Questions and Answers of Experiencing MIS

What is the purpose of a database?Describe the purpose of a database. Explain when to use a spreadsheet and when to use a database. LO.1
What does a database contain?Explain the hierarchy of data from bytes to tables.Show how a database stores the relationships among rows. Define key and foreign key. Define metadata, and explain how
What is a DBMS, and what does it do? Describe a database application system. Define DBMS. Name three prominent DBMS products. Describe the difference between a database and a DBMS. Explain the three
What is a database application? Name and describe the components of a database applica- tion. Describe the circumstances that require a special logic for database applications. Describe the lost-
What is the difference between an enterprise DBMS and a personal DBMS?Explain the function of an enterprise DBMS and describe its characteristics. Explain the function of a personal DBMS and describe
Where did Kelly go wrong? LO.1
Do you think it was illegal, unethical, or neither for Kelly to take the database home and query the data? LO.1
Does the company share culpability with Kelly? LO.1
What do you think Kelly should have done upon discovering the odd pattern in Jason's orders? LO.1
What should the company have done before firing Kelly? LO.1
Is it possible that someone other than Jason is involved in the arrangement with Valley Appliances? What should Kelly have done in light of that possibility? LO.1
What should Kelly do now? LO.1
"Metadata make databases easy to use for both authorized and unauthorized purposes." Explain what organizations should do in light of this fact. LO.1
To what extent do you agree with the opinions presented here? To what extent are the concerns expressed here justified? To what extent might they be due to other factors? LO.1
What problems do you see with the way that the car salesperson stores address data? What will he have to do if he ever does want to send a letter or an email to all of his customers? LO.1
From his comments, how many different themes are there in his data? What does this imply about his ability to keep his data in a spreadsheet? LO.1
Does the concern about not sharing data relate to whether he uses a database? LO.1
Given the limited information in this scenario, do you think a database or a spreadsheet is a better solution? LO.1
The Transaction Processing Council (TPC) is a not-for-profit corporation that defines transaction processing and database benchmarks and publishes vendor-neutral, verifiable performance data. Visit
Emerson has standardized on Oracle. The Emerson IT department has a default policy that there will be no other server DBMSs. Users and user departments can have their own Access databases, but no
Dee is becoming a problem to the IT department.She’s been assigned to work with a very junior systems analyst whose principal concern is not to miss any of his upcoming vacation. He thinks Dee's
Movable Type (MT) uses MySQL to manage the blog’s data; MySQL is never visible either to Dee or the salespeople. It’s just a behind-the-scenes data manager. Dee has no intention of developing any
There are two real issues about MySQL:a. Who will install and support it? This is a real issue;Dee intends to contract with Don for support, but that will mean that Don be given access to programs
Dee needed enough knowledge to explain to the IT department that she wasn't doing anything other than using MySQL to support Movable Type. She needed to point out that there are hundreds of Movable
The big picture here is not so much to teach students about Oracle versus MySQL, but rather to help them become better consumers of the IT department’s services. This problem is only a sample of
Before getting started, the students need to understand the purposes of a DBMS. They also need to know the differences in nature, maintenance, and application of server DBMS products like Oracle(and
There are at least three possible explanations of this situation:a. The IT department'’s objection is legitimate; it wants only Oracle used on its network. It will not support any other server
Dee's best response depends on whether 2a, 2b, or 2c is true.a. How can she find out?b. What questions can she ask Don?c. What questions can she ask the IT person? LO.1
If she thinks explanation 2a is true, what can Dee do?a. First, why would the IT department have such a limitation?b. Using empathic thinking, how could Dee approach that department?c. If there is no
If Dee thinks explanation 2b is true, what can she do?a. Call the person lazy and say she's going to report him to her manager?b. Get permission to have Don install and support MySQL?c. If Dee admits
If she thinks explanation 2c is true, what can she do?a. Tell the IT person he doesn't know what he's doing?b. Ask the IT person to contact someone else in IT and find out if there are ever
Wrap up: What should Dee do, and why? LO.1
I think there's little doubt that someone else is involved. Jason is not in a position to force Kelly's firing. In that case, he should have not spoken with Jason. He should have gone as high in the
Say nothing to anyone. Hire an attorney with expertise in labor law. Do you think he should "sue the pants off" this company? LO.1
Understand their vulnerability. Treat organizational data as an important asset. Establish data policies and train employees on those policies. (More on this in Chapter 12.) LO.1
Ask the students their opinions. I believe users have a right to information systems that allow them to do their jobs. Something doesn't fit here, though. He objects to the database application
He's creating a nightmare for himself. How will he ever disentangle the addresses from the Notes column? What a mess! LO.1
Ithinksome likely themes are Customer, Auto_Interest, Contact, and possibly others.> Multiple themes mean: Use a database! LO.1
Isuspect the concern does relate to using a database, but it ought not. Databases can be private and secure; accounts and roles can be set up so that salespeople do not share each other's
First, management may not be allowing each salesperson to have his or her own format. They may be trying to discourage it by building the shared database. The question is, who owns the contact
How does organizational strategy determine information systems structure? LO.1
What five forces determine industry structure? LO.1
What is competitive strategy? LO.1
What is a value chain? LO.1
How do value chains determine business processes and information systems? LO.1
How do information systems provide competitive advantages? LO.1
Why is the global economy important today? LO.1
How does the global economy change the competitive environment? LO.1
How does the global economy change competitive strategy? LO.1
How does the global economy change value chains and business processes? LO.1
How does the global economy change information systems? LO.1
How does organizational strategy determine information systems structure?Diagram and explain the relationship among industry structure, competitive strategy, value chains, business systems, and
What five forces determine industry structure? Name and briefly describe the five forces. Give your own examples of both strong and weak forces of each type, similar to those in Figure 3-3. LO.1
What is competitive strategy? Describe four different strategies, as defined by Porter. Give an example of four different companies that have implemented each of the strategies. LO.1
what is a value chain? How does the structure of a value chain relate to competitive strategy? Name and describe five primary value chain activities. Name and describe three support value chain
How do value chains determine business processes and information systems?What is the relationship between a value chain and a business process? How do business processes relate to competitive
How do information systems provide competitive advantages? List and _ briefly describe eight principles of competitive advantage.Consider your college bookstore, and list one application of each of
Whyis the global economy important today? Describe how the global economy has changed since the mid-twentieth century. Explain how the dot-com bust influenced the global economy and changed the
How does the global economy change the competitive environment?Summarize the ways in which today’s global economy influences the five competitive forces. Explain how the global economy changes the
How does the global economy change competitive strategy? Explain how size and complexity change the costs of a competitive strategy. Describe what the size of the global economy means to
How does the global economy change value chains and _ business processes? Describe, in general terms, how international business impacts value chains and business processes. Use the example of the
How does the global economychange information systems? Describe how international business impacts each of the five components of an information system. Identify the components that are most impacted
In your opinion, did the new owners take any illegal action? Is there evidence of crime in this scenario? LO.1
Was the statement that Parks made to all of the employees unethical? Why or why not? If you questioned her about the ethics of her statement, how do you think she would justify herself? LO.1
If you actually were in this situation, would you leave the company? Why or why not? LO.1
How do you define job security? LO.1
Summarize the efforts you have taken thus far to build an employment record that will lead to job offers after graduation. LO.1
Considering the first three principles in Figure 3-8, describe one way in which you have a competitive advantage over your classmates. If you do not have such competitive advantage, describe actions
Describe two ways that you can use student alliances to obtain a job. How can you use information systems to build, maintain, and operate such alliances? LO.1
Explain the relationship of value and cost according to the Porter model. When does it make sense to add cost to a business process? LO.1
Consider the alternative of replacing the rental personnel from the business process in Figure 1,a. Describe changes that will need to be made to the process documented in Figure LO.1
One way to answer is to scan a copy of this diagram and annotate the changes on that copy. Or, if the annotations are too extensive, make another version of the diagram entirely.b. Would eliminating
Analyze the five competitive forces for Bosu’s market. LO.1
Visit www.bosu.com. What appears to be Bosu’s competitive strategy? Explain your answer. LO.1
Explain the nature of the five primary value chain activities for Bosu. LO.1
Review the principles of competitive advantage in Figure 3-8. What information systems can Bosu create to enhance its product or differentiate it from existing and emerging competition? LO.1
What information systems can Bosu develop to create barriers to entry to the competition? LO.1
What information system can Bosu develop to lock in customers? LO.1
What information systems can Bosu develop to establish alliances? LO.1
No. No evidence of crime. They own the company and can change the competitive strategy and culture as they see fit. LO.1
She’s lying. If you believe that any lie is unethical, then her behavior is unethical. But, what should she do? If she announces that they plan an acrossthe-board staff reduction, work and
Depends on her mood, | think. She could tell him that he no longer owns the company and to keep his thoughts to himself. Or, she could listen, make some empty statement, and then do what she plans to
Major Capital is implementing a change in competitive strategy. The company wants to be a low-cost vendor; so it needs to cut costs. Parks’ plan may not be the most effective in terms of minimizing
Lori is the most popular support rep because she spends a lot of time with the customer. She's likely to be one of the first employees fired. Knowing that, you have to be very careful lest you end up
Answer depends on the student. Sometimes I say,“Tf your list is short, tell me what you plan to do in the next quarter.” LO.1
Again, the answer depends on the student. I also encourage them to realize that they aren’t competing just with the students they see on our campus.They’re competing with students all over the
There are many ways to build networks. Here are two types of answers:¢ Read trade magazines, relevant Web sites(e.g., www.cio.com), and other sources. Find an article on a topic of interest and
Get active. Join clubs. Meet with lots of students.Participate in campus life both in and beyond the business school. As we'll discuss in the Ethics Guide in Chapter 6, you add more connections to
Visit www.gettyimages.com, and select “Creative/Search royalty-free.” Search for an image of a city close to your campus. Select a photo and determine its default prices. LO.1
Explain how Getty Images’ business model takes advantage of the nearly free data communications and data storage opportunities described in Chapter 1. LO.1
Evaluate the photography market using Porter’s five forces. Do you think Getty Images’ marginal cost is sustainable? Are its prices sustainable? What is the key to its continued success? LO.1
Explain how Getty Images has used information systems to gain a competitive advantage. LO.1
Based on your answers to the previous questions, would you choose to buy Getty Images’ stock? LO.1
What does a manager need to know about computer hardware? LO.1
What’s the difference between a client and a server? LO.1
What does a manager need to know about software? LO.1
What buying decisions do you make? LO.1
What are viruses, Trojan horses, and worms? LO.1
Summarize Mark’s view of the computer industry. Is there merit to his argument? Why or why not? LO.1
What holes do you see in the logic of his argument? LO.1

Showing 400 - 500 of 1348