End-term examination Question Bank

1. How do enterprise systems help businesses achieve operational excellence?

• Define an enterprise system and explain how enterprise software works.
Enterprise systems support organizational centralization by enforcing uniform data
standards and business processes throughout the company and a single unified
technology platform. The firmwide data generated by enterprise systems helps
managers evaluate organizational performance.

Enterprise software is based on a suite of integrated software modules and a common

central database. The database collects data from and feeds the data into numerous
applications that can support nearly all of an organization’s internal business
activities. When new information is entered by one process, the information is made
available immediately to other business processes.

• Describe how enterprise systems provide value for a business.

Enterprise systems provide value both by increasing operational efficiency and by

providing firmwide information to help managers make better decisions. Large
companies with many operating units in different locations have used enterprise
systems to enforce standard practices and data so that everyone does business the
same way worldwide. Coca-Cola, for instance, implemented a SAP enterprise system
to standardize and coordinate important business processes in 200 countries. Lack of
standard, company-wide business processes prevented the company from leveraging
its worldwide buying power to obtain lower prices for raw materials and from
reacting rapidly to market changes. Enterprise systems help firms respond rapidly to
customer requests for information or products. Because the system integrates order,
manufacturing, and delivery data, manufacturing is better informed about producing
only what customers have ordered, procuring exactly the right amount of components
or raw materials to fill actual orders, staging production, and minimizing the time that
components or finished products are in inventory.
2. What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making
process work?
• List and describe the different levels of decision making and decision-making
constituencies in organizations. Explain how their decision-making requirements
differ.
Senior Management - unstructured
- They often require access to external data points, industry views
- High-level summaries of the firm performance
- Requires use of own best judgment
- Ability to poll other managers for their opinions
Middle Management - semi-structured
- Mostly structured decision scenarios but could include unstructured components.
- They may need reports from the enterprise system that are part of the structured
components
- May also need to interview employees and gather unstructured information from external
sources.
Operational Management - structured
They would need access to reports or workflows that are already set up for the decision
making process. They rarely need access to unstructured data.

• Distinguish between an unstructured, semi structured, and structured decision.

Unstructured:
- decision maker must provide judgment, evaluation, and insight to solve the problem.
- Decision is novel, important, nonroutine and no well-understood or agreed-on procedure
for tackling the problem
Structured
- Repetitive, routine
- Involve a definite procedure for handlign them so they don’t have to be treated each time
as if they were new.
Semi-structured
Only part of the problem has a clear-cut answer provided by an accepted procedure.

• List and describe the stages in decision making.

Intelligence
Discovering, identifying, understanding the problems occurring in the organization; why the
problem exists, where and what effects it's having
Design
Involves identifying and exploring various solutions to the problem.
Choice
Consists of choosing among solution alternatives
Implementation
Involves making the chosen alternative work and continuing to monitor how well the
solution is working

3. What are the principal components of telecommunications networks and key

networking technologies?
• Describe the features of a simple network and the network infrastructure for a
large company.
computer - dedicated server computer
network interface - device to link computer to the network
connection medium - links network components; telephone wire, coaxial cable, radio
signal
network OS software - routes and manages comms on the network and coordinates
network resources; can reside on every computer in network or on a dedicated server
computer for all the applications on network
hub - simple devices that connect network components, sending a packet of data to all
other connected devices
switch - more intelligent than hub; filters and forwards data to specified destination
on network 
router - comms processor that routes packets of data through different networks,
ensuring the data sent get to correct address
software-defined networking (SDN) - networking approach in which many functions
of switches/routers are managed by one central program

• Name and describe the principal technologies and trends that have shaped
contemporary telecommunications systems.
client/server computing - distributed computing model in which some of the
processing power is located w/i small, inexpensive client computers and resides on
desktops, laptops, handheld devices; internet is the largest implementation of
client/server computing
packet switching - method of slicing digital messages into packets, sending packets
along different comm patch as they become available, and reassembling packets at
destination; more efficient use of network's comms capacity
*protocols - rules that govern transmission of info b/w two points
transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) - common worldwide
standard that is basis for internet; has four layers:
1. application layer - enables client app programs to access other layers and defines
protocols for that apps use to exchange data
2. transport layer - responsible for providing app layer w/ comm and packet services
3. internet layer - responsible for addressing, routing, packaging data packets called IP
datagrams
4. network interface layer - responsible for placing packets on and receiving them
from network medium

4. What are the unique features of e-commerce, digital markets, and digital
goods?
• Name and describe four business trends and three technology trends shaping e-
commerce today.
1. Social Networking - this contributes to a massive online audience that is attractive
to marketers. 2. Online Advertising - grows twice as fast as TV and print advertising
3. Online Newspapers and Traditional Media - have adopted to interactive models and
some have made their service subscription-based. 4. Online Entertainment Business
Models - They offer television, movies, music, sports, and eBooks in cooperation with
the major copyright owners.

• List and describe the eight unique features of e-commerce.

Ubiquity, Global Reach, Universal Standards, Richness, Interactivity, Information
Density, Personalization/Customization , Social Technology

• Define a digital market and digital goods and describe their distinguishing
features.
Digital markets
- more transparent than traditional markets
- very flexible and efficent
- has reduced search and transaction cost, lower menu prices, and ability to change
prices based on market conditions
- provide opportunity to sell directly to customer by bypassing intermediaries
Digital goods:
- are goods that can be delieved over a digital network
- one a digital product is produced the cost of delivering that product digitally is very
low
- creates new business models and is challenging bookstores, music labels, and film
studios

5. What is the role of knowledge management and knowledge management

programs in business?
• Define knowledge management and explain its value to businesses.
- set of processes developed in an organization to create, gather, store, maintain,
transfer, apply, and disseminate the firms knowlege
- enables the organization to learn from its environment and incorporate this new
knowledge into it business processes
- helps firms do things more efficiently and effectively

• Describe the important dimensions of knowledge.

a. Knowledge is a firm assets: an intangible assets; requires organizational resources 
b. Knowledge has different forms: can be either tacit or explicit
c. Knowledge has a location: it's a cognitive event involving mental models and maps
of individual 
d. Knowledge is situational: it's conditional; it's related to context

• Distinguish between data, knowledge, and wisdom and between tacit knowledge
and explicit knowledge.
• Describe the stages in the knowledge management value chain.

6. How do supply chain management systems coordinate planning, production,

and logistics with suppliers?
• Define a supply chain and identify each of its components.
Supply Chain: network of organizations and business processes for procuring raw
materials into intermediate and finished products, and distributing those products to
customers.
Upstream: suppliers, suppliers suppliers and the process for managing relationships
with them
Downstream: organizations and processes for distributing and delivering products
to the final customers
Internal supply chain processes: transforming materials, components and services
their suppliers furnish into finished products or intermediate products for their
customers and for managing inventory and materials.
• Explain how supply chain management systems help reduce the bullwhip
effect and how they provide value for a business.
Note: supply chain inefficiencies waste as much as 25% of a company's operating
costs.
The perfect supply chain system would allow manufacturers to know exactly how
many units of a product customers want, when they want them and when it should
be produced, but this is impossible so they strive towards it as much as possible with
a "just in time strategy".
Bullwhip effect: information about the demand for a product is distorted as it passes
from one entity to the next in a supply chain which causes excess inventory for
suppliers along the supply chain to occur which can be expensive. This effect can be
reduced by reducing the uncertainties about demand and supply. To do this, you
need to be able to share dynamic information about the inventory levels, schedules,
forecasts and shipments across all the members of the supply chain. This allows
them to make better purchasing and scheduling decisions.
• Define and compare supply chain planning systems and supply chain
execution systems.
Supply Chain planning system: enable the firm to model its existing supply chain,
generate demand forecasts for products, and develop optimal sourcing and
manufacturing plans. They help companies make better decisions, such as:
- how much to make of a product at a given interval
- establish inventory levels for raw materials, intermediate products and finished
goods
- determine where to store finished goods
- identifying transportation mode for the product
Demand planning: determines how much product a business needs to make to
satisfy all it’s customers’ demands.
Supply chain execution system: manages the flow of products through distribution
centers and warehouses to ensure the products are delivered to the right locations as
efficiently as possible.
• Describe the challenges of global supply chains and how Internet technology
can help companies manage them better.
They can span larger geographic regions and time differences. Most of the time they
have participants from a larger number of countries. They need to consider foreign
government regulations and cultural differences. The internet can help combat these
challenges by providing the ability to manage sourcing, transportation,
communications and international finance. By using web-based software they can
give their customers a better view of their supply chain providing the ability to do
things like check a secure website to monitor inventory and shipments.
• Distinguish between a push-based and a pull-based model of supply chain
management and explain how contemporary supply chain management systems
facilitate a pull-based model.
Push-based (build-to-stock) production master schedules are based on forecasts or
best guesses of demand for products, and products are pushed to customers.
Pull-based (demand driven or build-to-order):customer orders or purchases
trigger events in the supply chain. This allows for manufactures to use only actual
 order demand information to drive their production schedules and procurement of
components or raw materials. Example: Walmart’s replenishment system.
Internet technology allows for movement along the supply chains to move from
sequential to concurrent, where products can move along the supply chain in many
different directions simultaneously, looking more like a digital logistics nervous
system.
7. What are the principal e-commerce business and revenue models?
• Name and describe the principal e-commerce business models.
• Name and describe the e-commerce revenue models.

8. What types of systems are used for enterprise-wide knowledge management

and how do they provide value for businesses?
• Define and describe the various types of enterprise-wide knowledge
management systems and explain how they provide value for businesses.
• Describe the role of the following in facilitating knowledge management:
portals, wikis, social bookmarking, and learning management systems.
- Portals: provide access to external sources of information
- Wikis: provide a central repository for all types of corporate data that can be
displayed in a web browser
- Social bookmarking: lets users save bookmarks to web pages and add tag these
bookmarks with keywords
- Learning management systems: provide tools for the management, delivery,
tracking, and assessment of various types of employee learning

9. How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making?

• Define and describe business intelligence and business analytics.
• List and describe the elements of a business intelligence environment.
• List and describe the analytic functionalities provided by BI systems.
• Compare two different management strategies for developing BI and BA
capabilities.

10. How do customer relationship management systems help firms achieve

customer intimacy?
• Define customer relationship management and explain why customer
relationships are so important today.
• Describe how partner relationship management (PRM) and employee
relationship management (ERM) are related to customer relationship
management (CRM).
• Describe the tools and capabilities of customer relationship management
software for sales, marketing, and customer service.
• Distinguish between operational and analytical CRM.

11. How has e-commerce transformed marketing?

• Explain how social networking and the “wisdom of crowds” help companies
improve their marketing.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
• Fastest growing area of e-commerce revenues
• Social shopping sites: Pinterest, Kaboodle, ThisNext
• The products and services you buy will influence the decisions of your friends, and
their decisions will in turn influence you.

WISDOM OF CROWDS
• The belief that large numbers of people can make better decisions about a wide
range of topics or products than a single person or even a small committee of experts
• Crowdsourcing: Using large Internet audiences for advice, market feedback, new
ideas, and solutions to business problems. Related to the "wisdom of crowds" theory

• Define behavioural targeting and explain how it works at individual Web sites
and on advertising networks.
BEHAVIORAL TARGETING:
• Tracking the click-streams (history of clicking 
behavior) of individuals across multiple websites for the purpose of understanding
their interests and intentions, and exposing them to advertisements that are uniquely
suited to their interests
• Marketers and most researchers believe this more precise understanding of the
customer leads to more efficient marketing (the firm pays for ads only to those
shoppers who are most interested in their products) and larger sales and revenues

Behavioral targeting takes place at two levels: at individual websites or from within
apps and on various advertising networks that track users across thou-sands of
websites. All websites collect data on visitor browser activity and store it in a
database. Most major websites have hundreds of tracking programs on their home
pages, which track your clickstream behavior across the web by following you from
site to site and re-target ads to you by showing you the same ads on different sites.
The leading online advertising network is Google's 
DoubleClick.

• Define the social graph and explain how it is used in e-commerce marketing.
SOCIAL GRAPH:
• Map of all significant online social relationships, comparable to a social network
describing offline relationship

If you understand the interconnectedness of people, you will see just how important
this concept is to e-commerce: The products and services you buy will influence the
decisions of your friends, and their decisions will in turn influence you. If you are a
marketer trying to build and strengthen a brand, you can take advantage of the fact
that people are enmeshed in social networks, share interests and values, and
communicate and influence one another.

12. What is the role of m-commerce in business, and what are the most
important m-commerce applications?
• List and describe important types of m-commerce services and applications
M-commerce is especially well-suited for location-based applications, such as finding
local hotels and restaurants, monitoring local traffic and weather, and providing
personalized location-based marketing. Mobile phones and handhelds are being used
for mobile bill payment, banking, securities trading, transportation schedule updates,
and downloads of digital content, such as music, games, and video clips. M-
commerce requires wireless portals and special digital payment systems that can
handle micropayments. The GPS capabilities of smartphones make possible
geoadvertising, geosocial, and geoinformation services.