Chapter 2: Strategic Uses of Information Systems

Question 1

_______ is a framework, or approach, to obtaining an advantageous position.

Answer 1

Strategy

Question 2

_________ is a plan to help an organization outperform its competitors. Often done by creating new opportunities instead of beating rivals.

Answer 2

Business strategy

Question 3

_______ is an information system that helps seize opportunities.

Answer 3

Strategic information system (SIS)

Question 4

________ is achieved by a company by using strategy to maximizes its strength.

Answer 4

Strategic advantage

Question 5

________ is gained when an organization’s maximized strengths is used to beat its rivals.

Answer 5

Competitive advantage

Question 6

________ is the best way to lower prices, in order to gain market share.

Answer 6

Reduce costs

Question 7

_________ is another strategy whereby competitive advantage is gained by making it difficult, or impossible, for other organizations to produce the product or service it provides.

Answer 7

Raise barriers to entrants

Question 8

_______ are expenses incurred when a customer stops buying a product or service from one business and starts buying it from another.

Answer 8

Switching costs

Question 9

The ability to ______________ that many organizations and individuals need gives an organization a great competitive advantage.

Answer 9

create new products or services

Question 10

________ is an organization that is first to offer a new product or service.

Answer 10

First mover

Question 11

A _______ is a body of clients that is large enough to attract many other clients.

Answer 11

critical mass

Question 12

Product ________ is achieved by persuading customers that your product is better than competitors’. Usually done by advertising and customer experience.

Answer 12

differentiation

Question 13

__________ means to add to the product to increase its value for consumers.

Answer 13

Enhance existing products or services

Question 14

An ______ is two companies combining services. This makes product more attractive, reduces cost, and provides one-stop shopping.

Answer 14

alliance

Question 15

________ is an example of alliances on the web. It links to other companies and rewards the linker for click-throughs.

Answer 15

Affiliate program

Question 16

If organization are powerful enough to ______ suppliers to their mode of operation or buyers to their product, they can achieve competitive advantage. This is accomplished by achieving bargaining power.

Answer 16

lock in

Question 17

_______ is the leverage to influence buyers and suppliers.

Answer 17

Bargaining power

Question 18

Another way to lock in clients other than high switching costs is to _________. Software industry pursue this strategy vigorously.

Answer 18

create a standard

Question 19

_______ means to eliminate and rebuild operations from the ground up. It often involves IT, new machinery and elimination of management layers. The goal is to achieve huge efficiency improvements.

Answer 19

Reengineering

Question 20

A system can only help a company sustain competitive advantage if the company continuously modifies and enhances the system, creating a ______ for competitors.

Answer 20

moving target

Question 21

A _______ enters the market later than other competitors. It can be an advantage as firms are not burdened with legacy systems and can implement the latest available technologies.

Answer 21

late mover

Question 22

When failure occurs because an organization tries to be on the technological leading edge, observers call it the ________.

Answer 22

bleeding edge