Business Intelligence & Competitive Advantage: Q&A
26. Which of the following statements is true with regards to switching costs? Switching costs are financial and non-financial costs of switching to a new product or service.
27. What is business intelligence (BI)? Collective information about a business’s customers, competitors, partners, environment, and operations.
28. If your team member brought information to your group that he/she obtained from a flash news story broadcasted over the internet, what attribute should you be concerned about? Validity.
29. After you understand your competition and its effects on your industry, what should you do next? Align your strategies, processes, and technology with your understanding of your industry.
30. What is the differentiation in Porter’s strategy to surpassing the competition? Offering a product or service that is perceived as being unique in the marketplace.
31. Which of the following would not be investigated when a business was analyzing competitive pressures? Internal operational capacity.
32. What should you understand first when analyzing the technology needs of your business? The industry in which your business operates.
33. Which of the following is the overarching function of management information systems? To create and sustain a competitive advantage.
34. Which of the following statements best describes a technology-literate knowledge worker? A worker who knows how and when to apply technology.
35. Information has many attributes that help define its quality. Which of the following is not one of these attributes? Abundance.
36. The list of all your purchases from Amazon (books bought, price paid, dates) would be considered to be: Information.
37. Focus Strategy.
38. Which type of system facilitates the automation and management of business processes? Workflow.
39. To minimize the threat of substitute products or services, some businesses will create switching costs. What is a switching cost? Costs that make customers reluctant to switch to another product or service supplier.
40. To be successful in today’s competitive environment, what must a company have? Intellectual assets (data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge).
41. The internet has had which of the following impacts on the way you purchase your textbooks? The internet increases your bargaining power.
42. What is the integration of economic, social, cultural, and ecological facets of life? Globalization.
43. A complete set of information about customer ages, gender, buying habits, and buying preferences is: Business intelligence.
44. According to Porter, when there are many alternative products or services to the ones your business provides, the __ is high. Threat of substitute products or services.
45. For most companies, the internet __ the threat that new competitors will enter the market by traditional barriers to entry. Increases.
46. Business intelligence.
47. Which type of barrier creates an expectation for customers to be able to get the same features or services for a product or service from competitors? Entry.
48. Wikipedia = Validity (Questionable).
49. Should a business decision about its technology drive its business strategy? No, business strategy should drive decisions about its technology.
50. The objective of a __ system is to ensure that the knowledge contained within the minds of the employees is available to that organization. Knowledge management.
51. If you were to develop a new text message system for college students that had a panic button so that, for instance, a message changed when a teacher were close by, how would you be enhancing your competitive strategy? Through Focus.