are called same-side exchange benefits. An example of same-side exchange benefits is the network effects derived from existing IM users attracting more IM users.
The public ledger that records transactions and ownership of bitcoins is known as the:
Blockchain
Online journal entries, usually made in a reverse chronological order, are known as _____.
Blogs (short for Web logs) first emerged almost a decade ago as a medium for posting online diaries and are a category of social media sites. Blogs typically provide comment mechanisms where users can post feedback for authors and other readers.
The phenomenon known as ___________________ exists when a firm's potential partners see the firm as a threat. This threat could come because it offers competing products or services via alternative channels or because the firm works closely with especially threatening competitors.
Channel conflict exists when a firm's potential partners see that firm as a threat. This threat could come because it offers competing products or services via alternative channels or because the firm works closely with especially threatening competitors.
Which of the following would not considered as contributing to the 'complementary benefits' value of network effects
Complementary benefits are those products or services that add additional value to the network. These products might include "how-to" books, software, and feature add-ons, even labor. Hardware products that can plug into a 'platform', such as speakers or even automobile integration (Apple CarPlay) are complementary benefits that enhance the value of the primary product or service offer.
The phenomenon of ________________________________________ exists when increasing numbers of users lower the value of a product or service.
Congestion effects occur when increasing numbers of users lower the value of a product or service. This most often happens when a key resource becomes increasingly scarce.
You are at a packed stadium for the big game and you want to upload a photo of your team's touchdown using Instagram. Your mobile phone shows five bars of service, but you still can't access the Internet. This is likely an example of _______________.
Congestion effects occur when increasing numbers of users lower the value of a product or service. This most often happens when a key resource becomes increasingly scarce. In this case, the constrained resource is the carrying capacity of nearby cell phone towers.
Blogging can be an effective tool for firms to share opinions directly with the public without communication being filtered by a journalist or narrowed by the editor of a third-party publication. T or F?
Corporate blogs can be published directly to the public, skipping what bloggers call the mainstream media (MSM) and presenting their words without a journalist filtering their comments or an editor cutting out key points they'd hoped to make.
The act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent and outsourcing it to an undefined generally large group of people in the form of an open call is known as _____.
Crowdsourcing builds off the idea of the wisdom of crowds and allows for firms to harness great ideas in order to improve their business.
Sermo is an example of an online community that focuses on which group of professional users.
Doctors are using tools like Sermo to tap into the wisdom of crowds to gain insights, advice, expertise, and to challenge or verify their assumptions.
________ are promotions that are not paid for or owned but rather grow organically from customer efforts or other favorable publicity. Examples include positive tweets, referring Facebook posts, and pins on Pinterest.
Earned media are promotions that are not paid for or owned but rather grow organically from customer efforts or other favorable publicity. Social media can be a key driver of earned media (think positive tweets, referring Facebook posts, and pins on Pinterest). Other forms of earned media include unsolicited positive press and positive customer word of mouth. View unsolicited praise of Starbucks in your Twitter feed by folks you follow? That's earned media.
The phrase ______________ refers to efforts where participants share access to products and services rather than having ownership.
Efforts referred to as collaborative consumption, or sometimes the sharing economy, allow participants share access to products and services rather than having ownership.
Facebook and Twitter feeds are:
Facebook posts are curated by the firm's algorithms, and not every post is seen by people who are friends with the poster or who have "liked" a page. Twitter posts appear chronologically in the feed of any follower, so as long as followers have Twitter open, any organically shared content will appear in the feed.
Amazon was wise to base Fire products off of Android, since this means that all Android tablet apps will work on the Kindle Fire. T or F?
False- While Fire OS is based on Android, it's what is referred to as a modified Android 'fork', with differences significant enough that fire runs only a subset of Android apps.
A/B Testing refers to an effort where prices fluctuate based on supply and demand conditions. T or F?
False-A/B Tests are a randomized group of experiments used to collect data and compare performance among two options studied (A and B). The ability to rapidly perform and act on A/B tests is an advantage that online firms have over offline rivals.
The AWS business is promising for Amazon in that it is used by more firms than any other effort. However, like many of Amazon's other "long bet" gambits, AWS has yet to earn any money. T or F?
False-AWS makes up only about seven percent of Amazon's overall revenue, but it is already a multibillion-dollar revenue generator. It kicks off about $1 billion in profits, and it's the firm's fastest-growing business.
Amazon's AWS industrial cloud computing products have struggled to gain traction against stronger, tech-centric products offered by industry leaders Google and Microsoft, but Bezos remains undeterred and will continue to invest despite Amazon's meager cloud computing market share. T or F?
False-AWS offers five times the utilized compute capacity of the next 14 cloud providers combined. AWS is already a multibillion-dollar revenue generator and the firm's fastest-growing business.
The Amazon cloud computing product known as Workspaces allows firms to manage their inventory and fulfillment within Amazon's own warehouses. T or F?
False-Amazon WorkSpaces provides access to fully-functional, remotely served, virtual Windows PCs through the cloud-offered up in a desktop browser window, or even on an iPad or Kindle Fire-for a low monthly fee. These kinds of products are great choices for clients that want securely locked down PCs, think call centers and law enforcement.
Computers help make sure shelvers stack similar items next to each other. The goal? Make sure that if an order picker seeks something like Legos, they'll find all of the firm's offerings in one spot. T or F?
False-Amazon software enforces an additional rule when stocking shelves: no two similar products sit next to each other. While this makes Amazon's shelves look like an unorganized hodgepodge, when a product is the only one of its type in a given area, this actually reduces the chances that a picker will confuse a size or color or otherwise grab the wrong thing. Reducing mistakes keeps customers happy in brand-building ways, and it reduces errors that can crush profits.
The bread of devices running iOS, and the various versions of the fragmented iOS operating system present a far greater challenge for developers than the fairly unified Android standard. T or F?
False-Android devices with different hardware specs running different versions of Google's mobile operating system create a challenge for developers. As an example, consider thant Hong Kong mobile app developer Animoca does quality assurance testing with about four hundred Android devices on every app the firm offers
Bezos is regarded as such a successful CEO in part based on his relentless focus on his firm's quarterly performance. T or F?
False-Bezos steadfastly refused to concentrate on the quarterly results Wall Street frets over. Instead, the Amazon founder has followed his best reckoning on where markets and technology were headed, postponing profit harvesting while expanding into new markets.
Bloggers and other users of social media often refer to the MSM. This phrase stands for Media Social Methods. T or F?
False-Corporate blogs can be published directly to the public, skipping what bloggers call the mainstream media (MSM) and presenting their words without a journalist filtering their comments or an editor cutting out key points they'd hoped to make.
Corporations will want to be cautious about what is posted to wikis since wikis can be accessed by anyone. T or F?
False-In addition to the hundreds of public wikis, there are many thousand more that are hidden away behind firewalls, used as proprietary internal tools for organizational collaboration
Agency pricing refers to a situation where retailers buy books at the price specified by suppliers, but can then sell at any price they want. T or F?
False-In agency pricing, the publisher sets the price and the reseller gets a cut (usually around 30 percent in the market for electronic books).
Intuit has shifted from the disruption caused by the emergence of cloud computing by shifting to markets for packaged software. T or F?
False-Intuit has been a leader in several packaged software categories, including personal finance (Quicken), small business (QuickBooks), and tax prep (TurboTax) software, but has effectively shifted to cloud-based offerings, some of which are initially free. So-called connected services that either run in the cloud or enhance existing offerings make up over 65 percent of the firm's revenues.
While Amazon took several years to turn a profit, the firm has been known for consistent and growing profits ever since. T or F?
False-Massive investments crushed Amazon profits in 2012, and despite over $74 billion in 2013 sales, the firm only made $274 million. 2014 had Amazon back in the red, losing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Don't confuse blogs with conventional search engine results. Blogs are very important, but they do not influence the content that appears in searches through Google or Bing. T or F?
False-Material deemed useful is likely to gain more Web links and cause firm-affiliated content to rise in SEO rankings, making your firm easy to find, pushing your firm higher in search results than your rivals, and solidifying perception of your firm as an expert.
Despite the potential impact of crowdsourcing, very few big brands are taking advantage of this method. T or F?
False-Nine of the world's top ten brands have engaged in some form of crowdsourcing.
The exchange rate for bitcoin has proven to be more stable over in recent years than many 'real world' currencies, including the U.S. Dollar, the Euro, and the Japanese Yen. T or F?
False-Over a recent twelve month period, the value of a single bitcoin went from less than $100 to over $1,000 before losing half its value again and then gaining some. Volatility makes bitcoin less useful as a dollar-like currency, limiting its appeal to speculators that often seem like get-rich-quick schemers or the much smaller legitimate market that is looking for in-and-out transactions such as cross-border payments. Some also worry about a bitcoin valuation bubble.
Despite the hype, no online retailers accept bitcoin due largely to security concerns. T or F?
False-Overstock.com was one of the first large online retailers to accept bitcoin. Its profit margins. While not mentioned in readings, Dell and Zynga are among other well-known firms that were early adopters of bitcoin.
Staying power is important in technology industries because technology products such as office suite software, smartphone, laptops, and servers are so pricey. T or F?
False-Staying power is important for consumers of technology products because investment over time usually greatly exceeds the initial price paid for a product or service. A user invests in learning how to use a system, buying and installing software, entering preferences or other data, creating files-all of which mean that if a product isn't supported anymore, much of this investment is lost.
While Amazon is the largest online retailer, the firm has struggled with customer satisfaction, largely because processes are automated and the firm offers little phone support or human assistance. The firm allows this tradeoff because it helps cut costs. T or F?
False-Strong brands are built largely through customer experience. As evidence of the strength of Amazon's brand, the firm has repeatedly scored the highest rating on the University of Michigan's American Customer Service Index (ACSI). Not only was it a rating that bested all other Internet retailers; it was the highest score of any firm in any service industry.
Disruptive innovations are often so damaging because the new technology has better margins than the incumbent technology being displaced. True or false?
False-The most disruptive technologies also often have worse margins than the initially dominant incumbent offerings. Since these markets don't look attractive, big firms don't dedicate resources to developing the potential technology or nurturing the needs of a new customer base.
Buying Twitch was bad investment for Amazon, as far fewer users tune in to watch other people play video games than tune in to watch conventional television network shows. T or F?
False-The service has nearly as many viewers as the established cable networks MTV, Comedy Central, and MSNBC
ARM has been so successful because its chip designs can run any software originally designed to run on Intel chips. T or F?
False-Unlike Intel-compatible rival AMD, ARM chips can't run Intel software, so all of a firm's old code would need to be rewritten to work on any ARM-powered servers, laptops, or desktops.
Fire TV is a risky bet because it enters a very mature market for home television streaming devices. T or F?
False-When Fire TV was introduced, just 8 percent of consumers in the United States own any kind of television-streaming media box. That may mean TV is still anyone's game to win.
The use of Kiva robots has also allowed Amazon to radically reduce headcount, saving the firm additional money by cutting its workforce. T or F?
False-While robot workers are cheaper than people, Kiva isn't a job-killer; in fact, Amazon has actually increased staff since deploying the robots. Says the firm's VP of Worldwide Operations, "Kiva's doing the part that's not that complicated. It's just moving inventory around. The person is doing the complicated work, which is reaching in, identifying the right product, making sure it's the right quality, and making sure it's good enough to be a holiday gift for somebody."
Firms that listen to their customers are more likely to be able to counteract the onslaught of potentially disruptive technologies. T or F?
False-the majority of a firm's current customers don't want the initially poor-performing new technology.
Pioneered by Facebook but now adopted by most services, _____ provide a timely list of the activities of and public messages from people, groups, and organizations that an individual has an association with.
Feeds provide a timely list of the activities of and public messages from people, groups, and organizations that an individual has an association with.
Mandated for Wikipedia contributions, this editorial style is free of bias and opinion:
Firms that overreach and try to influence an entry outside of Wikipedia's mandated neutral point of view (NPOV), risk a backlash and public exposure. Version tracking means the wiki sees all.
What are the two characteristics of disruptive innovations (sometimes referred to as disruptive technologies)?
First, they come to market with a set of performance attributes that existing customers don't value. Second, over time the performance attributes improve to the point where they invade established markets
Fire OS is a _____________ of the Android operating system, a copy that has been modified so much that it has become a distinctly separate product.
Fork - in software development (sometimes also called project fork). When developers start with a copy of a project's program source code, but modify it, creating a distinct and separate product from the original base.
Envelopment is a strategy in which a firm seeks to:
In envelopment, a firm seeks to conquer a new market by making it a subset, component or feature of its primary offering.
Which of the following is a strategy for competing in markets with network effects?
In one admittedly risky strategy, firms may offer to subsidize initial adoption in hopes that network effects might kick in shortly after.
_____ is the idea that a group of amateur individuals collectively have more insight than a single or small group of trained professionals.
In the concept of the wisdom of crowds, a group of individuals (often untrained amateurs), collectively has more insight than a single or small group of trained professionals. The idea of crowd wisdom is at the heart of wikis, folksonomy tagging systems, and many other online efforts.
Which of the following online efforts has crowd wisdom as its underlying principle?
In the wisdom of the crowds concept, a group of individuals (often untrained amateurs), collectively has more insight than a single or small group of trained professionals. The idea of crowd wisdom is at the heart of wikis, folksonomy tagging systems, and many other online efforts.
In order to achieve a negative cash conversion cycle a firm would want to:
Increase its account payable period and its inventory turns.
If you want to have conversations with colleagues, clients, and potential employers, you'll need to speak their language and understand their vocabulary. One term you may hear is ____________________. The phrase is often used to refer to disruptive technology theory and it is also the name of Prof. Clayton Christensen's book (Christensen is considered the father of Disruptive Innovation theory).
Innovator's Dilemma
What did Waze offer Google?
Israeli firm Waze has used crowdsourcing to build a better map. The firm's growing community of over 50 million users shares anonymous, live driving data by default. This helps build extremely accurate maps of real-time traffic flow. Another 70,000 plus in the Waze community actively edit maps for increased accuracy.
When network effects are strong, the best (e.g. the highest quality or most superior product) does not necessarily when. T or F?
It's important to note that the best product or service doesn't always win. PlayStation 2 dominated the original Xbox in a prior generation's game console war, despite the fact that nearly every review claimed the Xbox was hands-down a more technically superior machine. Why were users willing to choose an inferior product (PS2) over a superior one (Xbox)? The power of network effects! PS2 had more users, which attracted more developers offering more games.
Twitter ads are billed on pay per performance when there is a retweet, follow, buy, or other engagement with a promotion. T or F?
Like Google, these ads are billed on pay per performance. Advertisers pay only when users engage by clicking on a tweet, retweeting a promotion, replying, favoriting, or following.
While blogs are effective for communicating with the public, firms shouldn't use blogs for internal communication since everyone can see them. T or F?
Like any web page, blogs can be public or isolated for internal use via a corporate firewall or password protection.
What is the 'creosote bush effect'?
Managers can act like the rival-killing creosote bush, pulling high-quality engineers off emerging projects if a firm's top offerings need staff or other resources to grow
Which of the following is not considered a criteria necessary for prediction markets to function properly:
McKinsey Quarterly, Surowiecki outlined several criteria necessary for a crowd to be "smart."[] The crowd must be diverse, so that participants are bringing different pieces of information to the table, be decentralized, so that no one at the top is dictating the crowd's answer, offer a collective verdict that summarizes participant opinions,and be independent, so that each focuses on information rather than the opinions of others.
_____ is a type of short-message posting service, often made via mobile device, designed to provide rapid notification to a user's readership.
Microblogs are designed to provide rapid notification to their readership (e.g., a news flash, an update on one's activities), rather than detailed or in-depth comments. Twitter is the most popular microblogging service.
_____ has allowed Amazon to radically drop the price of Kindle offerings, while increasing device functionality.
Moore's Law has allowed Amazon to radically drop the price of Kindle offerings, while increasing device functionality. When introduced, the high-resolution color Kindle Fire offered a touch-screen tablet experience for half the price of the competing iPad and quickly became the second bestselling tablet on the market.
Netflix leveraged crowdsourcing by offering one million dollars to the first team to:
Netflix famously offered anonymous data to any takers, along with a one-million-dollar prize to the first team that could improve the accuracy of movie recommendations by 10 percent.
Network effects are sometimes called _____.
Network effects are also known as Metcalfe's law, or network externalities, and this concept has been leveraged by many technology firms to build massive user bases.
Network markets comprised of two distinct categories of participants, both of which are needed to deliver value for the network to work, are called _____.
Network markets comprised of two distinct categories of participants, both of which are needed to deliver value for the network to work are called two-sided markets. People buy a video game console largely based on the number of really great games available for the system. Software developers write games based on their ability to reach the greatest number of paying customers, and so they are most likely to write for the most popular consoles first. This results in the creation of a two-sided market.
A hash tag allows Twitter users to:
On Twitter, users can classify comments on a given topic using hash tags (keywords prefixed by the '#' or "hash" symbol), allowing others to quickly find related tweets (e.g., #iranelection, #mumbai, #swineflu).
________ are media from communication channels that an organization controls. These can include firm-run blogs and Web sites, any firm-distributed corporate mobile Web site or app, and organization accounts on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Owned media are communication channels that an organization controls. These can include firm-run blogs and Web sites, any firm-distributed corporate mobile Web site or app, and organization accounts on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Visit the Starbucks Web site? That's media owned by Starbucks.
________ refers to efforts where an organization pays to leverage a channel or promote a message. Paid media efforts include things such as advertisement and sponsorships.
Paid media refers to efforts where an organization pays to leverage a channel or promote a message. Paid media efforts include things such as advertisement and sponsorships. See a Starbucks ad online? That's paid media.
The phrase ________________ refers to the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something.
PayPal and Uber are firms that have both used these incentives as trust proxies, or what is sometimes referred to as social proof. When a friend sends an invite to a service where users may otherwise have trust concerns (e.g., PayPal and sharing of financial information, Uber and stepping into a car driven by a stranger), an endorsement by a friend can ease concerns.
The phrase _____ is used to refer to situations in which users collaboratively work to create contents, products, and services. Examples include social media as well as service like Skype and BitTorrent.
Peer production includes social media sites, open source software, and peer-produced services, such as Skype and BitTorrent. The participation of these users provide the infrastructure and computational resources that enable the service.
One way firms seek to strengthen their platforms and encourage third parties to develop complementary goods is by:
Products and services that encourage others to offer complementary goods are sometimes called platforms. Many firms do this by providing APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces, that allow third parties to integrate with their products and services.
The term __________________________________________________ refers to showing ads for products and services from a site that a user has previously visited.
Retargeting
Apple reduced the switching costs and increased Mac adoptions when the switched from the PowerPC to using Windows-compatible Intel microprocessors. T or F?
Since Intel is the same standard used by Windows, Apple developed a free software adaptor called Boot Camp that allowed Windows to be installed on Macs. Boot Camp (and similar solutions by other vendors) dramatically lowered the cost for Windows users to switch to Macs. Within two years of making the switch, Mac sales skyrocketed to record levels.
_____ involves leveraging a firm's customers to promote a product or service.
Since all products and services foster some sort of exchange, it's often possible to leverage a firm's customers to promote the product or service using viral promotion.
Social networks are a hothouse for "_________" media, where enthusiast-consumers can help spread the word about products and services.
Social networks are a hothouse for "earned" media, where enthusiast-consumers can help spread the word about products and services.
_____ refers to the long-term viability of a product or service.
Staying power, along with complementary benefits and exchange, gives value to network effects. It refers to the long-term viability of a product or service.
Storing digital goods in the cloud via a firm-controlled standard means a company will create the competitive asset of ______________.
Switching costs
What concept related to staying power is also known by the phrases "being sticky," "creating friction," and "lock-in"?
Switching costs also go by other names. You might hear the business press refer to products as being "sticky" or creating "friction." Others may refer to the concept of "lock-in." The concept of staying power is directly related to switching costs.
_____ refer(s) to competing by offering a superior generation of technology that is so much greater to existing offerings that the value overcomes the total resistance that older technologies might enjoy via exchange, switching cost, and complementary benefits.
Technological leapfrogging involves competing by offering a new technology that is superior to existing offerings. Therefore, the value overcomes the total resistance that older technologies might enjoy via exchange, switching cost, and complementary benefits.
The "three Rs" emphasized in the social media policy guidelines of most organizations relate to:
The "three Rs" emphasized in the social media policy guidelines of most organizations relate to representation, responsibility, and respect. (1) Representation - Employees need clear and explicit guidelines on expectations for social media engagement, (2) Responsibility - Employees need to take responsibility for their online actions, and (3) Respect - Employees must honor differences and act ethically and responsibly when dealing with customers.
The name sometimes is ascribed to disruptive innovation theory is:
The Innovator's Dilemma
Polling a diverse crowd and aggregating opinions, in order to form a forecast of an eventual outcome to leverage the wisdom of crowds, is known as _____.
The crowd isn't always right, but in many cases where topics are complex, problems are large, and outcomes are uncertain, a large, diverse group may bring collective insight to problem solving that one smart guy or a professional committee lacks. Prediction markets are used in such situations to leverage the wisdom of crowds.
Which of the following is "not" considered one of the four "Ms" of social media engagement:
The four "Ms" of social media are the megaphone (outbound communication), magnet (drawing others into the conversation), and monitoring and mediating online conversations.
The roll back feature of a wiki page allows:
The roll back feature of wikis is useful for restoring earlier work in the event of a posting error, inaccuracy, or vandalism.
The three sources of value for network effects include __________, staying power, and complementary benefits.
The value derived from network effects comes from three sources: exchange, staying power, and complementary benefits.
GitHub and StackOverflow are websites that are especially useful for students and professionals focusing on the _______________________ industries
The websites Stack Overflow and GitHub have emerged as critically important software developer learning tools and effective ways to establish and strengthen one's reputation
Which of the following is an economic measure of the full cost of owning a product?
Total cost of ownership is an economic measure of the full cost of owning a product. It includes direct costs such as purchase price, plus indirect costs such as training, support, and maintenance.
_____ are links in a blog post that refer readers back to cited sources.
Trackbacks allow a blogger to see which and how many other bloggers are referring to their content. A "trackback" field is supported by most blog software. While it is not required to enter a trackback when citing another post, it is considered good "netiquette" to do so.
Amazon employees are given the freedom to challenge even the most senior managers to all the way up to the founder. T or F?
True
Amazon takes a relatively long-term view with respect to investing in initiatives and its commitment to grow profitable businesses. T or F?
True
Amazon went seven years without turning a profit. T or F?
True
The three pillars of Amazon's business are large selection, convenience, and lower prices. T or F?
True
While no crystal ball exists to identify disruptive technologies with perfect accuracy, firms that have external conversations with innovative external groups, as well as improving internal communication with technologies can help. T or F?
True
ARM chips are generally not as powerful as desktop chips, however Moore's law is making these chips powerful enough for server tasks, bringing with them the added benefit of requiring less energy to operate. T or F?
True-ARM chips (once computational weaklings) are now fast enough to invade the established market for server chips. Chips with ARM logic are far more power efficient than the chips Intel sells for PCs, laptops, and servers. The Intel chips were never designed for power efficiency; they evolved from markets where computers were always plugged in.
AWS allows anyone with a credit card to access industrial-strength, scalable computing resources. T or F?
True-AWS, or Amazon Web Services, allows firms, and really anyone with a credit card, to rent industrial-strength computing capacity on an as-needed basis. The best-known offerings are Amazon's EC2 (Elastic Computing Cloud), which provides the virtual equivalent of physical computing hardware; and S3 (Simple Storage Service) providing Web-based storage.
Various Kindle versions are regularly sold at or below costs. T or F?
True-Amazon doesn't look to make money directly from Kindle hardware sales. But once that cash register is in the hands of consumers, the sales ring up. As an always-on bookstore, the Kindle works pretty well.
Amazon offers personal cloud storage options for all forms of media, including books, games, music, and video. It even offers file storage akin to Dropbox and Google Drive. T or F?
True-Amazon offers personal cloud storage options for all forms of media, including books, games, music, and video. It even offers file storage akin to Dropbox and Google Drive.
Apple is allowed to charge app developers a 30 percent surcharge on digital goods sold through any apps on its devices. T or F?
True-Apple legally charges app developers 30 percent for all revenue earned through in-app purchases, a fee that would further crater Amazon's thin-to-nonexistent margins on many e-books. As a result, Amazon dropped the "purchase" button from iOS Kindle apps.
Wikis can be effective for group work and team meetings, since they can be used for everything from posting an agenda in advance, to prompting users to share documents before face-to-face brainstorming and feedback. T or F?
True-At Disney's Pixar, wikis are used to improve meeting efficiency, with agendas and key materials distributed in advance.
Bitcoin has the potential to greatly reduce the costs associated with cross-border financial transfers. T or F?
True-Bitcoin could be a boon for cross-border remittance and in expanding e-commerce in emerging markets. A bitcoin transfer would be immediate and could theoretically eliminate all transaction fees.
Netflix runs on Amazon Web Services. T or F?
True-Even firms that might consider Amazon as a rival, including Netflix and Dropbox, rely on AWS.
Experts advise firms hedge against disruptive technology by developing a portfolio of technology options, giving the firm the right (but not the obligation) to continue and increase funding as a technology shows promise. T or F?
True-Firms identifying potentially disruptive technologies are wise to create a portfolio of technology options-start-ups or in-house efforts otherwise isolated from the firm's core business and management distraction. Options give the firm the right (but not the obligation) to continue and increase funding as a technology shows promise. It's also important that these experimental efforts are nurtured in a way that is sufficiently separate from the parent to offer staff working on the innovation a high degree of autonomy and protection.
"Flash sales" refers to the process of offering deep discounts on a limited quantity of inventory, often running for a limited time period or until inventory runs out. T or F?
True-Firms offering flash sales offer deep discounts on a limited quantity of inventory, often running for a limited time period or until inventory runs out.
Amazon offers free wifi-connected buttons that consumers can scatter throughout their homes for fast reordering. T or F?
True-Free Amazon Dash Buttons can be scattered about your home, allowing automatic ordering of high volume staples—things like Keurig cups, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Gillette razors, and Huggies diapers via a single, branded, Wi-Fi-enabled press.
Amazon's CEO has invested in many firms, including a commercial rocketry and aviation firm that intends to send humans into space and which has already launched a suborbital capsule test. T or F?
True-His personal investments (invested as Bezos Expeditions) include Blue Origin, a commercial rocketry and aviation firm that intends to send humans into space, and which has already launched a suborbital capsule test
Facebook requires employees to leave their teams for new assignments at least once every eighteen months. T or F?
True-It's common for many firms to regularly rotate staff (both management and engineering) to improve idea sharing and innovation. Facebook, for example, requires employees to leave their teams for new assignments at least once every eighteen months.
The version history and roll back features of wikis is considered to be more clear, allowing users to be able to see who made what edits, than collaborating simultaneously in a tool such as Google Docs or Office365. T or F?
True-Many users find the version history and roll back features of wikis to be more clear than collaborating simultaneously in a tool such as Google Docs or Office365
Many wikis also serve as knowledge management systems that act as a sort of collective corporate memory that's vital for sharing skills, learning, and preserving expertise when employees leave the firm. T or F?
True-Many wikis also serve as knowledge management systems that act as a sort of collective corporate memory which is vital for sharing skills, learning, and preserving expertise when employees leave the firm.
Bitcoin has the potential for lowering payment transaction fees in a way that would be attractive to retailers. T or F?
True-Much of bitcoin's appeal comes from the fact that bitcoins are transferred from person to person like cash, rather than using an intermediary like banks or credit card companies. Getting rid of card companies cuts out transaction fees, which can top 3 percent.
Products and services that can be considered to be a 'platform' allow for the development and integration of software products and other complementary goods are known. T or F?
True-Products and services that encourage others to offer complementary goods are sometimes called platforms. Allowing other firms to contribute to your platform can be a brilliant strategy because those firms will spend their time and money to enhance your offerings.
All of the top ten most-used apps worldwide are social. T or F?
True-Six of the top ten apps used globally are messaging apps and all of the top ten most-used apps worldwide are social. The remaining three apps are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And while Clash of Clans isn't what one would call conventional social media, it is a social game.
Some networks are curating user feeds, so it's not guaranteed that what you're posting on social networks will even be seen. T or F?
True-Some networks are curating user feeds, so it's not guaranteed that what you're posting on social networks will even be seen.
Customers who purchase Kindle products buy significantly more products from Amazon than those who do not own a Kindle. T or F?
True-While exact estimates of the firm's Kindle-generated revenue bump vary, all point to positive Kindle-fueled sales gains. For example, one study showed that Kindle owners buy three to four times more books than they did prior to owning the device.
Twitter offers a free set of tools to app developers, allowing them to track crashes in products, measure app analytics, and use a phone number for universal sign-in. T or F?
Twitter's new software development kit (SDK), Fabric, could be the way the company captures more revenues and broadens its reach. The set of mobile developer tools offer a highly useful set of products for those building apps (e.g. bug reporting, usage monitoring, easy sign-on, etc).
Businesses Bezos has invested in:
Uber, Twitter, BlueOrigin, The Washington Post
Which of the following is one of the differences between Twitter and Facebook?
Unlike Facebook, where most users must approve "friends" before they can see status updates, Twitter's default setting allows for asymmetrical following (although it is possible to set up private Twitter accounts and to block followers).
An increase in the number of subscribers of yellow pages creates a rise in the number of advertisers. This is an example of _____ exchange benefits.
When an increase in the number of users on one side of the market (say video game console owners) creates a rise in the other side (software developers), that's called a cross-side exchange benefit.
Which of the following summarizes network effects?
When network effects are present, the value of a product or service increases as the number of users grows. Simply, more users = more value.
When two or more markets, once considered distinctly separate, begin to offer similar features and capabilities, they are said to undergo _____.
When two or more markets, once considered distinctly separate, begin to offer similar features and capabilities, they are said to undergo convergence. Market expansion sometimes creates rivals, who previously did not compete on a collision course, as markets undergo convergence.
Which statement best describes the relationship between network effects and innovation?
While network effects limit competition against the dominant standard, innovation within a standard may actually blossom. New firms see little incentive to compete with a product challenging the dominance of Microsoft Windows, however developers will be attracted to write applications for the Windows standard, since their work would be able to run on software owned by millions of users worldwide.
