BMGT 301 FINAL EXAM QUESTIONS AND
DETAILED SOLUTIONS COMPLETE
PREPARATION GUIDE
●● Operational Effectiveness
Answer: Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform them.
●● Fast Follower Exists when:
Answer: 1. Savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts
2. Learn from their successes and missteps
3. Then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior product
at a lower cost 4. Before the first mover can dominate.
●● Strategic Positioning
Answer: Performing different tasks than rivals or the same tasks in a
different way.
●● Straddling
Answer: When a firm attempts to match the benefits of a success
position while maintaining its existing position.
●● Resource-based Theory of sustainable advantage:
,Answer: Valuable
Rare
Difficult to imitate
For which there are no substitutes.
●● Technology can play a key role in creating and reinforcing assets for
sustainable advantage.
Answer: 1. Imitation-Resistant Value Chains, Brand, Scale, Switching
Costs and Data, Differentiation, Network Effects, Distribution Channels,
Patents.
●● Management Information Systems (MIS)
Answer: Information Inputs: Summary transaction data; high-volume
data; simple models
Information Outputs: Summary and exception reports
Users: Middle managers
●● Decision Support Systems (DSS)
Answer: Information Inputs: Optimized for data analysis, analytic
models and data analysis tools.
Information Outputs: Interactive; simulations; analysis
Users: Professionals, staff managers
,●● Executive Support Systems (ESS)
Answer: Information Inputs: Aggregate data; external, internal
Information Outputs: Projections; responses to queries
Users: Senior managers
●● Describe how the Internet has changed competitive forces and
competitive advantage.
Answer: ---The Internet has nearly destroyed some industries and
severely threatened others. The Internet has also created entirely new
markets and formed the basis of thousands of new businesses.
---The Internet has enabled new products and services, new business
models, and new industries to rapidly develop.
---Because of the Internet, competitive rivalry has become much more
intense. Internet technology is based on universal standards that any
company can use, making it easy for rivals to compete on price alone
and for new competitors to enter the market.
---Because information is available to everyone, the Internet raises the
bargaining power of customers, who can quickly find the lowest-cost
provider on the Web.
●● Senior managers
Answer: need summary information that quickly informs them about the
overall performance of the firm, such as gross sales revenues, sales by
product group and region, and overall profitability.
, ●● Middle managers
Answer: ---need more specific information on the results of specific
functional areas and departments of the firm, such as sales contacts by
the sales force, production statistics for specific factories or product
lines, employment levels and costs, and sales revenues for each month or
even each day.
---Knowledge workers, such as engineers, scientists, or architects,
design products or services and create new knowledge for the firm. They
may need access to external scientific databases or internal databases
with organizational knowledge.
●● Operational managers
Answer: ---need transaction-level information, such as the number of
parts in inventory each day or the number of hours logged on Tuesday
by each employee.
---Production or service workers actually produce the product and
deliver the service. Production workers need access to information from
production machines. Service workers need access to customer records
so they can take orders and answer questions from customers.
●● Enterprise systems
Answer: integrate the key business processes of an organization into a
single central data repository.
●● Knowledge management systems
DETAILED SOLUTIONS COMPLETE
PREPARATION GUIDE
●● Operational Effectiveness
Answer: Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform them.
●● Fast Follower Exists when:
Answer: 1. Savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts
2. Learn from their successes and missteps
3. Then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior product
at a lower cost 4. Before the first mover can dominate.
●● Strategic Positioning
Answer: Performing different tasks than rivals or the same tasks in a
different way.
●● Straddling
Answer: When a firm attempts to match the benefits of a success
position while maintaining its existing position.
●● Resource-based Theory of sustainable advantage:
,Answer: Valuable
Rare
Difficult to imitate
For which there are no substitutes.
●● Technology can play a key role in creating and reinforcing assets for
sustainable advantage.
Answer: 1. Imitation-Resistant Value Chains, Brand, Scale, Switching
Costs and Data, Differentiation, Network Effects, Distribution Channels,
Patents.
●● Management Information Systems (MIS)
Answer: Information Inputs: Summary transaction data; high-volume
data; simple models
Information Outputs: Summary and exception reports
Users: Middle managers
●● Decision Support Systems (DSS)
Answer: Information Inputs: Optimized for data analysis, analytic
models and data analysis tools.
Information Outputs: Interactive; simulations; analysis
Users: Professionals, staff managers
,●● Executive Support Systems (ESS)
Answer: Information Inputs: Aggregate data; external, internal
Information Outputs: Projections; responses to queries
Users: Senior managers
●● Describe how the Internet has changed competitive forces and
competitive advantage.
Answer: ---The Internet has nearly destroyed some industries and
severely threatened others. The Internet has also created entirely new
markets and formed the basis of thousands of new businesses.
---The Internet has enabled new products and services, new business
models, and new industries to rapidly develop.
---Because of the Internet, competitive rivalry has become much more
intense. Internet technology is based on universal standards that any
company can use, making it easy for rivals to compete on price alone
and for new competitors to enter the market.
---Because information is available to everyone, the Internet raises the
bargaining power of customers, who can quickly find the lowest-cost
provider on the Web.
●● Senior managers
Answer: need summary information that quickly informs them about the
overall performance of the firm, such as gross sales revenues, sales by
product group and region, and overall profitability.
, ●● Middle managers
Answer: ---need more specific information on the results of specific
functional areas and departments of the firm, such as sales contacts by
the sales force, production statistics for specific factories or product
lines, employment levels and costs, and sales revenues for each month or
even each day.
---Knowledge workers, such as engineers, scientists, or architects,
design products or services and create new knowledge for the firm. They
may need access to external scientific databases or internal databases
with organizational knowledge.
●● Operational managers
Answer: ---need transaction-level information, such as the number of
parts in inventory each day or the number of hours logged on Tuesday
by each employee.
---Production or service workers actually produce the product and
deliver the service. Production workers need access to information from
production machines. Service workers need access to customer records
so they can take orders and answer questions from customers.
●● Enterprise systems
Answer: integrate the key business processes of an organization into a
single central data repository.
●● Knowledge management systems
