This document discusses several topics related to business decisions and management. It includes questions about college startups, managing difficult customer relationships, the global business climate, and data privacy issues with IoT devices and in the information age. The document provides discussion questions on these topics and asks the reader to choose three to respond to.

1. power point 115
QUESTIONS on Page #54:Respond to questions: PICK ANY 3 of themMAKING BUSINESS
DECISIONS Pg#54Cool College Start-UpsNot long ago, people would call college kids who
started businesses quaint. Now they call them the boss. For almost a decade, Inc. magazine
has been watching college start-ups and posting a list of the nation’s top start-ups taking
campuses by storm. Helped in part by low-cost technologies and an increased prevalence of
entrepreneurship training at the university level, college students—and indeed those even
younger—are making solid strides at founding companies. And they’re not just
launching local pizza shops and fashion boutiques. They are starting up businesses that
could scale into much bigger companies and may already cater to a national
audience.Research Inc. magazine at www.inc.com and find the year’s current Coolest
College Start-up listing. Choose one of the startups and explain how the business can use
BPR, CRM, SCM, and ERP to help it gain traction in the market. Be sure to explain how the
company can gain a competitive advantage by using each enterprise system efficiently and
effectively.Managing Bad Customer RelationshipsThere is a common saying that the
customer is always right. Clearly this can create many issues with customer relationship
management as many times the customer is incorrect, but you can’t tell the customer
they are wrong.Research the Internet and find an example of a customer relationship gone
wrong and determine if the customer was at fault for the problem. What can you do as a
manager when a customer is angry but clearly wrong about a situation? What strategies can
a manager use when dealing with angry customers?Review Questions – pg#69 – PICK
any 3 of them and respond to.MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS pg#69The Competitive
Landscape for Students According to the Economic Policy Institute, over the past decade the
United States has lost an estimated 2.4 million factory jobs to China. Factories in South
Korea, Taiwan, and China are producing toys, toothpaste, running shoes, computers,
appliances, and cars. For a long time, U.S. firms did not recognize these products as
competition; they regarded Asia’s high-tech products as second-rate knockoffs and
believed Asian countries maintained a factory culture—they could imitate but not
innovate. In hindsight, it is obvious that once these countries did begin designing and
creating high-end products, they would have obvious competitive advantages, with high-
value research and development coupled with low-cost manufacturing of unbeatable goods
and services. Asia is now on the rise in all industries from wind turbines to high-speed
bullet trains. According to Bloomberg Businessweek ’s ranking of the most innovative
companies, 15 of the top 50 are Asian, up from just 5 in the previous year. In fact, for the

2. first time, the majority of the top 25 are based outside the United States. How do you, as a
business student, view these statistics?What type of global business climate will you be
competing in when you graduate?If you wanted to gather competitive intelligence about the
job market, where would you look and what types of data would you want to analyze?What
can you do to create personal competitive advantages to differentiate yourself when
searching for a job?Review Questions – pg#79 – Pick any 3MAKING BUSINESS
DECISIONS pg#79(Complete ONE of the Options Below)Option #1The Internet of Things Is
Wide Open—for Everyone!IoT is transforming our world into a living information system
as we control our intelligent lighting from our smartphone to a daily health check from our
smart toilet. Of course, with all great technological advances come unexpected risks, and
you must be prepared to encounter various security issues with IoT. Just imagine if your
devices are hacked by someone who now can shut off your water, take control of your car,
or unlock the doors of your home from thousands of miles away. page 80 We are just
beginning to understand the security issues associated with IoT and M2M, and you can be
sure that sensitive data leakage from your IoT device is something you will most likely
encounter in your life.Identify a few IoT devices you are using today. These can include
fitness trackers that report to your iPhone, sports equipment that provides immediate
feedback to an app, or even smart vacuum cleaners. If you are not using any IoT devices
today, brainstorm a few you might purchase in the future. How could a criminal or hacker
use your IoT to steal your sensitive data?What potential problems or issues could you
experience from these types of illegal data thefts?What might be some of the signs that
someone had accessed your IoT data illegally?What could you do to protect the data in your
device?Option #2Information Issues in the Information AgeWe live in the information age,
when the collection, storage, and use of data are hot topics. One example of inappropriate
data handling occurred at a college where the monitoring of restrooms occurred every 15
seconds to observe the use of toilets, mirrors, and sinks. Students, faculty, and staff began
complaining that the data collection was an invasion of their privacy and a violation of their
rights. Another example of inappropriate data handling occurred when a professor of
accounting at a college lost a flash drive containing information for more than 1,800
students, including Social Security numbers, grades, and names. Social Security numbers
were included because the data went back to before 1993, when the college used Social
Security numbers to identify students.What types of student data does your college collect?
What could happen if your professor lost a thumb drive with all your personal information?
What types of issues could you encounter if someone stole your personal data? What can
your college do to ensure this type of data storage violation does not occur?