question

a formal organization whose aim is to produce products or provide services for a profit

answer

business

question

______ of the business transform inputs by adding value to them in the production process

answer

employees

question

the decision of what to produce is a ________ choice because it determines likely customers, the kinds of employees needed, production methods and facilities needed, marketing themes, and other choices

answer

strategic choice

question

what are the five basic entities in a business with which it must deal?

answer

suppliers customers employees invoices/payments products/services

question

the actual steps and tasks that describe how work is organized in a business

answer

business processes

question

what are the four functional areas of a business

answer

manufacturing and production sales and marketing finance and accounting human resources

question

functional area in a business responsible for: assembling the product checking for quality producing bills of materials

answer

manufacturing and production

question

functional area in a business responsible for: identifying customers making customers aware of the product selling the product

answer

sales and marketing

question

functional area in a business responsible for: paying creditors creating financial statements managing cash accounts

answer

finance and accounting

question

functional area in a business responsible for: hiring employees evaluating employees' performance enrolling employees in benefit plans

answer

human resources

question

describes a process that includes interactions with forms outside the boundaries of the organization

answer

interorganizational

question

describes a process that requires coordination of functional groups in a firm

answer

cross-functional

question

_________ automate many steps in business processes that were formerly performed manually

answer

information systems

question

makes long-term strategic decisions about products and services as well as ensures financial performance of the firm

answer

senior management

question

carries out the programs and plans of senior management

answer

middle management

question

responsible for monitoring the daily activities of the business

answer

operational management

question

design products or services and create new knowledge for the firm

answer

knowledge workers

question

assist with administrative work at all levels of the firm

answer

data workers

question

produce the product and deliver the service

answer

production or service workers

question

in general, when businesses fail, it is because:

answer

they failed to respond adequately to changes in their environments

question

businesses invest in information systems to achieve these objectives:

answer

to achieve operational excellence to develop new products and services to attain customer intimacy and service to improve decision making to achieve competitive advantage to ensure survival

question

a computerized system that performs and records the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business

answer

transaction processing systems (TPS)

question

managers need _____ to monitor the status of internal operations and the firm's relations with the external environment

answer

transaction processing systems (TPS)

question

data and software tools for organizing, analyzing, and providing access to data to help managers and other enterprise users make more informed decisions

answer

Business Intelligence (BI)

question

provide middle managers with reports on the organizations current performance

answer

Management Information Systems (MIS)

question

summarize and report on the company's basic operations using data supplied by transaction processing systems

answer

Management Information Systems (MIS)

question

focus on problems that are unique and rapidly changing for which the procedure for arriving at a solution may not be fully predefined in advance

answer

Decision-support systems (DSS)

question

help senior management make strategic decisions that require judgment, evaluation, and insight because there is no agreed-on procedure for arriving at a solution

answer

Executive Support Systems (ESS)

question

uses a web interface to present integrated personalized business content

answer

portal

question

displays on a single screen graphs and charts of key performance indicators for managing a company

answer

digital dashboard

question

where information is captured at the factory floor (or sales floor) level, immediately entered into enterprise systems, then sent to corporate headquarters executive dashboards for analysis within a matter of hours or seconds

answer

information driven management

question

systems that span functional areas, focus on executing business process across the business firm, and include all levels of management

answer

enterprise applications

question

what are the four major enterprise applications

answer

enterprise systems supply chain management systems customer relationship management systems knowledge management systems

question

used to integrate business processes in manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, and human resources into a single software system

answer

Enterprise/enterprise Resource PLanning (ERP) systems

question

used to help manage relationships with suppliers

answer

Supply chain management (SCM) systems

question

used to help manage relationships with customers

answer

customer relationship management (CRM) systems

question

enable organizations to better manage processes for capturing and applying knowledge and expertise

answer

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS)

question

internal company web sites that are accessible only by employees

answer

intranets

question

company web sites accessible to authorized vendors and suppliers, and often used to coordinate the movement of supplies to the firm's production apparatus

answer

extranets

question

refers to the use of digital technology and the internet to execute the major business processes in the enterprise

answer

electronic business/e-business

question

the part of e-business that deals with the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet

answer

e-commerce

question

refers to the application of the internet and networking technologies to digitally enable government and public sector agencies' relationships with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government

answer

e-government

question

working with others to achieve shared and explicit goals

answer

collaboration

question

part of the organization's business structure for getting things done; have a specific mission that someone in the business has assigned to them

answer

teams

question

why are collaboration and teamwork more important today than ever before?

answer

changing nature of work growth of professional work changing organization of the firm changing scope of the firm emphasis on innovation changing culture of work and business

question

what are the business benefits of collaboration?

answer

productivity quality innovation customer service financial performance

question

an integrated audio and visual environment which allows a person to give the appearance of being present at a location other than his or her true physical location

answer

telepresence

question

a type of web site that makes it easy for users to contribute and edit text content and graphics without any knowledge of web page development or programming techniques

answer

wikis

question

online 3-d environments populated by "residents" who have built graphical representations of themselves known as avatars

answer

virtual worlds

question

Focuses on two dimensions of the collaboration problem

answer

time/space matrix

question

fall into the same time/same place matrix space

answer

face to face interactions: decision rooms single display groupware shared table wall displays roomware

question

fall into the different time/same place matrix space

answer

continuous tasks: team rooms large public displays shift work groupware project management

question

fall into the same time/different place matrix space

answer

remote interactions: video conferencing instant messaging charts/MUDs/Virtual worlds shared screens multi-user editors

question

fall into the different time/different place matrix square

answer

communication + coordination: email bulletin boards blogs asynchronous conferencing group calendars workflow version control wikis

question

the formal organizational unit responsible for information technology servicse

answer

information systems department

question

highly trained technical specialists who write the software instructions for computers

answer

programmers

question

constitute the principal liaisons between the information systems groups and the rest of the organization

answer

systems analysts

question

leaders of teams of programmers and analysts, project managers, physical facility managers, telecommunications managers, or database specialists

answer

information systems managers

question

a senior manager who oversees the use of information technology in the firm

answer

chief information officer (CIO)

question

in charge of information systems security for the firm and is responsible for enforcing the firm's information security policy

answer

chief security officer (CSO)

question

responsible for ensuring that the company complies with existing data privacy laws

answer

chief privacy officer (CPO)

question

responsible for the firm's knowledge management program

answer

chief knowledge officer (CKO)

question

representatives of departments outside of the information systems group for whom applications are developed

answer

end users

question

the most widely used model for understanding competitive advantage; describes the firm's general business environment

answer

porter's competitive forces model

question

the five forces that shape the fate of the firm in Porter's competitive forces model

answer

traditional competitors new market entrants substitute products and services customers suppliers

question

what is the basic principle of IT strategy for a business

answer

to ensure the technology serves the business and not the other way around

question

how does a manager achieve alignment of IT with business?

answer

identify business strategies and goals break strategic goals down into concrete activities and processes identify how progress toward business goals will be measured (metrics) ask how IT can help achieve progress toward those business goals and improve processes and activities measure actual performance

question

what strategies can a business use to deal with competitive forces?

answer

low-cost leadership product differentiation focus on market niche strengthen customer and supplier intimacy

question

using information systems to achieve lowest operational costs and lowest prices

answer

low-cost leadership

question

directly links consumer behavior to distribution and production and supply chains

answer

efficient customer response system

question

using information systems to enable new products and services, or greatly change the customer convenience in using existing products and services

answer

product differentiation

question

the ability to offer individually tailored products or services using the same production resources as mass production

answer

mass customization

question

using information systems to enable a specific market focus, and serve this narrow target market better than competitors

answer

focus on market niche

question

using information systems to tighten linkages with suppliers and develop intimacy with customers

answer

strengthen customer and supplier intimacy

question

the cost of switching from one product or service to a competitor

answer

switching cost

question

strong linkages to customers and suppliers increase a customer's ___________

answer

switching cost

question

highlights specific activities in the business where competitive strategies can best be applied

answer

value chain model

question

most directly related to the production and distribution of the firm's products and services, which create value for the customer

answer

primary activities

question

make the delivery of the primary activities possible and consist of organization infrastructure, human resources, technology, and procurement

answer

support activities

question

involves comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of your business processes against strict standards and then measuring performance against those standards

answer

benchmarking

question

usually identified by consulting companies, research organizations, government agencies, and industry associations as the most successful solutions or problem-solving methods for consistently and effectively achieving a business objective

answer

best practices

question

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

answer

value web

question

develop when the output of some units can be used as inputs to other units, or two organizations can pool markets and expertise, and these relationships lower costs and generate profits

answer

synergy

question

an activity for which a firm is a world-class leader

answer

core competency

question

a situation where the law of diminishing returns does not work; the cost of adding another participant are near zero, but the marginal gain is much larger

answer

network economics

question

uses networks to link people, assets, and ideas, enabling it to ally with other companies to create and distribute products and services without being limited by traditional organizational boundaries or physical locations

answer

virtual company

question

a technology and resulting business innovation that radically changes the business landscape and environment

answer

disruptive technology

question

what are the four main ways of organizing an international business?

answer

domestic exporter multinational franchiser transnational

question

characterized by heavy centralization of corporate activities in the home country of origin

answer

domestic exporter

question

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

answer

multinational strategy

question

have the product created, designed, financed, and initially produced in the home country but rely heavily on foreign personnel for further production, marketing, and human resources

answer

franchisers

question

where nearly all value-adding activities are managed from a global perspective without reference to national borders, optimizing sources of supply and demand wherever they appear and taking advantage of any local competitive advantages

answer

transnational strategy

question

global systems configuration in which systems development and operation occur totally at the domestic home base

answer

centralized systems

question

global systems configuration in which development occurs at the home base but operations are handed over to autonomous units in foreign locations

answer

duplicated systems

question

global system configuration in which each foreign unit designs its own unique solutions and systems

answer

decentralized systems

question

systems configuration in which systems development and operations occur in an integrated and coordinated fashion across all units

answer

networked systems

question

quality is a form of ________

answer

differentiation

question

how is quality defined from the producer's perspective?

answer

conformance to specifications or the absence of variation from those specifications

question

how is quality defined from the customer's perspective?

answer

the quality of the physical product the quality of service psychological aspects: the company's knowledge of its products, the courtesy and sensitivity of sales and support staff, and the reputation of the product

question

makes quality the responsibility of all people and functions within an organization

answer

total quality management (TQM)

question

a specific measure of quality, representing 3.4 defects per million opportunities

answer

six sigma

question

total elapsed time from the beginning of a process to its end

answer

cycle time

question

how information systems can improve quality

answer

reducing cycle time and simplifying the production process benchmarking using customer demands to improve products and services improving design quality and precision improving production precision and tightening production tolerances

question

automates the creation and revision of designs, using computers and sophisticated graphics software

answer

computer-aided design (CAD)

question

an approach to business that aims to continuously improve business processes

answer

business process management (BPM)

question

steps of business process management:

answer

identify processes for change analyze existing processes design the new process implement the new process continuous measurement

question

the radical rethinking and redesign of business processes

answer

business process reingeneering

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