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QUESTIONS on Page #54:
Respond to questions: PICK ANY 3 of them
MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS Pg#54
Cool College Start-Ups
Not long ago, people would call college kids who started businesses quaint. Now they call them the boss. For almost a decade, Inc. magazine has been watching college start-ups and posting a list of the nation’s top start-ups taking campuses by storm. Helped in part by low-cost technologies and an increased prevalence of entrepreneurship training at the university level, college students—and indeed those even younger—are making solid strides at founding companies. And they’re not just launching local pizza shops and fashion boutiques. They are starting up businesses that could scale into much bigger companies and may already cater to a national audience.
Research Inc. magazine at www.inc.com and find the year’s current Coolest College Start-up listing. Choose one of the startups and explain how the business can use BPR, CRM, SCM, and ERP to help it gain traction in the market. Be sure to explain how the company can gain a competitive advantage by using each enterprise system efficiently and effectively.
Managing Bad Customer Relationships
There is a common saying that the customer is always right. Clearly this can create many issues with customer relationship management as many times the customer is incorrect, but you can’t tell the customer they are wrong.
Research the Internet and find an example of a customer relationship gone wrong and determine if the customer was at fault for the problem. What can you do as a manager when a customer is angry but clearly wrong about a situation? What strategies can a manager use when dealing with angry customers?
Review Questions – pg#69 – PICK any 3 of them and respond to.
MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS pg#69
The Competitive Landscape for Students According to the Economic Policy Institute, over the past decade the United States has lost an estimated 2.4 million factory jobs to China. Factories in South Korea, Taiwan, and China are producing toys, toothpaste, running shoes, computers, appliances, and cars. For a long time, U.S. firms did not recognize these products as competition; they regarded Asia’s high-tech products as second-rate knockoffs and believed Asian countries maintained a factory culture—they could imitate but not innovate. In hindsight, it is obvious that once these countries did begin designing and creating high-end products, they would have obvious competitive advantages, with high-value research and development coupled with low-cost manufacturing of unbeatable goods and services. Asia is now on the rise in all industries from wind turbines to high-speed bullet trains. According to Bloomberg Businessweek ’s ranking of the most innovative companies, 15 of the top 50 are Asian, up from just 5 in the previous year. In fact, for the first time, the majority of the top 25 are based outside the United States. How do you, as a business student, view these statistics?
What type of global business climate will you be competing in when you graduate?
If you wanted to gather competitive intelligence about the job market, where would you look and what types of data would you want to analyze?
What can you do to create personal competitive advantages to differentiate yourself when searching for a job?
Review Questions – pg#79 – Pick any 3
MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS pg#79
(Complete ONE of the Options Below)
Option #1
The Internet of Things Is Wide Open—for Everyone!
IoT is transforming our world into a living information system as we control our intelligent lighting from our smartphone to a daily health check from our smart toilet. Of course, with all great technological advances come unexpected risks, and you must be prepared to encounter various security issues with IoT. Just imagine if your devices are hacked by someone who now can shut off your water, take control of your car, or unlock the doors of your home from thousands of miles away. page 80 We are just beginning to understand the security issues associated with IoT and M2M, and you can be sure that sensitive data leakage from your IoT device is something you will most likely encounter in your life.
Identify a few IoT devices you are using today. These can include fitness trackers that report to your iPhone, sports equipment that provides immediate feedback to an app, or even smart vacuum cleaners. If you are not using any IoT devices today, brainstorm a few you might purchase in the future. How could a criminal or hacker use your IoT to steal your sensitive data?
What potential problems or issues could you experience from these types of illegal data thefts?
What might be some of the signs that someone had accessed your IoT data illegally?
What could you do to protect the data in your device?
Option #2
Information Issues in the Information Age
We live in the information age, when the collection, storage, and use of data are hot topics. One example of inappropriate data handling occurred at a college where the monitoring of restrooms occurred every 15 seconds to observe the use of toilets, mirrors, and sinks. Students, faculty, and staff began complaining that the data collection was an invasion of their privacy and a violation of their rights. Another example of inappropriate data handling occurred when a professor of accounting at a college lost a flash drive containing information for more than 1,800 students, including Social Security numbers, grades, and names. Social Security numbers were included because the data went back to before 1993, when the college used Social Security numbers to identify students.
What types of student data does your college collect? What could happen if your professor lost a thumb drive with all your personal information? What types of issues could you encounter if someone stole your personal data? What can your college do to ensure this type of data storage violation does not occur?
