Information Systems in Global Business Today
ISYS104 Tutorial – week 2
Review Questions
1. How are information systems transforming business and what is their relationship to globalization?
Describe how information systems have changed the way businesses operate and their products and services.
Wireless communications, including computers, cell phones, and PDAs, are keeping managers, employees, customers, suppliers, and business partners connected in every way possible. E-mail, online conferencing, the Web, and the Internet, are providing new and diverse lines of communication for all businesses, large and small. Through increased communication channels and decreased costs of the communications, customers are demanding more of businesses in terms of service and product, at lower costs. E-commerce is changing the way businesses must attract and respond to customers.
Identify three major new information system trends.
Table 1-1, page 7, outlines new MIS changes and their impact on business. The table is organized by the three dimensions of information systems: technology, management, and organizations.
Describe the characteristics of a digital firm.
Significant business relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated.
Core business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations.
Key corporate assets – intellectual property, core competencies, and financial and human assets – are managed through digital means.
They sense and respond to their environments far more rapidly than traditional firms.
They offer extraordinary opportunities for more flexible global organization and management, practicing time-shifting and space-shifting.
Describe the challenges and opportunities of globalization in a “flattened” world.
Customers no longer need to rely on local businesses for products and services. They can shop 24/7 for virtually anything and have it delivered to
Review Questions
1. How are information systems transforming business and what is their relationship to globalization?
Describe how information systems have changed the way businesses operate and their products and services.
Wireless communications, including computers, cell phones, and PDAs, are keeping managers, employees, customers, suppliers, and business partners connected in every way possible. E-mail, online conferencing, the Web, and the Internet, are providing new and diverse lines of communication for all businesses, large and small. Through increased communication channels and decreased costs of the communications, customers are demanding more of businesses in terms of service and product, at lower costs. E-commerce is changing the way businesses must attract and respond to customers.
Identify three major new information system trends.
Table 1-1, page 7, outlines new MIS changes and their impact on business. The table is organized by the three dimensions of information systems: technology, management, and organizations.
Describe the characteristics of a digital firm.
Significant business relationships with customers, suppliers, and employees are digitally enabled and mediated.
Core business processes are accomplished through digital networks spanning the entire organization or linking multiple organizations.
Key corporate assets – intellectual property, core competencies, and financial and human assets – are managed through digital means.
They sense and respond to their environments far more rapidly than traditional firms.
They offer extraordinary opportunities for more flexible global organization and management, practicing time-shifting and space-shifting.
Describe the challenges and opportunities of globalization in a “flattened” world.
Customers no longer need to rely on local businesses for products and services. They can shop 24/7 for virtually anything and have it delivered to