Chapter 2

Question 1

Operation level

Answer 1

The bottom level of an organization, where the routine, day-to-day business processes and interaction with customers occur

Question 2

Business Processes

Answer 2

Activities organizations perform in order to reach their business goals, consisting of core processes and supporting proceesses

Question 3

Structured Decisions

Answer 3

procedures to follow for a given situation can be specified in advance

Question 4

managerial level

Answer 4

the middle level of the organization, where functional managers focus on monitoring and controlling operational level activities and providing information to higher levels of the organization

Question 5

List the three decision making levels in order from highest to lowest

Answer 5

Executive, managerial, operational

Question 6

semistructured decisions

Answer 6

some procedures to follow for a given situation can be specified in advance but to the extent where a specific reccomendation can be made

Question 7

key performance indicators (KPIs)

Answer 7

a metric deemed critical to assessing progress toward a certain organizational goal

Question 8

executive level

Answer 8

focus on long term strategic questions facing the organiztion

Question 9

unstructured decisions

Answer 9

few or no procedures to follow for a given situation can be specified in advance

Question 10

functional area information systems

Answer 10

designed to support the unique business processes of specific functional areas

Question 11

automating perspective

Answer 11

thinks of technology as a way to help complete a task within an organization faster, more cheaply, and with gretaer accuracy and/or consistency

Question 12

informating

Answer 12

using information systems to learn and improve

Question 13

organizational learning

Answer 13

the ability of an organization to use past behavior and information to improve its business processes

Question 14

learning organization

Answer 14

an organization that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transfering knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights

Question 15

organizational strategy

Answer 15

a firm’s plan to accomplish its mission and goals as well as to gain or sustain competitive advantage over rivals

Question 16

srategic planning

Answer 16

form a vision of where the organization needs to head, convert that vision into measurable objectives and performance targets, and craft a strategy to achieve the desired reults

Question 17

low-cost leadership strategy

what is an example company?

Answer 17

offers the best prices in its industry on its goods and/or services

Walmart

Question 18

differentation strategy

Example companies

Answer 18

tries to provide better products or services than its competitors

Porsche, Nordstrom, IBM

Question 19

best-cost provider strategy

Example company

Answer 19

offering products or services of reasonably good quality at competitive prices

Dell

Question 20

value chain

Answer 20

set of activities that add value throughout the organization

Question 21

value chain analysis

Answer 21

process of analyzing an organization’s activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and what costs are incurred for doing so

Question 22

business/IT alignment

Answer 22

the alignment of information systems with a business’s strategy

Question 23

strategic necessity

Answer 23

something the organization must do in order to survive

Question 24

domestic companies

Answer 24

company operating solely in its domestic market

Question 25

international business strategy

Answer 25

set of strategies employed by organizations operating in different global markets

Question 26

home-replication strategy

Answer 26

international business strategy that views the international business as an extension of the home business

Question 27

Global business strategy

Answer 27

centralized organization with standardized offerings across markets

Question 28

multidomestic business strategy

Answer 28

federation of associated business units; decentralized

Question 29

transnational business strategy

Answer 29

some aspects centralized, others decentralized; integrated network

Question 30

disruptive innovations

Answer 30

new technologies, products, or servicces that eventually surpass the existing dominant technology or product in a market

Question 31

innovator's dilemma

Answer 31

refers to how disruptive innovationscause these established firms or industries to lose market dominance, often leading to failure

Question 32

e-business innovation cycle

Answer 32

the use of information technologies and sysstems to support the business

Question 33

e-business

Answer 33

use of nearly any information technologies or systems to support every part of business

Question 34

enabling technologies

Answer 34

information technology that enables a firm to accomplish a task or goal or to gain or sustain a competitive advantage in some way

Question 35

economic opportunities

Answer 35

opportunties that a firm finds for making more money and/or making money in new ways

Question 36

freeconomics

Answer 36

the leveraging of digital technologies to provide free goods and services to customers as a business strategy for gaining a competitive edge

Question 37

value propostion

Answer 37

what a business provides to a customer and what that customer is willing to pay for that product or service