ITM100 CHAPTER 1 QUIZ

The Strategic Role of Information Systems in Business

• Information systems are crucial for businesses to achieve strategic objectives such as operational excellence, new products and services, customer and supplier intimacy, improved decision making, competitive advantage, and survival.
• Businesses use information systems to continuously improve operational efficiency and achieve higher profitability.
• Information systems enable customer intimacy by allowing businesses to track and analyze customer preferences, personalize marketing campaigns, and enhance the overall customer experience.
• Examples of companies using information systems for supplier intimacy include UK retailer Charles Tyrwhitt and US department store chain JCPenney, which utilize real-time data to streamline inventory and supply chain operations.
• Information systems and technologies enable managers to make informed decisions based on real-time data from the marketplace, leading to improved resource allocation and faster response times.
• Privi Organics Ltd. uses the Oracle Human Capital Management system to gain real-time insights into employee information and make faster human resource decisions.
• Achieving strategic business objectives through information systems often leads to a competitive advantage, allowing firms to outperform competitors and achieve higher sales and profits.
• Industry leaders such as Apple Inc., Walmart, and UPS are known for effectively using information systems to maintain a competitive edge.
• Information systems are developed within the context of organizational politics, which involves differing perspectives, conflicts, compromises, and agreements within an organization.
• Management's role is to make sense of organizational challenges, set strategies, allocate resources, and exercise responsible leadership, while also engaging in creative work driven by new knowledge and information.
• Managers are responsible for creating new products and services, as well as re-creating the organization from time to time, reflecting the hopes, dreams, and realities of real-world managers.
• Understanding the relationship between information systems and strategic business objectives is crucial for managers to add value to the organization.

The Role of Information Systems in Global Business Today

• Employment in information systems and service occupations has rapidly expanded in numbers, wages, productivity, and quality of work.
• Outsourcing has accelerated the development of new systems in the United States and worldwide by reducing costs.
• In 2019, job openings in information systems and technologies far exceeded the supply of applicants.
• The challenge for business students is to develop high-level skills through education and on-the-job experience that cannot be outsourced.
• The challenge for businesses is to avoid markets for goods and services that can be produced offshore much less expensively.
• The emergence of the Internet into a full-blown international communications system has drastically reduced the costs of operating and transacting on a global scale.
• Information systems enable globalization by reducing communication costs and allowing customers to shop in a worldwide marketplace.
• A digital firm is one in which nearly all significant business relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated.
• Core business processes in a digital firm are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations.
• In a digital firm, key corporate assets are managed through digital means, and information required to support key business decisions is available at any time and anywhere in the firm.
• Digital firms offer extraordinary opportunities for more-flexible global organization and management, with both time shifting and space shifting being the norm.
• Information systems are essential for conducting day-to-day business in most advanced countries and achieving strategic business objectives, with entire sectors of the economy relying heavily on information systems.

Test your knowledge about the strategic importance of information systems in business, their role in achieving operational excellence, customer intimacy, supplier relationships, and competitive advantage. Explore the impact of information systems on global business, employment, outsourcing, and the emergence of digital firms.