Scribd
Upload
75 views4 pages

Information Systems, Organizations, and Strategy: Chapter 3-Key Terms, Review Questions and Discussion Questions

This document defines key terms related to information systems, organizations, and strategy. It includes definitions for terms like agency theory, benchmarking, best practices, business ecosystem, competitive forces model, core competency, efficient customer response systems, mass customization, network economics, organization, primary activities, product differentiation, routines, strategic transitions, support activities, switching costs, transaction cost theory, value chain model, and virtual company. It also provides review questions about topics like how information systems affect organizations from economic and behavioral perspectives, Porter's competitive forces model, competitive strategies enabled by information systems, the value chain and value web models, and challenges of strategic information systems.

Uploaded by

Peter Benson
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
75 views4 pages

Information Systems, Organizations, and Strategy: Chapter 3-Key Terms, Review Questions and Discussion Questions

This document defines key terms related to information systems, organizations, and strategy. It includes definitions for terms like agency theory, benchmarking, best practices, business ecosystem, competitive forces model, core competency, efficient customer response systems, mass customization, network economics, organization, primary activities, product differentiation, routines, strategic transitions, support activities, switching costs, transaction cost theory, value chain model, and virtual company. It also provides review questions about topics like how information systems affect organizations from economic and behavioral perspectives, Porter's competitive forces model, competitive strategies enabled by information systems, the value chain and value web models, and challenges of strategic information systems.

Uploaded by

Peter Benson
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Chapter 3- Key terms, Review Questions

and discussion Questions

Information Systems,
Organizations, and Strategy
Agency theory — economic theory that views the firm as a nexus of contracts among self-
interested individuals who must be supervised and managed.

Benchmarking — setting strict standards for products, services, or activities and measuring
organizational performance against those standards.

Best practices — the most successful solutions or problem-solving methods that have been
developed by a specific organization or industry.

Business ecosystem — loosely coupled but interdependent networks of suppliers, distributors,


outsourcing firms, transportation service firms, and technology manufacturers.

Competitive forces model — model used to describe the interaction of external influences,
specifically threats and opportunities that affect an organization’s strategy and ability to
compete.

Core competency — activity at which a firm excels as a world-class leader.

Efficient customer response systems — system that directly links consumers behavior to
distribution, production, and supply chains.

Mass customization — the capacity to offer individually tailored products or services using mass
production resources.

Network economics — model of strategic systems at the industry level based on the concept of a
network where adding another participant entails zero marginal costs but can create much larger
marginal gains.

Organization — stable, formal social structure that takes resources from the environment and
processes them to product outputs.

75
Primary activities — activities most directly related to the production and distributing of a firm’s
products or services.

Product differentiation — competitive strategy for creating brand loyalty by developing new
and unique products and services that are not easily duplicated by competitors.

Routines — precise rules, procedures and practices that have been developed to cope with
expected situations.

Strategic transitions — a movement from one level of sociotechnical system to another. Often
required when adopting strategic systems that demand changes in the social and technical
elements of an organization.

Support activities — activities that make the delivery of a firm’s primary activities possible.
They consist of the organization’s infrastructure, human resources, technology, and procurement.

Switching costs — the expense a customer or company incurs in lost time and expenditure of
resources when changing from one supplier or system to a competing supplier or system.

Transaction cost theory — economic theory stating that firms grow larger because they can
conduct marketplace transactions internally more cheaply than they can with external firms in
the marketplace.

Value chain model — model that highlights the primary or support activities that add a margin
of value to a firm’s products or services where information systems can be best applied to
achieve a competitive advantage.

Value web — customer-driven network of independent firms that use information technology to
coordinate their value to collectively produce a product or service for a market.

Virtual company — an organization that uses networks to link people, assets, and ideas to create
and distribute products and services without being limited to traditional organizational
boundaries or physical locations.

76
Review Questions
1. What is an organization? Compare the technical definition of organization with the
behavioral definition.

2. Identify and describe the features of organizations that help explain differences in
organizations’ use of information systems.

3.Describe the major economic theories that help explain how information systems affect
organizations.

4. Describe the major behavioral theories that help explain how information systems
affect organizations.

5.Why is there considerable organizational resistance to the introduction of information


systems?

6. What is the impact of the Internet on organizations and the process of management?

7. What is Porter’s competitive forces model? How does it work? What does it explain
about competitive advantage?

8.What are four competitive strategies enabled by information systems that firms can
pursue? How can information systems support each of these competitive strategies?
Give examples.

9.What is the value chain model? How can it be used to identify opportunities for strategic
information systems?

10. What is the value web? How is it related to the value chain? How does it help identify
opportunities for strategic information systems?

11. How has the Internet changed competitive forces and competitive advantage?

12. How do information systems promote synergies and core competencies? How does this
enhance competitive advantage?

77
13. How can businesses benefit by using network economics?

14. What is a virtual company? What are the benefits of pursuing a virtual company
strategy?

15. Describe the management challenges posed by strategic information systems in


organizations and suggest some ways of dealing with them.

78

You might also like