...OPERATIONS Role of operations management Strategic role of operations Operations management is an essential key business function that overlaps with the other business functions such as marketing, finance and human resources management. Strategic means ‘affecting all key business areas’; that is, the strategic role of operations management involves operations managers contributing to the strategic plan of the business. Some of the different costs in the operations function include; input costs, labour costs, processing costs, inventory costs and quality management costs. Cost leadership involves aiming to have the lowest costs or to be the most price-competitive in the market. A key aspect to cost leadership is that although trading with the lowest cost, the overall business should still be profitable. One aspect of cost leadership arises from a business creating economies of scale. Economies of scale refers to cost advantages that can be created as a result of an increase in scale of business operations. Typically the cost savings come from being able to purchase lower cost per unit and from efficiencies created through improved use of technology and machinery. Goods/services differentiation is a key strategy applied by operations managers. Product differentiation means distinguishing products in some way from its competitors. Ways a product could be differentiated include: varying the actual product features, varying product quality, varying any improved features, varying...
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...Pick Sigma Green Belts, Brown Belts or Black Belts who are categorized on the basis of the training they have received in Six Sigma techniques. Trained experts would form teams, which are constituted to tackle a particular problem or process and thereafter disband to form another team for tackling another process at a different time, may be with different people, all trained in Six Sigma. Selection for training should ensure picking up highly motivated employees that will result in creating a high performance team. Another important point is to give them a project right after training without allowing any time gaps. Generally, IT people do not go ahead with untried methodologies until they have tried out tools with which they are familiar. Experts sound a note of caution against this and say that throwing technology at a business problem results in a bad process with new technology. If the process is free from defects, then technology can be used to take it to greater heights. Focus On Defect Removal And Improvement While Six Sigma tenets are supposed to be religiously followed, they should not be treated as the be-all, end-all. The aim should be to reduce defects and to continuously streamline and improve the process conducting regular evaluations. Six Sigma is a structured approach to problem-solving within a disciplined, fact-based methodology. The Six Sigma approach focuses on understanding the problem, collecting and analyzing data about the problem, identifying...
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...and business process discipline as strategic capabilities. As companies move through each stage they can realise benefits rangin from reduced IT operating costs to greater strategic agility. Stage 1: Business silos In this stage companies focus IT investments on delivering solutions for local business unit or functional needs and have do not utilise technology standards. The role of IT in this stage is to automate or facilitate specific business processes. One off solutions Bottom-up. IT led by local business units Poor integration with other IT systems Poor server utilisation Little shared data Stage 2: Standardised technology This stage means moving some IT investments from local applications to shared infrastructure. Technology standards are now established intended to increase reliability and decrease the number of technology platforms to manage. Fewer platforms means lower cost (around 15% less) but also less choice, however companies are willing to accept this tradeoff. Rationalisation, standardisation, and consolidation of the IT infrastructure Achieving a reliable, cost-effective IT infrastructure shared services model Focus on quick wins Stage 3: Optimised core The next move is from a local view of data and applications to an enterprise view. IT staff eliminate data redundancy by extracting transaction data from individual applications and making it available to all processes. In this stage companies are also standardising business processes...
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...their locations, delivers them, and scans them with the DIAD to confirm their delivery and if they were signed for. 3. What role does wireless communication play in the UPS systems? =Wireless communication plays a major role in this companies communication. The DIAD tablet has WIFI communcation and it reports back shipping and delivery data instantly to the data centers. It also allows for quick communication between driver and the package distribution centers. 4. How has information technology transformed the package delivery business? =It has allowed for the customer to be able to track and follow their package every step of its journey to their house. It has also aided in the effectiveness of the deliveries, make sure they are on time and sent to the proper destination. It also allows the companies to data base packages with ease. It has also made work on the drivers much simpiler with innovations such as the DIAD 5. 5. How does UPS’s investment in IT help it achieve the strategic business objectives described in the video? =Their investment in IT has allowed them to save money beacuse it has improved customer satisfaction, as well as increased...
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...Books was having issues on the implementation of the new information technology system which should help to improve the performance of the business. Other than that, the implementation of this new information technology system nearly makes Craven Books face bankruptcy and lost many customers. In this paper, 3 issues that lead Craven Books faced failure in the implementation of the new information technology system will be chosen to discuss in detailed. Each issue will be discuss in detailed together with any related case studies that can take as reference and recommendations to eliminate and cope each issue. Company’s Background Craven Books is a distributor of comics and magazines and books. The company was founded and evolves in the market place in the late 1960 as it founder, Peter Craven started to distribute sci-fi and horror books through direct mail. In 1970’s, the business began to be known in the market place by buying comics in bulk from both the American publishers and the second hand comic market and sell this on their customers in the United Kingdom by using a mail order catalogue. This had helped the company to grow in the market place and be known by many other customers. Because of this the company had been able to encounter growth both in profit and in the number of their regular customers. In this regard, the company decided to use a new information system as part of their business strategy. In 1990’s, this plan has been initiated as Craven Books invest...
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...number of multinational corporations. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 6 AACSB: Use of information technology Chapter LO: 1 Difficulty: Easy Course LO: Discuss the role of information systems in supporting business processes 2) A survey of retailers found that modern point-of-sale technology was rated the least valuable element in customer satisfaction. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 8 AACSB: Use of information technology Chapter LO: 1 Difficulty: Easy Course LO: Describe the functions of customer relationship management (CRM) systems 3) A person's online behavior is an important source of business intelligence. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 9 AACSB: Use of information technology Chapter LO: 1 Difficulty: Easy Course LO: Explain how information systems can be used to assist in decision making 4) The information systems that support virtual teamwork and collaboration are, in some respects, still in their infancy compared to the more mature operational systems. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 9 AACSB: Use of information technology Chapter LO: 1 Difficulty: Easy Course LO: Explain how IS can enhance systems of collaboration and teamwork 5) The development and application of innovative information systems improve the operations of an organization; however, they do not lead to any competitive advantage. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 10 AACSB: Use of information technology Chapter LO: 1 Difficulty: Easy Course LO: Explain how IS can enhance systems of collaboration...
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...any negative impacts to company operations. The IT disaster recovery process identifies critical IT systems and networks; prioritizes their recovery time objective; and delineates the steps needed to restart, reconfigure, and recover them. A comprehensive IT DR plan also includes all the relevant supplier contacts, sources of expertise for recovering disrupted systems and a logical sequence of action steps to take for a smooth recovery (Kirvan, 2009). The following Disaster Recovery Plan has been put together for the mock company which will be named ABC Technologies. The information contained in the DRP is partially real information from my current employer and other parts are made up. This is in response to my current firm’s policy against the dissemination of proprietary information. Information Technology Statement of Intent This document delineates our policies and procedures for technology disaster recovery, as well as our process-level plans for recovering critical technology platforms and the telecommunications infrastructure. This document summarizes our recommended procedures. In the event of an actual emergency situation, modifications to this document may be made to ensure physical safety of our people, our systems, and our data. Our mission is to ensure information system uptime, data integrity and availability, and business continuity. Policy Statement Corporate management has approved...
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...Collaborative Commerce (c-commerce): The use of digital technologies that enable companies to collaboratively plan, design, develop, manage, and research products, services, and innovative EC applications. “Collaborative commerce will entail moving core business processes such as product development and customer acquisition onto the Web” “Collaborative Commerce: A means of leveraging new technologies to enable a set of complex cross-enterprise business processes allowing entire value chains to share decision-making, workflow, capabilities, and information with each other.” “We define c-Commerce as: ‘the online business-to-business interactions between two or more parties, focused on the exchange of knowledge and the mutual interconnection of business processes in order to optimize value creation.” Essentials of Collaborative Commerce Collaborative relationships results in significant impact on organizational performance. Major benefits are: cost reduction, increased revenue, and better customer retention As a result of: * fewer stock outs * less exception processing * reduced inventory throughout the supply chain * lower materials costs * increased sales volume * increased competitive advantage C-commerce activities are often conducted between and among supply chain partners. For example ORBIS a small Australian company that uses a hub to communicate among all its business partners. Hub is the central point of control for an e-market. A single...
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...The Information Society, 16:5–21, 2000 Copyright ° c 2000 Taylor & Francis 0197-2243/00 $12.00 + .00 Re ning and Extending the Business Model With Information Technology: Dell Computer Corporation Kenneth L. Kraemer, Jason Dedrick, and Sandra Yamashiro Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations (CRITO), Graduate School of Management, and Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA Keywords The exceptional performance of Dell Computer in recent years illustratesan innovative response to a fundamental competitive factor in the personal computer industry—the value of time. This article shows how Dell’s strategies of direct sales and build-to-order production have proven successful in minimizing inventory and bringing new products to market quickly, enabling it to increase market share and achieve high returns on investment. The Dell case illustrates how one business model may have inherent advantages under particular market conditions, but it also shows the importance of execution in exploiting those advantages. In particular, Dell’s use of information technology (IT) has been vital to executing both elements of its business model—direct sales and build-to-order—and provides valuable insights into how IT can be applied to achieve speed and exibility in an industry in which time is critical. Many of the insights gained from this case can be applied more generally to other time-dependent industries...
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...of the system, the retrieval process willspeed-up. To be able to generate immediate sales report. With the use of thesystem, the incomes are classified as product sales. The total sales areautomatically computed and sales report is generated. In addition, the user canalso view the total sales daily, weekly,monthly and yearly. In this way, it canproduce an immediate sales report. To provide an efficient monitoring of stocksand re-ordering. By checking in the system, it will be easy to identify the numberof available and lessening product and which is need to re-order. In addition, theexpiration of the product is also monitored in the system. Brief Description of the System Information Technology or I.T is endless important to a business due toits plethora of function. Firstly I.T can be used to enhance your customersexperience with your company, through use of a well-designed website. Thisallows you to connect with people that you may not have previously been able toreach, due to them living away from cities or even branching out overseas. Thisis profitable for a business as quite simply, it brings in more customers andtherefore more money.The used of automated system nowadays has a great impact in manydifferent fields, especially in businesses. In this dynamic environment, theinformation processing of the business operations relies on the informationsystems and technology. It paved the way to improvement and development ofthe business process. One of the most common used...
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...Cognizant Consulting India Pvt Ltd (March 2013-till date) Manager: Business Development, Strategic Market Group (Enterprise Application Services) Responsibilities: • Positioning and branding : Defining and building the value proposition for the business and its offerings helping create winning propositions and messaging for EAS (Enterprises Application Services) • Acquire and develop knowledge of vertical/horizontal industry practices, trends, benchmarking data, and create competitive analyses. • Formulate strategy and plan for implementing and leveraging online communities, discussion forums, and other collaborative technologies. • Engenders enthusiasm for the work to be done, honors commitments and contributes proactively to ensure optimal positioning of SAP, while encouraging idea generation and creativity for each pursuit • Identifies and actions hot issues/topics/trends within the service line that require specific focus to rapidly capture the related knowledge assets • Analyst Relations: Proactive management of key influencer relations across major analyst firms, ensuring positive movement on analyst surveys and relationships • Customer relationship management: Managing key customer connects, ensuring support to Account based marketing activities, Building a sustain CRM campaign, with customer testimonials and case studies • Marketing strategy: Involvement in the business planning and market segmentation which involves...
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...Importance of Six Sigma as Process and Sustainability Improvement in United Parcel Services Martin Tunggadjaja March 2013 ABSTRACT Six Sigma is a process improvement developed by Motorola in 1985 that encompasses a set of strategies and tools acquired in order to improve the current business practice and systematic processes to fulfill the objectives. It is initially designed to measure how many faults or defects are in the process so that they can be eliminated systematically as part of improvement to reduce weaknesses and reinforce quality. One of popular process improvement methodology that is part of Six Sigma is DMAIC, which consists of: Define, Measure, Analysis, Improve and Control. Originally Six Sigma was first incorporated into manufacturing industries; this methodology also applies well to logistics companies since the focus is customer-oriented. Supply chain management is a key strategic factor for increasing organizational effectiveness and for better realization of goals such as enhanced competitiveness, better customer care and increased profitability (Gunasekaran, Patel, Tirtiroglu, 2001, p71). Therefore, Six Sigma as shown to be successful in delivering business benefits through variation reduction (Knowles, Whicker, Femat, 2005, p51). This paper discusses how Six Sigma apply to the logistics processes and an example case study of United Parcel Service (UPS) incorporating this technique to reposition itself in the world’s most improved logistics and...
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...Contents Acknowledgement 4 Introduction 5 TASK 01 6 UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS PROCESS IN DELIVERING OUTCOMES BASED UPON BUSINESS GOALS AND OBJECTIVES. 6 1.1 6 Evaluate the interrelationship between the different processes and functions of one of the following companies. 6 Interrelationship between supply chain and procurement department and other departments 6 1.2 9 Justify the methodology to be used to map processes to the organization you have selected in question 1.1 goals and objectives. 9 Process identification 9 Information gathering 9 Interviewing and mapping 10 Analysis 10 1.3 11 Evaluate in own words the output of the process and the quality gateway for the company selected in 1.1 11 output of the process 11 Environmental sustainability 11 Quality gateway 12 Task-02 13 BE ABLE TO DEVELOP PLANS FOR OWN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY TO IMPLEMENT OPERATIONAL PLANS. 13 2.1 13 Design plans which promote goals and objectives for own area of responsibility for internal and external customers for short term and long term plan. 13 Become clear on the result you would like to realize 13 Break objectives into small 13 Determine the objectives for every goal 13 Put your goals and objectives into time frames 14 Review your goals 14 Put your list in a very place that's simply accessible 14 Return to your lists when every time frame 14 2.2 15 Write objectives which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and...
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...Chapter 15 Managing International Information Systems Teaching Objectives Students should be able to answer the following questions: 1. What are the major factors driving the internationalization of business? 2. What strategies are available for developing international business? 3. How can information systems support the various international business strategies? 4. What issues should managers address when developing international information systems? 5. What technical alternatives are available for developing global systems? Key Terms The following alphabetical list identifies the key terms discussed in this chapter. The page number for each key term is provided. |Business driver, 499 |International information systems architecture, 499 | |Cooptation, 508 |Legitimacy, 510 | |Core systems, 506 |Multinational, 504 | |Domestic exporter, 503 |Particularism, 502 | |Franchiser, 504 |Transborder data flow, 502 | |Global culture, 500 |Transnational, 504...
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...RevLocal – Web Development and the New Client Onboarding Process MIS535 Course Project Archie Smith III Table of Contents Abstract Brief Company background Discussion of business problem(s) High level solution Benefits of solving the problem Business/technical approach Business process changes Technology/business practices used to augment the solution Conclusions and overall recommendations High-level implementation plan Summary of project Abstract The web development agreement submission process should be efficient and take into account all parties involved in the process of completing an order. If the order cannot be received in a swift manner and across the proper channels then it can, and most likely will, delay the entire scope of the project. Increasing scope will ultimately result in decreased profits, lack of confidence from internal and external members and an increase in disorganization within the respective department. This paper addresses the current technologies and the deficiencies that can be improved upon by implementing a stricter and more efficient IT solution for order submission and processing. Brief Company Background RevLocal is a full service digital marketing agency that serves thousands of clients in the United States and Canada. The company helps small-to-medium sized business establish a strong internet presence within their respective markets through a multitude of strategies and...
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