Business Information Systems in Your Career

Internet advertising is growing at a rate of more than 30 percent a year.

A business model describes how a company produces, delivers, and sells a product or service to create wealth.

Information technology (IT) consists of all the hardware that a firm needs to use in order to achieve its business objectives, whereas information systems consist of all the hardware and software needed.

Computers are only part of an information system.

Information systems literacy describes the behavioral approach to information systems, while computer literacy describes the technical approach.

The dimensions of information systems are people, organizations, and information technology.

In order to understand how a specific business firm uses information systems, you need to know something about the history and culture of the company.

Developing a new product, fulfilling an order, or hiring a new employee are all examples of business processes.

Business processes are those logically related tasks for accomplishing tasks that have been formally encoded by an organization.

Employee attitudes about their jobs, employers, or technology can have a powerful effect on their abilities to use information systems productively.

A network requires at least three computers and a shared resource.

An IT infrastructure provides the platform on which the firm can build its information systems.

UPS's use of Web-based tools that allow customers to embed UPS functions such as tracking and cost calculations into their own Web sites was an information systems solution used to achieve customer intimacy.

Identifying a problem includes agreeing that a problem exists.

Political conflict is an example of the people dimension of business problems.

As a result of new public laws, accountants are beginning to perform more technical duties, such as auditing systems and networks.

Forensic accounting is used to investigate bankruptcies and contract disputes.

An understanding of enterprise-wide systems for customer relationship management is one of the skills relevant to careers in marketing.

Whereas marketing and financial careers have been transformed by the growth in information systems, management has–so far–remained relatively unaffected.

There are two types of outsourcing: offshore outsourcing and foreign outsourcing.

As discussed in the chapter opening case, the Yankees' use of information systems in their new stadium can be seen as an effort to achieve which of the primary business objectives?

Journalist Thomas Friedman's description of the world as "flat" referred to:

The six important business objectives of information technology are: new products, services, and business models; customer and supplier intimacy; improved decision-making; competitive advantage; operational excellence, and:

The use of information systems because of necessity describes the business objective of:

Which of the following choices may lead to competitive advantage (1) new products, services, and business models; (2) charging less for superior products; (3) responding to customers in real-time?

Verizon's implementation of a Web-based digital dashboard to provide managers with real-time information such as customer complaints is an example of:

The move of retail banking to use ATMs after Citibank unveiled its first ATMs illustrates the information system business objective of:

An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support:

The three activities in an information system that produce the information organizations use to control operations are:

Order data for baseball tickets and bar code data are examples of:

The average number of tickets sold daily online is an example of:

Output:

Converting raw data into a more meaningful form is called:

An example of raw data from a national chain of automobile stores would be:

Electronic computers and related software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of:

The field that deals with behavioral issues as well as technical issues surrounding the development, use, and impact of information systems used by managers and employees in the firm is called:

A hierarchy:

In a hierarchical organization, the upper levels consist of:

The fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things that has been accepted by most of a company's members is called its:

Business processes:

Data management technology consists of:

The hardware and software used to transfer data in an organization is called:

An intranet uses:

The first step in the four-step model of business problem solving is:

Inadequate database capacity is an example of the ________ dimension of business problems.

Legal and regulatory compliance is an example of the ________ dimension of business problems.

Aging hardware and outdated software are examples of the ________ dimension of business problems.

Poor business processes and unsupportive culture are examples of the ________ dimension of business problems.

The owners of Speed-EZ, a new bike messenger service, are concerned about how they will manage their messengers once they have left the office. This is a business problem that falls into the:

Flapjack Flats, a new pancake chain, is having difficulty finding pancake chefs. This is a business problem that falls into the:

In choosing the best solution for a business problem, one of the most important considerations is:

The final step in the four-step model of business problem solving is:

Which of the following would not be considered part of the implementation phase of problem solving?

The failure of NASA's initial solution to preventing the space shuttle shedding foam illustrates:

One of the most frequent errors in problem solving is:

A major criterion in deciding the most important perspectives of a business problem is:

Which of the following is an example of a business using information systems to create new products and services?

An example of a business using information systems to attain competitive advantage is:

An example of a business using information systems for customer and supplier intimacy is:

An information skill important for an accounting major would be:

An information skill important for a marketing major would be:

Maintaining the organization's financial records is a business function of:

Branding products is a business function of:

To make sure they stock clothes that their customers will purchase, a department store implements a new application that analyzes spending levels at their stores and cross-references this data to popular clothing styles. This is an example of using information systems to support a business strategy of:

Financial managers work directly with ________ to ensure investments in information systems help achieve corporate goals.

Operations management as a discipline is directly relevant to three occupational categories:

Assume you work for a package delivery service in a major metropolitan area, and that the business has been losing customers for several years. You have been asked to find a solution to this problem, perhaps one which uses modern information technologies. What is the correct way to proceed?

Which of the following statements is not true?

The culture of UPS places service to the customer among the company's highest business objectives, which is reflected in their use of information systems to enable customer tracking of their packages. Based on your reading of Chapter 1, why is "culture" an important factor to consider when building information system solutions to business problems?

Based on your reading of the case discussing mobile handhelds, Doylestown Hospital's use of iPhones is an example of using information systems to enhance which of the following generic business objectives?

________ is data that has been shaped into a form that is meaningful to human beings.

________ is output returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.

The world's largest and most widely used network is ________.

________ consists of the detailed, preprogrammed instructions that control and coordinate the computer hardware components in an information system.

The ________ is a service provided by the Internet that uses universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying information in a page format.

________ are private corporate networks extended to authorized users outside the organization.

In business problem solving, the three major categories of factors are organization, technology, and ________.

Having inadequate resources is a business problem that falls into the ________ dimension.

Encouraging employees to adapt to new business processes is one factor of ________.

Being aware of organizational and personal limitations is one of the four elements of ________.

Define operational excellence. How can information systems help achieve it?

You work for an auto manufacturer and distributor. How could you use information systems to achieve greater customer intimacy?

What important managerial function is impaired by not having access to timely and accurate information? What is the effect of this lack of data?

What is the difference between information technology and information systems? Describe some of the functions of information systems.

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?

Define business process. What might be a business process used at a hospital?

Describe the four steps taken in solving a business problem.

What are the three dimensions to business problems? Give an example of each.

The department chain you work for has had numerous complaints about slow customer service. Your colleague, a sales manager, informs you that this happened at a previous store she worked for, and it was cleared up by hiring more sales representatives. Should you take her advice? Why not? What techniques can you use in evaluating the problem?

Describe at least three of the general information skills essential for all business careers.