MIS 301 Exam 1 Study Guide
Questions With 100% Correct Answers
2026-2027 Updated.
IPO - Answer Initial public offering, a corporation's first offer to sell shares to the public
Internet of Things - Answer A vision where low-cost sensors, processors, and communication
are embedded into a wide array of products and our environment, allowing a vast network to
collect data, analyze input, and automatically coordinate collective action.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Answer Also known as Sarbox or SOX; U.S. legislation enacted in the
wake of the accounting scandals of the early 2000s. The act raises executive and board
responsibility and ties criminal penalties to certain accounting and financial violations. Although
often criticized, SOX is also seen as raising stakes for mismanagement and misdeeds related to a
firm's accounting practices.
sustainable competitive advantage - Answer Financial performance that consistently
outperforms industry averages.
Operational Effectiveness - Answer Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform
them
Commodity - Answer A basic good that can be interchanged with nearly identical offerings by
others—think milk, coal, orange juice, or to a lesser extent, Windows PCs and Android phones.
The more commoditized an offering, the greater the likelihood that competition will be based
on price.
Fast Follower Problem - Answer Exists when savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts, learn from
their successes and missteps, then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior
product at a lower cost before the first mover can dominate.
Augmented Reality - Answer A technology that superimposes content, such as images and
animation, on top of real-world images.
Strategic Positioning - Answer Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same tasks in a
different way.
Inventory Turnover - Answer Sometimes referred to as inventory turnover, stock turns, or
stock turnover. It is the number of times inventory is sold or used during a given period. A
higher figure means that a firm is selling products quickly
,Straddling Markets - Answer Attempts to occupy more than one position, while failing to
match the benefits of a more efficient, singularly focused rival.
Resource-Based view of Competitive Advantage - Answer The strategic thinking approach
suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it must control an
exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical characteristics. These resources
must be (1) valuable, (2) rare, (3) imperfectly imitable, and (4) nonsubstitutable.
dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) - Answer A technology that increases the
transmission capacity (and hence speed) of fiber-optic cable. Transmissions using fiber are
accomplished by transmitting light inside "glass" cables. In DWDM, the light inside fiber is split
into different wavelengths in a way similar to how a prism splits light into different colors.
Imitation-Resistant Value Chain - Answer A way of doing business that competitors struggle
to replicate and that frequently involves technology in a key enabling role.
Value Chain - Answer The set of activities through which a product or service is created and
delivered to customers.
Brand - Answer The symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or
service.
Viral Marketing - Answer Leveraging consumers to promote a product or service.
scale advantages - Answer advantages related to size
Economies of Scale - Answer When costs can be spread across increasing units of production
or in serving multiple customers. Businesses that have favorable economies of scale (like many
Internet firms) are sometimes referred to as being highly scalable.
Switching Costs - Answer The cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to
another. It can involve actual money spent (e.g., buying a new product) as well as investments in
time, any data loss, and so forth.
Network Effects - Answer Also known as Metcalfe's Law, or network externalities. When the
value of a product or service increases as its number of users expands.
Distribution Channels - Answer The path through which products or services get to
customers.
, API - Answer Application Programming Interfaces. Programming hooks, or guidelines,
published by firms that tell other programs how to get a service to perform a task such as send
or receive data. For example, Amazon provides APIs to let developers write their own
applications and websites that can send the firm orders.
Affiliates - Answer Third parties that promote a product or service, typically in exchange for a
cut of any sales.
Non-Practicing Entities - Answer Commonly known as patent trolls, these firms make money
by acquiring and asserting patents, rather than bringing products and services to market.
Going Private - Answer Buying up a publicly traded firm's shares. Usually done when a firm
has suffered financially and when a turnaround strategy will first yield losses that would further
erode share price. Firms (often called private equity, buyout, LBO, or leveraged buyout firms)
that take another company private hope to improve results so that the company can be sold to
another firm or they can reissue shares on public markets.
Porter's Five Forces - Answer Also known as Industry and Competitive Analysis. A framework
considering the interplay between (1) the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, (2) the
threat of new entrants, (3) the threat of substitute goods or services, (4) the bargaining power
of buyers, and (5) the bargaining power of suppliers.
price transparency - Answer The degree to which complete information is available.
Information Asymmetry - Answer A decision situation where one party has more or better
information than its counterparty.
Contract Manufacturing - Answer Outsourcing production to third-party firms. Firms that use
contract manufacturers don't own the plants or directly employ the workers who produce the
requested goods.
PDAs - Answer Personal digital assistants, an early name for handheld mobile computing
devices.
Point of Sale System - Answer Transaction processing systems that capture customer
purchases. Cash registers and store checkout systems are examples of point-of-sale systems.
These systems are critical for capturing sales data and are usually linked to inventory systems to
subtract out any sold items.
Vertical Integration - Answer When a single firm owns several layers in its value chain.
Questions With 100% Correct Answers
2026-2027 Updated.
IPO - Answer Initial public offering, a corporation's first offer to sell shares to the public
Internet of Things - Answer A vision where low-cost sensors, processors, and communication
are embedded into a wide array of products and our environment, allowing a vast network to
collect data, analyze input, and automatically coordinate collective action.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Answer Also known as Sarbox or SOX; U.S. legislation enacted in the
wake of the accounting scandals of the early 2000s. The act raises executive and board
responsibility and ties criminal penalties to certain accounting and financial violations. Although
often criticized, SOX is also seen as raising stakes for mismanagement and misdeeds related to a
firm's accounting practices.
sustainable competitive advantage - Answer Financial performance that consistently
outperforms industry averages.
Operational Effectiveness - Answer Performing the same tasks better than rivals perform
them
Commodity - Answer A basic good that can be interchanged with nearly identical offerings by
others—think milk, coal, orange juice, or to a lesser extent, Windows PCs and Android phones.
The more commoditized an offering, the greater the likelihood that competition will be based
on price.
Fast Follower Problem - Answer Exists when savvy rivals watch a pioneer's efforts, learn from
their successes and missteps, then enter the market quickly with a comparable or superior
product at a lower cost before the first mover can dominate.
Augmented Reality - Answer A technology that superimposes content, such as images and
animation, on top of real-world images.
Strategic Positioning - Answer Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same tasks in a
different way.
Inventory Turnover - Answer Sometimes referred to as inventory turnover, stock turns, or
stock turnover. It is the number of times inventory is sold or used during a given period. A
higher figure means that a firm is selling products quickly
,Straddling Markets - Answer Attempts to occupy more than one position, while failing to
match the benefits of a more efficient, singularly focused rival.
Resource-Based view of Competitive Advantage - Answer The strategic thinking approach
suggesting that if a firm is to maintain sustainable competitive advantage, it must control an
exploitable resource, or set of resources, that have four critical characteristics. These resources
must be (1) valuable, (2) rare, (3) imperfectly imitable, and (4) nonsubstitutable.
dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) - Answer A technology that increases the
transmission capacity (and hence speed) of fiber-optic cable. Transmissions using fiber are
accomplished by transmitting light inside "glass" cables. In DWDM, the light inside fiber is split
into different wavelengths in a way similar to how a prism splits light into different colors.
Imitation-Resistant Value Chain - Answer A way of doing business that competitors struggle
to replicate and that frequently involves technology in a key enabling role.
Value Chain - Answer The set of activities through which a product or service is created and
delivered to customers.
Brand - Answer The symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or
service.
Viral Marketing - Answer Leveraging consumers to promote a product or service.
scale advantages - Answer advantages related to size
Economies of Scale - Answer When costs can be spread across increasing units of production
or in serving multiple customers. Businesses that have favorable economies of scale (like many
Internet firms) are sometimes referred to as being highly scalable.
Switching Costs - Answer The cost a consumer incurs when moving from one product to
another. It can involve actual money spent (e.g., buying a new product) as well as investments in
time, any data loss, and so forth.
Network Effects - Answer Also known as Metcalfe's Law, or network externalities. When the
value of a product or service increases as its number of users expands.
Distribution Channels - Answer The path through which products or services get to
customers.
, API - Answer Application Programming Interfaces. Programming hooks, or guidelines,
published by firms that tell other programs how to get a service to perform a task such as send
or receive data. For example, Amazon provides APIs to let developers write their own
applications and websites that can send the firm orders.
Affiliates - Answer Third parties that promote a product or service, typically in exchange for a
cut of any sales.
Non-Practicing Entities - Answer Commonly known as patent trolls, these firms make money
by acquiring and asserting patents, rather than bringing products and services to market.
Going Private - Answer Buying up a publicly traded firm's shares. Usually done when a firm
has suffered financially and when a turnaround strategy will first yield losses that would further
erode share price. Firms (often called private equity, buyout, LBO, or leveraged buyout firms)
that take another company private hope to improve results so that the company can be sold to
another firm or they can reissue shares on public markets.
Porter's Five Forces - Answer Also known as Industry and Competitive Analysis. A framework
considering the interplay between (1) the intensity of rivalry among existing competitors, (2) the
threat of new entrants, (3) the threat of substitute goods or services, (4) the bargaining power
of buyers, and (5) the bargaining power of suppliers.
price transparency - Answer The degree to which complete information is available.
Information Asymmetry - Answer A decision situation where one party has more or better
information than its counterparty.
Contract Manufacturing - Answer Outsourcing production to third-party firms. Firms that use
contract manufacturers don't own the plants or directly employ the workers who produce the
requested goods.
PDAs - Answer Personal digital assistants, an early name for handheld mobile computing
devices.
Point of Sale System - Answer Transaction processing systems that capture customer
purchases. Cash registers and store checkout systems are examples of point-of-sale systems.
These systems are critical for capturing sales data and are usually linked to inventory systems to
subtract out any sold items.
Vertical Integration - Answer When a single firm owns several layers in its value chain.
