1. Knowledge: Define Globalization 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 and provide a sample of the type of business data managers collected during each era.
2. Comprehension: Explain Friedman's flat world and the reasons it is important for all businesses, small or large, to understand.
3. Application: Demonstrate how students competing for jobs in a "flat world" can create competitive advantages to differentiate themselves in the marketplace.
4. Analysis: Analyze the current business environment and identify a new flattener not mentioned on Friedman's list.
5. Synthesis: Propose a plan for how a start-up company can use any of Porter's strategies to combat competition in a global world.
6. Evaluate: Argue for or against the following statement: "The world is not flat (in Friedman's sense of the term) because many undeveloped countries are not connected electronically."

1. What is data and why is it important to a business?
2. How can a manager turn data into information?
3. What is the relationship between data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge?
4. Why is it important for a company to operate cross-functionally?
5. Why would a company want to have a CIO, CPO, and CSO?
6. Explain MIS and the role it plays in a company and global business.
7. Do you agree that MIS is essential for businesses operating in the information age? Why or why not?
8. Why is it important for a business major to understand MIS?
9. What type of career are you planning to pursue? How will your specific career use data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge?
10. Explain systems thinking and how it supports business operations.
11. What business strategies would you use if you were developing a competitive advantage for a company?
12. Explain Porter's Five Forces Model and the role it plays in decision making.
13. How could a company use loyalty programs to influence buyer power? How could a company use switching costs to lock in customers and suppliers?
14. What are Porter's three generic strategies and why would a company want to follow only one?
15. How can a company use Porter's value chain analysis to measure customer satisfaction?

1. Do you agree or disagree that Apple's iTunes, iPhone apps, and iPad apps give the company a competitive advantage? Be sure to justify your answer.
2. Why are data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge important to Apple? Give an example of each type in relation to the iPad.
3. Analyze Apple using Porter's Five Forces Model.
4. Which of the three generic strategies is Apple following?
5. Which of Porter's five forces did Apple address through its introduction of the iPhone?
6. Which of Porter's five forces did Apple address through its customer-developed applications?

1. If you had $1 million to invest in one of the five above-mentioned start-ups, which one would you choose and why? Be sure to justify your answer using Porter's Five Forces Model and three generic strategies analysis.
2. Choose one of the above businesses and explain why data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge are important to successfully running the business over the next few years. Be sure to list examples of the different types of data, information, business intelligence, and knowledge you might find in this company.
3. Review Bloomberg Businessweek 's most current top five under 25. Choose one of the companies and perform a detailed analysis of the company using the strategies discussed in this chapter.

Determine a few ways the company can improve its business by creating competitive advantages using the ideas and methods discussed throughout this chapter.