Week 1 Flashcards
Why are businesses using technology?
- Respond to fast-changing customer demand
- Reduce inventory
- Achieve higher levels of operational efficiency
What’s new in management information systems?
- IT innovations
- E-commerce expansion
- Management changes (can delegate work from a different place via WhatsApp ect)
- New business models (e.g: Netflix)
- Changes in firm and organization (employees taking on multiple tasks and collaborating)
IT innovation examples
- The emergence of cloud computing
- Big data and the Internet of Things (IoT)
- Mobile digital business platform
- Business Analytics
- Machine learning systems
- The use of social networks by managers to achieve business objectives
Globalization challenges
Reduced the economic and cultural advantages of developed countries
Globalization opportunities
- Firms producing on a global scale can find low-cost suppliers
- Reduced the costs of operating and transacting on a global scale
- Buyers have 24/7 access to quality information and prices
What is a digital firm?
A digital firm is one in which the organization’s relationships with suppliers, customers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated.
What is a business process?
Business processes are a set of logically related tasks and behaviors that organizations develop over time to produce specific business results and the unique manner in which these activities are organized and coordinated.
Examples of business processes
Developing a new product, hiring an employee, fulfilling orders, and creating a market plan.
Key corporate assets
- Intellectual property
- Financial assets
- Core competencies
- Human resources
What objectives depend on the kind and quality of info systems in an organization?
- increasing market share
- becoming a high-quality, low-cost producer
- increasing employee productivity
- developing new products
Why do business firms invest in information systems?
To achieve strategic objectives:
- operational exellence
- new products, services, and business models
- supplier and customer intimacy
- improved decision-making
- survival
- competitive advantage
Operational Exellence
Coupled with business practices and management behavior, information systems are the most important tool to achieve higher productivity, and in turn, profitability.
What is a business model?
It describes how a company produces, sells and delivers products to create profit.
Customer and supplier intimacy
Knowing customer needs and serving those well leads to repurchase.
The more a business engages its suppliers the better these suppliers can provide vital inputs at a low cost.
Improved decision-making
Using real-time data from the marketplace when making decisions leads to more informed decisions and better outcomes.
Competitive advantage
Doing things better than your competitors, charging less for superior products, and responding faster to customers and suppliers.
Survival
Information systems become a necessity driven by industry-level changes.
What is an information system?
Information systems can be defined as a set of interrelated components that collect, retrieve, process, store, and distribute information to support decision-making and control in an organization. They can also help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex subjects, and create new products.
Information
Refers to data that has been shaped in a form that is meaningful and useful.
Data
Streams of raw information from the organization or the physical environment that haven’t been arranged in a way that others can use or understand.
Three functions of an information system
- Input: captures raw data from within the organization or from its external environment
- Processing: converts this raw data into meaningful information
- Output: transfers the processed data to the people who will use it or the activities for which it will be used.
Feedback
Output that is returned to the members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.
Distinction between computer and computer program
- Computers and related software programs are the foundation of modern information systems.
- Computers are the equipment for processing and storing information.
- Computer programs or software are sets of operating instructions that direct and control computer processing.
What is information systems literacy?
A broader understanding of information systems encompasses an understanding of the management, organizational, and technical dimensions of systems.
What is computer literacy?
Knowledge of information technology.
Management Information System (MIS)
Focuses on IS literacy, and deals with behavioral and technical issues of IS.
Key elements of an organization
- Its people
- culture
- business processes
- structure
- politics
Firm hierarchy
- Upper levels: managerial, professional, technical employees
- Lower levels: operational personnel
Senior management
Long-term strategic decisions about products and services, ensure financial performance
Middle management
Carries out the plans and programs of senior management.
Knowledge workers
Engineers, scientists, and architects design the product and create new knowledge for the firm.
Data workers
Secretaries or clerks, assist with scheduling and communication.
Service workers
Produce and deliver the products
Business functions
- Sales and marketing: Selling the firm’s products
- Manufacturing and production: Producing and delivering products
- Finance and accounting: Managing the firm’s financial assets and keeping financial records
- Human resources: Attracting, developing, and maintaining the firm’s labor force.
Forms of information technology
- Computer hardware: physical equipment used for input, processing, and output.
- Computer software: detailed, programmed instructions that coordinate computer hardware in an information system.
- Data management technology: software governing the organization of data on physical storage media.
- Networking and telecommunication systems: both physical devices and software, link the various devices together and transfer data from one location to the other.
Largest network in the world
The most widely used and largest network is the internet, and has created a new technology platform on which to build new products and business models. The Internet can be used internally in a firm to link different systems and networks.