question

Crowdsourcing tools and question-and-answer sites like _____ allow firms to reach out for expertise beyond their organizations.

answer

Quora

question

Amazon was started by

answer

Jeff Bezos

question

Rising customer service standards can partly be attributed to the proliferation of ________

answer

Social Media

question

Some of the racial changes brought about by new technologies include:

answer

the creation of an unprecedented set of security and espionage threats.

question

Offered by the web to the field of

answer

Marketing

question

Firms are increasingly shifting spending from the ____ to other media such as print, radio, and television as these are often easier to track and analyze

answer

Web

question

A company uses Webex, a popular commercial application, to conduct training sessions for its employees who are spread across different countries. This is an example of the impact of technology in the area of

answer

HUMAN SERVICES.

question

Today's job seekers are writing resumes with key words in mind, aware that the first cut is likely made by a database search program, not a human being.

answer

True

question

Many of the careers in accounting firms are highly tech-centric.

answer

True

question

The rise of open source software has lowered computing costs for start-up and blue chip companies worldwide.

answer

True

question

SEM, SEO, CRM, and personalization systems are all central components of the new ________ toolkit.

answer

MARKETING

question

A company uses radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to keep track of its inventory. This is an example of the impact of technology in the area of

answer

Operations

question

Technology experts in the area of user-interface design

answer

work to make sure systems are easy to use.

question

The number of U.S. patent applications waiting approval has ________ in the past decade.

answer

tripled

question

While process redesign, supply chain management and factory automation are all tech-centric operations, service operations are not.

answer

False

question

Technology experts in the area of _______ specialize in technology for competitive advantage.

answer

strategy

question

The rise of open source software has lowered computing costs for start-up and blue chip companies worldwide.

answer

True

question

___________ is the third most popular social network in the United States and was founded by Catherine Cook

answer

MyYearbook.com

question

A focus solely on technology is a definite recipe for success.

answer

False

question

Changes that impact one industry do not necessarily impact other industries in the same way

answer

True

question

When technology can be matched quickly, it is rarely a source of competitive advantage.

answer

True

question

What are Porter's five forces?

answer

Also known as industry and Competitive Analysis. A framework considering the interplay between (1) the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, (2) the threat of new entrants, (3) the threat of substitute goods or services, (4) the bargaining power of buyers, and (5) the bargaining power of suppliers.

question

Inventory turns

answer

Sometimes referred to as inventory turnover, stock turns, or stock turnover. It is the numver of times inventory is sold or used during the course of a year. A higher figure means that a firm is selling products quickly.

question

Dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)

answer

A technology that increases the transmission capacity (and hence speed) of fiber-optic cable. Transmissions using fiber are accomplished by transmitting light inside "glass" cables. In DWDM, the light inside fiber is split into different wavelengths in a way similar to how a prism splits light into different colors.

question

Switching Costs

answer

The cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to another. It can involve actural money spent (e.g., buying a new product) as well as investments in time, any data loss, and so forth.

question

Price transparancy

answer

The degree to which complete information is available.

question

What does Porter say about operational effectiveness?

answer

Operational effectiveness is critical, yet dangerous because it relies on "sameness." Sameness can be duplicated by competitors quickly. For those that rely on technology for a competitive advantage, technology is easily acquired. This leads to the fast follower problem.

question

What does Porter say about strategic positioning?

answer

While technology can be easily duplicated, using strategic positioning can make it hard on competitors to match.

question

Initial Public Stock Offering

answer

Also known as "going public." The first time a firm sells stock to the public.

question

Pure Play

answer

A firm that focuses on a specific product, service, or business model. An internet pure play is a firm that only operates through the Internet channel (i.e. with no physical stores or catalogs).

question

Long Tail

answer

In this context, refers to an extremely large selection of content or products. The long tail is a phenomenon whereby firms can make money by offering a near-limitless selection.

question

Fixed Costs

answer

A cost that does not vary according to production volume.

question

Collaborative Filtering

answer

A classification of software that monitors trends among customers and uses this data to personalize an individual custormer's experience.

question

Churn Rate

answer

The rate at which customers leave a product or service.

question

Crowdsourcing

answer

The act of taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined generally large group of people in the form of an open call.

question

Atoms to bits

answer

The idea that many media products are sold in containers (physical products, or atoms) for bits (the ones and zeros that make up a video file, song, or layout of a book). As the internet offers fast wireless delivery to TV's music players, book readers, and other devices, the "atoms" of the container aren't neccessary. Physical inventory is eliminated, offering great cost savings.

question

Disintermediation

answer

Removing an organization or business from a firm's distribution channel. Disintermediation collapses the path between supplier and customer.

question

Bandwith cap

answer

A limit, imposed by the ISP on the total amount of traffic that a given subscriber can consume (usually per each billing period).

question

Open Source Software

answer

Software that is free and where anyone can look at and potentially modify teh code.

question

Marginal Cost

answer

The cost of producing one more unit of a product.

question

Java

answer

A programming language, initially developed by Sun Microsystems, designed to provide true platform independence (write once, run anywhere) for application developers.

question

Scripting Language

answer

Programming tool that executes within an application. Scripting languages are interpreted within their application, rather than compiled to run directly by a microprocessor.

question

Integrated development environment

answer

An application that includes an editor (a programmer's word processor), debugger, and compiler, among other tools.

question

Even though Netflix is now mainly focused on digital distribution, it continues to offer the DVD-by-mail service in its base-price product.

answer

False

question

Grid computing is a type computing in which:

answer

special software is installed on several computers enabling them to work together on a common problem.

question

In 1995, the largest corporate database was one terabyte in size

answer

True

question

Netflix has used the long tail to its advantage, crafting a business model that creates close ties with film studios. What do film studios stand to gain from these ties with Netflix?

answer

A cut of the subscription revenue from every disk sent out by Netflix.

question

Which of the following statements is a valid reason for chip manufacturers carrying minimal inventory?

answer

Products with a significant chip-based component rapidly fall in value, and can cause huge losses when overproduced.

question

In terms of percentage of revenue spent on advertising, Zara has possibly the lowest figures in the whole industry.

answer

True

question

The biggest inefficiency in the movie industry is:

answer

matching content with customers.

question

In an industry where nearly every major player outsources manufacturing to low-cost countries, Zara is highly _____, keeping huge swaths of its production process in-house.

answer

vertically integrated

question

Moore's Law originally stated that chip performance per dollar doubles every twenty-four months.

answer

True

question

Firms that use contract manufacturers do not directly employ the workers who produce the requested goods.

answer

True

question

Moore's Law has been in force over all the five waves of computing.

answer

False

question

Collaborative filtering is a classification of software that

answer

monitors trends among customers to personalize an individual customer's experience.

question

Due to limited production runs, Zara's customers

answer

visit the stores more often.

question

Price elasticity refers to the

answer

rate at which demand for a product or service fluctuates with price change.

question

Which of the following represents an advantage enjoyed by Netflix over traditional video stores?

answer

Lower energy costs

question

Much of Zara's products are stitched together through a network of local cooperatives that have worked with Inditex long enough to operate without written contracts.

answer

True

question

Which of the following factors is considered key to Zara's ability to maintain a winning business formula?

answer

Keen understanding of how information systems can enable winning strategies

question

The third wave of computing was characterized by the introduction of:

answer

personal computers.

question

How do Netflix's scale economies affect competition from established firms?

answer

Established firms that challenge Netflix straddle markets, unable to gain full efficiencies from their efforts.

question

Priceline.com is a company and a commercial website that helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company facilitates the provision of travel services by its suppliers to its customers. People can directly access a complete array of schedules and fares. This process has, to a great extent, eliminated the travel agency as a middle man. This is an example of:

answer

disintermediation.

question

The strengthening of the euro relative to the dollar has insulated Zara against financial vulnerabilities.

answer

False

question

Zara's limited production runs are not attractive for most customers, as they would rather wait for the products to go on sale.

answer

False

question

Grid computing, though faster and more efficient, is an expensive alternative to supercomputers.

answer

False, it is cheaper.

question

What problem is faced by multicore processors running older software written for single-brain chips?

answer

Multicore processors usually run older software by using only one core at a time.

question

An internal team at Netflix developed a prototype set top box to enable the direct streaming of content to customers' television sets. However, the idea of offering it to Netflix customers was dropped because:

answer

of the brutally competitive nature of the consumer electronics business.

question

With the entry of Wal-Mart and Blockbuster into the DVD-by-mail market, Netflix was forced to:

answer

cut prices and increase spending on advertising.

question

Netflix's decision to unbundle the single fee for its $10 base service into two separate $8 plans for DVD-by-mail and streaming over the Internet proved to be beneficial to the firm.

answer

False

question

One of the advantages of solid state electronics is that:

answer

they consume less power.

question

As the world's largest chain of coffee houses, Starbucks sources most of its raw materials such as coffee beans and vegetables from suppliers owned by it. It also holds equal or majority stakes in most of the foreign direct investment it carries out in other countries to set up franchisee coffee shops. Based on this information, Starbucks can be said to be:

answer

vertically integrated.

question

Costs that do not vary according to production volume are called _____.

answer

fixed costs.

question

_____ is a phenomenon where electrons slide off their pathways, and presents an obstacle to the continuance of Moore's Law.

answer

Quantum tunneling

question

Layers

answer

Hardware, Operating System, Application, User

question

Desktop Software vs. Enterprise Software

answer

Desktop software are software applications installed on a personal computer, typically by a single user. Enterprise software are applications that address the needs of multiple users throughout an organization or work group.

question

Employees, at their own initiative, can go to SocialText or Google Sites and set up a wiki, WordPress to start blogging, or subscribe to a SaaS offering like SalesForce.com, all without corporate oversight and approval. This _____ of technology is one of the challenges associated with the adoption of SaaS models.

answer

consumerization

question

Ensuring that an organization's systems operate within required legal constraints, and industry and organizational obligations results in:

answer

compliance.

question

Firms using SaaS products can dramatically lower several costs associated with the care and feeding of their information systems.

answer

True

question

A PC, laptop, or any other small computer can be set up to run server software.

answer

True

question

The customization options that managers and businesses demand in computers are provided by the:

answer

flexibility of the hardware/software layer cake.

question

Which of the following is one of the benefits enjoyed by SaaS vendors?

answer

Lower distribution costs, limiting development to a single platform, tighter feedback loop with clients, instant deployability to fix bugs, reduced risk of software piracy.

question

Java is not optimized to take advantage of interface elements specific to the Mac or Windows operating systems. As a result:

answer

Java is unsuitable for desktop applications.

question

_____ refer(s) to special-purpose software designed and included inside physical products.

answer

Embedded systems

question

_____ and ____ are some of the commercial equivalents of SugarCRM and Asterix respectively.

answer

Salesforce.com; Cisco

question

Which of the following is one of the functions of firmware?

answer

Loading a computing device's operating system from disk

question

_____ is a language used to create and manipulate databases.

answer

SQL

question

SaaS offerings usually work well when the bulk of computing happens at the client end of a distributed system.

answer

False

question

Which of the following factors should a manager consider while making a make, buy, or rent decision?

answer

Contingency plans for vendor failure

question

All of the costs associated with the design, development, testing, implementation, documentation, training and maintenance of a software system are collectively termed as:

answer

total cost of ownership.

question

Vendors who use open source as part of their product offerings can expect to bring new products to the market faster because:

answer

they can skip whole segments of the software development process.

question

What are the implications for firms without common database systems with consistent formats across their enterprise?

answer

They struggle to manage their value chain efficiently.

question

An application server is software that

answer

houses and serves business logic for use by multiple applications.

question

Firms that adopt software as a service actually buy a system's software and hardware, so these systems become a fixed operating expense.

answer

False

question

Standardizing business processes in software that others can buy means that those functions are difficult for competitors to match.

answer

False

question

Salesforce.com offers systems that organize, automate, and synchronize activities related to sales, marketing, and client support. These systems serve the purpose of:

answer

customer relationship management

question

Which of the following languages are interpreted languages?

answer

Scripting languages

question

The more application software that is available for a platform, the less valuable it potentially becomes.

answer

False

question

_____ is an application that includes an editor that serves as a programmer's word processor, a debugger, and a compiler, among other tools.

answer

Integrated development environment

question

One of the risks associated with SaaS is the:

answer

dependence on a single vendor.

question

Linux is one of the most used operating systems in desktop computers, but can be found only in a tiny fraction of mobile phones, and consumer electronics.

answer

False

question

The LAMP stack of open source products is used:

answer

to power many of the Internet's most popular Web sites.

question

Complete the analogy: Server- Apache HTTP Server; Client- _____

answer

Internet Explorer

question

A server running _____ can create smaller compartments in memory that each behave as a separate computer with its own operating system and resources.

answer

virtualization software

question

A _____ refers to a firm that offers third-party software-replacing services that are delivered online.

answer

hosted software vendor

question

The cost of producing an additional unit of a product is known as its:

answer

marginal cost

question

Benefits of OSS

answer

cost (free), reliability, security, scalability, agility and time to the market

question

Heirarchy of data sizes:

answer

bit, byte, kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, terabyte

question

LAMP

answer

Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl

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