dealing with competitive forces

Question 1

4 generic strategies for dealing with competitive forces, enabled by using IT:

Answer 1

1. Low cost leadership (Walmart)
   - Produce products and services at a lower price than competition
2. Product differentiation (google, nike, apple)
   - Enable new products or services, greatly change customer convenience and mass experience (mass customization)
3. Focus on market niche (specialization) (Hilton hotels systems)
   - Use IS to enable a focused strategy on a single market niche, specialize
4. Strengthen customer and supplier intimacy (amazon, starbucks)
   - Use IS to develop strong ties and loyalty with customers and suppliers, increase switching costs

Question 2

Efficient customer response system

Answer 2

directly links customer behavior to distribution and supply chains

Question 3

Mass customization

Answer 3

the ability to offer individually tailored products or services using the same production resources as mass production

Question 4

Switching costs

Answer 4

the costs switching from one product to a competing product

Question 5

Porters value chain

Answer 5

The value that is created and captured by a company is the profit margin

Question 6

Margin

Answer 6

value created and cost of creating that value
- The more value the more profit.
- When you provide value to your customer = competitive advantage

Question 7

Competitive strategy

Answer 7

how to compete in the are the firm operates. Define how a firm creates a competitive advantage with respect to the competition.

Question 8

Value chain

Answer 8

a set of activities that an organization carries out to create value for its customers.  tool to make you understand sources of value for your company.

Question 9

Primary

Answer 9

1. Inbound logistics (storing and distributing)
2. Operations (change inputs into outputs that are sold to customers)
3. Outbound logistics (delivery of products to the customer)
4. Marketing and sales (persuade clients to purchase)
5. Service (activities related to maintain value)

Question 10

Support

Answer 10

1. Procurement (purchasing  what the organization does to get the resources needed)  finding best prices
2. HR (recruits, hire)
3. Technical development (managing and processing information & protecting companies knowledge base)
4. Infrastructure (support systems that allow it to maintain daily operations)

Question 11

Benchmarking

Answer 11

involves comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of your business processes against strict standards and then measuring performance against this standard.

Question 12

A value web

Answer 12

is a collection of independent firms that use information technology to coordinate their value chains to a product or service.

Question 13

Software outsourcing

Answer 13

enables a firm to contract custom software development

Question 14

Service level agreement (SLA)

Answer 14

contract between customer & service provider that defines responsibility + service expected.

Question 15

Total cost ownership (228)

Answer 15

actual cost of owning technology resources.  analyze direct + indirect costs

Question 16

TCO

Answer 16

purchase price + cost incurred during the useful life (direct costs) +( indirect costs)

Question 17

Ways to reduce TCO

Answer 17

1. Having a centralized hardware platform
2. Switch to cloud service

Question 18

Project risk

Answer 18

Level of project risk influenced by:
1. Project size = the larger the project, the greater the risk
2. Project structure = undefined goals can result in higher risk.
3. Experience technology = project team has to have technical expertise

Question 19

KPI’s (key performance indicators)

Answer 19

measure of performance over time for a specific objectives. Shaped by the industry. Goals.

Question 20

Knowledge management

Answer 20

the set of processes developed in an organization to create, gather, store, maintain and disseminate the firms knowledge.

Question 21

Tacit knowledge

Answer 21

knowledge residing in the minds of employees that has not been documented yet.

Question 22

Explicit knowledge

Answer 22

knowledge that has been documented

Question 23

Important dimensions of knowledge:

Answer 23

1. Knowledge is a firm asset (intangible)
2. Knowledge has different forms (knowing why, not only when)
3. Knowledge has a location (hard to move)
4. Knowledge is situational (know the procedure, related to context)

Question 24

Reasons why IT flattens organizations

 

Answer 24

1. By providing managers with information to supervise larger number of employees.
2. By giving lower-level employees more decision-making authority.
3. Managers receive much more timely and accurate info, they become faster at making decisions, thus requiring less managers.

Question 25

Type of decisions

Answer 25

1. Structured = are repetitive and routine, can be handled the same each time.
2. Unstructured = decisions without any routine, no procedure.
3. Semi-structured = have elements of both structure and unstructured