Final Exam

This is a Take-Home Final Exam. It is due on December 6th at 7:00 pm. Late exams will lose

points. Answers should be typed, double-spaced and include the questions (Not the Minicase

Description). two pages each question
1. What are the challenges unique to inter-organizational systems? How would you address these

challenges? What are the advantages presented by such systems? Discuss your answer within the

framework of ‘supply chain management.’
2. Define the concept of a digital economy? What are the forces that have led to the existence

of such an economy? How do you see this progressing in the near and longer term future?
3. Discuss the role of client departments in an organization (in functional areas such as

Accounting, Marketing, Sales, Human Resources, Engineering, or Manufacturing) with respect to

Information Technology. Define and discuss at least three issues/challenges related to this

role in modern organizations. How would you address these issues/challenges?
4. Describe Decision Support Systems and Executive Information Systems. How do these systems

contribute to the decision making process in business organizations. Discuss how these may be

used in supply change management and customer relationship management.
5. Write a short essay to address the major issues in the following minicase and to recommend

how to proceed based upon your synthesis of the principles covered in this course.
Minicase Description. You are employed by a large, multinational firm engaged in light

manufacturing and fabrication of transportation products. Most of the products for this firm

are custom built in large lots based upon unique customer specifications. One of the key

employee roles in the selling and manufacturing process is that of the ‘buyer.’ Buyers track

markets for raw materials and subassemblies for each customer’s order in order to determine a

price to be quoted for that customer. Once a price is agreed, the buyer purchases the needed

materials and coordinates the manufacturing necessary to fulfill the order. Because prices

fluctuate, any breakdown in the currency of information relating to the costs of raw materials

and subassemblies can be very expensive for the firm. Accuracy and timeliness of this

information is critical for ongoing success of this business, and failures in this area have

sometimes been a serious problem in the past.
You are working on a project to develop and implement a new technology to improve buyer access

to critical information, a leading edge data warehousing technology that you believe will

catapult the firm well ahead of its competitors and yield significant competitive advantage in

its businesses. A few smaller competitors have implemented similar technology (that you are

aware of) and they have had mixed success. But you feel that your firm can learn from their

mistakes and you are anxious to proceed. This new technology appears to have huge ‘upside

potential’ for your firm.
The problem is that most of the benefits are not tangible. They are very difficult to quantify

on the front end of the project; for example, ‘improve operational efficiency’ or ‘enhance

buyer decision-making’ or maybe ‘strengthen customer responsiveness,’ or the classic ‘improve

productivity.’ Your management wants to see tangible benefits (i.e., real dollar savings to

offset real systems development expenses) prior to approving funding for your project. Still,

you are convinced that the intangible benefits, once realized, will far outweigh developmental

expenses, if you could only get your management to recognize the potential, take a chance, and

proceed with the project.
Discussion Questions. How would you make a business case for developing potentially highly

profitable new systems technologies that are based primarily on intangible benefits? How would

you justify funding such a project and convince senior management to proceed with it?