Deck 2: Global E-Business and Collaboration

Question 1

Which of the following is not a true statement with respect to business processes?

A) Every business can be seen as a collection of business processes.
B) Analyzing business processes can enable you to achieve a clear understanding of how a business actually works.
C) The efficiency of a business firm is not related to its business processes.
D) Information systems can automate many steps in business processes that were formerly performed manually.
E) A business process may involve a unique way in which work, information, and knowledge are coordinated within an organization.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Key forces in a business's immediate environment include:

A) stockholders.
B) technological innovations.
C) economic conditions.
D) politic conditions.
E) global events.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Define and give an example of a cross-functional business process within a firm.

Answer 3

Cross-functional processes are those that require input, cooperation, or coordination between the major business functions in an organization. For instance, when a salesman takes an order, the major business functions of planning, production, inventory control, shipping, accounting, and customer relations will all be involved before the order is completed. What at first appears to be a simple process, fulfilling an order, turns out to be a very complicated series of business processes that require the close coordination of major functional groups in a firm.

Question 4

Information systems found in nonprofit organizations are typically very similar to those found in private industry.

Question 5

Middle management is responsible for directing the day-to-day activities of the business.

Question 6

Employees that assist with paperwork at all levels of the firm are called:

A) data workers.
B) knowledge workers.
C) operational management.
D) service workers.
E) senior managers.

Question 7

Which of the following is an example of a key force in a firm's broader, less immediate environment?

A) Competitors
B) Regulations
C) Suppliers
D) Economic trends
E) Customers

Question 8

Suppliers, customers, employees, products and services, and ________ are the five basic components with which businesses must deal.

A) the environment
B) manufacturing and production
C) sales and marketing
D) invoices and payments
E) technology

Question 9

A business is a formal organization created to sell services or products at a profit.

Question 10

In a firm hierarchy, responsibility and accountability is concentrated at the top.

Question 11

Every business process is tied to one specific functional area.

Question 12

What is the connection between organizations, information systems, and business processes?

Question 13

The three principal levels of hierarchies within a business organization are:

A) senior management, knowledge workers, and service workers.
B) senior management, middle management, and operational management.
C) senior management, data workers, and operational management.
D) senior management, operational management, and workers.
E) senior management, operational management, and data workers.

Question 14

Engineers and scientists are examples of:

A) senior management.
B) production workers.
C) knowledge workers.
D) middle management.
E) operational management.

Question 15

Business processes that impede organizational responsiveness are a source of competitive strength for a company.

Question 16

Operational-level manufacturing systems provide transaction-level information that enable monitoring of the daily activities of a business.

Question 17

Why do businesses invest in information systems?

Question 18

Identifying potential customers for the businesses' products or services is an activity associated with the ________ function.

A) finance and accounting
B) human resources
C) manufacturing and production
D) technology
E) sales and marketing

Question 19

Which of the following is an interorganizational business process?

A) Hiring an employee
B) Identifying a customer
C) Creating financial statements
D) Ordering raw materials
E) Checking product quality

Question 20

Producing a bill of materials is a responsibility of the ________ function.

A) finance and accounting
B) human resources
C) manufacturing and production
D) sales and marketing
E) technology

Question 21

Which type of system would you use to determine what trends in your supplier's industry will affect your firm the most in five years?

A) ESS
B) TPS
C) MIS
D) DSS
E) KWM

Question 22

A computerized system that performs and records the daily activities necessary to conduct business is classified as a(n):

A) executive support system.
B) management-level system.
C) decision support system.
D) transaction processing system.
E) business intelligence system.

Question 23

Which of the following systems are especially suited to situations in which the procedure for arriving at a solution may not be fully predefined in advance?

A) MIS
B) TPS
C) DSS
D) KMS
E) CRM

Question 24

Which type of system would you use to determine the five suppliers with the worst record in delivering goods on time?

A) ESS
B) TPS
C) MIS
D) DSS
E) CRM

Question 25

DSS and MIS are also referred to as ________ systems.

A) business information
B) business intelligence
C) executive support
D) business model
E) expert

Question 26

Which of the following can typically access a company's intranet?

A) The general public
B) The firm's employees
C) The firm's customers
D) The firm's suppliers
E) The firm's outside contractors

Question 27

________ support making decisions that are unique, rapidly changing, and not easily specified in advance.

A) MIS
B) TPS
C) ESS
D) DSS
E) KWM

Question 28

You manage the Information Systems department at a small startup Internet advertiser. You need to set up an inexpensive system that allows customers to see real-time statistics, such as views and click-throughs, about their current display ads. Which type of system will most efficiently provide a solution?

A) CRM
B) Enterprise system
C) Extranet
D) Intranet
E) KWM

Question 29

A relocation control system that reports summaries on the total moving, house-hunting, and home financing costs for employees in all company divisions would fall into the category of a/an:

A) KMS.
B) TPS.
C) ESS.
D) MIS.
E) CRM system

Question 30

Which of the following systems are designed to summarize and report on the company's basic operations?

A) KMS
B) DSS
C) ESS
D) TPS
E) MIS

Question 31

The term management information systems refers to a specific category of information systems serving:

A) integrated data processing throughout the firm.
B) transaction process reporting.
C) senior management.
D) middle management functions.
E) knowledge workers.

Question 32

Which of the following systems are designed to support organization-wide process coordination and integration?

A) DSS
B) MIS
C) CRM
D) Enterprise applications
E) ESS

Question 33

Which type of system would you use to change a production schedule if a key supplier was late in delivering goods?

A) ESS
B) CRM system
C) MIS
D) DSS
E) SCM system

Question 34

An ESS is an information system that supports the:

A) long-range planning activities of senior management.
B) knowledge and data workers in an organization.
C) decision-making and administrative activities of middle managers.
D) day-to-day processes of production.
E) management of customer relationships.

Question 35

A(n) ________ collects data from various key business processes and stores the data in a single comprehensive data repository, usable by many parts of the business.

A) TPS
B) DSS
C) automatic reporting system
D) MIS
E) enterprise system

Question 36

________ provide information to coordinate all of the business processes that deal with customers in sales, marketing, and service to optimize revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.

A) TPS
B) MIS
C) ESS
D) CPS
E) CRM systems

Question 37

________ systems integrate and share information from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and logistics companies.

A) Collaborative distribution
B) Supply chain management
C) Reverse logistics
D) Enterprise planning
E) Digital dashboard

Question 38

What is the most important benefit of an enterprise application?

A) Enabling speed of communicating
B) Enabling business functions and departments to share information
C) Enabling a company to work collaboratively with customers and suppliers
D) Enabling cost-effective, e-business processes
E) Enabling managers to make better decisions

Question 39

Which type of system would you use to forecast the return on investment if you used new suppliers with better delivery track records?

A) ESS
B) TPS
C) MIS
D) DSS
E) CRM

Question 40

Which of the following statements about Plan International's new human resources system, as described in the chapter case, is not true?

A) It took six months to implement a working system at Plan International's international headquarters.
B) The new system helps manage grants and donations received by Plan International.
C) The new system is cloud-based and delivers information on a secure mobile platform.
D) The new system enables employees to update their own personal information.

Question 41

Identify the different types of systems used for the different levels of management in a business.

Question 42

Enterprise systems do not utilize order transaction data.

Question 43

The principal purpose of a TPS is to answer nonroutine questions and track the flow of transactions through an organization.

Question 44

You have been hired by Inspiration Inc. to help improve its profit margin. Inspiration Inc. is a business communications consulting firm that services many clients in different industries throughout the world. The firm provides its clients with customized written recommendations about how to best use the client's existing resources to improve the client's internal communications. The company has approximately 100 consultants, all of whom are located in its central headquarters in Chicago. What system do you recommend to improve Inspiration Inc.'s business processes and increase its profit margin?

A) Extranet, to enable quick collaboration via the Internet, minimize the time spent communicating with the client, and minimize the amount of paperwork needed
B) CRM, to maintain easily accessible customer records to minimize the time spent looking for client data
C) KMS, to minimize redundant work on similar clients
D) Video conferencing system, to improve collaboration
E) MIS, to produce reports on the firm's operations

Question 45

An MIS typically uses data supplied by a TPS.

Question 46

Decision-support systems often use information from external sources.

Question 47

Supply chain management systems are more externally oriented than enterprise systems.

Question 48

A TPS helps managers monitor the firm's relations with the external environment.

Question 49

Most MISs use sophisticated mathematical models or statistical techniques.

Question 50

ESSs are designed primarily to solve specific problems.

Question 51

The use of digital technology and the Internet to execute the major business processes in the enterprise is called:

A) e-commerce.
B) e-business.
C) enterprise applications.
D) MIS.
E) KWM.

Question 52

An MIS primarily supports routine decision making.

Question 53

Knowledge management systems and customer relationship management systems are both types of enterprise applications.

Question 54

Information supplied by an enterprise system is structured around cross-functional business processes.

Question 55

You work for a highly successful advertiser that is about to expand nationally. Of utmost importance will be finding a way to store and disseminate its clients' frequently updated branding and style guides throughout the organization. The guides include multiple image files and text documents. What system will best serve these needs?

A) A wiki
B) An extranet with KMS capabilities
C) A TPS with KMS capabilities
D) A telepresence system
E) A virtual world

Question 56

Eternal Friend, a family-owned manufacturer of pet caskets, has grown exponentially over the last few years. However, they are having difficulty in preparing for future growth. The only information system used at Eternal Friend is an antiquated accounting system. The company has one manufacturing plant located in Arkansas, and three warehouses, in Arkansas, Delaware, and California. The Eternal Friend sales force is national, and Eternal Friend purchases most of its raw materials from a single overseas supplier. You have been hired to recommend the information systems Eternal Friend should implement in order to maintain their competitive edge. However, there is not enough money for a full scale, cross-functional enterprise application, and you will need to limit the first step to a single management level. What will you choose, and why?

Question 57

Which of the following refers to the purchase or sale of goods and services over the Internet?

A) E-commerce
B) E-business
C) CRM
D) MIS
E) SCM

Question 58

A payroll system is a typical example of an MIS.

Question 59

ESSs are designed to incorporate data about external events, but they also draw summarized information from internal MIS and DSS.

Question 60

ESSs are designed to serve the middle management of the organization.

Question 61

Which of the following types of systems could be used to enable different firms to work collaboratively on a product?

A) Intranet
B) Extranet
C) KMS
D) CRM
E) DSS

Question 62

Interaction jobs are those jobs which:

A) require close coordination and collaboration.
B) involve knowledge that can't be put into an information system.
C) are performed typically by operational-level employees.
D) require intense levels of interaction with clients.
E) require an emphasis on innovation.

Question 63

What is a digital dashboard, and why are they becoming an increasingly popular tool?

Question 64

Which of the following Google tools allows people to engage in group video chat?

A) Google Drive
B) Google Docs
C) Google Apps for Business
D) Google Circles
E) Google Hangouts

Question 65

The goal of social commerce applications is to:

A) connect through personal and business profiles.
B) use social media to connect with customers.
C) share opinions about purchasing products or services.
D) upload and share business documents.
E) harness collective knowledge to generate new ideas.

Question 66

The automotive tire supply company you work for, Tires4U, has noticed that one of its brands of tires is not selling nearly as well as anticipated at most of its locations. For each of the four main types of information systems found in a business, identify a query that might help understand this development. Of the four types of systems, which do you think will be the most helpful and why?

Question 67

What analytical framework discussed in the chapter helps understand and evaluate the benefits and uses of collaboration tools?

A) Cost/use matrix
B) Task/time matrix
C) Space/cost matrix
D) Time/space matrix
E) Time/cost matrix

Question 68

Supply chain management systems are considered to be a(n) ________ because they automate the flow of information across company boundaries.

A) KMS
B) enterprise system
C) MIS
D) interorganizational system
E) cross-functional system

Question 69

Which of the following statements is not true about collaboration in a business setting?

A) Collaboration may be a short-lived activity, lasting just a few minutes.
B) Collaboration is a many-to-many activity as opposed to a one-to-one or one-to-many activity.
C) Meaningful collaboration requires a supportive business firm culture and the right, decentralized structure.
D) The evidence of the business benefits of collaboration is largely anecdotal.
E) Special types of information systems are available to support collaboration.

Question 70

Each of the following is required for successful collaboration, except:

A) open culture.
B) strong hierarchy.
C) decentralized structure.
D) breadth of collaboration.
E) appropriate collaboration technology.

Question 71

Second Life is an example of a(n):

A) virtual world.
B) wiki.
C) social networking site.
D) mind mapping tool.
E) extranet.

Question 72

From your reading of the chapter-opening case study discussing ABB's use of enterprise social networking, which of the following statements best expresses ABB's experience?

A) ABB's primary motivation for replacing its existing corporate intranet was to enhance its security.
B) Implementing Yammer improved employee productivity and collaboration.
C) Efforts to implement Yammer were met with significant resistance from employees.
D) Yammer provided ABB with a single entry point to all the information and tools ABB employees need for their jobs.

Question 73

A wiki is a type of collaborative:

A) social network.
B) blogging.
C) virtual world.
D) website.
E) MIS.

Question 74

Describe at least two benefits of using enterprise systems.

Question 75

How have the technologies associated with e-business impacted government?

Question 76

Cisco's WebEx is an example of which of the following types of collaboration tools?

A) Blog
B) Team room
C) Online meeting
D) Group calendar
E) Wiki

Question 77

How can a good CRM system increase profits for a company?

Question 78

________ technology allows a videoconference participant to give the appearance of being present at a location other than his or her true physical location.

A) Telepresence
B) Virtual reality
C) Screen sharing
D) Mind mapping
E) Virtual world

Question 79

Instant messaging, videoconferencing, and shared screens are all examples of ________ collaboration tools.

A) bimodal
B) colocated
C) synchronous
D) spontaneous
E) asynchronous

Question 80

In a business environment, the focus of collaboration is to:

A) accomplish the task at hand.
B) provide a sense of community.
C) foster better communication.
D) prevent miscommunication.
E) increase a firm's profit margin.