MBA 703 STUDY GUIDE 2026 EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔API's (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.
✔✔Patents: - ✔✔grant protection for intellectual properties; applicable to innovations
deemed to be useful, novel, and nonobvious
-Patents provide firms a degree of protection from copy cats
-cut off paths to exploit an innovation
-considered to be unfairly stacked against start-ups
✔✔Porters competitive forces Model: - ✔✔New Market Entrants, Substitute Products,
Suppliers, Customers
✔✔Five Competitive forces shape fate of firm: - ✔✔1. Traditional competitors / rivals
2. New market entrants
3. Substitute products & services
4. Customers
5. Suppliers
✔✔Basic strategy - ✔✔Technology serves the business, NOT the other way around
✔✔Information System (IS) strategies for dealing w/ competitive forces: - ✔✔1. Basic
strategy
2. Align IT w/ Business objectives
✔✔What is something Zara does to make successful? - ✔✔Highly vertically integrated:
most of it's production processes in house
✔✔Why study Zara? - ✔✔While competitors falter, Zara is undergoing one of the fastest
global expansions the fashion world has ever seen
Chains profitability is among the highest in the industry
Fashion director for luxury goods maker LVMH calls Zara "the most innovative and
devastating retailer in the world"
✔✔Outsourcing production to third-party firms: Firms that use ______ ________ do not
own plants or directly employ the workers who produce the requested goods -
✔✔Contract manufacturers
, ✔✔What are some advantages to contract manufacturing? - ✔✔Lower costs &
Increased profits
✔✔What are some disadvantages to contract manufacturing? - ✔✔Sweatshop labor,
poor working conditions, and environmental abuse
*firms face legal action, brand damage, reduced sales, & decreased appeal among
prospective employees
✔✔What company was essential to create nonprofit organization Fair Factories
Clearing House - ✔✔Reebok
✔✔How does Zara use technology to gather data? - ✔✔iPads to gather customer input
& feedback
Point-of-sale-system (POS) - shows how garments rank by sales
*managers use information gathered from these systems to make decisions more
quickly and more accurately
✔✔Zara Logistics - ✔✔Coordinating & enabling the flow of goods, people, information
and other resources among locations.
*Zara concepts go from idea to stores in 15 days on average
Zara uses combination of vertical integration & technology-orchestrated coordination of
suppliers
✔✔Zaras Inventory - ✔✔Security tags are custom made to include RFID (Radio
frequency identification) tags wirelessly emit a unique identifying code for the individual
items
*B/c all items flow through 2 warehouses Zara affixes tags to all products before
sending them to stores
RFID allows for easier in store inventory and allows staff to know where products are in
a store.
✔✔Indirect see e-commerce as a critical part of the firm's OMNICHANNEL strategy,
which blends.. - ✔✔Online & off line sales in ways that best benefit the customer
*1/3 of online orders are scheduled for in-store pickup
*A review of fashion e-commerce apps rated Zara's offering as best-in-class
✔✔Technology does not = systems w/ Zara - ✔✔Zara excels by targeting technology
investments at the point in it's value chain where it will have the most significant impact
*Zara's IT expenditure is less than 1/4 the fashion industry average
✔✔What are some limitations of Zara? - ✔✔Operations vulnerabilities: by moving all
deliveries through 2 locations, the firm is vulnerable to disruptions in the region
*Operations: Organizational activities that are required to produce goods or services
*Rising transportation costs
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔API's (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.
✔✔Patents: - ✔✔grant protection for intellectual properties; applicable to innovations
deemed to be useful, novel, and nonobvious
-Patents provide firms a degree of protection from copy cats
-cut off paths to exploit an innovation
-considered to be unfairly stacked against start-ups
✔✔Porters competitive forces Model: - ✔✔New Market Entrants, Substitute Products,
Suppliers, Customers
✔✔Five Competitive forces shape fate of firm: - ✔✔1. Traditional competitors / rivals
2. New market entrants
3. Substitute products & services
4. Customers
5. Suppliers
✔✔Basic strategy - ✔✔Technology serves the business, NOT the other way around
✔✔Information System (IS) strategies for dealing w/ competitive forces: - ✔✔1. Basic
strategy
2. Align IT w/ Business objectives
✔✔What is something Zara does to make successful? - ✔✔Highly vertically integrated:
most of it's production processes in house
✔✔Why study Zara? - ✔✔While competitors falter, Zara is undergoing one of the fastest
global expansions the fashion world has ever seen
Chains profitability is among the highest in the industry
Fashion director for luxury goods maker LVMH calls Zara "the most innovative and
devastating retailer in the world"
✔✔Outsourcing production to third-party firms: Firms that use ______ ________ do not
own plants or directly employ the workers who produce the requested goods -
✔✔Contract manufacturers
, ✔✔What are some advantages to contract manufacturing? - ✔✔Lower costs &
Increased profits
✔✔What are some disadvantages to contract manufacturing? - ✔✔Sweatshop labor,
poor working conditions, and environmental abuse
*firms face legal action, brand damage, reduced sales, & decreased appeal among
prospective employees
✔✔What company was essential to create nonprofit organization Fair Factories
Clearing House - ✔✔Reebok
✔✔How does Zara use technology to gather data? - ✔✔iPads to gather customer input
& feedback
Point-of-sale-system (POS) - shows how garments rank by sales
*managers use information gathered from these systems to make decisions more
quickly and more accurately
✔✔Zara Logistics - ✔✔Coordinating & enabling the flow of goods, people, information
and other resources among locations.
*Zara concepts go from idea to stores in 15 days on average
Zara uses combination of vertical integration & technology-orchestrated coordination of
suppliers
✔✔Zaras Inventory - ✔✔Security tags are custom made to include RFID (Radio
frequency identification) tags wirelessly emit a unique identifying code for the individual
items
*B/c all items flow through 2 warehouses Zara affixes tags to all products before
sending them to stores
RFID allows for easier in store inventory and allows staff to know where products are in
a store.
✔✔Indirect see e-commerce as a critical part of the firm's OMNICHANNEL strategy,
which blends.. - ✔✔Online & off line sales in ways that best benefit the customer
*1/3 of online orders are scheduled for in-store pickup
*A review of fashion e-commerce apps rated Zara's offering as best-in-class
✔✔Technology does not = systems w/ Zara - ✔✔Zara excels by targeting technology
investments at the point in it's value chain where it will have the most significant impact
*Zara's IT expenditure is less than 1/4 the fashion industry average
✔✔What are some limitations of Zara? - ✔✔Operations vulnerabilities: by moving all
deliveries through 2 locations, the firm is vulnerable to disruptions in the region
*Operations: Organizational activities that are required to produce goods or services
*Rising transportation costs
