Page 146 - Using MIS

MyMISLab ™

Improve Your “You mean sell 3D-ready part designs as a product?” Jason sounds dubious.
Grade! “Exactly,” Kelly shoots back.
Over 10 million students “Who’s gonna want to print their own parts? I don’t see Dad making bike parts for
improved their results using his kids . . .,” Jason trails off.
the Pearson MyLabs. “No, probably not,” Drew chimes in, “but I did a quick query on past orders, and
Visit mymislab.com for there are customers who order large quantities of particular products. They’re mostly
simulations, tutorials, and service shops. Anyway, larger customers like that could make parts for themselves. Or
end-of-chapter problems. make them for Dad to install on his kids’ bikes.”
“Hmm. Seems like a stretch to me,” says Jason. “First of all, can we get the rights
to sell the plans? Second, even if we can, why wouldn’t our customers buy the plans
directly from the manufacturer?”
“Well, they might, but we already deal with a similar problem,” Drew continues.
“Our customers can buy anything that we sell straight from Fox. But they don’t. Like
we always say, our huge inventory provides one-stop shopping for all their parts.”
“Besides, there’s something else to consider here,”
Lucas speaks up. “If you call a manufacturer to order a
part, what do they ask for first? The part number. When our
“. . . if we do a customers call in, they say something like, ‘I want the little
native app, we green plastic gizmo that goes next to big black round thing
that’s right above the fork.’ It drives the manufacturers crazy.”
have to do iOS “Yeah, you don’t have to tell me,” Jason replies. “That’s
and an Android what makes our sales costs so high.”
version and “So, here’s what we do,” says Lucas. “We create an
maybe a Win 8 app—maybe just a browser app, or maybe we have to do a
native app, I’m not sure yet—but the app allows customers
version . . .” to search for the vehicles they want to service. They click

on the major system for which they need parts. We know
Source: Bizoo_n/iStock/Thinkstock/Getty Images
from our orders which parts each customer is most likely to
order, so we highlight them. Customers click or tap on the highlighted area and keep
drilling down until they find the part they need. They click that part, and we offer to
sell them the part if we have it in inventory or the 3D-ready file if they want to make it
themselves.”

Study QueStIonS

Q1 What do business professionals need to know about computer
hardware?

Q2 How can new hardware affect competitive strategies?
Q3 What do business professionals need to know about
software?
Q4 Is open source software a viable alternative?
Q5 What are the differences between native and Web
applications?
Q6 Why are mobile systems increasingly important?

Q7 What are the challenges of personal mobile devices at work?
Q8 2025?
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