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CRITICAL BUSINESS THINKING
Instructor Note: There are few right or wrong answers in the business world.
There are really only ecient and inecient, and eective and ineective
business decisions. If there were always right answers businesses would never
fail. These questions were created to challenge your students to apply the
materials they have learned to real business situations. For this reason, the
authors cannot provide you with one version of a correct answer. When grading
your students’ answers, be sure to focus on their justi#cation or support for their
speci#c answers. A good way to grade these questions is to compare your
student’s answers against each other.
1. FOCUSING ON FRIEDMAN
Project Purpose: To understand the global business environment.
Potential Solution: There is a great overview of Friedman’s text at
http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/bookshelf/hot-)at-and-crowded.
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How it Can
Renew America
Thomas L. Friedman's no. 1 bestseller The World Is Flat has helped millions of
readers to see globalization in a new way. Now Friedman brings a fresh outlook
to the crises of destabilizing climate change and rising competition for energy
—both of which could poison our world if we do not act quickly and collectively.
His argument speaks to all of us who are concerned about the state of America
in the global future.
2. PURSUING PORTER
Project Purpose: To see the amount of online information about famous
business professionals.
Potential Solution: The following oer interviews and videos of Michael
Porter.
Business Driven Information Systems - Instructor’s Manual Chapter 1 Page 1 of 14
http://www.isc.hbs.edu/ Harvard Business School Institute for Strategy and
Competitiveness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYF2_FBCvXw The Five Competitive Forces
that Shape Strategy Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5I_cnpP99U Michael Porter on
Competitiveness Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibrxIP0H84M Michael Porter on Strategy
Video
The types of professionals your students might list include:
3. RENTING MOVIES
Project Purpose: To apply Porter’s Five Forces model to the Video Rental
industry
Potential Solution: The following oers one potential solution:
Buyer power is high as customers have many choices to rent movies
4. WORKING FOR THE BEST
Project Purpose: To understand the value of data.
Potential Solution: The 2010 list of top 100 companies to work for can be
found at the following link.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/ Data items
could include:
Perks
upon graduation. Potential questions students can answer by analyzing this
list include:
Which industry has the greatest number of Fortune 100 top companies to
work for?
5. MANIPULATING DATA TO FIND YOUR VERSION OF THE TRUTH
Project Purpose: To demonstrate the value of MIS
Potential Solution: This is a great project to help your students understand
the problems associated with interpreting data. Many students will be
6. STARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Project Purpose: To demonstrate the value of MIS
Potential Solution: Students who are unfamiliar with MIS might not realize its
power. Many startups today focus on technology or use technology to create
7. INFORMATION ISSUES IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Project Purpose: Understanding data, information, business intelligence,
knowledge
Potential Solution:
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8. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Project Purpose: To explain the value of data among markets
Potential Solution: Students need to be focusing on the many dierent
business bene#ts derived from IT, which were presented in the chapter.
9. THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE FOR STUDENTS
Project Purpose: Understanding how to evaluate markets
Potential Solution: Students should be looking at dierent market sources for
10. 10 BEST THINGS YOU WILL SAY TO YOUR GRANDCHILDREN
Project Purpose: Demonstrate how quickly MIS changes and the value of
keeping current
Potential Solution: Your students may #nd dierent answer then the
following depending on their familiarity with technology.
1. Refers to using Twitter
2. Refers to global warming and the loss of snow
APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE BUSINESS PROJECTS
Instructor Note: There are few right or wrong answers in the business world.
There are really only ecient and inecient, and eective and ineective
business decisions. If there were always right answers businesses would never
fail. These questions were created to challenge your students to apply the
materials they have learned to real business situations. For this reason, the
authors cannot provide you with one version of a correct answer. When grading
your students’ answers, be sure to focus on their justi#cation or support for their
speci#c answers. A good way to grade these questions is to compare your
student’s answers against each other.
AYK 1: CAPITALIZING ON YOUR CAREER
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Managers need to be involved in information technology – any computer-based
tool that people use to work with information and support the information and
information-processing needs of an organization. This project discusses the
importance of getting general business mangers involved in information
technology.
Student answers to this project will vary depending on their area of expertise. This
project is aimed at getting your students excited about information technology,
even though they are not IT majors. By researching the IT implications for their
majors, they will begin to realize how important IT will be in their future. The most
important part of your students’ answers will be the justi#cation for their analysis.
If your students are still determining their potential majors and areas of expertise
you can break your students into groups and assign each group a dierent major
or industry to research. Have your students present their #ndings to the entire
class. This helps provide an overview of all areas and related IT in)uences.
Potential majors:
Accounting – Oracle #nancials, payroll systems, QuickBooks
Potential industries:
Telecommunications
AYK 2: ACHIEVING ALIGNMENT
Most companies would like to be in the market-leading position of JetBlue,
Harrah's, Dell, or Wal-Mart. Information technology has helped them secure their
respective spots in the marketplace. These companies have a relentless goal of
keeping the cost of technology down by combining the best of IT and business
leadership. Companies that master the art of #nely tuned, cost-eective IT
management will have a major advantage in business. Their success will force
their competitors to also master the art or fail miserably. The future belongs to
those who are perceptive enough to grasp the signi#cance of IT and
Business Driven Information Systems - Instructor’s Manual Chapter 1 Page 5 of 14
resourceful enough to synchronize business management and information
management.
A. How do companies prioritize the demands of various business units as
they relate to IT?
1. Aligning IT and Business Objectives - IT organizations have been using
2. Asset Rationalization - Solutions that enable IT executives to plan asset
3. Risk Reduction - Solutions that enable information technology executives
B. What are some of the greatest IT challenges for the coming year?
Answers will certainly vary here; however, most students should be able to
identify many of the following:
1. Security – This is a very broad topic area, yet it is the most important in
terms of IT challenges. Represented in this area are security issues, such as:
2. More Mobile Service With Less Bandwidth – This topic area has roots
embedded in the security issues listed above. However, there is a challenge
Business Driven Information Systems - Instructor’s Manual Chapter 1 Page 6 of 14
3. Business Intelligence – Business Intelligence systems will grow from
being a “cool” IT “buzzword” to a valuable function that will drive business.
C. What drives IT decisions?
Responses will vary here; however, some students may wish to answer this
from a historical perspective. Some typical answers should include:
1. Companies buy computers and invest in information technology because
2. Companies have been able to measure IT expenses — from acquisitions to
3. IT investments are increasingly linked to a company's business goals. To
4. Solutions are mapped to support business objectives. The costs and bene#ts
D. Who or what is the moving force behind IT decisions?
1. Traditionally, the chief information ocer (CIO) and the IT department have
2. Many companies are subjecting the business cases for IT decisions to the
3. The IT industry has been under pressure to keep up with the newest
E. What types of e?ciency metrics and e@ectiveness metrics might
these companies use to measure the impact of IT?
Typical responses should include:
F. How are Anancial metrics used to monitor and measure IT
investments? What are some of the issues with using Anancial
metrics to evaluate IT?
Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Return on
Business Driven Information Systems - Instructor’s Manual Chapter 1 Page 8 of 14
G. What are some of the issues with using Anancial metrics to evaluate
IT?
Using #nancial metrics to evaluate IT does not always work. What is the
#nancial value of a #re extinguisher? The extinguisher cost $30, but if it puts
AYK 3: MARKET DISSECTION
Organizations must formulate a strategy for entering new markets. An
organization can follow Porter’s three generic strategies when entering a new
market: (1) broad cost leadership, (2) broad dierentiation, or (3) a focused
strategy. Broad strategies reach a large market segment, while focused strategies
target a niche market. A focused strategy concentrates on either cost leadership
or dierentiation. Trying to be all things to all people, however, is a recipe for
disaster, since it is dicult to project a consistent image to the entire
marketplace. Porter suggests that an organization is wise to adopt only one of the
three generic strategies.
AYK 4: FIXING THE POST OFFICE
This is an excellent project for helping students understand the competitive
environment in package delivery and how technology is changing the world.
Student answers to this question will vary, again the important part is to look at
the justi#cation for their answers. Below are a few examples you can share with
your students to get them heading in the right direction.
.
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Sample Analysis for Airline Industry
Sample Analysis for Milk
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Template
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AYK 5: THE IPAD
Analyzing the iPad using Porter’s value chain oers some great insight into how
#rms are recreating processes using iPads.
AYK 6: FLAT COMPETITION
Hopefully, everyone immediately recognizes the importance of this course as they
watched the Friedman video. As you begin to compete in a Flat World you need
all the technology skills and experience you can possibly #nd! I've never heard
anyone say - "My career was right on track until I learned about technology - I sure
wish I had never learned technology it ruined my career".
Amazon is a book selling company - not a technology company.
Net)ix is a video rental business - not a technology company.
eBay is a consumer trading business - not a technology company.
All of these businesses were started by BUSINESS people who understood the
value of technology so well that they fundamentally changed the primary business
processes of buying books, renting videos, and trading goods. Every BUSINESS
person should understand technology, without it they won't be able to spot the
competitive advantages that are just waiting for the next brilliant entrepreneur to
discover.
There are huge strides in third world countries. We now have Internet carts that
can drive around and provide remote villages in Neap and India and Africa with
computers and access. Some argue that the world between the haves and the
have-nots is widening because of technology - I personally believe it is closing.
With a computer I can literally get a PHD from an online school no matter where I
am located - a remote village in Antarctica.
Here is a question for your students. Is the world )at for everyone? When I view
Friedman and try to think of a job that isn't )at I actually tend to come up with
blue collar jobs. White collar jobs are easily outsourced - CPAs are doing our taxes
in China, Legal work is done is Africa, Architecture work is done in India,
Programming code is done is Ukraine, Doctors are reading our x-rays in India, etc.
But can a nurse, garbage man, house painter, contractor, waitress, librarian,
(service industry) jobs be outsourced? Don't get me wrong - I completely agree
that the best thing you can invest in is your education - but in a )at world I no
longer agree that it means your skill set won't be outsourced.
AYK 7: FINDING YOUR COLLEGE START-UP
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Once your students have a few great ideas ask them to apply the concepts used
in this chapter to create a strategy document including Porter’s #ve forces, SWAT
analysis, Porter’s three generic strategies, and Porter’s value chain analysis.
A #rm must identify the business processes required to create its products or
services. Of course, it will want to ensure the processes add value and create
competitive advantages. To identify these competitive advantages, Michael Porter
created value chain analysis, which views a #rm as a series of business processes
that each add value to the product or service. Value chain analysis is a useful tool
for determining how to create the greatest possible value for customers. The goal
of value chain analysis is to identify processes in which the #rm can add value for
the customer and create a competitive advantage for itself, with a cost advantage
or product dierentiation.
The value chain groups a #rm’s activities into two categories, primary value
activities, and support value activities. Primary value activities, shown at the
bottom of the value chain, acquire raw materials and manufacture, deliver,
market, sell, and provide after-sales services. As a group, discuss the following in
relation to Starbucks:
Inbound logistics: acquires raw materials and resources and distributes to
manufacturing as required.
Operations: transforms raw materials or inputs into goods and services.
Outbound logistics: distributes goods and services to customers.
Marketing and sales: promotes, prices, and sells products to customers.
Service: Provides customer support after the sale of goods and services.
Support value activities, along the top of the value chain, include #rm
infrastructure, human resource management, technology development, and
procurement. Not surprisingly, these support the primary value activities. As a
group, discuss the following in relation to Starbucks:
Firm infrastructure: includes the company format or departmental structures,
environment, and systems.
Human resource management: provides employee training, hiring, and
compensation.
Technology development: applies MIS to processes to add value.
Procurement: purchases inputs such as raw materials, resources, equipment,
and supplies.
AYK 8: WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS BATHROOM
Any company whose primary executives are not aligned with business goals and
strategies runs the risk of losing investors and credibility. Hiring the right people
and ensuring they act ethically is a key strategy for any business competing in the
information age. With the power of the Internet any bad decision can be made
public instantly. For this reason, ensuring your employees act ethically in all
manners is far more important today than ever before.
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AYK 9: I LOVE TED!
There are so many amazing videos on Ted that your students will #nd a wealth of
information on all sorts of interesting topics. Gaining knowledge and information
on new technologies, new business strategies, dierent perspectives, global
views, etc. is a great way to analyze any market for competitive advantages.
Business Driven Information Systems - Instructor’s Manual Chapter 1 Page 14 of 14
