Deck 15: The Data Asset: Databases, Business Intelligence, Analytics, Big Data, and Competitive Advantage

Question 1

Knowledge is defined as:

A) raw facts and figures.
B) the data presented in a context so that it can answer a question or support decision making.
C) the insight derived from experience and expertise.
D) a listing of primary data.
E) the process of breaking a complex topic into smaller parts.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Advantages based on capabilities and data that others can acquire are long-lived.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

How are increasingly standardized data, access to third-party datasets, cheap, fast computing, and easier-to-use software collectively enabling a new age of decision making?

Answer 3

A study by Gartner Research claims that the amount of data on corporate

Question 4

Changing pricing based on demand conditions is known as ________.

Question 5

_______________ refers to type of artificial intelligence that leverages massive amounts of data so that computers can improve the accuracy of actions and predictions on their own without additional programming

Question 6

The San Francisco Giants leverage business analytics to price game tickets. What factors are considered? What are the risks associated with allowing prices to fluctuate?

Question 7

Dynamic pricing is considered especially tricky in situations where consumers make repeated purchases and are more likely to remember past prices, and when they have alternative choices.

Question 8

Logistics is the term that describes the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.

Question 9

_____ is the general term used to describe the massive amount of data available to today's managers.

Question 10

Data can potentially be used as a strategic asset, capable of yielding sustainable competitive advantage. Which of the items below is not a characteristic of a potentially strategic asset?

A) value
B) rarity
C) imperfect imitability
D) lead time
E) non-substitutability

Question 11

_____ is the term used to describe raw facts and figures.

A) information
B) knowledge
C) analytics
D) data
E) intelligence

Question 12

_____ refers to the process of combining aspects of reporting, data exploration and ad hoc queries, and sophisticated data modeling and analysis.

A) Logistics
B) Queritic modeling
C) Business intelligence
D) Electronic trading
E) Big Data

Question 13

Firms that base decisions on hunches are said to be gambling, not managing.

Question 14

In database systems, a column is also known as a key.

Question 15

The acronym_____ refers to a technology that is often used to tag objects and inventory items so that they can 'announce their presence' as they make their way along an organization's value chain.

Question 16

All SQL databases are relational databases.

Question 17

In many organizations, the majority of available data is not exploited to advantage.

Question 18

The term ____________ refers to a technology that sends messages to smartphones and other devices using a low-energy Bluetooth signal.

Question 19

The data a firm can leverage is a true strategic asset when it is valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable.

Question 20

Data are raw facts that must be turned into information in order to be useful and valuable.

Question 21

Any data-centric effort should involve input not only from business and technical staff, but from the firm's legal team, as well.

Question 22

In database systems, a _____ refers to a list of data.

A) file
B) column
C) field
D) row
E) record

Question 23

In database systems, a row is also known as a _____.

A) table
B) column
C) key
D) record
E) field

Question 24

A _____ is a system that provides rewards and usage incentives, typically in exchange for a method that provides a more detailed tracking and recording of consumer activity.

A) sugging report
B) canned report
C) dashboard
D) legacy system
E) loyalty program

Question 25

In database systems, a _____ defines the data that a table can hold.

A) row
B) key
C) record
D) file
E) field

Question 26

In database systems, a table is also known as a _____.

A) field
B) record
C) file
D) row
E) key

Question 27

Enterprise software tends to be less integrated and standardized than the prior era of proprietary systems that many firms developed themselves.

Question 28

Firms that collect and resell data are known as:

A) data barons.
B) data mongers.
C) knowledge consultancies.
D) data miners.
E) data aggregators.

Question 29

If a customer pays a retailer in cash, he is likely to remain a mystery to the retailer because his name is not attached to the money. Retailers can tie the customer to cash transactions and track the customer's activity if they can convince the customer to use a _____.

A) transaction processing system
B) point-of-sale terminal
C) data cube
D) dashboard
E) loyalty card

Question 30

Data becomes _____ when it is presented in a context so that it can answer a question or support decision making.

A) knowledge
B) information
C) a database
D) wisdom
E) a relational language

Question 31

_____ refers to a job title focused on directing, performing, or overseeing activities associated with a database or set of databases.

Question 32

_____ are the most common standard for expressing databases, whereby tables (files) are related based on common keys.

Question 33

_____ is a language used to create and manipulate databases.

Question 34

In database terminology, a record represents:

A) a list of data, arranged in columns and rows.
B) all of the data in a given column.
C) a single instance of whatever the table keeps track of.
D) a field or combination of fields used to uniquely identify a file.
E) one or more keys that relate separate tables in a database.

Question 35

_____ refers to software for creating, maintaining, and manipulating data.

A) Extranet
B) ROM
C) RAM
D) DBMS
E) Internet 2

Question 36

Data obtained from outside sources, when combined with a firm's proprietary internal data assets, can give the firm a competitive edge.

Question 37

_____ is a class of computer software that seeks to reproduce or mimic human thought, decision making, or brain functions.

A) Biometrics
B) Artificial intelligence
C) Android
D) Legacy software
E) Intranet

Question 38

Describe "database," "DBMS," and "SQL."

Question 39

??????????????Database technology known by the term __________________ is especially popular with Internet firms that rely on massive, unwieldy, and disparately structured data; and this technology is often at the heart of what are often characterized as "big data" efforts.

Question 40

_____ is by far the most popular language for creating and manipulating databases.

A) XML
B) HTML
C) PHP
D) Java
E) SQL

Question 41

_____ systems are often used to empower employees to track and record data at nearly every point of customer contact.

Question 42

_____ refer to databases focused on addressing the concerns of a specific problem or business unit.

A) Data marts
B) Dashboards
C) Hadoop
D) Data aggregators
E) Data analytics

Question 43

How is The EchoNest (part of Spotify) leveraging big data for a better music experience?

Question 44

It's believed that medical errors are the _____ leading cause of death in the United States.

Question 45

Briefly describe the different sources of enterprise data for firms.

Question 46

Most transactional databases are not set up to be simultaneously accessed for reporting and analysis. As a consequence:

A) navigational databases are being preferred over transactional databases.
B) data is not efficiently transformed into information.
C) firms prefer to outsource data mining operations to third-party firms.
D) analysts must also become transactional specialists.
E) most firms incur additional expenditure to effectively record transactions.

Question 47

Why do many organizations have data that cannot be converted to actionable information? What are the hurdles faced by firms that attempt to query transactional databases?

Question 48

Conventional database technologies often choke when trying to sift through the massive amounts of data collected by many of today's firms, leading to the rise of Hadoop and other "Big Data" technologies.

Question 49

The open-source project known as ____________ was created to analyze massive amounts of raw information better than traditional, highly structured databases.

Question 50

_____ is the term used to describe some form of business exchange.

Question 51

Systems that record a transaction (some form of business-related exchange), such as a cash register sale, ATM withdrawal, or product return are referred to as _____.

Question 52

In data warehousing projects, it is not uncommon for spending on consulting and services to cost five times or more than the cost of the technology itself.

Question 53

Systems that can absorb any type of data, structured or not, from any type of source are often called ____________.

Question 54

Data warehouses are composed entirely of proprietary corporate data, while data marts take advantage of data purchased from third-party firms.

Question 55

Airbnb's "____________" feature helps by leveraging the firm's industry-leading dataset, far larger and more comprehensive than rivals, and constantly updated over time, to suggest the perfect rate.

Question 56

Turning data into useable information is hindered by transactional databases set up to be simultaneously accessed for reporting and analysis.

Question 57

_____ refer to older information systems that are often incompatible with other systems, technologies, and ways of conducting business.

A) Data aggregator systems
B) Loyalty card systems
C) Legacy systems
D) Transaction systems
E) Mnemonic systems

Question 58

Systems that can absorb any type of data, structured or not, from any type of source are often called schema-less.

Question 59

The three Vs of "Big Data" are _____,_____, and ______; characteristics that distinguish it from conventional data analysis problems and require a new breed of technology.

Question 60

Why do firms need to create separate data repositories for their reporting and analytics work?

A) Most firms store their data assets offsite to insure themselves against the possibility of data damage through natural disasters.
B) Maintaining huge databases can be a cost-sink for most firms.
C) Most organizations need to differentiate data derived in-house and from data aggregators.
D) Running analytics against transactional data can bog down a TPS.
E) Reporting and analytics are two separate functions, each requiring its own separate database specifically formatted to the needs of the management team.

Question 61

Why would a firm choose Hadoop for a big data project instead of using conventional relationial databases?

Question 62

_____ is a method of querying and reporting that takes data from standard relational databases, calculates and summarizes the data, and then stores the data in a special database called a data cube.

A) Ad hoc reporting
B) E-discovery
C) Data aggregation
D) Online analytical processing
E) Data adjacency

Question 63

Skittish and untrusting managers should realize that the first findings of analytics always reveal an optimal course of action.

Question 64

What are data warehouses and data marts? What is their significance in terms of data organization?

Question 65

Random occurrences in data mining results can be detected by dividing the data and building a model with one portion and using another portion to verify the results.

Question 66

Which of the following is not considered an advantage of Hadoop?

A) flexibility.
B) relational structure.
C) scalability.
D) cost effectiveness.
E) fault tolerance.

Question 67

While spreadsheets are popular tools, they cannot effectively be used for "what-if" analysis.

Question 68

Computer-driven investment models can be very effective when the market behaves as it has in the past. However, in terms of historical consistency, they are vulnerable to failure in the face of:

A) brute force attacks.
B) black swans.
C) zero-day exploits.
D) calendar rivalry metrics.
E) distributed denial of service.

Question 69

What are the issues to be addressed in order to design, develop, deploy, and maintain data warehouses and data marts?

Question 70

Describe how L.L. Bean's Big Data efforts have changed and improved firm interactions with customers.

Question 71

_____ are model building techniques where computers examine many potential solutions to a problem, iteratively modifying various mathematical models, and comparing the mutated models to search for a best alternative.

A) Expert systems
B) Ad hoc reporting tools
C) Iterative mutations
D) Sampled alliterations
E) Genetic algorithms

Question 72

OLAP technology is primarily used for transaction processing.

Question 73

A data cube refers to a:

A) secure, cloud-based off-site location used for data storage, analysis, and reporting.
B) heads-up display of critical indicators that allow managers to get a graphical glance at key performance metrics.
C) special database used to store data in OLAP reporting.
D) firm that collects data with the intention of reselling it to others.
E) combination of fields used to uniquely identify a record, and to relate separate tables in a database.

Question 74

_____ is the process of using computers to identify hidden patterns in and to build models from large data sets.

A) Data harvesting
B) E-discovery
C) Optimization
D) Report canning
E) Data mining

Question 75

E-discovery refers to:

A) identifying and retrieving relevant electronic information to support litigation efforts.
B) something a firm does not account for in its archiving and data storage plans.
C) older information systems that are often incompatible with other systems, technologies, and ways of conducting business.
D) collecting and reselling data.
E) rewards and usage incentive, typically in exchange for a method that provides a more detailed tracking and recording of consumer activity.

Question 76

Data mining is leveraged by some firms to determine which products customers buy together, and how an organization can use this information to cross-sell more products or services. This area of application of data mining is referred to as:

A) market basket analysis.
B) expert systems.
C) customer churn.
D) customer segmentation.
E) vertical integration.

Question 77

A(n) _____ refers to a heads-up display of critical indicators that allow managers to get a graphical glance at key performance metrics.

A) interstitial
B) embassy
C) canned report
D) prediction interface
E) dashboard

Question 78

Which of the following conditions is essential for data mining to work?

A) The data must be collected from proprietary sources and not from data aggregators.
B) The organization must leverage standard relational databases as opposed to inferior hierarchical and analytical databases.
C) The events in the data should reflect current and future trends.
D) The data mining software must necessarily incorporate ad hoc reporting tools and dashboards.
E) The data should have passed the Diehard suite of stringent tests for randomness.

Question 79

A(n) _____ is an AI system that examines data and hunts down and exposes patterns, in order to build models to exploit findings.

A) Hadoop
B) canned report
C) data aggregator
D) neural network
E) e-discovery

Question 80

_____ put(s) users in control so that they can create custom reports on an as-needed basis by selecting fields, ranges, summary conditions, and other parameters.

A) Canned reports
B) Ad hoc reporting tools
C) Dashboards
D) Data cubes
E) Online analytical processing