Case Study Questions

CISM 4136 A- Global Information Resource Management
Case Questions
Carol V. Brown, D.W. DeHayes, J.A. Hoffer, W.E. Martin,&. W.C. Perkins, Managing Information
Technology, Seventh Edition, 2012, Prentice Hall.
Case Study 1 - Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (A): The Role of the Operating Manager in
Information Systems
1. Identify the key players in the case and describe their respective roles. Are these the right roles?
What roles in particular should be modified? How might such role modifications be
accomplished?
2. Focus on the role of the software vendor- Unitrak Software Corporation. Was it an appropriate
role? Did Unitrak act responsibly?
3. How much is Kovecki to blame for this situation?
4. One of the recurring themes of this book is the importance of information systems politics. To
what extent does IS politics explain the situation that has developed at the Midsouth Chamber of
Commerce?
5. The case involves what appears to be a fairly routine use of information technology to support a
service organization. Yet the Midsouth Chamber of Commerce encountered major problems in
bringing up its new system. Is there a lesson here for organizations seeking to adopt new
information technology? What is it?
6.
What should Lassiter do now?
Case Study 11-1- Vendor-Managed Inventory at NIBCO

1. What was the catalyst for NIBCO to develop a VMI program, and why was it able to respond?
2. Describe what types of transactions are involved in NIBCO's VMI program.

3. What types of benefits have been attributed to the VMI initiative-for both NIBCO and NIBCO's
customers?
4. What new initiatives would you recommend that NIBCO pursue next to continue to take
advantage of its current IT capabilities?
Case Study 11-2- Real-Time Business Intelligence at Continental Airlines

1. Describe "active" data warehousing as it is applied at Continental Airlines. Does Continental
apply active or real-time warehousing differently than this concept is normally described?
2. In what ways does real-time data warehousing fit with the Continental strategy and plans?
3. Describe the benefits of real-time data warehousing at Continental.
4. What did the data warehousing group do right that has led to the successful deployment of (realtime) data warehousing and BI within Continental?
5. What elements of the data warehousing environment at Continental are necessary to support the
extensive end-user BI application development that occurs?
6. Why does Continental believe that a 3rd normal form enterprise data model is important?
7. What special issues about data warehouse management (e.g., data capture and loading for the
data warehouse (ETL processes) and query workload balancing) does this case suggest occur for
real-time data warehousing? How has Continental addressed these issues?
8. What generalizable lessons learned can be gleaned from this case? Are there other lessons for
you beyond those listed in the Lessons Learned section?
Case Study 11-5- The CliptomaniaWeb Store

1. What are the keys to Cliptomania's success?
2. Do a SWOT analysis for Cliptomania.

opportunities, and threats.
Identify Cliptomania's strengths, weaknesses,
3. Describe the difficulties of selling internationally on the Web.

4. Why did Cliptomania's relevancy rankings on Google fall off the map when they changed the
URL from cliptomania.com to cliptomania.net?
5. Why is it important that a Web store manager understand how the search engines determine the
relevancy of a site?
Case Study III-2 - Make-or-Buy Decision at Baxter Manufacturing Company

1. What are the arguments in favor of Manufacturing Vice President Moore's proposal to purchase
the manufacturing software from EMS?
2. What are the arguments in favor of developing the needed systems internally?
3. How should BMC obtain the needed manufacturing software?

4. What problems in managing IT does a small company like BMC have as compared to a Fortune
500 company?
Case Study III-3 - ERP Purchase Decision at Benton Manufacturing Company, Inc.
1. Why install an ERP?
2. Why not install an ERP?

3. Do you try to cost-benefit justify such a system, and, if so, how?
4. Are there corporate culture issues involved?
5. What degree of top management support is required?
6. What should Meyer and Cook recommend to President McHenry?
Case Study III-5- NIBCO's "Big Bang": An SAP Implementation

1. Why did NIBCO decide to purchase an ERP system?
2. Why did it choose a Big Bang approach, rather than the 3-to-5 year plan suggested by the
consulting firm?
3. Describe the pros and cons of a Big Bang approach, versus a less risky rollout strategy. If you
had been the IS head at NIBCO, what approach would you have recommended and why?
4. A triad of managers led the NIBCO approach. What do you see as the pros and cons of this
approach?
5. Describe the project team roles and the characteristics of the team members sought to fill these
roles.
6. Comment on the number of key managers that were selected to serve on the project team, and
whether this was a success factor or not.
7. Critique the change management initiatives associated with this project.
8. Critique the distribution center consolidation plan in terms of increasing or lessening the risks
of the ERP project implementation.
9. Using the five success factors described in Chapter 11 under the subheading "Special Case:
Enterprise System Packages," evaluate how well this initial implementation project was conducted.
Case Study III-6 - BAT Taiwan: Implementing SAP for a Strategic Transition
1. Why did BAIT believe that implementing SAP R/3 was the best enterprise system software
package for this unit to implement?
2. Discuss the pros and cons for BAIT to use APSS personnel rather than a well-known consultant
firm for an implementation partner?
3. What are some of the potential advantages associated with the usage of a BAT template for BAT
Taiwan?
4. Using the five factors associated with the success of an ERP project (in Chapter 11}, evaluate how
well this initial implementation project was conducted.
Case Study III-7- A Troubled Project at Modem Materials, Inc.

1. What is Leach's explanation for the condition of the Supply Chain Management System project?
What does Leach propose to do to deal with this situation?
2. What is Young's explanation for the condition of the Supply Chain Management System project?
What does Young propose to do to deal with this situation?
3. What is West's assessment of the condition of the Supply Chain Management System project?
What does West propose to do to deal with this situation? Why?
4. What would you advise MMI management to do? Why?
Case Study IV-5- Systems Support for a New Baxter Manufacturing Company Plant in Mexico
1. What alternative ways of providing systems support in Mexico did Collins consider?
2. What were the major issues that Collins faced when deciding what to do about systems support
in Mexico?
3. To what did Collins attribute the difficulties that he had in communicating with the managers
in Mexico?
4. How should the Mexican plant be provided with systems support for its operations?
Case Study IV-6- The Challenges of Local System Design for Multinationals: The MaxFli
Sales Force Automation System at BAT
1. What business problem was MaxFli trying to solve? How would you rate its effectiveness at
addressing that problem?
2. Assess the specific choices made in launching and building the MaxFli project. Which decisions
(if any) proved wise and which ones created challenges for the current project or later?
3. What organizational factors explain the outcomes of the MaxFli project? (Some factors may differ
by end market; others may be common across the three end markets.)
4. What lessons can be drawn from the MaxFli experience? Is there a single best approach for
developing systems for use across a multinational firm?
Case Study IV-7- Meridian Hospital Systems, Inc.: Deciding Which IT Company to Join
1. Describe MHS's recent change in business strategy.
2. What are the pros and cons of working for Hewlett-Packard and MHS?
3. How should Willie make his decision?
4. What should Willie do?
Case Study IV-8- Mary Morrison's Ethical Dilemma

1. If you were Mary would you accept Frank's offer to copy his Microsoft Office Professional? Why
or why not?
2. Critique Mary's pros and cons concerning this issue.
3. What should Mary do?
4. What is the difference between real property and intellectual property? Does intellectual
property deserve the legal protection we give real property? Why or why not?
5. Suppose Mary were the IS Director for a company with 500 employees. She has a tight budget
and needs to install some new software on 50 PCs. She can buy 50 copies of the software or just
buy one copy and install it on all 50 machines. Is this different from Mary's previous situation?
How?

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What were the major issues that Collins faced when deciding what to do about systems support in Mexico?

What business problem was MaxFli trying to solve? How would you rate its effectiveness at addressing that problem?

CISM 4136 A- Global Information Resource Management

What should Lassiter do now?

Case Study 11-1- Vendor-Managed Inventory at NIBCO

2. Describe what types of transactions are involved in NIBCO's VMI program.

Case Study 11-2- Real-Time Business Intelligence at Continental Airlines

Case Study 11-5- The CliptomaniaWeb Store

2. Do a SWOT analysis for Cliptomania.

Identify Cliptomania's strengths, weaknesses,

3. Describe the difficulties of selling internationally on the Web.

Case Study III-2 - Make-or-Buy Decision at Baxter Manufacturing Company

3. How should BMC obtain the needed manufacturing software?

2. Why not install an ERP?

Case Study III-5- NIBCO's "Big Bang": An SAP Implementation

Case Study III-7- A Troubled Project at Modem Materials, Inc.

Case Study IV-8- Mary Morrison's Ethical Dilemma

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