1. How technology helps a) fulfill needs (in a new way) and b) how technology create new needs.
• What are we doing today that we weren't able to do 10 years ago (examples)?
• What are might we be doing 10 years into the future (examples)?
• How has technology changed the way we go about our daily activities (examples)?
• Give three examples of transforming technologies. In what way are they/will they be transformative?
• Give examples of products and/or services that has become obsolete because of new technology? What replaced them
2. Swimlane modeling
• What is a business process? Give an example of a typical business process.
• What is the purpose of swimlane modeling?
• What is swimlane modeling? Describe its main elements
• What are some of the business reasons why a company would engage in swimlane modeling?
• Develop a small swimlane based on a given process scenario
3. Porter's 3 generic strategies
• Explain Porter's 3 generic strategy framework. Be sure to explain the two dimensions in the framework.
• With respect to the 3 generic strategies, what is Porter's recommendation?
• What does it mean to be "stuck in the middle"?
• Choose one industry. Give one example of each of the three strategies by giving naming a company which has adopted that particular strategy. Justify your answer.
• Within the same industry, mention a company who is "stuck in the middle.
4. Technology and e-commerce
• What are some of the benefit of online shopping?
• What are some of the drawbacks or barriers to online shopping?
• What has for example Amazon.com done to address many of the drawbacks and barriers to online shopping?
• Why is it difficult for Walmart or Best Buy to compete with online retailers like Amazon?
5. Efficiency and effectiveness in business process
• What strategy has Amazon.com chosen?
• Describe some typical activities in Amazon's value chain.
• What is the difference of having an efficient business process and an effective business process? Give examples.
• Looking at Amazon's website and operations, give examples that attest to Amazon's efficiency
• Looking at Amazon's website and operations, give examples that attest to Amazon's effectiveness
• Compare Amazon.com with Walmart.com (not the brick-and-mortar store). What differences do you observe?
5. Hardware
• List five main internal components of a personal computer (excluding input/output devices like keyboard, monitor, mouse, DVD drive, speakers, etc.) and explain their function.
• Define/describe the following terms:
• Digital signal
• Bit
• Byte
• RGB
• Encoding/decoding
• ASCII
• How does Moore's Law relate to microprocessors?
• Why are hardware specification often listed in terms of the numbers 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, etc.?
• Give there examples of how to physically represent or transmit "0"s and "1"s.(2008).