Chap1 Q2
38.Business processes:
a. include informal work practices. b. are used primarily for sales and accounting functions.
c. are governed by information technology. d. are logically related tasks used primarily by operational personnel.
Answer: a Difficulty: Easy Reference: p. 18
45.Maintaining the organization’s financial records is a business function of:
a. accounting. b. finance. c. sales. d. marketing.
Answer: a Difficulty: Easy Reference: p. 18
46.(Evaluation)Based on the 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:
a. Use IT to increase supplier loyalty. b. Use IT to increase operational efficiency.
c. Use IT to create new products and business models. d. Use IT to help survive government reporting requirements.
e. Use IT to achieve customer intimacy.
Answer: e Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 11
47.(Analyze)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:
a. Internet advertising is very inexpensive. b. offline traditional advertising is not very effective.
c. the Internet is transforming the traditional advertising business model.
d. new technologies are more efficient at selling to customers.
Answer: c Difficulty: Hard Reference p. 11
48.Toyota Motor Europe’s vehicle orders management system allows it to improve efficiency by basing vehicle production on:
a. superior forecasts of regional demand. b. actual customer orders. c. improved decision making.
d. customer preferences.
Answer: c Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 3
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Essay
81.Define operational excellence. How can information systems help achieve it?
Operational excellence is the achievement of higher levels of productivity, efficiency, and profitability. Information systems can help achieve operational excellence by improving communications to supplier and optimizing the supply chain. Information systems could help managers communicate with workers more efficiently, enable technological innovation in products, minimize warehouse overhead, and streamline distribution.
Difficulty: Medium Reference: pp. 8–11
82.(Synthesis)You work for an auto manufacturer and distributor. How could you use information
systems to achieve greater customer intimacy?
You could create a Web site that allows customers to customize cars, communicate with support personnel and other car owners. You could create an automated e-mail service reminding car owners to take their car in for periodic checkups. You could have an information system that tracks customer preferences in local areas, so you can provide cars that reflect local customer needs and desires.
Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 11 Synthesis in terms of bringing knowledge together
83.What is the difference between information technology and information systems?
Describe some of the functions of information systems. Information technology (IT) consists of all the hardware and software that a firm needs to use to achieve its business objectives. Information systems are more complex. 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.
An information system:
•Supports decision making, coordination, and control •Helps employees analyze problems
•Helps employees visualize complex subjects •Helps create new products
Difficulty: Medium Reference: p. 14
84.(Synthesis) You are a marketing manager for a national movie theater chain. Give an example of data that your department could use for creating meaningful information. What type of information could that data produce?
Movie ticket sales from individual theaters would be an example of raw data. Meaningful information from this would be: average number of tickets sold to seniors on certain days of the week.
Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 14 (Synthesis in terms of bringing knowledge together)
85.(Synthesis) Define business process. What might be a business process used at a hospital?
A business process is a set of logically related tasks and behaviors for accomplishing work. Hiring a new employee, customer intake, and filing medical records are examples of business processes at a hospital.
Difficulty: MediumReference: p. 7 (Synthesis in terms of bringing knowledge together)
86. (Synthesis) You are starting a small bike messenger company. Given your type of services (hand- delivering packages within a small geographical area), could your firm be a digital firm? If so, what would make this a digital firm?
Being a digital firm doesn’t purely rely on having digital goods and services. A digital firm would have most of its relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees be digitally enabled. Ordering deliveries, assigning deliveries, managing employees and assignments could certainly be digitally enabled; using cell phones, information systems, and handheld devices to connect customers, delivery management, and bike messengers.
Difficulty: Hard Reference: p.7 (Synthesis in terms of model)
87.(Evaluation)This chapter discusses how each organization has its own culture and sets of values shared by most of its members. What kind of shared values might you find at a law firm?
Shared values at a law firm might be: The legal system works, the legal system is fair, lawyers help people, and people need help with the legal system because it is complicated.
Difficulty: Medium Reference: p. 18 (Evaluation in terms of assess, choose)
88.(Synthesis)You work at the business headquarters for a chain of movie theaters. Describe this
firm’s information value chain.
An information value chain adds value to data at various stages, transforming it into valuable data. At a chain of movie theaters, data would be gathered from ticket sales and concession sales. Information systems would help transform this into meaningful information, such as determining the types of movies popular in certain regions, times and days of the week that people most often saw movies, what snacks were the most popular. This information would be valuable in making decisions, such as offering ticket discounts during less popular time slots, and offering more popular snack items. Further feedback based on the results of these decisions could determine whether these decisions were effective.
Difficulty: Hard Reference: pp. 22–23 (Synthesis in terms of propose, model)
89.(Evaluation) Which dimension of information systems do you feel was the most important source of problems discussed in this chapter’s study of the Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter merger? Why?
Student answers will vary. The following is an example of a possible answer: The problems with the merger were primarily technical. The employees at Retail Brokerage felt underappreciated because their information systems were antiquated. Brokers had to work overtime and clients did not receive good information from reports or the Web site. This led to both customers and brokers leaving the firm. In addition, the CEO Philip Purcell underestimated investing in technology, placing the company in a poor position when the market rebounded. In discussing the company’s problems, Chief Executive Mack stated that divisions of Morgan Stanley had not received the technology they needed.
Difficulty: Hard Reference: p. 35 (Evaluation in terms of appraise, assess)
90.(Evaluate)In the Accenture case, the company information systems allow for a highly decentralized organization without a traditional headquarters. Based on your reading of Chapter 1, which of the six strategic business objectives does Accenture’s information systems contribute to?
Student answers will vary. The following is an example of a possible answer: Accenture’s information systems allow its mobile workforce to be within easy, constant reach of its customers, contributing to the business objective of customer and supplier intimacy. Additionally, the ability of employees to connect to and work with local branch information
systems in standard ways, regardless of their location, contributes to more efficient processes and operational excellence.
Difficulty: Medium Reference: pp. 8–13 (Evaluate in terms of appraise, choose)
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