Midterm Study Questions

What is the intra-business E-commerce objective?






To reduce the operating costs through efficiency.












The centralized approach to content management differs from
the decentralized approach in that
a. the centralized approach requires content experts to submit updates through
a technical expert who generates the HTML whereas the decentralized approach
shifts the responsibility for generating the HTML to the content experts
b. the decentralized approach requires content experts to submit updates
through a technical expert who generates the HTML whereas the centralized
approach shifts the responsibility for generating the HTML to the content
experts
c. the centralized approach requires content to be generated within the company
where the decentralized approach uses outsourced content generators
d. the decentralized approach allows everyone to update the content whereas the
centralized approach only permits upper management to dictate the content

Answer: A.











True or False

Generally, thin client applications are appropriate only if the number of users
is limited and homogeneous.

False: Fat client applications fit this descriptions














Isolated sets of business processes, each with its own
unique application programs, hardware, and data that communicated with each
other by exchanging paper documents are called what?
a. Stove Pipes
b. Functional Groups
c. Isolated Applications
d. Islands of Automation
Answer: "d"




















Question:
What solution was used to allow trading partners, such as Wal-Mart and Procter
& Gamble to communicate orders? How does this solution work?

Answer:
Electronic data interchange (EDI)
Adopting a standards such as ANSI X.12 and EDIFACT help trading partners
communicate by defining a set of rules for exchanging information on business
documents.










Question:
Multiple Choice

Where do CGI (Common Gateway Interface) application programs or scripts run?

a. on the client through a web browser
b. on the client through temporary stored files
c. on the web server
d. where the user installs them
e. none of the above

Answer: c












question:

________ is the set of integrated internal processes that combine to transform
raw materials into finished products and services.

ans: value chain










Q: What is the key difference between first and second generation intranets?

A: First generation intranets display primarily static content and second
generation hold dynamic content.












Q: On a thin client application, the ____ does most of the
information processing work. In contrast, on a fat client application, the
______ does most of the information processing.



A: server / client





Multiple Choice:
In which model the application logic is partitioned among the clients and
multiple specialized servers?

1. Two tier
2. Three tier
3. N tier

Options:
a. 1
b. 2
c. 2 & 3
d. 3

Answer : c












What are the 3 types of web information system logic?

a. presentation, business, information/data
b. presentation, information/data, active server pages
c. business, information/data, client/server

answer is A












Software, music, digitized images, electronic games,
pornography can be revenue sources for the B2C e-commerce

a) selling services
b) doing customization
c) selling digital prodacts
d) selling physical prodacts

Answer : C













What e-commerce category is the
largest in terms of revenue?

a. Business to Business (B2B)
b. Intra-Business (B2E)
c. Business to Consumer (B2C)
d. Consumer to Consumer (C2C)

Answer: a. B2B is by far the largest category.


Question 2. True or False.

Two computers can communicate using different communication protocols.

False: two computers must use a compatible common protocol to communicate with
each other. The most widely used protocol is the TCP/IP protocol.












Question 3. Multiple Choice.

Which of the following items is used to protect your computer from unwanted
intruders?

a. A cookie.
b. A browser.
c. A firewall.
d. A server.

Answer: C. A firewall is a hardware/software device used to protect your
computer from the outside world.












Question 4. True or False.

E-Commerce will force the middle man to disappear.

False: E-commerce has generated the need for certain intermediaries such as
ISP's, Security Service Providers, Business Service Providers etc. that did not
exist before.










Question 5. True or False.

A well organized B2C web site is a source of a sustainable competitive
advantage.

False: This is not true as web sites are easy to copy. A source of sustainable
competitive advantage is more likely to be found in the way a company manages
it's supply and value chains through e-commerce






























For selling physical products on the Internet, what is the
key to profitability?

A. Hook
B. Cost Control
C. Brand Recognition
D. Customization

Answer: B. "Competition is intense, giving an online e-tailer very little
pricing flexibility, so the key to profitability is cost control." (p.
145)












Q. Which of the following B2C companies is the best example
of achieving its financial success through controlling its cost?
A) Yahoo
B) Amazon
C) E-Bay
D) Google
E) None of the above

Answer is C) E-Bay with over 20% margins and expected to grow in the future.
E-Bay's business does not require warehouses, distribution, sales personnel,
etc. since all physical transfer of purchases are handled by customers
themselves. The other companies on the list have not been as consistently
profitable and Google is still privately held












Q: When buying a product through an auction, you can
mitigate the risk of unshipped or damaged merchandise by using an _________
service.

A. An escrow service.












AsianAvenue.com, BlackVoices.com, iVillage.com,
SeniorNet.org are all examples of what?
a. Intermdiary Services websites
b. Physical Communities
c. B2C websites
d. Virtual Communities

Answer: "D" Virtual Communities
























Which of the following is the least attractive product to
sell online?

a) downloadable music
b) software
c) a PDA
d) electronic stock trading

Answer: c, the PDA, is least attractive because it is a physical product that
must be shipped. This increases costs to the seller. The others are services or
digital products may be downloaded.










Question:

Many start up e-ecommerce ventures are unsuccessful because they concentrated
too much on the _______ and didn't bother to actually consider if their product
or service was going to bring in enough customers to support the business.

Answer:

Hook or a means of attracting potential customers










The primary focus of most B2C applications is generating ____.
(A) Revenue
(B) Product
(C) Service
(D) Web Site

Answer: (A)












Q: Explain how Microsoft Office achieves customer
"lock-in".

A: Once users have relied on MS Office, the cost of switching is too high to
justify changing to a different office suite. Hence, they are relunctant to
change and become locked into Microsoft.































Q: Which is more significant for web based advertisers;
A - Impressions
B - Page Views
C - Click Thoughs
D - Hits

A: (C) Click thoughs, as they measure how many times the web surfer acutally
pays attention to an ad and goes to the advertisers web site as opposed to just
being exposed to it.












A high degree of _______ exists between Netscape and
Microsoft
that caused the decline of Netscape browser.

Ans: Interconnection












________________ is an established tool for finding
customers and building brand recognition and _______________ is the act of
modifying a product or service to fit an individual customer's requirements.

Answer: Advertisement / customization












Q: Why reduced time to market, reduced cycle time, and
first-mover status are considered important B2C e-commerce objectives?

A: Because the Web tends to shrink the time between the emergence of a
competitive advantage and an effective counter move.












Q: Considering that electronic distribution of digital
products is more efficient than physical distribution, why are most digital
products still marketed as physical media?

A: Because the Internet does not do a good job of protecting intellectual
property rights.

Question:
What are the most common revenue sources for B2C e-commerce companies?

Answer:
There are 5 most common revenue sources for B2C e-commerce companies:
1. Selling digital products.
2. Selling physical products.
3. Selling services.
4. Selling advertising.
5. Usage charges and subscription fees.












What are the two different types of funding a start-up can
have?

1. Angel investor is a wealthy individual to gives money for equity in the
company or stock options.

2. Venture Capitalist is an individual, partnership, or business that provides
money in exchange for equity or stock options.












Q: Name three ways that web-based advertising efficiency is
measured.

A: Ad click, hit, impression, page view, and visit are five possible answers. A
more complete list is on page 148 in the text.













Q: Name three types of
intelligent agent bots.

A: Search bots, stock bots, update bots, knowledge bots, and game bots are 5.
There is a more extensive list on page 116 of the textbook.










Q: With respect to IT innovation, which
of the following is not an innovation classification?

A. Product innovation
B. Delivery innovation
C. Market innovation
D. They are all valid categories with respect to IT innovation

A: B. Product and market innovation are the categories of IT innovation.



















Digital products are
particularly appealing for a company's bottomline because of
a. the freedom from the law of diminishing returns
b. the integration of the value chain
c. the increasing brand recognition
d. the changes they bring to the industry

Answer: a.










2. The differences between B2B and B2C exchanges include
I. size of customer set
II. transaction volume
III. form of payment
IV. level of customization on products/services

a. I and II
b. I, II, and III
c. II and III
d. All of the above

Answer: d.












TRUE or FALSE

Many enterprises comprise more than one business and need infrastructure
investments at a single level only.

Answer:

FALSE

Many enterprises comprise more than one business and need infrastructure
investments at multiple levels- corporate, individual business-unit,
enterprisewide and public infrastructure












Chapter 4:
Prices for products online very significantly allowing e-commerce companies to
focus on non-cost areas for competative advantage. (True/False)

Answer: False: shopping bots on the Internet effectively fix prices in the
marketplace forcing e-commerce companies to focus on cost in order to realize a
profit.










Sloan Article:
Strictly middle and low level management involvement provide the best strategy
for a business' IT Architecture because they understand their functional areas
and the business needs the best. (True/False)

Answer: False, senior-management involvement is necessary for any enterprise IT
architecture implementation because of the complexity of simultaneously
addressing issues created by business uncertainty and technological change.












Yes or no questions

1) In the e-commerce there is always the same number of intermediaries.

Answer: No










Article:

B2B involves small, focused customer set with large transaction volume per
customer, periodic consolidated payments and significant customazation of
products and services

Answer: Yes












What is the most significant part of of e-commerce:
a) B2B
b) B2E
c) B2C
d) C2C

Answer: a










2. in the e-mail address jgreen03@gsm.uci.edu what is the top-level domain

a) gsm
b) uci
c) edu

Answer: c



















3. What do you think cookies do

a) they are threat to privacy
b) the help the user not to repeat some input info
c) they personalise user's webpage
d) b and c
e) all of the above

Answer: e













Ch 4 Question

Much of Amazon.com's initial success can be attributed to which of the following:

a) low prices
b) brand recognition
c) fast web connections
d) customer service

Answer is b. While other qualities may or may not contribute to their success,
their brand recognition vaulted them above struggling competition.










Sloan Question

True or False. For larger companies, email is usually managed at the local
levels.

False. Email is usually managed at the enterprise-wide level because it is a
function used by the entire company, not just one or two divisions.













Why are there some enterprises choose
to standardize and consolidate business units’ applications into a
shared-services group or a common application run independently?

Answer: The aim is to reduce costs, increase reliability, enable
standardization and encourage the integrated operations of multiple business
units.










2. A program that uses artificial intelligence to perform a specific task,
usually in the background is called _________. It is also known as an
intelligent agent.

Answer: A bot. One example would be a shopping bot which does comparison
shopping by searching the Web and reporting back a list of sources for the
desired product in reverse price order.








It is particularly difficult to maintain the competition
advantage based on ________.
(A) Quality
(B) Efficiency
(C) Price
(D) Internal Cost Reduction
(E) Brand

Answer: (C)










Sloan:
What three major categories of the value net did the business initiatives
studied fall into?

Answer:
Supply-side focused
Demand-side focused
Internally focused












Chapter 4
Q: Explain the appealing characteristics of digital products versus physical
products.

A: Digital products, such as online subscription or service, have little or no
incremental cost of delivering the product to the customer. Once the fixed
costs are covered, the incremental revenues are virtually all profit.

MIT Article
Q: Explain why B2B and B2C initiatives require different IT infrastructures.

A: B2B typically has less users with larger transaction volume per user. B2C
typically involves larger number of individual customers with intermittent
transactions, or lower dollar values per transaction.












ch 4:
1)why does the establishment of online presence present a competitive
advantage?
customers exude a degree of trust to a brand name online store which reduces
his risk of disappointment. The customer "trusts" that he will be
getting what he purchased from a brand name store.



















2)A company's IT
infrastructure has to match its strategic goals. True or False?
True













Q: What type of application has
the potential to change a market or even create a new market?

a) software application
b) intelligent application
c) killer application
d) business application

A: C - killer application










Q: True or False: B2B initiatives are often associated with enterprises
breaking new ground - providing new products or entering new markets.

A: False - B2C initiatives are responsible for new products or entering new
markets.












Large companies with tend to build a successful IT
infrastructure by:

A. Investing in a few large one-time IT purchases
B. Gradually investing in smaller scale, modular IT purchases.

Answer: B - Think of these modules as services. It is much easier to buy a
"service" to accomplish a specific task than it is to re-tool your
business from the ground up.










True/False
The accelerating pace of innovation has made time to market a critical measure
of e-commerce success.

Answer - True. Faster innovation results in rapid obsolescence. The longer it
takes to bring a product to the market, the more opportunities are permanently
lost.












Q: True/False : The process of advancing E-Commerce
technologies will only lead to more disintermediation.

A: False, as some businesses and "middle men" are phased out with the
advances in technology new ones are created to service this new industry (or
reintermediation)








Q: True/False : B2B & B2C IT initiatives can use the same E-Commerce
platforms.

A: False, the focus of each of these initiatives requires different system
architectures and capabilities.












Security-and-risk services include:
a. Firewalls & policies for remote access
b. Encryption and use of passwords
c. Disaster planning and recovery
d. All of the above
e. a & b only

Answer: d. All of the above










2. A competitive advantage based on internal cost reduction is much easier to
maintain than one based on price. (True/False)

Answer: True. Because what happens inside the company is private and,
consequently, difficult for a competitor to identify and match.












Multiple Choice--

Business Plans are important when trying to find capital to start up your new
business. Important elements of a business plan include:
a) sales and marketing
b) human resources handbook
c) business description
d) a and c

Answer: D


Potential investors need to know about your company's
services and competitive advantage. Also, they would need to know your strategy
to book future sales and how you will market your services or products.










Name three of the ten clusters of IT-infrastructure services that is involved
with streamlining internal processes?

Answer: IT Architecture and Standards, Channel Management, Communications, Data
Management, Application Infrastructure, or IT Management









True or False? A well-known
brand name is still important to be successful in B2C e-commerce.

Answer: True, a well-known brand reduces risk for the customer.










What management decision must be made when deciding on what level of digital
security is required in an organization?

Answer: They must decide on the acceptable level of risk balanced against the
cost to achieve that level of protection.












True or False
There are many advantages to the consumer since the inception of e-commerce
such as power to demand lower prices, higher quality, and better service.





True, because of the ease of entry of competitors.












Yes or No

Do service concepts have advantages to IT Groups?

Yes, because as the infrastructure services stay the same the components within
the infrastructure changes












Short answer question:
What is the main benefit of purely digital products?

Answer:
The law of diminishing returns does not apply to digital products. Once a
digital product is created, it is theoretically capable of generating infinite
revenue at little cost.

Multiple choice question:
Based on the study, in the supply side initiatives, which of the following
clusters was the only one found to be critical enterprise-wide?

a) IT management
b) Communications
c) Data management
d) IT-architecture-and-standards

Answer d) IT management,
communications, and data management were all found to be business-unit
specific.













E-commerce increases competition
by: erasing geographical boundaries, empowering customers and suppliers,
commoditizing new products, etc. How do companies usually solve this problem?
a) By competing on price
b) By selling only through traditional channels
c) By lowering costs
d) By creating attractive websites

Answer: c). Cost reduction increases the product/service margins; therefore the
company will enjoy a higher profit than competition. Competition cannot easily
match it because all information about a company cost-structure is private and
therefore secret.










True or False? There is a significant correlation between a company’s strategic
agility and its IT infrastructure capability.

True. Knowing the desired agility, managers can identify the IT service
clusters that need to be above the average and thus create a distinctive
competence. Studies showed that companies with a more evolved IT
infrastructure, with services in each of the 10 clusters, also have the highest
level of strategic agility.












Question:
TRUE or FALSE

Both reduction of selling price of a product and reduction on manufacturing
cost can give a long term competitive advantage to a company.

Answer:
FALSE
Although the manufacturing cost reduction can give a long term competitive
advantage to a company the reduction of selling price will only give a short
term competitive advantage. Because other competitors will also reduce their
selling price to match with it.

• On which forms of e-commerce does Dell
  Computer Corporation rely in conducting its business?
  a) B2E
  b) B2C
  c) B2B
  d) None of the above
  e) All of the above
  
  Answer: e).
  

2. True of false. Cybersquatting, the practice of registering trademarks,
company names, slogans and celebrity names with the intent of later selling the
rights, is legal.

Answer: False. The 1999 Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act banned it.










3. What is a role of a cookie?
a) to sweeten the hard-disk;
b) to transmit viruses;
c) to identify repeat visitors;
d) to maintain state
Answer: c,d.













Why did the e-commerce boom, as
evidenced by soaring stock prices of Internet businesses such as Pets.com and
eToys, went bust in 2000?
a. Websites started by techies who lack business knowledge
b. Lack of good business model
c. Investors' and entrepreneurs' greed and ignorance
d. All of the above

Answer: d.










2. Why can't new connection infrastructure like DSL, Cable Modem, and fiber
optics solve the last mile problem?
a. Availability
b. Cost
c. Distance
d. All of the Above

Answer: d.

3. These are all uses of plug-ins except?
I. air fresheners
II. speed up data transmission
III. enhance browser capability
IV. to view different file types
a. I and II
b. III and IV
c. I
d. I and IV

Answer: a.












True/False. A company's value chain is a set of business
processes that allow multiple independent entities such as suppliers,
manufacturers, and retailers to function as one organization to deliver
products to consumers.

False. That is the definition of a supply chain.







2) True/False. Using a standard modem connection, data usually moves faster
just before it reaches its destination, as opposed to the beginning or middle
of the transmission.

False. The last mile problem slows down data as it reaches its destination.










3) In the IT context, a firewall _____

a) may prevent certain types of email attachments from passing
b) prevents the server from catching on fire
c) protects a company's web information from hackers and other threats
d) is a type of network cable
e) a and c












1)
The Internet:
a) is providing the infrastructure for electronic business because its
technology and technology standards can also be used to make information flow
seamlessly from one part of the organization to another.
b) provides a much lower cost and easier to use alternative for coordination
activities than proprietary networks.
c) reduces agency costs.
d) does all of the above.






Answer: “d”







Chapter 2
2) A device that forwards packets of data from one LAN or wide area network to
another best describes:
a) modem.
b) bridge
c) front end processor.
d) router.






Answer: “d”












Chapter 3
3) A system with universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving,
formatting, and displaying information in a networked environment best defines:
a) a web site.
b) a web location.
c) the World Wide Web.
d) an intranet.






Answer: “c”










1. What's the real potential of e-commerce?
(A) Making a profit
(B) Generating Revenue
(C) Improving efficiency
(D) Buying and selling on the internet and WWW

Answer: (C)










2. An IP address is made of ____ decimal numbers seperated by dots.

Answer: four










3. The shopping cart function in Amazon.com is made possible by the use of
______.

Answer: cookie





















Q:
What is one of the benefits of layering to a complex system?






A:
Layering is the construction of multiple applications on top of a common IT
infrastructure. One of the benefits is that layers are functionally
independent, which allows system developers to specialize in their application
and make improvements without affecting the other applications or the underlying
infrastructure.










Q: What is the purpose of the domain name system (DNS)?






A: The DNS converts domain names
to IP addresses.











Q: What is the most
valuable function of the proxy server?






A: It speeds up the page load process by caching pages, then
returning the cached copy the next time a client request the same page,
bypassing the process of getting the page from the Web.













1)MAKING A PAYMENT ONLINE IS AN
EXAMPLE OF PHYSICAL DATA OR LOGICAL DATA?






ANS:LOGICAL DATA










2)FOR A NODE ON THE INTERNET TO BE RECOGNIZED, IT'S IP ADDRESS NEEDS TO BE
REGISTERED ON A DNS SERVER. TRUE OR FALSE?







TRUE










3)NAME ONE PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE USED TO CREATE APPLETS?






JAVA












Chapter 1: Short Answer
Q: What are the three stages of the new technology adoption curve or S-curve?
and what stage do many experts believe e-commerce is entering?

A: Part I: 1) Readiness (initial readiness stage), 2) Intensification
(intensify acceptance of the new technology), and 3) Impact (technology becomes
mainstream)
Part II: Intensification








Chapter 2: Multiple Choice
Q: What is the 'last mile' in the last mile problem? The link between your...
a) computer and telephone
b) home and telephone provider's local office
c) office and server
d) home and internet service provider

A: b) home and telephone provider's local office; the problem is the speed
disparity between a local line and a long-distance line










Chapter 3: True or False
Q: Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is the standard TCP/IP application layer
protocol for requesting and transmitting Web pages between client browser and a
Web server.

A: True










Q: What value does e-commerce bring to traditional business transactions?

A: It reduces the cost of the transaction and improves the effecientcy.










Q: Why are "open standards" important?

A: They facilitate different platforms and systems in functioning together.










Q: What is the value of scripts and applets?

A: They allow for webpages to become more dynamic increasing their usefulness












Match each characteristic below as being associated with a
value chain or a supply chain.

a) Comprised of a set of internal processes of a single business
b) Includes multiple independent entities suppliers, manufacturers and
retailers
c) Facilitates the development and delivery of products
d) A company’s set of integrated processes that transform raw materials into
finished products

Answer
a) value chain
b) supply chain
c) supply chain
d) value chain

True or False
An application layer protocol, such as FTP or HTTP, is transparent to the end
user.

Answer
True. The application layer protocol does the linking of the application
routine to the lower-level protocols and is transparent to the end user. What
is visible to the user is an interface provided by an application routine.










Which of the following is a function of
a proxy server?
a) maintaining a log of tranactions
b) caching pages to reduce page load times
c) performing virus checks
d) forwarding transactions from a user to the appropriate server
e) all of the above

Answer
e












Question:
TRUE or FALSE
The real potential of e-commerce is to generate the revenue.

Answer: FALSE
The real potential of e-commerce is improved efficiency, not revenue
generation.












Question:
Match the following functions of the OSI model layers:

Layers
a. Network
b. Transport
c. Application
d. Data link

Main functionality
1. Error detection, notification and recovery
2. Establish, maintain and terminate end-to-end network links
3. End-to-end recovery and flow control
4. Support end-to-end application

Answer:
a – 2, b – 3, c – 4, d – 1
____________ is necessary to convert HTML contents to format acceptable by
database servers, but the reverse information conversion is done by
____________ software, that connects two otherwise separate applications.

Answer:

Translation / middleware












In an information system or e-commerce sense, a layer is a
program or set of programs that ___________ to the layer above it and
_____________ provided by the layer below it.

Answer: provides services / uses the services










2. A LAN might be connected to a WAN through a bridge. (True/False)

Answer: False. A LAN might be connected to a WAN through a gateway. A bridge is
a computer that links 2 or more similar networks. A gateway is a computer that
links dissimilar networks.










3. What are applets?

Answer: Applets are small programs executed from within another program. An
applet can change the contents of the active Web page without requesting a
complete new page.












True/False.
A first mover advantage is critical to the success of an e-commerce web site.



Answer – False. While being a first mover can result in a bigger payoff, its
also entails more risk. Many established second mover companies now reign
supreme over their former online competitors.










When you type in a URL such as http://www.yahoo.com, what type of system
converts the name into a physical IP address for internet communication?

Answer – A domain name system (DNS) server converts the URL to a physical
address.














True/False
The only way for a website to “remember” who you are throughout your session
(for example, storing items it a shopping cart) is to store a file on your
computer’s hard drive.

Answer – True. This file is a “cookie.”










Q: An example of the supply chain of commerce is which of the following:

A. A company turns blocks of wood into pencils.
B. A department supplies processed data to another department within a company.
C. A consumer purchases canned vegetables at the store.
D. None of the above

A: C is the answer. A and B are both variants on the idea of a value chain.










Q: What are three application layer protocols?
A: HTTP, FTP, Telnet, SMTP, SNMP, DNS, POP are some possible answers.







Q: Just after your customers have accepted your revolutionary new e-commerce
idea, which of the following is not expected to immediately happen?

A. Competitor catch-up moves
B. Commoditization
C. First-mover expansion
D. None of the above

A: B is the answer. A and C are expected to happen once customer acceptance has
been reached.










Which of the following statements about E-Commerce and E-Business is true?
A) E-Commerce involves buying and selling over the internet while E-Business
does not.
B) E-Commerce is B2C (business to consumer) while E-Business is B2B (business
to business).
C) E-Business is a broader term that encompasses E-Commerce (buying and
selling) as well as doing other forms of business over the internet.
D) None of the above.

Answer is C.







Domain names (ex. sbaserver1.sba.muohio.edu) are laid out in
the same order as their corresponding IP addresses (ex. 135.53.40.2). True or
False?

Answer is False. The domain name order is the reverse of the corresponding IP
address order.










An FTP (file transfer protocol) request made through a web browser is routed
through the world wide web. True or False?

Answer is False. An FTP request is routed directly through the Internet Layer
bypassing the world wide web.