MIS Exam 1

This is for the Flatworld MIS Exam or MIS-301 UT Austin

IPO

Initial public stock offering

Internet of Things (IoT)

Embedded sensors and processors in products for data collection

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Legislation raising executive responsibility and criminal penalties for accounting violations

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Consistently outperforming industry averages in financial performance

Operational Effectiveness

Performing tasks better than rivals

Commodity

Basic good with interchangeable offerings and price-based competition

Fast Follower Problem

Rivals quickly entering the market with comparable or superior products

Augmented-Reality

Technology superimposing content on real-world images

Strategic Positioning

Performing different tasks or same tasks differently than rivals

Inventory Turns

Number of times inventory is sold or used in a given period

Straddling

Attempting to occupy multiple positions without matching a more efficient rival

Resource-based view of competitive advantage

Firm must control valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable resources

Dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM)

Technology increasing transmission capacity of fiber-optic cable

Imitation-resistant value chain

Business model that competitors struggle to replicate

Value Chain

Activities for creating and delivering a product or service

Brand

Symbolic embodiment of product or service information

Viral Marketing

Leveraging consumers to promote a product or service

Scale Advantages

Advantages related to size

Economies of Scale

Costs spread across increasing units of production or customers

Switching Costs

Cost incurred when moving from one product to another

Network Effects

Value of a product or service increases with more users

Distribution Channels

Path through which products or services reach customers

Application Programing Interface (APIs)

Programming hooks that enable other programs to access a service

Affiliates

Third parties that promote a product or service for a cut of sales

Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs)

Firms that assert patents instead of bringing products to market

Primary Components

Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, support

Secondary Components

Firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology/research and development, procurement

Private

Buying up a publicly traded firm's shares

Porter's Five Forces

Framework for analyzing industry and competition

Price Transparency

Degree of available complete information on price

Information Asymmetry

One party having more or better information than the other

Contract Manufacturing

Outsourcing production to third-party firms

PDAs

Personal digital assistants

Point-of-sale system (POS)

Transaction processing systems for capturing customer purchases

Vertical Integration

Single firm owning multiple layers in its value chain

Greige

Goods customized based on designer/manager collaboration

RFID

Chip-based tags emitting unique identifying codes wirelessly

Logistics

Coordinating and enabling the flow of goods, people, and information

Omni-Channels

Integrated and complementary retail experiences across multiple channels

Information Systems (IS)

Integrated solution combining hardware, software, data, procedures, and people

Return on Investment (ROI)

Amount earned from an expenditure

Operations

Activities required to produce goods or services

Showrooming

Browsing at physical retailers, but purchasing from online rivals

Moore's Law

Chip performance doubling every eighteen months

Microprocessor

Part of the computer that executes instructions

Random-Access-Memory (RAM)

Fast, chip-based volatile storage in a computing device

Volatile Memory

Storage wiped clean when power is cut off

Nonvolatile Memory

Storage retaining data even when powered down

Flash Memory

Non-volatile, chip-based storage used in mobile devices

Solid State Electronics

Semiconductor-based devices without moving parts

Semiconductors

Substances enabling or inhibiting the flow of electricity in computer chips

Optical Fiber Line

High-speed networking cable used in telecommunications

Price Elasticity

Rate at which demand fluctuates with price change

Fabs

Semiconductor fabrication facilities

Silicon Wafers

Thin slices used to create semiconductor devices

Multicore microprocessors

Microprocessors with multiple calculating processor cores

Supercomputers

Among the fastest computers at the time of introduction

High Processing Computers (HPC)

Massively parallel computers delivering significantly more calculating power

Massively Parallel

Computers with many microprocessors working together

Grid computing

Several computers working together on a common problem

Cluster computing

Connecting server computers to collectively solve computing tasks

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Subscribing to third-party software delivered online

Cloud Computing

Replacing computing resources with services over the Internet

Server farms

Network of computer servers coordinating collective use

Latency

Delay in networking and data transfer speeds

E-Waste

Discarded, often obsolete technology

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Measurable values demonstrating progress toward a goal

Operating Income

Income generated through operations

Accounts payable

Money owed for products and services purchased on credit

Cash Conversion Cycle

Period between distributing cash and collecting funds

Liquidity Problems

Difficulty converting assets to cash

Deep Learning

Machine learning using multiple layers to identify patterns

Dynamic Pricing

Pricing that shifts based on changing demand

A/B Test

Randomized experiments comparing performance of two options

Cookie

Line of identifying text stored by a browser

Collaborative Filtering

Software monitoring customer trends to personalize experiences

Affiliate Marketing Program

Rewarding partners who bring in new business

Flash Sales

Offering limited quantity inventory at deep discounts

Fork

Starting with a copy of a project's source code and modifying it

IRL

In Real Life—interactions outside of pre-produced media

DMCA

Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Technology Stack

All technology products and services used for an IT solution

White Label

Product or service made by one company but sold by another

Digital Divide

Difference in access to technology between wealthy and poor communities

Channel Conflict

Firm's potential partners seeing it as a threat

Thin Devices

Devices with little computing power, relying on cloud computing

Hybrid Clouds

Combining on-premises infrastructure with public cloud services

Bursting

Shifting capacity to a cloud provider during high demand

Serverless

Creating systems without thinking about servers or specific software

Instance

Software-based copy of an object

Virtual Machine

Software-based representation of a physical computer

Data Warehouse

Set of databases for decision-making

SQL

Structured Query Language for creating and manipulating databases

noSQL

Non-tabular databases structured differently than relational tables

Network Effects

Value of a product or service increases with more users

Platforms

Products and services enabling development and integration of software

Staying power

Long-term viability of a product or service

Total Cost of Ownership

Economic measure of the full cost of owning a product

Complementary Benefits

Products or services adding value to a network

Daily Active Users

Number of unique visitors using a product or service