COB 204 EXAM QUESTIONS WELL ANSWERED LATEST UPDATE 2026
What are the 4 steps to understanding the big picture of an organization? - Answers 1. Understand
industry structure 2. Choose competitive strategy 3. Change structure using value chain 4. Understand
business processes
What model is used to understand industry structure? - Answers Porter's Competitive Forces Model
What are the 5 forces in Porter's model? - Answers Customers, Suppliers, New Entrants, Substitutes,
Rivalry
What does bargaining power of customers mean? - Answers The ability of customers to influence
price and demand
What does bargaining power of suppliers mean? - Answers The ability of suppliers to control supply
and pricing
What is threat of new entrants? - Answers New competitors entering the market
What is threat of substitutes? - Answers Alternative products replacing your product
What is rivalry among existing firms? - Answers Competition between current companies
What is cost leadership strategy? - Answers Competing by offering lowest prices (example Walmart)
What is differentiation strategy? - Answers Offering unique products (example Southwest Airlines)
What is innovation strategy? - Answers Creating new products (example Apple Watch)
What is organizational effectiveness strategy? - Answers Operating more efficiently (example FedEx)
What is customer orientation strategy? - Answers Focusing on customer experience (example
Amazon)
What are primary activities in the value chain? - Answers Inbound logistics, operations, outbound
logistics, marketing/sales, customer service
What are support activities in the value chain? - Answers Administration, HR, technology
development, procurement
What is inbound logistics? - Answers Receiving and storing raw materials
What is operations in value chain? - Answers Manufacturing and production processes
What is outbound logistics? - Answers Distributing finished goods
What is marketing and sales? - Answers Promoting and selling products
What is customer service? - Answers Supporting customers after purchase
What is administration and management? - Answers Legal, accounting, finance management
What is human resources? - Answers Hiring, training, employee development
What is technology development? - Answers Engineering, R&D, software/hardware
What is procurement? - Answers Purchasing goods and services not sold
What do primary activities do? - Answers Directly create value customers will pay for
What do support activities do? - Answers Support primary activities but don't directly add value
What is a business process? - Answers A set of activities that transform inputs into outputs
What are inputs in a business process? - Answers Material, services, information
What are outputs in a business process? - Answers Product or service
What is process integration? - Answers Processes overlapping where output of one is input to
another
Why are enterprise systems needed? - Answers To integrate business processes across organization
What does ERP stand for? - Answers Enterprise Resource Planning
What data do systems capture? - Answers Dates, times, product numbers, prices, addresses, actions
What is business process improvement? - Answers Changes that improve efficiency and effectiveness
What does efficiency mean? - Answers Faster, fewer errors
What does effectiveness mean? - Answers Better decision making
What were computers like in the 1960s? - Answers Mainframe, centralized, shared time
What was minicomputer architecture (1970s)? - Answers Departmental, separate systems
What was microcomputer era (1980s)? - Answers Personal computers, decentralized
What was client-server architecture (1990s)? - Answers Shared data, decentralized power
What started in 2008? - Answers Cloud computing
What does scalable mean? - Answers Able to handle growth in demand
What does elastic mean (AWS)? - Answers Resources expand beyond purchased amount
What does pooled mean? - Answers Shared hardware resources
Why did Alaska server fail in 2008 example? - Answers Could not handle sudden demand
What are the 4 steps to understanding the big picture of an organization? - Answers 1. Understand
industry structure 2. Choose competitive strategy 3. Change structure using value chain 4. Understand
business processes
What model is used to understand industry structure? - Answers Porter's Competitive Forces Model
What are the 5 forces in Porter's model? - Answers Customers, Suppliers, New Entrants, Substitutes,
Rivalry
What does bargaining power of customers mean? - Answers The ability of customers to influence
price and demand
What does bargaining power of suppliers mean? - Answers The ability of suppliers to control supply
and pricing
What is threat of new entrants? - Answers New competitors entering the market
What is threat of substitutes? - Answers Alternative products replacing your product
What is rivalry among existing firms? - Answers Competition between current companies
What is cost leadership strategy? - Answers Competing by offering lowest prices (example Walmart)
What is differentiation strategy? - Answers Offering unique products (example Southwest Airlines)
What is innovation strategy? - Answers Creating new products (example Apple Watch)
What is organizational effectiveness strategy? - Answers Operating more efficiently (example FedEx)
What is customer orientation strategy? - Answers Focusing on customer experience (example
Amazon)
What are primary activities in the value chain? - Answers Inbound logistics, operations, outbound
logistics, marketing/sales, customer service
What are support activities in the value chain? - Answers Administration, HR, technology
development, procurement
What is inbound logistics? - Answers Receiving and storing raw materials
What is operations in value chain? - Answers Manufacturing and production processes
What is outbound logistics? - Answers Distributing finished goods
What is marketing and sales? - Answers Promoting and selling products
What is customer service? - Answers Supporting customers after purchase
What is administration and management? - Answers Legal, accounting, finance management
What is human resources? - Answers Hiring, training, employee development
What is technology development? - Answers Engineering, R&D, software/hardware
What is procurement? - Answers Purchasing goods and services not sold
What do primary activities do? - Answers Directly create value customers will pay for
What do support activities do? - Answers Support primary activities but don't directly add value
What is a business process? - Answers A set of activities that transform inputs into outputs
What are inputs in a business process? - Answers Material, services, information
What are outputs in a business process? - Answers Product or service
What is process integration? - Answers Processes overlapping where output of one is input to
another
Why are enterprise systems needed? - Answers To integrate business processes across organization
What does ERP stand for? - Answers Enterprise Resource Planning
What data do systems capture? - Answers Dates, times, product numbers, prices, addresses, actions
What is business process improvement? - Answers Changes that improve efficiency and effectiveness
What does efficiency mean? - Answers Faster, fewer errors
What does effectiveness mean? - Answers Better decision making
What were computers like in the 1960s? - Answers Mainframe, centralized, shared time
What was minicomputer architecture (1970s)? - Answers Departmental, separate systems
What was microcomputer era (1980s)? - Answers Personal computers, decentralized
What was client-server architecture (1990s)? - Answers Shared data, decentralized power
What started in 2008? - Answers Cloud computing
What does scalable mean? - Answers Able to handle growth in demand
What does elastic mean (AWS)? - Answers Resources expand beyond purchased amount
What does pooled mean? - Answers Shared hardware resources
Why did Alaska server fail in 2008 example? - Answers Could not handle sudden demand
