Management Information Systems

SBS – MBA / MSc

Assignment– AUH 2019

STUDENT ID

UNIT TITLE / CODE: _____________________________________________________

NAME (in Full): _____________________________________________________

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

● All assignments are to be submitted 31st October 2019 on to examinationboard@atmsedu.org

and cc to afatima@atmsedu.org.
● Hardcopy submissions to be done 1st November 2019
● If assignment is not submitted on date, will follow with penalty of 10% deduction of marks for
every day.
● If any extension request, has to come 5 days before the submission date with valid reasons &
supported document to afatima@atmsedu.org
● Similarity between students work is strictly not accepted, any student found with similar work
will be graded Zero and fail for the course. However, Plagiarism is an academic offence and will
not be tolerated under SBS
● Assignment once submitted to exam board is final for marking.
● Total mark will be converted to 90 & class participation of 10 marks.
Total 100 marks

GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENT

1. If assignment is Question & Answer based then.
 Introduction is needed for each question.
 Question has to be answered based on the mark allotted for each question with references if any
idea or information is taken from other source.
2. If assignment is case based then,
 Executive summary
 Table of content
 Body of assignment (questions related to case need to be answered)
 Conclusion / Recommendation if any
 References (in-text + citation) to be used.

Assignment - Total Marks _____________ 90

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PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a form of cheating, by representing someone else's work as your own or using someone
else's work (another student or author) without acknowledging it with a reference. This is a serious
breach of the Academic Regulations and will be dealt with accordingly. Students found to have
plagiarised can be excluded from the program.

Plagiarism occurs whenever you do any of the following things without acknowledging the original
source:

 Copy information from any source (including the study guide, books, newspapers, the internet)
 Use another person's concepts or ideas
 Summarise or paraphrase another person's work.

How do I avoid plagiarism?

To ensure you are not plagiarising, you must acknowledge with a reference whenever you:
 use another person's ideas, opinions or theory
 include any statistics, graphs or images that have been compiled or created by another person or
organization
 Paraphrase another's written or spoken word.

What are the penalties?

The penalties for plagiarism are:
 Deduction of marks,
 A mark of zero for the assignment or the unit, or
 Exclusion from the program.
Plagiarism is dealt with on a case-by-case basis and the penalties will reflect the seriousness of the
breach.

Please note: claiming that you were not aware of need to reference is no excuse.

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 Part A:
Short Answer Questions

Answer ALL questions from this section - Each question contains sub
questions. Total mark for this section is 50.

QUESTION 1 (10 Marks- 5 each) - This question contains two sub questions a and b.
a. Describe the use of personalization and customization in e-commerce. What business
value do these techniques have?
b. Why has the Internet made competitive rivalry more intense?

QUESTION 2 (10 Marks- 5 each)- This question contains two sub questions a and b.
a. Explain the importance of data mining tools and the types of information they produce.
In what type of circumstance would you advise a company to use data mining?
b. Define the term ‘database’? List 3 reasons why DBMS are better systems compared
with flat files.

QUESTION 3 (10 Marks- 5 each) - This question contains two sub questions a and b.
a. What is a GIS? Describe at least three ways in which a GIS could be used by modern
business.
b. Describe at least two benefits of using enterprise systems.

QUESTION 4 (10 Marks- 5 each)- This question contains two sub questions a and b.
a. Authentication technologies that can be used to prevent hackers from gaining
access to organizational systems. Discuss.
b. Information ethics govern the ethical and moral issues arising from the development and use of
information technologies, as well as the creation, collection, duplication, distribution, and
processing of information itself (with or without the aid of computer technologies.
Organizations should implement certain e-policies to protect themselves. Discuss.

QUESTION 5 (10 Marks- 5 each)- This question contains two sub questions a and b.
a. Analyse the illustration below. What type of IS does it represent? Why? At what
organizational level is this IS used?

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 IS Type Justification Organisational Level

b. What are the benefits of the sociotechnical design approach to information systems?

Part B:
Article/Application Questions

Global Business Systems

The Internet allows anyone connected to it to communicate and compute at any time, or
anywhere. Satellite systems, digital cell phones, and personal communications services make it
even easier to coordinate work and information in many parts of the globe that cannot be reached
by existing ground- based systems. Companies can use Internet technology to construct virtual
private networks to reduce wide-area networking costs and staffing requirements. If it wishes,
the company can outsource the virtual private network to an Internet service provider. All global
systems can't be based primarily on the Internet because currently not all countries have the
same access to the Internet. Additionally, high- traffic volumes at certain times of the day in
various regions may impede responsiveness.

There are several challenges involved with international networks. For example: quality of
service — the public Internet doesn't guarantee any level of service; security — most companies
use private networks to communicate data and do not trust the security of the public Internet;
costs and tariffs; network management — not all countries support basic Internet service;
installation delays; poor quality of international service — Internet connectivity varies
worldwide; regulatory constraints — some countries employ comprehensive blocking and
monitoring techniques, slowing down traffic; network capacity — the Internet can support
different amounts of traffic at different times depending on worldwide usage.

There are several steps that should be taken to develop an international information systems
architecture. Some of which are: beginning by developing an understanding of the overall
market forces, or business drivers, that are pushing your industry toward global competition, i.e.,
the global environment. Also examine the inhibitors or negative factors that could scuttle the
development of a global business; developing a corporate strategy for competing in the global
environment; planning how to structure your organization so that it can pursue the strategy you
have developed; considering the management issues in implementing your strategy and making
the organization design a reality. The key here will be the design of business procedures;
considering the technology platform; having a corporate strategy instructor before choosing the
right technology.

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 There are general cultural factors and business factors driving global business. .General cultural
factors include global communication and transportation technologies, development of the
global culture, emergency global social norms, political stability, and a global knowledge base.
Specific business factors include global markets, global production operations, global
coordination, global workforce, and global economies of scale.
Two of the general cultural factors that are most in danger at the current moment are political
stability and development of a global culture (either would be a good answer). Two business
factors most problematic at the moment are global coordination and global workforce.
Coordinating work on a truly global scale requires a fairly high level of corporation
sophistication that only a small number of large firms are truly capable of on a real-time basis;
and there is significant opposition in both developed and under-developed countries to changes
in local labor markets which are threatened by global trade.

Some specific types of business challenges to global business systems are: Standards: Different
EDI, e- mail, telecommunications standards; Reliability: Phone networks are not uniformly
reliable; Speed: Different data transfer speeds; many are slower than United States speeds;
Personnel: Shortages of skilled consultants. Probably, the easiest challenge to solve is that of
standards because of the growth of universal, Internet-based standards, Web services, and
component-based programming.

In fact, cultural, legal, political, and social expectations affect global business. At a cultural
level, particularism in all its forms rejects the very concept of a shared global culture and rejects
the penetration of domestic markets by foreign goods and services. Differences among cultures
produce differences in social expectations, politics, and ultimately in legal rules. Different
cultures produce different political regimes, with different laws governing the movement of
information, information privacy of their citizens, origins of software and hardware in systems,
and radio and satellite telecommunications. Even the hours of business and terms of business
trade vary greatly across political cultures.
Cultural and political differences profoundly affect organizations' standard operating procedures.
Everything from the different reliability of telephone systems to the shortage of skilled
consultants creates barriers. National laws and traditions have created different accounting
practices in various countries, which impact the way profits and losses are analyzed. These
accounting practices are tightly intertwined with each country's legal system, business
philosophy, and tax code. Cultural differences can also affect the way organizations use
information technology. Language is a significant barrier. Software may have to be built with
local language interfaces before a new information system can be successfully implemented.
Currency fluctuations can play havoc with planning models and projections. Some of these
problems will diminish in parts of the world when the Euro becomes more widely used.

Some of the organizational principles a company should follow to develop a global company and
its information systems support structure are: organized value-adding activities along lines of
comparative advantage; develop and operate systems units at each level of corporate activity —
regional, national, and international; establish at world headquarters a single office responsible
for development of international systems, a global chief information officer position.

Some of the general benefits of implementing a global information system for retailers, as an
example, include: superior management and coordination. This may not show up on balance
sheets, but will affect profitability in the long run. Related benefits are the ability to switch
suppliers quickly if there is a crisis and the ability to use excess capacity in one region to fulfill
demand in another. Additionally, they can expect major improvements in production, operation,
and supply and distribution. Value- adding activities can be concentrated in regions where they
are most economical and efficient. Also, with global systems, fixed costs around the world can
be amortized over a much larger customer base. In addition, corporate funds can be used over a
much larger capital base.

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 QUESTIONS (5 marks each).
Answer ALL questions from this section - Total mark for this section is 40.

a. What steps should you take to develop an international information systems architecture?
b. What are the four specific types of business challenges to global business systems? Which
one do you think will be easiest to solve? Why?
c. How does the Internet benefit the development of a global information system? Should all
global systems be based on the Internet?
d. Explore the Web for the latest World Internet Users Population Stats for 2019 comparing at
least 4 regions (for example: Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East) in terms of Internet users
distribution % and penetration rate (% population).
e. Apply Porter’s Five Forces analytical framework to the Internet. Your answer should
include critical elements supported with evidence/ justification.
f. List at least four general cultural factors and four specific business factors driving global
business. Which two factors (one of each) do you feel are most problematic at the current
moment? Why?
g. You work for a business consulting firm, and you have been asked to advise a home
furniture retailer on implementing a global information system. What general benefits can
the retailer expect from a globalized system?
h. List and describe four of the challenges involved with international networks.

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