FINAL Question # 5

1. Describe or define Virtual office.
ANSWER:
The Virtual office is a shared office services, which normally includes business address, mail & courier services, phone services, fax services, answering services, web-hosting services, and meeting & conference facilities.


2. Distinguish virtual from MIS.
ANSWER:
Virtual office are providers of services that provide the in-house or outsourced services such as corporate secretarial services, accounting services, or legal services. Professional firms such as law firms and accounting firms often provide registered address services as part of their service offerings. While the MIS is was made manually and only periodically, as a by-product of the accounting system and with some additional statistics, and gave limited and delayed information on management performances.

3. Illustrate (give examples) how virtual ofice can improve company's competitive advantage and organizational performance.

Finals Question #4

1. Describe or define DSS.
ANSWER:A Decision Support System (DSS) is an umbrella term used to describe any computer application that enhances the user’s ability to make decisions. More specifically, the term is usually used to describe a computer-based system designed to help decision-makers use data, knowledge and communications technology to identify problems and make decisions to solve those problems.

REREFERENCE:
http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/decision-support-systems.htmFERENCE:

2. Distinguish DSS from MIS.
ANSWER:

MIS viewed as an IS infrastructure
generates standard and exceptional reports and summaries
organized along functional areas
developed by IS department and while the DSS is
a problem solving tool
used to address ad hoc and unexpected problems
end user tool.
reference; WWW.answer.COM


3. Illustrate (give examples) how DSS can improve company's competitive advantage and organizational performance.
ANSWER:Gain Competitive Advantage from Business Intelligence and Ensure Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance," "With Data Mining, Achieve Competitive Advantage from the Data You Already Have!", "Executives See Business Intelligence Emerging as Crucial Competitive Advantage," "Use a DSS for Markdown Management and Profit Optimization," "Use DSS to Improve Profitability Through Timely Decisionmaking," and "XYZ Company Gains Competitive Advantage with Data Warehousing Solution". Some consultants temper the message to help sell their services -- "A data warehouse can be a competitive advantage dream or a costly nightmare." A more sophisticated vendor marketing message explains one way a firm can gain a competitive advantage -- "Data warehousing can provide a competitive advantage for organizations by increasing market share through analysis of customer profiles".

Finals Question #3

1. The one company that adopt MIS is the ASIABIZ company, is that they showcase the attractions of businesses through Internet advertising (www.AttractiveCities.com and www.InvestAsiaPacific.com). by these kind of strategy the MIS help the company to be known to all the people or customer.MIS helps to the company,managers and their employee to their problem and decision making by it helps them to be more hardworking, has a determined and perseverance to serve their client.

These company also treasured clients in order to positively enhance economic development and help create jobs across economies and continents.The company and its employee believe that once they serve their clients well, they will be our repeat clients and spread goodwill for them. they have managed to develop successful client relationships built on trust.

REFERENCE: info@asiabizstrategy.com

Finals Question #2

.0.a Research one international company from the Internet and describe their MIS strategic plan in 1-2 paragraphs.
ANSWER:
The AsiaBIZ company a Singapore-based market research, strategy consulting and and investment promotion consulting firm. Our coverage spans Asia Pacific's 22 biggest countries. their strategy is as follows..
A. CORPORATE STRATEGY

• Value Addition

• Asset Building (intangible and tangible asset portfolios)



B. BUSINESS UNIT STRATEGY

• Strategic Business Unit (SBU) Strategy

• 'What-if' Scenario-based Strategy



C. GROWTH STRATEGY

• Market Opportunities

• Competencies

• Management Passions

1.0.b Discuss too the impact of this strategic plan on the company's management,
competitors, customers and the company as a whole.

ANSWER:To date, their is strategy consulting services has resulted in an overall Fortune 500 client investment portfolio in excess of US$2 billion in Asia, excluding government and SME clients.

2.0.a Evaluate how can this strategic plan be applied to any local company in the Philippines.

ANSWER: this strategic plan can be applied in the Philippines to any local company if their leaders and employee are has focused and determined to do their each task for the best and success of the company.
They must treat the people as valued and committed team members with a spirit of excellence, people who believe in and can follow our management to fulfill the vision, where every member is challenged, equipped and released to their highest creative and self-actualizing potential yet preserving unity.

2.0.b Discuss too the possible effect on the company.

ANSWER:THE possible effect on the company is that the service and value to their clients is to provide excellent and relevant analysis and knowledge for strategic decision making. When clients think of business, marketing, or investments, they come to this company first. and it helps so the the company will be well known not only in the Philippines but also in the other country.



3.0.a What is an Accounting Information System?
ANSWER;An accounting information system (AIS) is the system of records a business keeps to maintain its accounting system.

3.0.b Identify or list down different accounting information systems used.

ANSWER;
Accounting information systems are useful for companies and businesses wanting to make the accounting process easier by utilizing a computer program or other system that will perform payroll and other functions. These systems, commonly including accounting software, make it easier to compile financial data for use in taxes, payroll, and other bookkeeping requirements. Recording is the first step in these systems that are used by companies including pertinent data such as expenses and profits that are very important to keep on file. After the recording phase, the information will be processed for use. When processed, it is filed in the areas where it is most important. These systems have various groupings or categories to maintain files until they need to be used in the future for whatever reasons. The final step that is part of most software programs is the communication phase. This is the process of actually utilizing the records that have been recorded and processed. Common communications of this data will be used for payroll and tax purposes. "The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

3.0.c What are the benefits by the management, users and customers derived from these AIS?
ANSWER:
The use of information systems is very important in recording vital financial data that will be used in the future. Major corporations, especially in the retail industry, will keep such data as sales, profits, expenses, and many other items for future use in financial reports. Recording will be done often on a daily basis, if not on a minute-by-minute basis with more complex and detailed accounting software. This is very important also because it will not only be used for daily practices, but will be necessary for tax purposes for the remainder of the year. Also, much of this data has to be kept on file for a number of years, in the event of an audit or other financial issues that may arise. Legal issues can cause severe problems and even end in the destruction of a company. By using computerized accounting information systems to organize and retain this data, companies have a much better chance to survive and succeed.

3.0.d Cite any threat or misuse of these AIS by a specific company. How were the threats addressed? What were the damages?

Final Question # 1

1.Twice each year, the New Hampshire Department of Education requires school districts to complete the personnel form featured in this report. Thus the task of our Web-based example is to illustrate how the data could be gathered from different locations, collected and stored centrally, made available to users with appropriate permissions at different locations, and made unavailable to users not possessing these permissions. In presenting the example in the form of an electronic report, we include not only an explanation of the data collection system, but an opportunity for readers to actually use the system: by clicking on appropriate links and buttons the reader will be able to interact with the software and the sample database located on the STG Web server.

The system explained and demonstrated here consists, on the server side, of several specialized CGI scripts and a simple, generic DBM database. The system encountered by the user, however, consists only of HTML pages and forms. This makes it possible for users to intract with the system from any computer capable of running a Web browser (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer or Lynx).

The programs facilitating the interactive forms are all implemented as CGI scripts, written in the popular programming language called PERL. [6] These scripts are small and easily produced, and the system is generic in the sense that it can be easily customized to suit the individual data collection, authentication, and reporting needs of any school department in the NetTech region.

Although it would have been possible to use a large, commercial database package to house data from our forms, we felt it was important to show this was unnecessary. All that is required here is the ability to associate keys with values; in our example the keys were a combination of the year, the district, and a location in the input form. The values were just that: values typed into the input form at the given locations by a user. For example, key = "1997:District-10:f1a", value = "145", means "for the year 1997 in district 10, the value given for field 1a in the input form was 145".

Normally, a set of key-value associations are implemented by programmers using objects called hash tables. Hash tables, however, only stay in memory as long at a program is running. Our system clearly required something that would hold our data on disk for subsequent program runs. What we needed, in other words, was a persistent hash table.

Fortunately, most PERL installations have a set of simple, fast, hash-like routines known as DBM routines. These are elementary, generic database routines capable of storing key/value combinations in the manner of a hash table, and of doing it on-disk, rather than in volatile memory, so that the data could be accessed and modified on subsequent runs.

Similarly, the functions of DBM routines can be duplicated by any commercial database. As a result, if a district wants to import its data at the end of a given recording period into a larger commercial database, or into desktop spreadsheet programs, all it requires is a few lines of additional PERL code. PERL, fortunately, has modules for outputting files in most major database formats.

Midterm Question #2

1Research Philippine and one international company that have employed e-commerce.

ANSWER:
Child labor is recognized as a serious problem in the Philippines. In the third quarter of 1991, the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) estimated that there were 777,000 Filipino workers between the ages of 10 and 14, and 1.4 million between 15 and 17 years. These figures exclude the large number of working children below the age of 10.1 In a recent article, however, DOLE reportedly acknowledged that, altogether, at least five million children work in commercial and industrial sectors in the Philippines. These figures coincide with UNICEF and ILO estimates of 5 to 5.7 million working children.

The Filipino garment industry commonly uses child labor in the manufacture of products exported to the United States. Child labor is allegedly found in wood and rattan furniture making and in gold mining, but further research is required. In addition, there are reports of child labor in food processing (including sardine canning), fireworks/pyrotechnics, footwear, plastic bags, and so-called "muroami fishing", but there is little evidence that these items are exported to the United States with any regularity. There are no statistics on the number of child workers in Filipino export industries.

2.Describe how e-commerce operate in these companies.

ANSWER;
the Philippines exported over $1 billion worth of garments to the United States.Studies report that children work on a piece-work basis at home, or in makeshift work places under a subcontracting system. Children sew, make button holes, trim, fold, wash, and pack garments. In smaller factories and home sites, children also embroider and smock clothes, including baby dresses.


3.Identify the benefits, constraints derived by these companies from e-commerce.
ANSWER;
the benefits, constraints derived by these companies from e-commerce is that they help many poor children that can't supply their own needs like food, studies and shelter.They give more job for these people help them to give a chance to improve their lives. it helps also to the economy of country of job employment.

Midterm Question #3

1. Identify the possible risks and threats (eg. virus) that can potentially attack a company with internet connection.

ANSWER:
by Yanet Manzano
Introduction

Over the last ten years, the number of Internet hosts has grown at an accelerated rate; slowdowns and traffic jams are plaguing the information superhighway. Consequently, companies struggle to meet the rising demand for speedy quality service. Unfortunately, the control mechanisms available today are not enough to handle the congestion problem we currently face. When we talk about the causes of congestion today, we have to decompose them into two major categories: one is congestion caused by legitimate traffic, and the other is congestion caused by malicious activities. In this article, we are going to focus on congestion created by malicious activities, specifically Denial of Service (DOS) Attacks.

DOS attacks are much like any other hacking attack, except that the penetration step does not exist. Because of this, most people consider DOS attacks as less of a threat, and therefore do not take enough preventive measures, until they find themselves facing a system shutdown and losses of millions of dollars. According to a CBI/FBI 2002 survey, the highest reported financial losses due to a single DOS attack increased from $1 million in 1998 to $50 million in 2002 [8]. In spite of such evidence, most companies still overlook the relevance of using preventive mechanisms to deal with DOS attacks. We have decided to place the situation in a different light, with the objective to provide a better understanding of the growing damage potential of this type of attack.

We are going to focus on a scenario in which an attacker individually launches his own company. The business would consist of launching DOS attacks against other companies, with profits being equivalent to the financial damages created by the DOS attacks launched. Our attacker starts with the traditional DOS model of one-attacker/one-victim, and then works to develop more sophisticated models that result in more damaging, and therefore more profitable attacks. Through this scenario, we will explore the three largest transformations of a DOS attack, from the traditional model to distributed DOS (DDOS), and to distributed DOS with reflectors (DRDOS). Before we move to trace the development of our attacker, we will explore some of the most famous DOS attacks that served him as inspiration to create his DOS Attack company.

2. Case research and analysis:

2.a Identify one company that had experienced an attacked from the internet.
ANSWER:By Martha Neil

In nearly 20 years as a trial lawyer, Keith Fink has encountered plenty of hardball litigation tactics. But the cyber attacks he has suffered since he began representing former employees of American Apparel in litigation against the company are unique.

"I've never experienced it, I don't know any lawyer that's experienced it, and I'm sure I'm never going to experience it again in my career," he tells ABAJournal.com.

In an apparent effort to discourage and discredit Fink, company employees have launched an Internet attack on his character, as the New York Post reports it has documented in internal American Apparel e-mails.

In an article last week, the newspaper details the cyber campaign it claims the company has launched against Fink, who who has filed multiple lawsuits against American Apparel and its chief executive, Dov Charney, on behalf of various former employees: "According to internal e-mails allegedly written by American Apparel staff and obtained by the Post, company officials are buying Web ads and feeding and building sites that allege a litany of malfeasance by the Los Angeles-based lawyer."

Among the efforts, the Post says, was text inserted into a Wikipedia entry about Fink. In it, as of mid-January, he was described as an "ambulance chaser" and worse. The newspaper also says that at least one website apparently was set up anonymously for the purpose of discrediting Fink, according to the internal American Apparel e-mails.

And, Fink himself tells ABAJournal.com, he believes the company is also responsible not only for this and other website criticism but Internet ads and even a critical—and, he says, factually inaccurate—print ad that ran prominently on Jan. 8 in the University of California Los Angeles campus newspaper, the Daily Bruin. Fink is teaching a class on free speech in the workplace at UCLA.

Although Wikipedia has taken down the critical entry about Fink in the website's free online encyclopedia, other Internet attacks are still up (and can readily be found by doing a name search on Google or another search engine).

Responding to a Post request for comment, American Apparel's general counsel said the e-mails relied on by the newspaper are unauthenticated and declined to discuss the matter further.

The Post article doesn't explain how the newspaper obtained the claimed American Apparel e-mail copies. But Fink says he believes one of the company's 10,000 or so employees has been sending them out anonymously.

2.b Describe the attack.
ANSWER:the newspaper details the cyber campaign it claims the company has launched against Fink, who who has filed multiple lawsuits against American Apparel and its chief executive, Dov Charney, on behalf of various former employees: "According to internal e-mails allegedly written by American Apparel staff and obtained by the Post, company officials are buying Web ads and feeding and building sites that allege a litany of malfeasance by the Los Angeles-based lawyer."

the Post says, was text inserted into a Wikipedia entry about Fink. In it, as of mid-January, he was described as an "ambulance chaser" and worse.

2.c Identify the damages done and the solutions adopted to reverse the damages and to protect the company from future threats.

ANSWER: Fink says he doesn't have time to try to respond to them individually and needs to focus his energies on representing his clients in their litigation against American Apparel.

"They're never going to intimidate or silence me, so … these efforts are all in vain," he tells ABAJournal.com. But, he adds, "I'm going to kick their butt in trial in my cases."

Midterm Question #1

1. Identify the benefits and disadvantages of MNC's.
ANSWER:

EFFECTS OF MNC on the developing countries:

Advantages:

• lead to greater levels of employment providing job opportunities to the local labour
• a vehicle for faster transfer and diffusion of technology
• provide access to management and organizational skills
• training and skill creation (of local labour)
• provide the host country with foreign exchange

Disadvantages:

• hurt domestic firms by eliminating competition (due to enjoying comparative advantage over local firms)
• worsen the imbalance between rural and urban areas (growing difference between incomes)
• skills of local labour may not improve if it is used to fill only low-skill positions and no training is provided
• political leverage
• environmental costs
• avoid tax by practising transfer pricing

2. Identify one MNC company and describe its operation.
ANSWER:

Business Monitor Online’s Company Intelligence Service features 149,000 fully researched senior executives at 55,000 leading multinational company sites located across Asia, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The Company Intelligence Service includes multinational company profiles and site networks; competitive intelligence covering sales volume, employee size, market share, ownership structure, foreign direct investment and project activity, and analysis of latest company developments. The service can be customised according to your geographic or sectoral requirements, and can be taken in conjunction with your choice of the Industry Services (see industry links to the left).

The Company Intelligence Service is used by business development teams, and by corporate analysts and strategists for benchmarking and competitive analysis. The end-user relies on data accuracy, which is why company profiles are systematically researched each year at source, by a combination of web, email and telephone validation. In addition, company updates and new company profiles and executive appointments are added to the database daily through continuous desk research.

3. Describe how the parent control/coordinates with its subsidiaries in other countries or region.
ANSWER:by Richard C. Hoffman The growth of global industries and trading blocks has led to increased interest in international strategy. Most of what is known about multinational corporate (MNC) strategy is concerned with strategy making at the headquarters level (Hout et al., 1982; Leong and Tan, 1993; Prahalad and Doz, 1987). However, as Jarillo and Martinez (1990) have indicated, knowledge about the overall strategy of an MNC does not tell us much about the specific strategies of its subsidiaries. Moreover, subsidiaries of MNCs operating in many different nations have developed different strategies to cope with the peculiarities of their situation (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1986; Roth and Morrison, 1992). A few studies have identified some strategic roles for MNC subsidiaries. However, these studies do not offer a complete set of strategies because they considered only selected aspects of a subsidiary's context. The purpose of this study is to: (1) review the research on strategic roles of subsidiaries; (2) develop a comprehensive model of generic strategies for MNC subsidiaries; and (3) provide an initial validation of these generic strategies using case evidence. HEADQUARTER-SUBSIDIARY RELATIONSHIPS During the past few years, the headquarters-subsidiary relationship within the multinational corporation has evolved from a control-centered to a strategic-oriented approach.

4. How is IT maximized or used by this MNC?
ANSWER:Under decentralized decision-making (DDM), how does the multinational corporation (MNC) adjust the transfer price when international (effective) corporate tax rates change, ceteris paribus? First, Eric Bond's (1980) decentralized model of transfer pricing is extended by completing the comparative static analysis. The results are more general than Bond (1980), confirm that the MNC uses the transfer price as a profit-shifting mechanism to minimize its global tax liability to maximize its global after-tax profit, and show that an interior solution for the transfer price is possible. An interior solution implies that tax authorities may be less concerned with transfer pricing "abuses" than the centralized Thomas Horst (1971) model predicts. Also, underlying explanations are developed to support the assumptions of DDM, top management maximizing the MNC's global after-tax profit, and DGMs (division general managements) maximizing division after-tax profit. Second, although agency costs are implicit in the basic model, an agency cost channel is explicitly built into the model to further address the criticism that the neoclassical firm is a "black box." That channel is: A perceived unfair transfer price by the parent DGM, reduced managerial incentives, lower parent DGM effort, a lower quality intra-firm good, lower subsidiary productivity, higher subsidiary costs, lower subsidiary profit, and lower MNC after-tax profit. The comparative static results incorporate the effect of a perceived unfair transfer price, which is another important factor in addition to tax rates that determines the MNC's transfer price. The MNC's ability to use the transfer price to shift profit and avoid taxes is further limited when agency costs are considered. Third, under negotiated transfer pricing, profit-maximizing DGMs cooperate and choose the upper or lower arm's length transfer price and the centralized output. Under zero negotiation costs, negotiated transfer pricing dominates centralized transfer pricing, due to the cumulative effect of greater than or equal MNC global after-tax profit and lower agency costs than centralized transfer pricing. After the negotiated transfer price is chosen, profit-maximizing DGMs use a bookkeeping entry, instead of the transfer price, to allocate the joint gain from cooperation, where the share of the gain depends on DGMs' relative bargaining strength.

5. WHat were the weaknesses/problems encountered by this MNC from its environment and global setup?
ANSWER:Since the end of the Cold War, the world economy has been strongly distorted by political intervention. Even though politically oriented trade frictions are being heightened at the government level between Japan and the United States, industrial leaders of the two countries are aggressively forming strategic alliances and promoting friendly collaboration. This tide of corporate level competitive interdependence and global alliance activity is gradually becoming a significant element in the world economy. Indeed it is paradoxical, but relying on corporate alliances and interdependence is perhaps a better strategy for increasing industrial strength than economic nationalism.

The science community has long enjoyed a favorable climate for international communications and collaboration. Unfortunately, the engineering community has experienced numerous constraints due to national economic and security reasons. These constraints may not be removed in the foreseeable future. However, without better management of international engineering and science relationships for improving R&D productivity, we cannot cope with the crucial problems that have put world peace and the survival of the human race at risk.

Modern MNCs are desperately seeking many ways to ensure their own survival. They no longer can survive considering only their own and their national interests, but they need to be good citizens in their host countries as well. They have to receive full support from the engineering community and customers in order to be successful. Hence they are establishing better engineering and science relationships in local communities. Strategic alliances in business and technological development are a step forward. R&D cooperation between Japan and the United States and further with all nations throughout the world should aim to solve global environmental problems such as acid rain, global warming, and preserving the rain forests, as well as developing a cure for AIDS, an epidemic that continues to grow rapidly on a global scale.1

In industrially advanced countries, the people demand highly sophisticated information products since their societies are rapidly becoming highly-information oriented societies. The application software of such products is very much dependent on local culture and is very difficult for engineers from different cultures to develop. Such software has to be developed by local engineers with knowledge of the market. This trend is not limited to information.

Prelim Question 4

1. List down the ethics for computer usage.
ANSWER:
he Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics are a code of behavior for users and developers of information technology. It was developed by the Computer Ethics Insitute (Washington, DC) and written by its president, Dr. Ramon C. Barquin as part of a keynote speech he delivered at the 1991 National Computer Ethics Conference at the Brookings Institution.

Computer ethics is a branch of practical philosophy which deals with how computing professionals should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. The term "computer ethics" was first coined by Walter Maner in the mid-1970s, but only since the 1990s has it started being integrated into professional development programs in academic settings. The conceptual foundations of computer ethics are investigated by information ethics, a branch of philosophical ethics established by Luciano Floridi. Computer ethics is a very important topic in computer applications.

The importance of computer ethics increased through the 1990s. With the growth of the Internet, privacy issues as well as concerns regarding computing technologies such as spyware and web browser cookies have called into question ethical behavior in technology.

2. What common forms of ethic violations happen in the internet and in the organization?
ANSWER:

What surprises me  about online research is not  that there have
been so many  egregious violations of ethical  principles,  but that
there have been so  few.   There has been no lack  of commentary on
computer ethics and Internet (Net) behavior in general (e.g., Forester
and Morrison, 1990;  Stoll, 1995) or Net research ethics in particular
(King, 1996; Waskul, 1996).  Problems have been identified, solutions
proposed,  and the gravity of and rationale for appropriate behaviors
debated in  the context of  the standards  of this or  that ethical
perspective.   Yet, debates do not subside,  and scholars and others
continue to  look for  ways to maintain  the ethical  integrity of
research and other Net activity.

  Rather than debate philosophical issues of ethics and justice and
attempt to  establish explicit unambiguous  ethical rules  from the
top-down, we first might take a step back and examine the problem from
the ground up.   In this paper,  I offer an  exploratory account of
selected issues as  seen from the trenches.   My  premise is rather
simple:   Precise ethical precepts tend to be of little help to those
immersed in  Net and  other potentially  risky research,   and who
simultaneously also may be responsible for teaching research ethics to
students and others.    I argue that we need not  invent new ethical
rules for online research.  We need only increase our awareness of and
commitment to established ethical principles.

3. How does ethics affect the decision making of mangers?
ANSWER:Organizations are paying more attention to ethics. People actually talk about ethics. But are our organizations--and are we--behaving more ethically? As our expectations about the ethical behavior of politicians have plummeted, have our expectations about the ethical behavior of organizations risen?

I invite you to listen in on the thoughtful conversation of six academic and organizational ethicists, convened last summer by ASAE's Ethics Committee to generate a discussion about ethics as it unfolds in our work lives. (See sidebar, "Fueling the Discussion.") Committee Chairman David J. Noonan, deputy executive vice president, American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, guided the exploration.

Such dialogues have to begin with agreed-upon understandings of what is meant by ethics, organizational ethics, and universal ethical principles. Even at that broad level, it's easy to apply the discussion to a workplace context--for instance, are we treating members fairly if we give privileges to some and not others? How do organizations communicate their values, and what is the association role in helping organizations create ethical environments? What role do associations have in teaching children about ethics in business?

The questions drive this dialogue into some tough territories. Tough because, as one participant observed, "All of us struggle daily with temptations to do things that we ought not to do." And tough because questions may lead to more questions before suggesting answers. But tough can also be enlightening, propelling us to pay attention to these important issues.

In next month's ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT the dialogue continues with insights about how the voice of ethical standards can be present in an organization and how new technologies have a way of bringing new challenges to workplace ethics. Part II will also include a select bibliography of ethics resources.
-Ann I. Mahoney, CAE, Editor in Chief
Cite a company which experienced legal or social conflicts because of its violation of ethics. You may check as example the problem of pre-need insurance companies in the Philippines.

Organizations are paying more attention to ethics. People actually talk about ethics. But are our organizations--and are we--behaving more ethically? As our expectations about the ethical behavior of politicians have plummeted, have our expectations about the ethical behavior of organizations risen?

I invite you to listen in on the thoughtful conversation of six academic and organizational ethicists, convened last summer by ASAE's Ethics Committee to generate a discussion about ethics as it unfolds in our work lives. (See sidebar, "Fueling the Discussion.") Committee Chairman David J. Noonan, deputy executive vice president, American Academy of Ophthalmology, San Francisco, guided the exploration.

Such dialogues have to begin with agreed-upon understandings of what is meant by ethics, organizational ethics, and universal ethical principles. Even at that broad level, it's easy to apply the discussion to a workplace context--for instance, are we treating members fairly if we give privileges to some and not others? How do organizations communicate their values, and what is the association role in helping organizations create ethical environments? What role do associations have in teaching children about ethics in business?

The questions drive this dialogue into some tough territories. Tough because, as one participant observed, "All of us struggle daily with temptations to do things that we ought not to do." And tough because questions may lead to more questions before suggesting answers. But tough can also be enlightening, propelling us to pay attention to these important issues.

In next month's ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT the dialogue continues with insights about how the voice of ethical standards can be present in an organization and how new technologies have a way of bringing new challenges to workplace ethics. Part II will also include a select bibliography of ethics resources.
-Ann I. Mahoney, CAE, Editor in Chief
4.Cite a company which experienced legal or social conflicts because of its violation of ethics. You may check as example the problem of pre-need insurance companies in the Philippines.
ANSWER:
WORLD BANK URGES EFFECTIVE ANTI-CORRUPTION MEASURES An explicit and credible corruption strategy, transparency, and good governance are essential for countries seeking a competitive advantage as Asia recovers from the economic crisis, according to a recent World Bank study. The country meets many preconditions for a successful anti-corruption campaign; however, very large amounts of public funds are lost to political and bureaucratic corruption. The World Bank recommended the following approach to fight corruption: policy reforms and deregulation, reforming campaign finance, increasing public oversight, reforming budget processes, improving meritocracy in the civil service, targeting selected departments and agencies, enhancing sanctions against corruption, developing partnerships with the private sector, and supporting judicial reform. (Yahoo News (Asia Pulse), Apr 6, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).

Prelims Question 3

1. Identify and describe information systems (IS) used in each level.

ANSWER:

Computer-based or manual system that transforms data into information useful in the support of decision making. MIS can be classified as performing three functions:
(1) To generate reports-for example, financial statements, inventory status reports, or performance reports needed for routine or non-routine purposes.
(2) To answer what-if questions asked by management. For example, questions such as "What would happen to cash flow if the company changes its credit term for its customers?" can be answered by MIS. This type of MIS can be called Simulation.
(3) To support decision making. This type of MIS is appropriately called Decision Support System (DSS). DSS attempts to integrate the decision maker, the data base, and the quantitative models being used.

2. How do these IS help the employees and managers achieve their objectives.

ANSWER:Management by Objectives (MBO) is a process in which a manager and an employee agree upon a set of specific performance goals, or objectives, and jointly develop a plan for reaching them. The objectives must be clear and achievable, and the plan must include a time frame and evaluation criteria. For example, a salesperson might set a goal of increasing customer orders by 15 percent in dollar terms over the course of a year.
MBO is primarily used as a tool for strategic planning, employee motivation, and performance enhancement. It is intended to improve communication between employees and management, increase employee understanding of company goals, focus employee efforts upon organizational objectives, and provide a concrete link between pay and performance. An important factor in an MBO system is its emphasis on the results achieved by employees rather than the activities performed in their jobs.

3. Cite a local or national company that makes use of these IS and identify the benefits and drawbacks/lapses of these IS.

ANSWER:One of the most interesting changes in business practices is telecommuting, namely doing work in places other than the corporate offices. The extent of telecommuting has been on the rise during the 1990s and it is expected to rise rapidly during the next few years. A major driving force in the spread of telecommuting is the increased availability of cost-effective supportive information technologies. The tasks performed by telecommuters are expanding. While the early telecommuters performed repeated transactions (such as processing insurance claims at home), today's telecommuters can perform at home, or on the road, almost any task that they do at the office. Thus, their information needs have been changed. This paper examines the various tasks performed by telecommuters and surveys the major supporting information technologies. Special attention is given to electronic mail, accessibility to databases and networks, desk top teleconferencing, personal digital assistants (PDAs), screen sharing, workflow systems, idea generation, and distributed group decision making. Also, Lotus Notes is viewed as a major computing environment that will facilitate telecommuting. Technological developments in an integrated services digital network (ISDN), an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), wireless communication, and local area network (LAN) connectivity will have a major impact on the growth of telecommuting and so will the resolution of managerial issues such as appropriate controls and security, cost-benefit justification, training and ownership and maintenance of the necessary equipment at home.

Prelim Question # 2

An organization may adopt a closed-system or open-system model. Answer the following:

1. Discuss the pro's and con's of each model.

Answer:
Pros and cons: These salary models are essentially worry-free for young physicians, so they offer a sense of security. But without the bonus component, which is usually based on the group’s total earnings, they offer little long-term financial incentive if there is no “ownership track,” and may ultimately either discourage entrepreneurship or support minimum-effort work standards.

2. Cite a company that uses any of this model. Describe briefly how this chosen model affect the entire company.

3. Evaluate how an environment affects the organization and its management. Discuss the pro's and con's of not responding to the demands of the environment.

Answer:Beginning with the first yearend on or after November 15, 2004, many companies will have to comply with the internal control reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The control environment is one of the key components of an entity's internal control; it sets the tone of an entity, influences the control consciousness of people within all organization and is the foundation for all other components of the internal control system. In this article management and independent auditors will find some suggestions for addressing one of the most challenging requirements of assessing internal control: evaluating the effectiveness of the control environment. Management has always been responsible for the design and maintenance of the company's internal control. Now, because of Sarbanes-Oxley, management has the added responsibility to annually evaluate, test and report on the entity's internal control over financial reporting. The external auditors are responsible for auditing management's assertion as to the effectiveness of this internal control and coming to their own, independent conclusions. They must evaluate management's assessment and perform their own, independent tests of controls, including the control environment. Thus, the suggestions provided in this article on testing the control environment may be helpful to management and auditors alike. As opposed to an activity-level control (for example, checking the mathematical accuracy of a vendor invoice), which is limited to one processing stream, the control environment has a pervasive structure that affects many business activities.

Prelims Question # 1

Questions: 1. How do you perceive the importance of information as a source of the company?

Worldscope, the premier global corporate financial database. The Worldscope Database is the financial industry's premier source of detailed financial statement data on publicly traded companies worldwide. The Database contains data obtained from primary source documents, such as Annual and Interim Reports. The research reports delivered through CorporateInformation.com are developed from data contained in the Worldscope Database


http://www.corporateinformation.com/About-CorporateInformation.aspx

2. Cite a company, its nature. Describe how the company information from its environment impress its management and business as a whole?

In today’s business world, the competitive among company is very high. To make customer impress, the company needs to make themselves standing out from others. Being environmental friendly is one way to differentiate them from the competitors. Furthermore, when competitors already adopted GSCM, the company gets a pressure instead. Therefore, it is a good idea to implement GSCM no matter the competitors have adopted it or not. Not only competitors, but do customers affect to the company’s decision to adopt the GSCM. In many cases, customers were the one who require special treatment or special products. Therefore, the company needs to make changes to make them satisfy and stay with them. Some papers studied about the relationship between applying GSCM with customer’s requirement such as (Simpson, Power, & Samson, 2007). In this study, they explored the moderating impact of relationship between a customer and its suppliers and effectiveness of customer’s environmental performance requirements.

http://www.tech.purdue.edu/it/GreenSupplyChainManagement.cfm
Lori John Uy