File: chapter1.rft, Chapter 1, The Information Systems Strategy Triangle

Multiple Choice

1. The Information Systems Strategy Triangle consists of three strategies.  Which strategy focuses on where the organization seeks to go and how it expects to get there?
	a) Business Process 
	b) Business Strategy 
	c) Organizational Strategy 
	d) Information Strategy 
	e) Technology Strategy

Ans: b  (Medium)
Response: See page 

2. The general manager’s role in IT decision making can be described as?
	a) Optional
	b) Important for certain IT tasks
	c) Occasionally needed
	d) Mandatory
	e) Not appropriate

Ans: d (Easy)
Response: See page 1-2

3. This is term is defined as the situation when a company’s current and emerging business strategy is enabled, supported and not constrained by technology.	
a. tuned
	b. alignment 
	c. adjustment
	d. misalignment
	e. technologically adjusted

Ans: b (Easy)
Response: See page 1-4

4. The ______________________ is a clear and compelling statement that unifies an organization's effort and describes what the firm is all about (i.e., its purpose).
	a. vision statement
	b. mission statement
	c. stakeholder statement
	d. stockholder statement
	e. organization objective

Ans: b (Medium)
Response: See page 1-5

5. The ________________________ is a plan articulating where a business seeks to go and how it expects to get there.
	a. vision statement
	b. mission statement
	c. stakeholder statement
	d. stockholder statement
	e. business strategy  

Ans: e  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-7

6. Organizations seek to gain competitive advantage by differentiation, cost, or _________.
	a. service
	b. focus  
	c. profit
	d. value
	e. speed

Ans: b (Easy)
Response: See page 1-8

7. This model, created by D’Aveni, describes the strategies companies can use to disrupt competition.
	a. New 7 Ss Framework  
	b. Hypercompetition Framework
	c. Strategic Framework System
	d. Standard System Strategy Model
	e. Multiple Competition Model

Ans: b (Easy)
Response: See page 1-13

8. A local hospital has created a cross-departmental team to rapidly respond to the growing health needs of the community, especially regarding emergency room services.  According to D’Avenis new 7Ss what approach are they following?
	a. Signaling strategic intent
	b. Positioning for surprise
	c. Positioning for speed
	d. Strategic soothsaying
	e. Signaling for surprise

Ans: c (Hard)
Response: See figure 1-14

9. Which company deployed a strategy to expose any weaknesses in their business (or department) that might be exploited by competitors?
	a. Raytheon
	b. General Dynamics
	c. General Electric  
	d. Boeing Aerospace
	e. Lockheed Martin

Ans: c (Easy)
Response: See page 1-15	

10. The general manager for a retail clothing outlet recently was cited as saying, “IT is the cornerstone of our company.  All of our decisions are based on the sophisticated systems that we have deployed throughout our organization.  IT drives our decisions”.   What position should the manager hold regarding IT and its influence on decision making?
	a. IT should drive business decisions
	b. Organizational goals should drive IT decisions
	c. Organizational strategy should drive IS decision making
	d. Business strategy should drive IS decision making
	e. All strategy should be driven by IT strategy

Ans: d (Hard)
Response: See page 1-16

11. The business diamond is useful for designing new organizations and diagnosing organizational troubles.  Which component of the business diamond would include payroll, accounting, and inventory?
	a. Business Processes
	b. Values and Beliefs
	c. Tasks and Structures
	d. Business Levers
	e. Management Systems

Ans: a (Medium)
Response: See page 1-17

12. This is the physical means by which information is exchanged among hardware components?
	a) Hardware
	b) Software
	c) Networking
	d) Personnel
	e) Data

Ans: c (Medium)
Response: See page 1-19

13. _____________ is the plan an organization uses in providing information services.
	a. Business strategy
	b. IS Strategy
	c. Organization strategy
	d. Data strategy
	e. System Strategy

Ans: b (Medium)
Response: See page 1-19

14. This is the plan that an organization uses in providing information services.
	a. IS Strategy
	b. Information Assurance Development
	c. System Services Plan
	d. Information Technology Plan
	e. Data Availability Service

Ans: a (Easy)
Response: See page 1-19

15. General managers should take an active role in decisions about information systems.  This is vital because of which one of the following reasons?
	a. IS cannot be trusted to make good decisions.
	b. IS staff has not been trained to make general business decisions.
	c. IS personnel do not have the companies best interests as their focus
	d. IS systems are designed to support business decisions.
	e. IS systems are normally incongruent with business goals.

Ans: d (Medium)
Response: See page 1-2

16. This framework is called the ____________________ because it relates business strategy with IS strategy and organizational strategy.	
a. Porter’s Generic Framework
	b. D’Aveni’s Hypercompetition Model
	c. Information Technology Matrix
	d. IS Strategy Model
	e. Information Systems Strategy Triangle

Ans: e (Easy)
Response: See page 1-3

17. In the Jet Blue case study, the IS Strategy Triangle was out of __________ at the time of the weather crisis (ice storm).
	a) control 
	b) alignment
	c) adjustment 
	d) scope
	e) specification

Ans: b  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-4

18. A company like Wal-Mart exercises this strategy to gain and hold competitive advantage?
	a) Differentiation
	b) Focus
	c) Cost leadership
	d) Broad focus
	e) Cost differentiation

Ans: c  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-8

19. A company that sold unique high-priced furniture would practice which one of Porter’s strategies?
	a) Differentiation
	b) Focus
	c) Cost leadership
	d) Broad focus
	e) Cost differentiation

Ans: a  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-9

20. ACME Foods of Canton, OH is a seller of foods to the fast food restaurant business.  Which one of Porter’s strategies would it use to seek competitive advantage?
 	a) Differentiation
	b) Focus
	c) Cost leadership
	d) Broad focus
	e) Cost differentiation

Ans: b  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-9

21. What does CRM stand for?
	a) Custom Resource Management
	b) Customer Resource Maintenance
	c) Computer Resource Management
	d) Custom Relationship Maintenance
	e) Customer Relationship Management

Ans: b  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-10

22. What type of company would be able to effectively utilize the unlimited resources model?
	a) Small retail shop
	b) Regional service shop
	c) Car dealership
	d) National retail chain
	e) Local pawn shop

Ans: d  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-12

23. The _______________ models suggest that the speed and aggressiveness of the moves and countermoves in any given market create an environment in which advantages are “rapidly created and eroded”.
	a) Generic Framework
	b) Focus Strategy
	c) Hypercompetition
	d) Direct Strategy
	e) Porter’s Generic Strategies

Ans: c  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-13

24. One of the assumptions that this model is based upon is “sustaining an advantage can be a deadly distraction”.
	a) Generic Framework
	b) Focus Strategy
	c) Hypercompetition
	d) Direct Strategy
	e) Porter’s Generic Strategies

Ans: c  (Medium)
Response: See page 1-13

25.According to the Hypercompetition Framework, the goal of advantage should be ___________, not sustainability.
	a) disruption
	b) competition
	c) distraction
	d) confusion
	e) instability

Ans: a (Medium)
Response: See page 1-13

26. When JetBlue installed Direct TV on its planes, it was employing which one of D’Avenis 7S’s?
	a) Signaling strategic intent
	b) Simultaneous and sequential strategic thrusts
	c) Positioning for speed
	d) Superior Stakeholder Satisfaction
	e) Signaling for surprise

Ans: c (Hard)
Response: See page 1-14

27. GE recognized that it could only sustain its competitive advantage for a limited time as competitors attempted to outmaneuver them.  What was the model that Welch applied to help solve this problem?
	a) Destroy Your Organization
	b) Grow Your Organization
	c) Destroy Your System
	d) Grow Your System
	e) Destroy Your Business

Ans: e (Medium)
Response: See page 1-15

28. Which one of the following is a misconception of the Halo Effect as identified by Rosenzweig? 
	a) Firm performance is driven entirely by internal factors.  
	b) All companies must leverage information technology.
	c) Most companies are driven by internal factors.
	d) Firm performance is partially driven by internal factors.
	e) All companies are part of the information technology landscape

Ans: a (Medium)
Response: See page 1-21

29. Organizational variables include decision rights, business processes, formal reporting relationships, and ____________.
	a) formal networks
	b) business networks
	c) informal reporting relationships
	d) informal networks
	e) formal reporting relationships

Ans: d (Medium)
Response: See page 1-18

30.  Which ONE of the following is NOT part of the information systems strategy matrix?
	a) Hardware
	b) Software
	c) Networking
	d) Personnel
	e) Data

Ans: d (Medium)
Response: See page 1-20

True/False

31. The Information Systems Strategy Triangle is primarily concerned with mapping IS strategy with organizational strategy.

Ans: False
Response: See page 1-3

32. Once a firm is out of alignment, it does not mean that it has to stay that way. 

Ans: True
Response: See page 1-4

33. Porter’s three strategies for obtaining competitive advantage include cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.

Ans: True
Response: See page 1-8

34. A company that makes its services available 24/7 would be practicing a differentiation strategy according to Porter.

Ans: True
Response: See page 1-9

35. The Halo Effect, is the basic human tendency to make specific inferences on the basis of a general impression.

Ans: True
Response: See page 1-21

Short Answer

36. The business diamond includes business processes, tasks and structures, management and management systems, and ___________________________.

Ans: values and beliefs
Response: See page 1-17

37. This is a well-articulated vision of where a business seeks to go and how it expects to get there.

Ans: Business strategy
Response: See page 1-7

38. According to Porter’s Generic Strategies Framework, a company that seeks to make its product unique in the marketplace is exercising this type of strategy.

Ans: Differentiation
Response: See page 1-9

39. This model holds that the timing of the use of specialized knowledge can create a differentiation advantage as long as the knowledge remains unique

Ans: Shareholder Value Model
Response: See page 1-12

40. The _______________________ utilizes a large base of resources that allow an organization to outlast competitors by practicing a differentiation strategy.

Ans: Unlimited resources model 
Response: See page 1-12

Essay

41. List the three parts of the Information Systems Strategy Triangle and explain how the three parts interrelate?

42. Explain the concept “Every advantage is eroded”.  Do you agree or disagree with this statement made by D’Aveni?

43. What is the purpose of the Hypercompetition Model?  How do firms seek to utilize this model effectively (provide an example).

44. List and explain Porter’s three generic strategies for gaining competitive advantage.  Provide an example of a company for each strategy.

45. Explain IS strategy and list the components found in the IS strategy matrix.