Deck 2: Strategic Uses of Information Systems

Question 1

Being on the bleeding edge often means that implementation costs are significantly higher than anticipated.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

We often use the terms "____" and "strategic advantage" interchangeably.

A) risk taking
B) competitive
C) competitive advantage
D) strategic move

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The word "strategy" originates from the Greek word strategos,meaning "____."

A) ahead
B) general
C) task
D) vision

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The reengineering process makes it possible to determine how much each change contributed to the organization's improved position.

Question 5

To a great extent,the operating system determines which applications a computer can run.

Question 6

Instead of differentiating a product or service,an organization might actually add to the product or service to increase its value to the consumer.

Question 7

Although many information systems are built to solve problems,many others are built to seize opportunities.

Question 8

Some companies have developed information systems,or features of information systems,that are unique,such as ____'s "one-click" online purchasing.

A) Amazon
B) eBay
C) Priceline
D) Target

Question 9

In the 1950s,Japanese automakers brought robots to their production and assembly lines and reduced costs quickly and dramatically.

Question 10

One way to increase market share is to lower prices,and the best way to lower prices is to ____.

A) reduce costs
B) share information
C) train personnel
D) update equipment

Question 11

The United States,the European Union,and many other countries outlaw monopolies.

Question 12

In a highly competitive industry that traditionally has had a narrow profit margin,JetBlue managed to gain strategic advantage by reducing cost and therefore reducing the price to the customer.

Question 13

Manufacturers of laser and ink-jet printers sell their printers at cost or below cost.

Question 14

Google provides Target Corp.with its proprietary search engine,order-fulfillment and customer-service systems,as well as a patented one-click shopping application.

Question 15

In the service sector,the Web has created an opportunity to automate what until recently was considered an activity that only humans could perform: ____.

A) accounting
B) customer service
C) human resources
D) customer resources

Question 16

One way to lock in buyers in a free market is to create a situation in which customers fear high switching costs.

Question 17

Sometimes,alliances are formed by more than two organizations.

Question 18

Microsoft's decision to give away its Web browser by letting both individuals and organizations download it free from its site was altruistic.

Question 19

The larger the number of companies competing within an industry,the better off each company is.

Question 20

Practically any Web-based system that gives a company competitive advantage is a strategic information system.

Question 21

The Web has generated ____ that would probably never be created offline.

A) affiliate jobs
B) affiliate moves
C) strategic jobs
D) strategic alliances

Question 22

In today's highly competitive market,____________________ might determine an organization's rise or fall.

Question 23

Growing Web use for ____ has pushed organizations to create alliances that would be unimaginable a few years ago.

A) e-commerce
B) e-mail
C) publishing
D) searching

Question 24

Over a period of about ____ years,Google established itself as the best search engine.

A) one
B) three
C) five
D) seven

Question 25

Companies that are first to adopt advanced systems that reduce labor enjoy ____________________ for as long as their competitors lag behind.

Question 26

An operating system (OS)is the software program that "mediates" between any computer program and the ____.

A) computer
B) output
C) network administrator
D) database

Question 27

The most important metric in the airline industry is ____,which is how much it costs to fly a passenger one mile of the journey.

A) cost per available seat-mile (CASM)
B) cost per available seat (CAS)
C) cost per mile (CM)
D) cost per seat (CS)

Question 28

____ use physical characteristics of people,such as fingerprints and retina scans,for authentication and access to physical places and online information systems.

A) Access codes
B) Biometrics
C) Human codes
D) Human metrics

Question 29

Implementation of a(n)____ requires a business to revamp processes-to undergo organizational change-to gain an advantage.

A) BI
B) CRM
C) GIS
D) SIS

Question 30

Its use of IT technologies placed ____ at the top of the list for on-schedule departures and arrivals,a service that is very important,especially to business travelers.

A) American Airlines
B) JetBlue
C) Morris Air
D) Southwest Airlines

Question 31

The essence of strategy is innovation,so ____________________ is often gained when an organization tries a strategy that no one has tried before.

Question 32

Adding to a product or service to increase its value to the consumer is called ____.

A) adding value
B) enhancing existing products or services
C) increasing value
D) incrementing value

Question 33

On the Web,an obvious example of alliances is a(n)____.

A) affiliate program
B) common agreement
C) common program
D) affiliate task

Question 34

____ holds a patent for online reverse ("name your own price")auctioning,which has prevented competitors from entering its business space.

A) Amazon.com
B) eBay
C) Priceline.com
D) Target

Question 35

____ often involves adoption of new machinery and elimination of management layers.

A) Engineering
B) Reengineering
C) Supermanaging
D) Supervising

Question 36

____________________ are expenses incurred when a customer stops buying a product or service from one business and starts buying it from another.

Question 37

A system can only help a company sustain competitive advantage if the company continuously modifies and enhances it,creating a ____ for competitors.

A) destiny
B) main goal
C) manifest destiny
D) moving target

Question 38

A company achieves ____________________ by using strategy to maximize its strengths,resulting in a competitive advantage.

Question 39

A ____ is a body of clients that is large enough to attract many other clients.

A) client mass
B) client set
C) critical advantage
D) critical mass

Question 40

Establishing high ____ often locks in customers.

A) service edges
B) standard costs
C) switching margins
D) switching costs

Question 41

List eight basic initiatives that companies can use to gain competitive advantage.

Question 42

Organizations can achieve competitive advantage if they are powerful enough to ____________________ suppliers to their mode of operation or buyers to their product.

Question 43

Why would you consider competitive advantage as a moving target?

Question 44

Charles Schwab gained a competitive advantage over other,older brokerage companies such as Merrill Lynch by opening a site for ____________________ stock transactions.

Question 45

eBay's success demonstrates the strategic advantage of the ____________________,an organization that is the first to offer a new product or service.

Question 46

In an environment where most information technology is available to all,____________________ that are originally developed to create a strategic advantage quickly become an expected standard business practice.

Question 47

____________________ gives away its Acrobat Reader software,an application that lets Web surfers open and manipulate documents created using different computers running different operating systems.

Question 48

When failure occurs because an organization tries to be on the technological leading edge,observers call it the ____________________.

Question 49

Give an example of companies establishing high switching costs to gain competitive advantage.

Question 50

The goal of ____________________ is not to gain small incremental cost savings,but to achieve great efficiency leaps-of 100 percent and even 1000 percent.

Question 51

Ford created a joint venture with General Motors Corp.and DaimlerChrysler to establish ____________________,a Web site that serves as an electronic market for parts suppliers who can bid online on requests for proposals posted by the automakers.

Question 52

Provide one example of a company using the lock in buyers strategy successfully.

Question 53

Why is JetBlue considered to have gained a late mover advantage?

Question 54

____________________ software is software that the developer gives to potential adopters for trial use.

Question 55

In the 1970s,____________________ was a small software company headed by its young president,who established the company at age 19.

Question 56

JetBlue saves office space,rent,and electricity by using reservation agents who work from home,which is known as ____________________.