Questions and Answers of Principles Information Systems

If someone is in the 22 percent marginal tax bracket, is that person’s entire income taxed at 22 percent? Why or why not?
What are the major categories of adjustments to gross income? For a taxpayer in the 22 percent marginal tax bracket, how much would adjustments totaling $10,000 save in taxes?
List the five most common itemized deductions, and describe the limits set on each.
What is overdraft protection? Are all checking account holders automatically enrolled?
Define net asset value. When is the net asset value of a mutual fund calculated?
Although the basic principles of personal finance are the same for men and women, what are the social and demographic factors that make these decisions especially important for women?
List three reasons why college students should have a résumé already prepared well before graduation
Would you cite Wikipedia as a reference when writing a paper? Why or why not?
Why do information and applications spread so quickly within networks like Facebook? What feature enables this? What key promotional concept does this feature foster?
Follow this book’s author at http://twitter.com/gallaugher. Tweet with this book’s #BizTech-Book hashtag if you run across interesting examples that you think would be appropriate for the next
Which firms are the biggest players in the sector often referred to as “the sharing economy” or “collaborative consumption”? Have you used any of these firms? What was your experience like?
Research this segment and identify firms that should be considered part of the sharing economy but that aren’t mentioned. What do you think of the prospects for the firm or firms you’ve
Consider sharing economy markets like ride-sharing and home rental. Have you or friends used the leading firms in these industries? Have you used firms that aren't the leaders? Why or why not?
Make a list of products that many people own, but that are underutilized. Are there sharing economy startups for these categories? If so, conduct some research to try to determine how they’re
Give examples of firms that provide supply through peer-to-peer efforts, and collaborative consumption firms that take ownership of inventory.
Why do some collaborative consumption firms choose to take possession of inventory rather than allow the “crowd” to provide it peer-to-peer style?
Why do many collaborative consumption marketplaces work well in fragmented markets?What advantages do they offer buyers and sellers over traditional mechanisms of dealing with fragmented markets?
It sounds counterintuitive to gain efficiencies by adding a firm to the distribution channel, but how are some collaborative consumption marketplaces thriving as channel-extending intermediaries?Give
Why is social media important for many collaborative consumption efforts? Give examples of efforts that are effectively using social media for growth and success.
What sorts of legal risks are sharing economy firms exposed to? Conduct research online and identify examples of incidents that have put firms, customers, or suppliers at risk. Do you think these
Why do you suppose San Francisco passed a law to limit homeowners to cap Airbnb (and similar) property rental to ninety days or less?
What can sharing economy firms do to reduce safety risks? Give examples of best practices.
Social profiles and crowdsourced ratings can improve trust, but they can also create opportunities for fraud and discrimination. Give examples of where this technology may have negative ethical
Give examples of the kinds of entrenched interests that will lobby against expansion of the sharing economy? Why are each of these groups opposed to sharing economy efforts?
How do crooks try to use sharing economy marketplaces to commit fraud? How can social media help combat online fraud?
Which collaborative consumption firms have Google, Ikea, and Condé Nast invested in? Why are these firms potentially attractive to their corporate investors?
Give examples of traditional firms that have partnered with collaborative consumption players.What does each hope to gain from the partnership?
Name traditional firms that have experimented with their own collaborative consumption efforts. Conduct additional research online. Are these efforts successful, failed, or is it too early to tell?
How do Airbnb’s total number of accommodations compare to the room count for Hilton?
How does Airbnb ensure safety and encourage trust among transacting parties? What role does technology play in trust assurance?
How does the firm limit the likelihood that it will be ripped off by unscrupulous operators?
What sort of legal trouble has Airbnb run into? Put yourself in the shoes of city lawmakers.List the pros and cons of allowing Airbnb or other property-sharing services to operate in your city. Would
Visit Airbnb and browse properties at a vacation destination you’d like to visit and listings in the area where you live. Would you rent a stay through Airbnb? Why or why not? Would you make your
How might Airbnb be considered a platform? Diagram the ecosystem that would surround an Airbnb transaction and identify various sharing economy firms that could provide services to help property
What do you think Google sees in Uber? Do you think the firm should have invested in Uber?Why or why not?
Is Uber good for the economy or bad? Justify your answer.
How might Uber impact cities? Impact car ownership? Should municipalities embrace Uber?Ban it? Regulate it? Have local authorities acted on ride-sharing services like Uber? Do you think their action
Lyft has tried to compete with Uber by undercutting the firm’s surge pricing. Will this tactic work? Why or why not?
How does Uber ensure rider and passenger quality? As a rider or passenger, how would you feel about these efforts? How does this change the service dynamic compared with traditional cab rides?
How does Uber cut costs compared with traditional taxi and limo fleet operators?
How does Uber leverage data in its service? What aspects of the firm’s operations are improved through data analytics? Does this provide the firm with sustainable competitive advantage? Why or why
What is uberPOOL? What will need to happen for this to be a “win” for both customers and drivers? Why does Uber management think it can pull this off?
Uber has been described as creating a “mesh” that may serve as a utility for urban areas.If Uber is able to grow to scale, what other kinds of businesses might Uber expand into?What firms would
What do you think of Uber’s plans for autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars)? Would you feel safe riding in one that did not have a backup human driver? Do you think autonomous vehicles will make
Why do some think Uber deserves a valuation in excess of the entire taxi and limo market?Do you feel this is justified? Why or why not?
Why has Uber received bad press? Is the coverage fair? What could the firm have done to prevent some of this coverage? Is the firm doing enough? Why or why not? Do you feel safe riding in an Uber or
What do you think of Uber's market experimentations, as well as its novel but unsuccessful efforts like its troubled leasing program? Is this "spaghetti management" (meaning throw it at the wall and
Debate Facebook’s future. Have your instructor divide half the class—with one playing the role of Facebook executives defending the firm, the other in the role of Facebook critics, who can
What is the dispute between Apple and firms like Facebook, Microsoft, and Google with respect to the latter having apps limited or blocked in the app store? Why has Apple curtailed efforts by these
Why are Apple and Facebook in conflict? Which firm do you think is “right” in this dispute?
What will be necessary for Rent the Runway’s competitors to gain success? What do you think of efforts such as the retailers using CaaStle, Urban Outfitter’s effort to build its own fulfillment
How did the pandemic impact Rent the Runway? What did it do to survive? What other choices were available to the firm?
Research the current state of the company’s market and how they’ve done in a predicted post-pandemic boom. Come to class prepared to discuss events beyond the time period covered in this chapter.
Which resources for competitive advantage might top software firms be able to leverage to ensure their continued dominance?Give examples of firms that have leveraged these assets, and why they are so
Answer the following questions using the course registration database system diagrammed earlier:a. Imagine you also want to keep track of student majors. How would you do this? Would you modify an
Visit W3Schools (which has a very nice online “Try It” editor where you can enter SQL and see results) at https://www.w3schools.com/sql. Work with your instructor on submission of results from
Even if your instructor doesn’t assign learning SQL, it’s often considered one of the most valuable skills for new managers, since it allows you to interrogate data and turn it into
Why would a firm choose a serverless database solution? What are the downsides of this approach?
Are you concerned by any of the data-use possibilities that you outlined in prior questions, discussed in this chapter, or that you’ve otherwise read about or encountered? If you are concerned,
What are some of the sources data aggregators tap to collect information?
Privacy laws are in a near constant state of flux. Conduct research to identify the current state of privacy law. Has major legislation recently been proposed or approved? What are the implications
Self-regulation is often proposed as an alternative to legislative efforts. What kinds of efforts would provide “teeth” to self-regulation? Are there steps firms could take to make you believe in
What is HIPAA? What industry does it impact?
How do international privacy laws differ from U.S. privacy laws? What is the GDPR? Do you feel it makes users more secure or less? Why? Investigate press reports online regarding the success,
Many firms, including Google and Facebook, allow you to access the data they collect on you, or see how they’ve classified your Internet use. Search online to see what data these or other firms
What is a data lake, and when might a firm want to use one?
Search out case studies of companies that have used data cloud offerings such as Snowflake or its competitors (you’ll find some case studies on vendor websites as well as in trade publications with
Work with your instructor to research the business case for AI. One idea is to select a podcast from “Me, Myself, and AI” mentioned above. Summarize your learning from the executives profiled and
Google’s Teachable Machine https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com/ is a way for you to experiment with machine learning without having to do any programming. The system allows you to use photos,
Search online for examples of the unintended consequences of information technology and be prepared to share with your class. Is there anything that the organizations that sponsored these systems
Consider the Fast Company article “High-tech redlining: AI is quietly upgrading institutional racism”:
Watch the film Code Bias individually or as a class (https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/coded-bias-full-film/). Then research online and collect your own examples of negatively impactful
Find examples of deepfake technology and present them in class. Find and experiment with technology for deepfakes or shallowfakes, create some deepfake media (make sure it is not degrading, harmful,
Research the developing state of laws regarding artificial intelligence and related technologies.What laws can you find that address face recognition software, deepfake technology, and database
What role does AI play in combating the negative use of AI and other technologies? Do you think firms are winning? Why or why not (conduct research online and offer examples to support your position).
Try the Blacklight website mentioned in the callout above. Have your instructor solicit student input to uncover the mainstream website visited by you or your classmates that has the largest number
Research online to see how you can view cookies in your browser. Which firms have given you cookies? Are there any firms that you don’t recognize? Search online and see if these are associated with
Investigate the state of third-party cookie replacement technologies. Does it appear any of these standards are “winning”? Why or why not? Have any that initially looked promising been blocked or
Research the antitrust arguments made against Google. Do you think Google should be further regulated? Why not, or in what ways? What are the challenges Google and other firms face if regulation is
Getting tracked online sounds creepy, but what are the actual risk and downside involved in early and proposed tracking technologies? Can you identify incidents of genuine privacy violation and/or
Make a table with three columns: device (examples: Mac computer, Windows, Apple Watch, Android Phone, etc.), feature (photo access, camera and mic access, data tracking, location tracking, etc.), and
After reading this chapter and perhaps performing exercises like the one above, you and your classmates may have changed your minds re: your choice of current and future products and services. Work
What responsibility (if any) do firms have to inform the public when data is collected or tracking features and certain device access are used? What challenges do firms face when they fully disclose
Are you more likely to choose an Apple product based on privacy benefits, even if these products are more expensive? Why or why not?
What risks does a firm face if it chooses to offer free products and services, subsidized based on data collection, data sale, and advertising? What steps can and should be taken by a firm that seeks
Do you think concerns around data tracking in apps and approval of device access are justified?Search online—can you find any concerning downside examples of data breaches or harmful outcomes from
What should a firm do with respect to data storage and security policies to help mitigate misuse or breaches? As a manager making recommendations for system design, where would you store data? How
Look into your favorite online services or similar Internet-connected products, and see if you can view the data collected about you. What has Google collected? Facebook, Instagram, and others? What
All technologies have limitations, and as a manager it’s important that you have the skills to not only understand tech, but also its weaknesses. Make a chart listing the methods used in
Compare IP addresses. Visit a website that can identify your IP address and that will try to locate the IP address on a map. The site What Is My IP Address: https://whatismyipaddress.com/ is one site
Download the free IoT inspector from Princeton University Researchers: https://iotinspector.org/ While you might be able to get some interesting results from a dorm room, those in off-campus
Give examples of how you have been geotargeted, and share with your classmates. If these happen while you're preparing this exercise, be sure to take screenshots and share the examples with your
Research privacy laws surrounding ACR and DAI on televisions. Do you feel laws are strong enough? If you were an advertiser or television firm, what steps would you take to ensure privacy, increase
Research the current state of Internet privacy law. Are laws consistent at the national and local levels? If not, what does this mean for firms operating in areas impacted by these laws?
Brainstorm on areas that are of rising public concern. What sorts of legal action in these areas has been taken, proposed, or may be considered? Imagine yourself in the role as an executive in a firm
Many firms share their privacy policies online. Identify firms that you think have implemented effective privacy policies and clearly engaged with consumers, and those who could use more work and
Look into industry trade groups like the IAB. What advantages do they offer members? Do these organizations offer any type of enforcement to ensure their practices are adhered to?
What is compliance? Choose an industry such as banking and finance, health care, or advertising.Are there data compliance standards that need to be adhered to? Briefly summarize these in a simple,
Examine the current status of the Apple Privacy Nutrition Label shown in the video at the start of this section. Has Apple plugged any of the loopholes mentioned? What risks does this present for
Play the role of a Google competitor (choose one: Yelp, Apple, advertising network Trade Desk, etc.). Build an argument against Google. How and why do you think the firm should be regulated? Now play

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