Ch. 2 Gaining Competitive Advantage Through IS

Question 1

Organisational decision-making levels

Answer 1

operational level
managerial level
executive level

Question 2

operational l

Answer 2

routine, day to day business processes and interaction with customers
here IS automates repetitive activities, processing transactions and improve efficiency

Question 3

managerial level

Answer 3

functional managers focus on monitoring and controlling operational level activities and provide information to higher levels of the organisation
deploy organisational resources to increase effectiveness and make semistructured decisions

Question 4

executive level

Answer 4

managers focus on long term strategic questions facing the organisation such as which products to produce, which countries to compete in and what organisation strategy to follow

Question 5

functional areas

Answer 5

accounting and finance
human resources
marketing
production and operations

Question 6

3 ways IS provide value

Answer 6

automation (doing things faster)
learning (doing things better)
strategy (doing things smarter)

Question 7

how to compete - resources & capabilities

Answer 7

make distinctive competencies such as innovation, agility, quality, that will help you pursue organisational strategy such as leadership or differentiation

Question 8

value creation

Answer 8

when an organisation can provide products at a lower cost with a superior benefit to the customer

Question 9

how to compete - using IS for a supportive strategy

Answer 9

use IS to automate or improve processes to support strategy

Question 10

how to compete - value chain

Answer 10

a progression of activities that a firm performs in order to deliver valuable product to the end customer

Question 11

how to compete - value chain analysis

Answer 11

the process of analysing an organisations activities to determine where value is added to products and what costs are incurred for doing so

Question 12

business model

Answer 12

a summary of a business’s strategic direction that outlines how the objectives will be achieved, specifies the value proposition and how more value will be created

Question 13

5 parts of a business model

Answer 13

what does a company do
how does it uniquely do it
in what way does it get paid
what are the key resources and activities needed
what are the costs involved

Question 14

revenue model

Answer 14

describes how the firm will earn revenue, generate profit and produce a superior return on invested capital

Question 15

sharing economy

Answer 15

an economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals either free or for a fee,
exchanging assets
ex. airbnb

Question 16

gig economy

Answer 16

a labor market that relies heavily on temporary and part time positions filled by independent contractors and freelancers rather than fell time permanent employees,
exchanging labor for money
ex. uber

Question 17

incremental innovation

Answer 17

enhancing or upgrading existing products/services/processes

Question 18

radical innovation (disruptive innovation)

Answer 18

new or different technology to access new customer segments and/or provide significantly greater benefits to existing customers

Question 19

types of innovation (10)

Answer 19

profit model
network
structure
process
product-performance
product-system
service
channel
brand
customer engagement

Question 20

IS innovation difficulties

Answer 20

using IS to innovate and gain competitive advantage is limiting
innovation is often fleeting
innovation is often risky
innovation choices are often difficult

Question 21

open innovation

Answer 21

big companies often try to find innovation by hiring external stakeholders

Question 22

lean startup method

Answer 22

a company first searches for a viable product and business model, only execute the business model once they have found a a fit between the product and market

Question 23

validated learning

Answer 23

repeatedly testing and validating your product ideas with the target audience, hone your product with maximum efficiency and minimum effort
reducing the possibility of committing to a dead end development

Question 24

minimum viable product (MVP)

Answer 24

a product containing just the features needed to demonstrate how your solution meets the problem
to give to customer to test whether it is worth continuing or not

Question 25

organisational requirements for innovation

Answer 25

process requirements: use lean startup methodology and change organisational processes and incentive systems
resource requirements: people to implement or develop innovative systems
risk tolerance requirements: member must have appropriate tolerance for risk and uncertainty, willingness to test products

Question 26

3 new ways on how to think of innovation

Answer 26

put technology ahead of strategy
think in terms of problems before designing solutions
innovation is continuous

Question 27

start up

Answer 27

technology based ventures with high potential for scalability and growth
often funded by entrepreneurs, developers with promising idea

Question 28

crowdfunding

Answer 28

securing of business financing from individuals in the marketplace to fund an initiative, typically a consumer based product
individuals who support it are called backers