1) If each branch of the organization designs, manages, and keeps its own information, the problems of data redundancy, program-data dependence, inflexibility, poor data security, and inability to share data among applications will become apparent, and worsen, with time.

2) Total cost of ownership designates the total cost of owning technology resources. Important cost components include hardware acquisition, software acquisition, installation, training, support, maintenance, infrastructure, downtime, and space and energy.

3) The formal organizational unit is the information systems department, which is responsible for maintaining the hardware, software, and networks of the firm's IT infrastructure. The department consists of specialists, such as programmers, systems analysts, and information systems managers. Each of these is responsible for specific areas of the department's functions. Many companies also employ a senior manager in the role of chief information officer, to oversee the use of information technology throughout the firm. The end users are the representatives of departments outside the information systems group for whom the applications are developed.

4) 1. Information rights and obligations-What rights do individuals and organizations have with respect to information pertaining to themselves?

2. Property rights-How can intellectual property rights be protected when it is so easy to copy digital materials?

3. Accountability and control-Who will be held accountable and liable for the harm done to individual and collective information and property rights?

4. System quality-What standards of data and system quality should we demand to protect individual rights and the safety of society?

5. Quality of life-What values should be preserved? What institutions must we protect? What cultural values can be harmed?

5) They all have formal structure, standard operating procedures, politics, and culture-albeit not necessarily the same ones.

6) Supply chain refers to a network of organizations and business processes for procuring materials, transforming raw materials into intermediate and finished products, and distributing the finished products to customers. A supply chain management system automates the flow of information between a firm and its suppliers in order to optimize the planning, sourcing, manufacturing, and deliver of products and services.

7) The textbook identifies operational, management, and strategic as the three main categories of information systems. The operational level systems support operational managers; the management level systems support middle managers, and the strategic level systems support senior managers. These main system categories provide support across all functional areas, including sales and marketing, manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, and human resources.

8) Simon identified four stages, including intelligence, design, choice, and implementation. Intelligence involves identifying the problem and gathering information about it. Traditional MIS systems deliver a wide variety of detailed information, especially if they report exceptions. Design determines possible solutions to the problem. Smaller DSS systems are helpful here because they operate on simple models, can be developed quickly, and can be operated with limited data. Choice consists of choosing among the alternative solutions. A larger DSS system can develop more extensive data on a variety of alternatives. Implementation, when the chosen decision is put into effect, requires a system that can report on results. Large MIS systems and PC-run project-planning software are useful here.

9) In the traditional business model, information about products and services was tightly linked to the physical value chain for those products and services. If a consumer wanted to find out about the features, price, and availability of an item, that person had to visit a retail store that sold the product. The cost of comparison shopping was high because people had to travel from store to store.

Once everyone is connected electronically, information about products and services flows on its own, directly and instantly to consumers. Customers can find out about products on their own on the Web and buy directly from product suppliers instead of using intermediaries such as retail stores. This unbundling of information about the product from the product itself has created vast changes in the way business works by decreasing information asymmetry and tends to knock out the middleman and all the expenses ascribed thereto.

Further, using the Internet means that businesses no longer must choose between richness and reach in their information about clients, consumers, customers, and their needs and desires. This decreases the costs of internal operations, and makes it easier for management to coordinate more jobs and tasks. The time and distance factors are drastically reduced, improving accuracy and timeliness of customer service.

There are several advantages specific to the Internet, notably the uses of dynamic prices, the rise of virtual communities, and the uses of portals.

10) 1. Computing power doubles every 18 months. Ethical impact: Because more organizations depend on computer systems for critical operations, these systems are vulnerable to computer crime and computer abuse.

2. Data storage costs are declining rapidly. Ethical Impact: It is easy to maintain detailed databases on individuals. Who has access to and control of these databases?

3. Data analysis advances. Ethical impact: Vast databases full of individual information may be used to develop detailed profiles of individual behavior.

4. Networking advances and the Internet. Ethical impact: It is easy to copy data from one location to another. Who owns data? How can ownership be protected?