IIBM Semester-II Exam papers

Semester II Examination Papers 18

IIBM Institute Of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Semester-II Examination Paper MM.100

Management Information Systems

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

• This section consists of Multiple choice questions and Short Notes type questions.

• Answer all the questions.

• Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part one:

Multiple choices:

1. The BCD(binary code division) equivalent of (13)10 is

a. D

b. 1101

c. 00010010

d. 00010011

2. These systems are intended to help individual managers in their decision-making capability.

a. Management information

b. Executive support

c. Decision support

d. Office automation

3. Linux is a ……. Bit UNIX like operating system.

a. 16

b. 32

c. 64

d. 8

4. This is the ability of a system to repair itself, survive and grow by importing resources from its

environment and transforming them into outputs.

a. Negative entropy

b. Positive entropy

c. Entropy

d. Neutral entropy

5. A computer-based information system that increase the efficiency and productivity of

managers and office workers through document and message processing is known as

a. Decision support system

b. Management information system

c. Office automation system

d. Transaction processing system

6. Which is a multiuser operating system

a. MS DOS

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b. Windows NT

c. VMS

d. None

7. More information and knowledge is an advantage of this decision-making.

a. Individual

b. Strategic

c. Operational

d. Group

8. ISDN stands for

a. International service digital network

b. International service data network

c. Integrated service digital network

d. Integrated service data network

9. MYCIN is a popular expert system used for

a. Financial planning

b. Mineral exploration

c. Mass spectrography

d. Medical diagnosis

10. This refers to the flow of information among people on the same or similar organizational

level.

a. Diagonal

b. Upward

c. Horizontal

d. Downward

Part Two:

1. What are ‘Empirical systems’?

2. Write a note on ‘EPAB’.

3. Differentiate between interpreter and compiler.

4. What is ‘Virtual Reality’?

END OF SECTION A

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

• This section consists of Caselets, answer all the questions.

• Each caselet carries 20 marks

• Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

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Caselet 1

The Universal Foods and Drinks Limited (UFDL) is a company, manufacturing different

types of packaged foods and drinks. The product range consists of more than 50 items and 200

packaging units. The company’s products are popular throughout the country like Jammu &

Kashmir, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. It has a wide network of distributors and dealers,

who stock the UFDL products and deal with all types of customers. The company through its

network reaches to over 50,000 retail points. Some of the products of the UFDL are produced

throughout the year and are sold through this wide network. Some products are seasonal in

production but are sold throughout the years. And some products are popular in certain seasons and

not in demand at all in the other seasons. The business performance of the company is assured well,

if the UFDL produces the products as per the varying demand pattern of the customers. Since, the

company has established its strength in the distributor dealer network, the success comes through

the appropriate decisions in the purchase of fruits, vegetables, cereals, and pulses and putting them

through processing and packaging, and dispatching them to various locations where the distributors

are located. It is the policy of the company to launch each year at least one new product in the

country. This policy has paid rich dividends, to the company in terms of its image and the

customers have always looked forward for such an announcement from the company’s end. The

UFDL uses, well in advance, the different advertising media such as the newspapers, hoardings,

magazines, sample tests and demos, T.V. etc for announcing and promotion of its new products

from time to time. However, the selection of media is based on the product and its overall position

in the product range and the targeted market segment. In spite of considerable strength in many

aspect of business, the company has failed in the launching of new products. It was also not able to

meet the demand owing to the inadequate purchases of raw-materials, the wastage of the rawmaterials

as the processing plant of the company was not available due to its maintenance schedule

or it was scheduled for some other food processing operation. The company also faces the problems

of high seasonal inventory which, if not disposed of in time, becomes a non-moving and sometimes

a non-saleable inventory. The UFDL has its Marketing Division headed by a Manager- Marketing

supported by the product Manager for a group of its products.

1. Suggest the different Decision Support System (DSS) which the management of the UFDL may

use for strategic management of the business.

2. Suggest the external sources of information for the top management to support their decisionmaking,

justifying its position in an MIS.

Caselet 2

There’s nothing like a punchy headline to get an article some attention. A recent piece in the

Harvard Business Review (May 2003), shocking labeled “IT Doesn’t Matter,” has garnered the

magazine more buzz than at any time since the Jack Welch affair. The article has been approvingly

cited in The New York Times, analyzed in Wall Street reports, and e-mailed around the world. But

with out such a dramatic and reckless title, I doubt the article would have been much noticed. It’s a

sloppy mix of ersatz history, conventional, moderate insight, and unsupportable assertions. And it is

dangerously wrong. Author Nicholas Carr’s main point is that information technology is nothing

more than the infrastructure of modern business, similar to railroads, electricity, or the internal

combustion engineering advances that have become too commonplace for any company to wangle a

strategic advantage from them. Once innovative applications of information technology have now

become merely a necessary cost. Thus Carr thinks today’s main risk is not under using IT but

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overspending on it. But before we get any further, let’s have a reality check. First, let’s ask Jeff

Immelt, the CEO of General Electric Co., one of the premier business corporations in the world,

this question: “How important is information technology to GE?” Here’s his answer: “it’s a

business imperative. We’re primarily a service-oriented company, and the lifeblood for productivity

is more about tech than it is about investing in plants and equipments. We tend to get a 20 percent

return on tech investments, and we tend to invest about $2.5 billion to $3 billion a year.hen let’s ask

Dell Corporation CEO, Michael Dell: “What’s your take on Nick Carr’s thesis that technology no

longer gives corporate buyers a competitive advantage?” Here’s His answer: “Just about anything

in business can be either a sinkhole or a competitive advantage if you do it really, really bad or you

do it really, really well. And information technology is an often misunderstood field. You’ve got a

lot of people who don’t do it very well. For us, It is a huge advantage. For Wal Mart, GE, and many

other companies, technology is a huge advantage and will continue to be. Does that mean that you

just pour money in and gold comes out? No, you can screw it up really bad. Finally, let’s ask Andy

Grove, former CEO and now Chairman of Intel Corporation, a direct question about IT: “ Nicholas

Carr’s recent Harvard Business Review article says: ‘IT doesn’t Matter.’ Is information technology

so pervasive that it no longer offers companies a competitive advantage?” Andy says: “In any field,

you can find segments that are close to maturation and draw a conclusion that the field is

homogeneous. Carr is saying commercial- transaction processing in the United States and some

parts of Europe has reached the top parts of an S-Curve. But instead of talking about that segment,

he put a provocative spin on it- that information technology doesn’t matter – and suddenly the

statement is grossly wrong. It couldn’t b further from the truth. It’s like saying: I have an old threespeed

bike, and Lance Armstrong has a bike. So why should he have a competitive advantage?”So,

basically, Carr misunderstands what information technology is. He thinks it’s as merely a bunch of

networks and computers. He notes, properly, that the price of those has plummeted and that

companies bought way too much in recent years. He’s also right that the hardware infrastructure of

business is rapidly become commoditized and, even more important, standardized. Computers and

networks per se are just infrastructure. However, one of the article’s most glaring flaws is its

complete disregard for the centrality of software and the fact that human knowledge or for

information can be medicated and managed by software. Charles Fitzgerald, Microsoft’s general

manager for platform strategy, says that Carr doesn’t put enough emphasis on the “I” in IT. “The

source of competitive advantage in business is what you do with the information that technology

gives you access to. How do you apply that to some particular business problem? To say IT doesn’t

matter is tantamount to saying that companies have enough information about their operations,

customers, and employees. I have never heard a company make such a claim.”Paul Strassman who

has spent 42 years as a CIO-at General foods, Xerox, the Pentagon, and most recently NASA was

more emphatic. “The hardware—the staff everybody, is fascinated with- isn’t worth a damn,” he

says. It’s just disposable. Information technology today is knowledge –capital issue. It’s basically a

huge amount of labor and software.” Says he: “Look at the business powers- most of all Wal-Mart,

but also companies like Pfizer or FedEx. They’re all waging information warfare.”

1. Do you agree with the argument made by the business leaders in this case in support of the

competitive advantage that IT can provide to a business? Why or why not?

2. What are several ways that IT could provide a competitive advantage to a business? Use some of

the companies mentioned in this case as examples. Visit their websites to gather more

information to help you answer.

END OF SECTION B

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Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

• This section consists of Long Questions, answer all the questions.

• Each question carries 15 marks.

1. Shells Company has adopted a new management information system (MIS) in its Chennai

branch. Though the MIS promised rich benefits, Shells’ employees were quite apprehensive

about the new change and resisted this recent move of the company. Can you suggest some

measures or techniques for overcoming resistance to change at Shells?

2. A key element in both planning and controlling is information. What are the main attributes

that information must possess in order to be useful to managers? And is the nature of the

information required by managers at different levels similar or does it varies along with the

hierarchy?

END OF SECTION C