Deck 16: Managing Information in a Global World

Question 1

What is the key to sustaining a competitive advantage?

A)making use of faster computers with more memory to improve operational efficiency and reduce labour needs  
B)using information technology to continuously improve and support the business's core functions  
C)making use of the Internet's potential to reduce the reliance of managing and controlling internal data  
D)engaging the ability of the managers to delegate so they can focus on environmental scanning and strategic planning

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Ken owns a large financial planning and insurance company. He has records of over 1,000 clients and all of the purchase decisions. Ken wants to determine if a relationship exists between financial planning decisions and insurance purchases made by his customers. What technology will help Ken accomplish this?

A)information keystoning  
B)data mining  
C)data warehousing  
D)data outsourcing

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Peter used a photocopy of a sales report to capture the information into his computer so that he could make changes to the report using his word processing software. What enabled Peter do this?

A)electronic bar scanners  
B)optical numerical readers  
C)optical character recognition software  
D)radio frequency analogue systems

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A large metropolitan hospital wished to keep track of wheelchairs,gurneys,and other expensive equipment that regularly disappeared from inventory because some hurried employee put it in a closet or elsewhere for safekeeping. What could the hospital use to locate and recover missing property?

A)radio frequency identification (RFID)tags  
B)bar codes  
C)radio scanning systems  
D)electronic data interchanges

Question 5

According to the resource-based view of information technology,what sustains competitive advantage?

A)simplified technology  
B)continuous improvement from the use of raw data  
C)similar technology across the entire firm  
D)when information technology creates value

Question 6

Which of the following terms is best used to define a table showing the order frequencies as well as the average dollar value of the orders of different segments of a catalogue retailer's market?

A)an MIS  
B)perceived knowledge  
C)raw data  
D)information

Question 7

Colin has been hired by a restaurant chain for a co-op term. The restaurant owner wants Colin to take the sales results from each day for each location and create organized reports. The owner wants to make decisions but at the moment does not have the results in a form he can understand. What form are the sales results in that Colin will use to create organized reports?

A)nonspecific information  
B)processed data  
C)raw data  
D)perceived knowledge

Question 8

According to which of the following rules will the cost of computing drop by 50 percent as computer-processing power doubles every 18 months?

A)Moore's law  
B)Gordon's law  
C)the Peter principle  
D)the rule of e-commerce

Question 9

In 1999,Waterloo,Ontario-based Research In Motion (later BlackBerry)introduced the first mobile email device. Prior mobile devices only rarely allowed for two-way mobile textual communication. What does this demonstrate?

A)They acquired a source of perceived knowledge. 
B)They created a tactical advantage. 
C)They created a first-mover advantage. 
D)They pioneered sales in the mobile phone industry.

Question 10

Which question identifies a critical issue that companies need to address in order to sustain a competitive advantage through information technology?

A)Who will have access to the information technology?  
B)Will the purchase of the information technology be viewed as an expense or as an investment?  
C)Does the firm's use of the information technology violate any ethical standards?  
D)Is the firm's use of information technology difficult for another company to create or buy?

Question 11

What are the two basic methods of capturing information?

A)systematic and unsystematic  
B)planned and unplanned  
C)continuous and intermittent  
D)manual and electronic

Question 12

According to the textbook,where is information derived from?

A)raw data  
B)perceived knowledge  
C)influential knowledge  
D)competitive data

Question 13

Chris was the first amongst the sales group to purchase a smartphone when they were introduced to the market. This gave Chris an upper hand on other sales staff as he could stay in closer touch with current and potential customers and respond to their needs more quickly. What upper hand did the smartphone give Chris?

A)first-mover advantage  
B)lower profits  
C)less market adaptability  
D)increased synergy

Question 14

Cassie is able to send images from a trade magazine via email from her office in Ottawa to a team member working in Japan. What is Cassie using to capture the images from the magazine?

A)electronic data interchange  
B)electronic scanner  
C)radio frequency information digitizer (RFID)  
D)bar coding device

Question 15

Which of the following best describes the manual capture of information?

A)fast  
B)expensive  
C)low labour requirements  
D)highly accurate

Question 16

In 1999,Waterloo,Ontario-based Research In Motion (later BlackBerry)introduced the first mobile email device. Prior mobile devices only rarely allowed for two-way mobile textual communication. However,by late 2016 BlackBerry devices had effectively zero market adoption,having ceded ground to Android and Apple devices. What technology difficulty did BlackBerry have versus other mobile device manufacturers that hindered its growth rate?

A)BlackBerry was unable to change raw data into useful information as well as its competitors could. 
B)The competitive advantage BlackBerry achieved from being first was not sustainable. 
C)BlackBerry lost its pioneering differential. 
D)Product diffusion rates were slow.

Question 17

Why is information strategically important for organizations?

A)Information can be used to obtain first-mover advantage. 
B)Information is derived from perceived knowledge,which limits its availability. 
C)Information cannot be used as a medium of exchange. 
D)Information creates suboptimization opportunities.

Question 18

Recalls are a fact of life for the food industry according to a senior vice-president of a large Canadian supermarket chain. What technology should this company use to identify the location of products in its warehouse that have been recalled?

A)RFID tags  
B)bar codes  
C)electronic scanners  
D)data warehouse

Question 19

Which term is best used to define Excel spreadsheets that list property assessment appeals in the city of Toronto?

A)a resource allocation table  
B)traditional knowledge  
C)raw data  
D)perceived knowledge

Question 20

Which of the following generates ASCII text in the process of capturing information?

A)bar codes  
B)electronic scanners  
C)optical character recognition software  
D)e-tools

Question 21

Health Canada could use data it has collected from millions of suspected drug-related adverse event reports and other electronic medical information to identify a pattern of adverse drug events in a specific population. The agency could then communicate this knowledge sooner to medical professionals and patients. Where would the data collected by Health Canada be held?

A)Internet database  
B)competitive intelligence source  
C)data warehouse  
D)data extraction

Question 22

Baseball management was trying to uncover matches and relationships in the data it had on first-time patrons who purchased box stadium seats. It discovered that its sales increased by almost 100 percent in those seasons when it held an open house prior to the opening game and allowed people to see the box seats and examine the view of the stadium from those seats. Which pattern did the management discover,in terms of data mining?

A)affinity  
B)sequence  
C)association  
D)adjacency

Question 23

By examining checkout data,supermarkets have learned that people who are buying non-alcoholic beer typically also buy a bag of salty snacks. As a result of this finding,supermarkets often place displays of non-alcoholic beer near the chips and pretzel aisle. Which of the following activities would help supermarkets with this strategy?

A)optical scanning  
B)electronic data interchange  
C)bar coding  
D)data mining

Question 24

Jim Rhoade thought he had a decent deal with State Farm for insurance coverage on his two cars and his home,but a friend gave him a tip about lower premiums at Allstate. After contacting his local Allstate agent,Rhoade had slashed his annual auto premiums by $400 and his homeowner's premium by the same amount. That's because,in addition to considering Rhoade's record,Allstate took into account seemingly unrelated information from his credit report,such as whether he pays bills on time (he does)and whether there had ever been a claim on his home (there hadn't). Allstate has discovered patterns that indicate that the better the credit report,the more likely the individual is to be a good risk for an insurer. Which type of pattern has Allstate discovered?

A)sequence  
B)association  
C)predictive  
D)adjacency

Question 25

Which of the following is an example of a security problem that may threaten data and data networks?

A)screen printing  
B)phishing  
C)mouse flashing  
D)mob flashing

Question 26

For the purposes of data mining,which kind of pattern is the opposite of the association pattern?

A)sequence  
B)adjacency  
C)predictive  
D)affinity

Question 27

What happens to create a data cluster?

A)Data clusters result from the use of internal data mining. 
B)Data clusters occur when a statistical technique is used for trend analysis. 
C)Data clusters result from samples used for statistical analyses. 
D)Data clusters occur when three or more database elements occur together in a significant way.

Question 28

Which type of data mining usually begins with the user telling the data mining software to look and test for specific patterns and relationships in a data set?

A)supervised  
B)specific  
C)comprehensive  
D)unsupervised

Question 29

By examining checkout data,supermarkets have learned that people who are buying non-alcoholic beer often also buy a bag of salty snacks. Which pattern did the use of data mining lead to the discovery of?

A)the sequential pattern  
B)the affinity pattern  
C)the predictive pattern  
D)the adjacency pattern

Question 30

In which type of data mining does the user simply tell the data mining software to uncover whatever patterns and relationships it can find in a data set?

A)supervised  
B)specific  
C)comprehensive  
D)unsupervised

Question 31

What is the definition of data mining?

A)the automated,electronic capture of data  
B)the process of hypothesis testing in large databases  
C)the process of verifying known relationships in large amounts of data  
D)the process of discovering unknown patterns and relationships in large amounts of data

Question 32

What occurs in data mining when two or more database elements occur together in a significant pattern,with one of the elements preceding the other?

A)data clusters  
B)affinity patterns  
C)association patterns  
D)sequence patterns

Question 33

What are the two major types of data mining?

A)supervised and unsupervised  
B)random and sequence  
C)affinity and association  
D)sequence and affinity

Question 34

Anthony has been hired by Canada's border services to analyze the number of people that have crossed the border from Canada into the United States in 2013. Anthony is given records of all crossings. He takes the records and removes any duplicates so that a person that crosses the border multiple times is counted as just one person. He then runs the records through software to remove any mistakes. Where will all the records be stored once Anthony has finished?

A)Internet databases  
B)competitive intelligence sources  
C)data warehouses  
D)data extractions

Question 35

Where does data reside for data mining?

A)data room  
B)data storage  
C)data library  
D)data warehouse

Question 36

Scott works in the internal audit department of a government ministry. Scott's primary role is to ensure the data collected for audit is accurate and can be easily retrieved by the audit software the department uses. Scott must also ensure that only audit personnel can access the data. What role does Scott fulfill for the internal audit department?

A)decryption  
B)roadblocking  
C)data insulation  
D)protecting information

Question 37

Tim is the IT security officer for an engineering firm. Tim must ensure customer records and pricing formulas are not accessible by anyone outside the company. However,the firm wants the public to be able to easily surf its website to learn what services they provide. What layer of security will Tim place between the firm and the public to prevent outside access to customer records and pricing formulas?

A)roadblocks  
B)firewalls  
C)hidden cameras  
D)locks

Question 38

Which patterns can unsupervised data mining be used to recognize?

A)association,affinity,and sequence  
B)association,sequence,and predictive  
C)affinity,predictive,and association  
D)affinity,sequence,and predictive

Question 39

Kevin is hired by a fast food restaurant to determine why sales have started to decrease. Kevin finds that 30 percent of orders include something toasted. There is just one toaster that creates a bottleneck. Lines of cars build up at the drive thru service. Kevin sees potential customers driving in toward the restaurant turn away and go to a competing restaurant. What has Kevin discovered?

A)chaos clusters  
B)non-sequential clusters  
C)rational clusters  
D)data clusters

Question 40

When you purchase a book or CD on Amazon.com,as soon as you put your selection in the shopping cart,you are offered a series of other items that people who made the same purchase as you did also bought. Which pattern of data mining is Amazon.com making use of?

A)sequence  
B)association  
C)predictive  
D)adjacency

Question 41

Why are intranets growing in popularity?

A)Intranets are expensive but easy to install and use. 
B)Intranets require specially dedicated computer networks. 
C)Intranets are intuitive and easy to use. 
D)Intranets are costly but increase efficiencies.

Question 42

Which of the following uses internal and external sources of data to provide managers and executives with the information they need to monitor and analyze organizational performance?

A)an executive information system  
B)a managerial information service  
C)an expert system  
D)a decision support system

Question 43

Why do the large majority of companies now use intranets?

A)Intranets are expensive but intuitive and easy to use. 
B)Intranets work across specific computers and operating systems. 
C)Intranets are built on Web models that existed a decade ago. 
D)Intranets help organizations retain staff.

Question 44

What is the goal of an executive information system (EIS)?

A)to replace the need for intuition in decision making  
B)to create a link among authorized data and network users  
C)to protect organizational data from hackers  
D)to provide accurate,complete,relevant,and timely information to managers

Question 45

Dynamic Team Sports Canada,located in Toronto,implemented a system that requires employees to scan their thumbprints when punching in. Which term describes this newly added technology?

A)intangible cookies  
B)biometrics  
C)personal RFID tags  
D)individual bar codes

Question 46

Why do companies use firewalls?

A)Firewalls are a way to protect hardware. 
B)Firewalls are in the form of software only. 
C)Firewalls prevent unauthorized use of data. 
D)Firewalls sit between the computers in an internal organizational network and the organizations main frame hardware.

Question 47

Why do the large majority of companies now use intranets?

A)Intranets are easy to install,private to the company,and easily accessible by employees. 
B)Since the crash of the dot.coms,experts on how to install and use intranets are available. 
C)Intranets are not Web based. 
D)Intranets do not use HTML.

Question 48

Which two critical steps are required to make sure that data can be accessed by authorized users and no one else?

A)authentication and authorization  
B)authorization and empowerment  
C)delegation and authentication  
D)delegation and empowerment

Question 49

Why do companies use intranets?

A)Intranets require users to build a completely new network. 
B)Intranets are Web based. 
C)Intranets have inherent security features. 
D)Intranets access internal corporate data only.

Question 50

Although firewalls can protect personal computers and network services connected to the corporate network,people away from their offices who interact with their company networks via the Internet face a safety risk. Which of the following technologies has proven to be a viable solution to this problem?

A)safe software for logic (SSL)encryption  
B)firewall re-engineering  
C)secure sockets layer (SSL)encryption  
D)secure logistical LAN (SLL)encryption

Question 51

Snyder's of Hanover is the world's second-biggest pretzel maker. A new development allows its more than 50 department heads and executive managers to use a Web browser to view sales results and distribution plans with a single click. It also helps executives size up cost-cutting opportunities on demand instead of waiting until the end of the quarter or year before ramping up production of a popular pretzel brand or paring distribution routes where necessary. What did Hanover develop?

A)corporate portal  
B)extranet  
C)SSL network  
D)virtual private network

Question 52

Sarah sells advertising space for a fashion magazine. To schedule a client's advertisement,Sarah is able to access the company's media department when she is with the client. She can place the ad right into a magazine page so the client can see exactly what it will look like and where on the page it will be positioned. What technology does Sarah use to accomplish this?

A)corporate portals  
B)extranets  
C)expert systems  
D)virtual private networks

Question 53

What are intranets?

A)doors that allow managers to access transactions as they occur  
B)standardized protocols that are used to authenticate and authorize internal network users  
C)public networks that are used only for business-to-business transactions  
D)private company networks that allow employees to easily access,share,and publish information using Internet software

Question 54

Which of the following can public key encryption be used for?

A)protecting files sent over the Internet  
B)eliminating hacking  
C)erasing cookie files  
D)setting up firewalls

Question 55

Although firewalls can protect personal computers and network services connected to the corporate network,people away from their offices who interact with their company networks via the Internet face a safety risk. Which of the following technologies has proven to be an inexpensive solution to this problem?

A)safe software for logic (SSL)encryption  
B)virtual private networks  
C)local area networks  
D)firewall reassignment

Question 56

The establishment of which of the following is an information security procedure that encrypts Internet data at both ends of the transmission process?

A)cookie manipulators  
B)virtual private networks  
C)cookie managers  
D)firewall

Question 57

What is a hybrid of executive information systems and intranets?

A)a corporate portal  
B)an extranet  
C)an expert system  
D)a virtual private network

Question 58

What are the three kinds of information technology used by executives,managers,and workers inside a company to access and share information?

A)executive information systems,portals,and intranets  
B)local area networks,extranets,and management information systems  
C)intranets,local area networks,and portals  
D)expert systems,decision support system,and virtual private networks

Question 59

What is the term for a private company network that allows employees to easily access,share,and publish information using Internet software?

A)LAN portal  
B)private company network (PCN)  
C)intranet  
D)electronic data sharing system

Question 60

Through which of the following can a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals access information about its sales and share new product information with drug store chains?

A)electronic data interchange (EDI)  
B)bar scanners  
C)SSL interchanges  
D)intranets

Question 61

Which of the following works by using a collection of "if-then" rules to sort through information and recommend a course of action?

A)an expert system  
B)a decision support system  
C)an executive information system  
D)a RAID system

Question 62

Police departments across North America are increasingly turning to body-worn cameras to provide evidence in volatile situations. Which characteristic of information is MOST LIKELY the reason departments are using body-worn cameras?

A)relevance  
B)timeliness  
C)accuracy  
D)completeness

Question 63

What is the term for an information system that helps managers understand problems and potential solutions by acquiring and analyzing information with sophisticated models and tools?

A)intranet  
B)executive information system  
C)expert system  
D)decision support system

Question 64

What benefit do companies receive from using a decision support system (DSS)?

A)It is broad in scope. 
B)It speeds up and simplifies the acquisition of information. 
C)It permits managers to retrieve all kinds of information. 
D)It allows managers to better understand a problem and its potential solutions.

Question 65

If you've been involved in an automobile accident and are transported to hospital with broken bones,why might the paramedics not be interested in your complete medical history?

A)The information isn't accurate. 
B)The information isn't complete. 
C)The information isn't relevant. 
D)The information isn't timely.

Question 66

You know that the population of the Montreal Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)as of 2016 is 4,098,927. However,your planning team prefers to use the number 4.0 million. What characteristic of information would you use to buttress your argument for using the unrounded number?

A)relevance  
B)completeness  
C)accuracy  
D)timeliness

Question 67

Michelle is the owner of a large chain of successful department stores. One reason for her success comes from the supply chain system. When a customer purchases an item from a store,the supplier is able to know immediately if the safe stock level has been reached. If it has,a shipment of product is sent immediately and directly to the store. This allows Michelle to dedicate more space to retail and less space to storage. What technology enables Michelle to have such a supply chain system?

A)electronic data interchange  
B)corporate portal  
C)firewall  
D)intranet

Question 68

The advent of GPS-based tracking systems on transit fleets to provide real-time arrival and stop information BEST represents which of the following concepts about information?

A)Information should be timely. 
B)Information should be accurate. 
C)Information should be relevant. 
D)Information should be complete.

Question 69

Which of the following allows companies to exchange information and conduct transactions by purposely providing outsiders with direct,Web browser-based access to authorized parts of a company's intranet?

A)extranet  
B)virtual portal  
C)Web service  
D)corporate portal

Question 70

Just a teaspoon too much or too little of a single ingredient can turn a great cake into a mediocre cake. The ability to know just how much to add,how long to stir,and how the cake should smell when cooked is a skill that a long-time baker would have. Which of the following can help others capture this specialized knowledge?

A)electronic data interchanges  
B)pragmatic portals  
C)data mining  
D)expert systems

Question 71

What have companies that use electronic data interchange,extranets,and the Internet to gain a competitive advantage experienced?

A)decreased costs  
B)lower productivity  
C)worsening customer service  
D)faster authentication

Question 72

The University of Guelph is conducting research into how technology can support food production by minimizing the inputs required for a given set of outputs,so that farmers can provide information about their specific circumstances and get feedback on how best to maximize yield. What type of system is the university building?

A)electronic data interchange  
B)pragmatic portal  
C)data mining  
D)expert system

Question 73

Which of the following uses a standardized format to describe data from one company in such a way that those data can automatically be read,understood,and processed by different computer systems in another company?

A)extranets  
B)intranets  
C)electronic data interchange  
D)corporate portals

Question 74

Why is knowledge important?

A)Knowledge guarantees success. 
B)Knowledge resides in information. 
C)Knowledge is the understanding that one gains from information. 
D)Knowledge is easier to acquire than data and information.

Question 75

What is the term for the concept that information should pertain to the problems you're trying to solve?

A)relevance  
B)timeliness  
C)accuracy  
D)completeness

Question 76

The Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC)issues notices and posts its operations manual and its rules for its clearing members,who are external members of the CDCC. Which term best describes what the CDCC has built?

A)extranet  
B)virtual portal  
C)Web service  
D)corporate portal

Question 77

Why would a company use a decision support system (DSS)?

A)It speeds up and simplifies the acquisition of information. 
B)It only processes security data. 
C)It helps managers understand problems and potential solutions with sophisticated models. 
D)It can be used to replace all managerial decision making.

Question 78

What is the term for the direct electronic transmission of purchase and ordering information from one company's computer system to another company's computer system?

A)automated processing  
B)electronic data interchange  
C)transaction channelling  
D)data manipulation

Question 79

Kroger used infrared cameras to count the number of customers in its stores and waiting at checkout registers. Which of the following characteristics of information does this best represent?

A)accuracy  
B)completeness  
C)relevance  
D)timeliness

Question 80

When an aircraft goes missing and its black box recorders are never found,which characteristic of information is MOST affected?

A)accuracy  
B)completeness  
C)relevance  
D)timeliness