Exam 1 Review
Exam 1 is a 100-point exam. The exam covers Chapters 1, 2, B2 and 3 from your textbook. There are
approximately 35 - 40 MC questions (2 points each, 75-80 points total) and 3 – 5 short answer questions
(20 - 25 points total). The short answer questions may come from outside readings or discussions in
class. See also the Current events section on the Course Web site.
Chapter 1 - Business Driven Technology
What is a system?
What is the relationship between functional areas is business? Interdependent (describe what this
means)
System Thinking – way of monitoring the entire system.
Thomas Friedman’s 10 Forces that flattened the world
Data, information and Business Intelligence – be able to identify each. For example, a product ID would
be data, but the best selling product by month would be information. Analyzing the industry selling
patterns from multiple sources to your monthly sales figures would represent BI.
What does IT enable?
IPO Model and identify each part. For example, consider an oven or home theater as a system, what
are: Inputs, processes, outputs and feedback
Chapter 2 - Identifying Competitive Advantages
How might a company duplicate a competitive advantage of a competitor? i.e. technology, copying
other (better) business processes, “stealing” employees from successful companies, improve business
operations/practices, etc.
What is a competitive advantage?
What is competitive intelligence?
What are switching costs?
Know and be able to explain and determine the forces in the Five Forces Model. What is one of the
primary reasons for using this type of analysis? - Evaluate the Attractiveness of an industry.
Be able to draw and explain each box in the Five Forces Model.
Why are competitive advantages usually temporary?
Be familiar with each of these businesses and know which of the Three Generic Strategies they most
likely focus on (Broad Market – Cost Leader, Broad Market - Differentiation, or Focused Strategy):
Walmart, Tiffany & Co., Neiman Marcus, The Sharper Image and Payless Shoes.
What is the definition of the Value Chain Analysis?
What is a business process?
Chapter 3 Strategic Initiatives for Implementing Competitive Advantages
Define Supply Chain Management
Define Supply Chain Partners
How are Walmart and Procter and Gamble linked in their Supply Chain?
What is CRM and what does it encompass? -- Technology and strategy at the enterprise level.
What is a business process?
What is business process reengineering?
What is ERP?
Chapter B2 - Business Process
What are customer facing and business facing processes? Additionally, be able to identify a process as
customer facing or business facing.
What is the continuous process improvement model?
Compare the Continuous process improvement model with business processing engineering. Describe
how they and different and describe an example of each.
What is business process modeling?
Define the managerial approach to reengineering projects in the proper order. Define the scope,
analyze, evaluate, plan approve and execute.
Current Events
See course website for unit I – Briefly reread and review the content.
Review the homework for Porter’s Five Forces Models. Be able to analyze each of the powers in the
model based upon a case scenario. We discussed several of these in class.