BMGT 301 INFO SYSTEMS EXAM 1 VERIFIED STUDY
GUIDE
Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Answers - 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.
Internet of Things - Answers - 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.
IPO - Answers - Initial public stock offering, the first time a firm makes shares available
via a public stock exchange, also known as 'going public.'
strategic positioning - Answers - Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same
tasks in a different way.
straddling - Answers - Attempts to occupy more than one position, while failing to match
the benefits of a more efficient, singularly focused rival.
fast follower problem - Answers - 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.
commodity - Answers - 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.
sustainable competitive advantage - Answers - Financial performance that consistently
outperforms industry averages.
inventory turns - Answers - 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.
resource-based view of competitive advantage - Answers - 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.
augmented-reality - Answers - A technology that super-imposes content, such as
images and animation, on top of real-world images.
Operational effectiveness - Answers - Performing the same tasks better than rivals
perform them.
dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) - Answers - technology that puts data from
different sources together on an optical fiber, with each signal carried at the same time
on its own separate light wavelength..
scale advantages - Answers - Advantages related to size.
channel conflict - Answers - When firms see distribution partners as potential rivals.
value chain - Answers - The set of activities through which a product or service is
created and delivered to customers.
switching costs - Answers - 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.
economies of scale - Answers - 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.
brand - Answers - The symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a
product or service.
distribution channels - Answers - The path through which products or services get to
customers.
Non-Practicing Entities - Answers - Commonly known as patent trolls, these firms make
money by acquiring and asserting patents, rather than bringing products and services to
market.
private - Answers - As in "to go private" or "take a firm private." Buying up a publicly
traded firm's shares. Usually done when a firm has suffered financially and when a turn-
around 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.
GUIDE
Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Answers - 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.
Internet of Things - Answers - 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.
IPO - Answers - Initial public stock offering, the first time a firm makes shares available
via a public stock exchange, also known as 'going public.'
strategic positioning - Answers - Performing different tasks than rivals, or the same
tasks in a different way.
straddling - Answers - Attempts to occupy more than one position, while failing to match
the benefits of a more efficient, singularly focused rival.
fast follower problem - Answers - 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.
commodity - Answers - 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.
sustainable competitive advantage - Answers - Financial performance that consistently
outperforms industry averages.
inventory turns - Answers - 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.
resource-based view of competitive advantage - Answers - 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.
augmented-reality - Answers - A technology that super-imposes content, such as
images and animation, on top of real-world images.
Operational effectiveness - Answers - Performing the same tasks better than rivals
perform them.
dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) - Answers - technology that puts data from
different sources together on an optical fiber, with each signal carried at the same time
on its own separate light wavelength..
scale advantages - Answers - Advantages related to size.
channel conflict - Answers - When firms see distribution partners as potential rivals.
value chain - Answers - The set of activities through which a product or service is
created and delivered to customers.
switching costs - Answers - 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.
economies of scale - Answers - 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.
brand - Answers - The symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a
product or service.
distribution channels - Answers - The path through which products or services get to
customers.
Non-Practicing Entities - Answers - Commonly known as patent trolls, these firms make
money by acquiring and asserting patents, rather than bringing products and services to
market.
private - Answers - As in "to go private" or "take a firm private." Buying up a publicly
traded firm's shares. Usually done when a firm has suffered financially and when a turn-
around 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.
