Deck 15: Managing Information

Question 1

Moore's law accounts for the rapid increase in power and reduction in both size and price of computer equipment over the past 35 years.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

According to the resource-based view of information technology, sustainable competitive advantage occurs when information technology adds value, is different across firms, and is difficult to create or acquire.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The two activities necessary to properly secure data and data networks are the use of firewalls and antivirus software.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Pioneering differential refers to the strategic advantage that companies earn by being the first in an industry to use new information technology to substantially lower costs or to differentiate a product or service from competitors.

Question 5

The two basic methods of capturing information are continuous and periodic.

Question 6

Information has strategic importance for organizations because it can be used to obtain first-mover advantage and to sustain a competitive advantage once it has been created.

Question 7

Protecting information is the process of ensuring that data are reliably and consistently retrievable in a usable format for authorized users but no one else.

Question 8

Moore's law refers to the prediction that the cost of computing will drop by 50 percent every two years as computer-processing power doubles.

Question 9

The first company to gain first-mover advantage typically benefits from higher profits and larger market share.

Question 10

Unsupervised data mining is unethical.

Question 11

The first airline that used technology to allow passengers to buy their plane tickets and reserve their seats online had a first-mover advantage.

Question 12

Bar codes and document scanners are common methods of electronically capturing data.

Question 13

The term data mining refers to the process of discovering unknown patterns and relationships in large amounts of data.

Question 14

The primary difference between raw data and information is meaning to the user.

Question 15

The key to sustaining a competitive advantage is using information technology to continuously improve and support the core functions of a business.

Question 16

Association patterns are also called sequence patterns.

Question 17

In today's hypercompetitive business environments, capital (i.e., money)is still more important than information for business success.

Question 18

Data mining typically splits a data set in half, finds patterns in one half, and then tests the validity of those patterns by trying to find them again in the second half of the data set.

Question 19

Raw data contain useful information that communicate a clear and readily understandable message to the person for which the data were gathered.

Question 20

A data warehouse stores raw data that have been collected from a variety of sources for later use.

Question 21

Data mining often reveals data clusters where three or more database elements occur together.

Question 22

Virtual private networks (VPN)and secure sockets layer (SSL)encryption perform basically the same function.

Question 23

Intranets are private company networks that allow employees to easily access, share, and publish information using Internet software.

Question 24

The term ____ refers to facts and figures that are in an unusable form.

A)nonspecific information
B)processed data
C)raw data
D)perceived knowledge
E)relevant information

Question 25

The key to sustaining competitive advantage is ____.

A)faster computers with more memory
B)using information technology to continuously improve and support the core functions of a business
C)the Internet
D)the ability of the managers to delegate
E)how important the company's culture perceives conceptual skills

Question 26

Extranets are used to handle organizational transactions with suppliers and distributors.

Question 27

Which of the following is one of the critical issues companies need to address in order to sustain a competitive advantage through information technology?

A)Who will have access to the information technology?
B)Will the purchase of the information technology be viewed as an expense or as an investment?
C)Does the firm's use of the information technology violate any ethical standards?
D)Is the firm's use of information technology difficult for another company to create or buy?
E)What government regulations may influence the company's use of information technology?

Question 28

Electronic data interchange, or EDI, is the direct electronic transmission of purchase and ordering information from one company's computer system to another company's computer system.

Question 29

The first company to use new information technology to substantially lower costs or differentiate products or services often gains ____.

A)first-mover advantage
B)lower profits
C)less market adaptability
D)increased synergy
E)all of these

Question 30

According to ____, the cost of computing will drop by 50 percent as computer-processing power doubles every 18 months.

A)Moore's law
B)Gordon's law
C)the Peter principle
D)the rule of e-commerce
E)Gresham's Law

Question 31

Understanding that consumers wanted clean, convenient food when they were away from home was the information the first fast food restaurant founder used to ____.

A)acquire a source of perceived knowledge
B)create a tactical advantage
C)create a first-mover advantage
D)pioneer sales in the consumer food industry
E)sustain a competitive advantage

Question 32

A table showing the order frequencies as well as the average dollar value of the orders of different segments of a catalog retailer's market would be an example of ____.

A)an MIS
B)perceived knowledge
C)raw data
D)information
E)influential knowledge

Question 33

Electronic data interchange (EDI), extranets, and the Internet have proven to provide such a competitive advantage that managers are scrambling to find ways to use them in their own companies.

Question 34

Data and information are the same as knowledge.

Question 35

Pages listing all of the felony crimes perpetrated in a given city during the last decade would be an example of ____.

A)a resource allocation table
B)traditional knowledge
C)raw data
D)perceived knowledge
E)information

Question 36

Most expert systems work by using a collection of "if-then" rules to sort through information and recommend a course of action.

Question 37

It is important to understand that DSS programs should not replace managerial decision making.

Question 38

Three major types of information technology are used by executives, managers, and workers inside the company to access and share information. They are executive information systems, intranets, and corporate portals.

Question 39

Why is information strategically important for organizations?

A)Information can be used to obtain first-mover advantage.
B)Information is derived from perceived knowledge, which limits its availability.
C)Information cannot be used as a medium of exchange.
D)Information creates suboptimization opportunities.
E)All of these are examples of why information is strategically important for organizations.

Question 40

Data encryption transforms data into complex, scrambled digital codes that can only be unencrypted by authorized users who possess unique decryption keys.

Question 41

Text and pictures that have been digitized cannot be searched or edited like text and pictures found in word processing software. ____ can be used to convert digitized documents into ASCII code that can be edited by word processing software.

A)Electronic bar scanners
B)Optical numerical readers
C)Optical character recognition software
D)Radio frequency analog systems
E)Analog scanners

Question 42

The two major types of data mining are ____.

A)supervised and unsupervised
B)random and sequence
C)affinity and association
D)sequence and affinity
E)ASCII and digital

Question 43

Using ____ data mining, the user simply tells the data mining software to uncover whatever patterns and relationships it can find in a data set.

A)supervised
B)specific
C)comprehensive
D)heterogeneous
E)unsupervised

Question 44

Have you ever purchased a book or CD on Amazon.com and noticed that as soon as you put your selection in the shopping cart, you were offered a series of other items that people who made the same purchase as you did also bought? This would be an example of ____ data mining.

A)sequence
B)association
C)predictive
D)adjacency
E)extrapolative

Question 45

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)could use data it has collected from millions of suspected drug-related adverse event reports and other electronic medical information to identify a pattern of adverse drug events in a specific population. This data collected by the FDA would be held in a(n)____.

A)Internet database
B)competitive intelligence source
C)data warehouse
D)data extraction
E)information clearinghouse

Question 46

____ occur in data mining when two or more database elements occur together in a significant pattern, with one of the elements preceding the other.

A)Data clusters
B)Affinity patterns
C)Association patterns
D)Sequence patterns
E)Logic clusters

Question 47

By examining checkout data, supermarkets have learned that people who are buying beer typically also buy a bag of salty snacks. As a result of this finding from ____, supermarkets often place displays of beer near the chips and pretzel aisle.

A)optical scanning
B)electronic data interchange
C)bar coding
D)data mining
E)data warehousing

Question 48

Because they are inexpensive and easy to use, ____, which convert printed text and pictures into digital images, have become an increasingly popular method for capturing data electronically.

A)electronic data interchanges
B)electronic scanners
C)radio frequency information digitizers (RFIDs)
D)data digitalization
E)bar coding devices

Question 49

By examining checkout data, supermarkets have learned that people who are buying beer often also buy a bag of salty snacks. The use of data mining led to the discovery of a(n)____ pattern.

A)sequential
B)affinity
C)predictive
D)adjacency
E)extrapolative

Question 50

The manual capture of information is ____.

A)slow
B)expensive
C)labor-intensive
D)often inaccurate
E)all of these

Question 51

When Billy Ingram founded White Castle, much of the public thought that hamburgers were made from rotten beef and not fit for human consumption. Ingram ground fresh beef in front of customers to prove it was safe and was the first to successfully sell hamburgers to the middle class. Today Ingram is credited as the founder of the fast-food industry. Yet, today White Castle has 330 locations, and McDonald's has 25,000 stores. From this information, you know ____.

A)tactics are more influential than strategies
B)the competitive advantage White Castle achieved from being first was not sustainable
C)White Castle lost its pioneering differential
D)product diffusion rates were slow
E)none of these

Question 52

In the process of capturing information, ASCII text is generated by ____.

A)bar codes
B)electronic scanners
C)optical character recognition software
D)e-tools
E)data mining

Question 53

Using ____ data mining, the user usually begins by telling the data mining software to look and test for specific patterns and relationships in a data set.

A)supervised
B)specific
C)comprehensive
D)unsupervised
E)homogenous

Question 54

The three methods of tracing products through a distribution system are paper records, bar codes, and radio frequency identification tags. Which of the following statements about the tracing of products is true?

A)RFID tags need direct line-of-sight scanning.
B)Bar codes would be the easiest and most economical method to use.
C)Until technological improvements are made, paper records are the best way to trace recalled products.
D)RFID tags are most efficient because they can be read by a radio that has been tuned to a specific frequency.
E)Bar codes are the most efficient because they make use of optical character recognition.

Question 55

Unsupervised data mining is particularly good at identifying ____.

A)association or affinity patterns
B)sequence patterns
C)predictive patterns
D)data clusters
E)all of these

Question 56

According to the resource-based view of information technology, sustainable competitive advantage ____.

A)is difficult to create or acquire
B)can be created by using information technology to continuously improve and support the core functions of a business
C)differs across firms
D)occurs when information technology adds value
E)is accurately described by all of these

Question 57

The two basic methods of capturing information are ____.

A)systematic and unsystematic
B)planned and unplanned
C)continuous and intermittent
D)functional and hierarchical
E)manual and electronic

Question 58

Data mining is the ____.

A)automated, electronic capture of data
B)process of hypothesis testing in large databases
C)process of verifying known relationships in large amounts of data
D)process of discovering unknown patterns and relationships in large amounts of data
E)method used to identify and eliminate perishable data

Question 59

The data used in data mining typically come from ____ that store huge amounts of data that have been prepared for data mining analysis by being cleaned of errors and redundancy.

A)Internet databases
B)competitive intelligence sources
C)data warehouses
D)data extractions
E)information clearinghouses

Question 60

____ is the process of discovering unknown patterns and relationships in large amounts of data.

A)Information keystoning
B)Data mining
C)Data warehousing
D)Data outsourcing
E)Patterning

Question 61

A company developed a(n)____ to allow its more than 50 department heads and executive managers to use a Web browser to view sales results and distribution plans with a single click..

A)corporate portal
B)extranet
C)SSL network
D)virtual private network
E)electronic data interchange

Question 62

A system that requires employees to scan their thumbprints as they start work is called a(n)___________.

A)intangible cookies
B)biometrics
C)personal RFID tags
D)individual bar codes
E)optical scanners

Question 63

Although firewalls can protect personal computers and network services connected to the corporate network, people away from their offices who interact with their company networks via the Internet face a safety risk. Which of the following technologies has proven to be a viable solution to this problem?

A)safe software for logic (SSL)encryption
B)firewall reengineering
C)secure sockets layer (SSL)encryption
D)secure logistical LAN (SLL)encryption
E)virus protected networks (VPNs)

Question 64

A(n)____ uses internal and external sources of data to provide managers and executives the information they need to monitor and analyze organizational performance.

A)executive information system
B)managerial information service
C)expert system
D)decision support system
E)environmental information system

Question 65

Three kinds of information technology are used by executives, managers, and workers inside the company to access and share information. They are ____.

A)executive information systems, portals, and intranets
B)local area networks, extranets, and management information systems
C)intranets, local area networks, and portals
D)expert systems, decision support system, and virtual private networks
E)Internet-accesses, SSL encryption, and intranets

Question 66

Two critical steps are required to make sure that data can be accessed by authorized users and no one else. They are ____.

A)authentication and authorization
B)authorization and empowerment
C)delegation and empowerment
D)encryption and empowerment
E)authentication and encryption

Question 67

Unsupervised data mining can be used to recognize ____ patterns.

A)association, affinity, and sequence
B)association, extrapolative, and predictive
C)affinity, predictive, and adjacency
D)progressive, predictive, and accommodative
E)affinity, sequence, and predictive

Question 68

Although firewalls can protect personal computers and network services connected to the corporate network, people away from their offices who interact with their company networks via the Internet face a safety risk. Which of the following technologies has proven to be an inexpensive solution to this problem?

A)safe software for logic (SSL)encryption
B)virtual private networks
C)local area networks
D)firewall reassignment
E)reengineered applets

Question 69

To properly secure data and data networks, a manager should use all of the following EXCEPT ____.

A)roadblocks
B)firewalls
C)data encryption
D)antivirus software
E)virtual private networks

Question 70

____ allow managers and employees to use a Web browser to gain access to customized company information and to complete specialized transactions.

A)Corporate portals
B)Extranets
C)Expert systems
D)Virtual private networks
E)Electronic data interchanges

Question 71

Baseball management discovered that its sales increased by almost 100 percent in those seasons when it held an open house prior to the opening game and allowed people to see the box seats and examine the view of the stadium from those seats. In terms of data mining, the management discovered a(n)____ pattern.

A)affinity
B)sequence
C)association
D)adjacency
E)collaborative

Question 72

For the purposes of data mining, ____ patterns are just the opposite of association patterns.

A)divorce
B)adjacency
C)predictive
D)affinity
E)asymmetrical

Question 73

Which of the following statements about data mining is true?

A)Data mining is the specific process used to match buyers and sellers.
B)Data mining is too expensive for most companies to use at this time.
C)The two forms of data mining are centralized and decentralized.
D)Data mining typically uses data from a data warehouse.
E)All of these statements about data mining are true.

Question 74

Data clusters ____.

A)result from the use of internal data mining
B)are a statistical technique used for trend analysis
C)are used to create samples for statistical analyses
D)occur when three or more database elements occur together in a significant way
E)are accurately described by all of these

Question 75

____ are a hybrid of executive information systems and intranets.

A)Corporate portals
B)Extranets
C)Expert systems
D)Virtual private networks
E)Electronic data interchanges

Question 76

Which of the following statements about firewalls is true?

A)Firewalls are a way to protect data.
B)Firewalls can be in the form of hardware or software.
C)Firewalls prevent unauthorized use of data.
D)Firewalls sit between the computers in an internal organizational network and outside networks.
E)All of these statements about firewalls are true.

Question 77

Which of the following are included in intranets?

A)Instant messaging
B)Presence awareness
C)Simultaneous access to files for team members
D)Customizable email accounts
E)All of the above

Question 78

A(n)____ is a private company network that allows employees to easily access, share, and publish information using Internet software.

A)LAN portal
B)private company network (PCN)
C)intranet
D)electronic data sharing system
E)information network

Question 79

____ is the process of ensuring that data are reliably and consistently retrievable in a usable format for authorized users, but no one else.

A)Decryption
B)Roadblocking
C)Data insulation
D)Protecting information
E)Cookie manipulation

Question 80

The establishment of ____ is an information security procedure that encrypts Internet data at both ends of the transmission process.

A)cookie manipulators
B)virtual private networks
C)cookie managers
D)firewall
E)data insulators