...Restructuring the small-scale retail sector in Singapore Loo Lee Sim Introduction Performance of the retail sector Singapore's retail sector has been in the doldrums over the last few years. The retail sales index shows sales increasing very slowly over the past three years (Figure 1). Except for festive periods (Christmas and Chinese New Year) and the period of the great Singapore sale (June/July), sales have been poor. Compared to sales, the supply of retail space has been increasing more rapidly. Figure 2 shows that a great deal of retail space has come on-stream over the last few years. By the end of 1997, an estimated 185,880 square metres were released (Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1997). The amount of retail space released over the last few years has led to a steady fall in the occupancy rate and this will be aggravated by another 195,170 square metres coming onstream from 1998-2001(Urban Redevelopment Authority, 1997). In addition to the glut in retail space, a decline in tourism will also affect the retail sector adversely. Tourist arrivals for the first quarter of 1998 declined by nearly 20 per cent compared to the first quarter of 1997. Arrivals from the Asian region have fallen as a result of the currency crisis. The haze, caused by fires in Indonesia and Malaysia, has also deterred visitors from Europe, the USA and elsewhere. In view of the gloomy prospects facing the retail sector, it is timely to review the measures taken by the Singapore Government to restructure...
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...Faculty of Business Administration EBIS112 Contemporary Information systems for organizations 1st Semester (2013/2014) Assignment one Due date: 21st Oct. (for Class 003) 22nd Oct. (for Classes 001 -002) 1 Requirements: 1. Cover page with the title of course, session number, your name and student number and date of submission. Please refer to additional file for details. 2. Use 1-inch for your left-, right-, top- and bottom-margin. 3. Use 11 pt fonts, single line spacing and proper spacing between paragraphs and questions. 4. Answer in YOUR OWN WORDS. Please note that direct wording from either the textbook or your notes will be subjected to mark deduction. 5. Your answer should be PRECISE and COMPLETE. Lengthy answers do NOT necessarily give you higher marks. Cheating: • Please answer your questions in your own words. Identical works found by the instructor will be considered as cheating and no mark will be given to all those involved. Regarding to late submission, 10% will be deducted per day and works submitted five(5) days after the due date will NOT be accepted. Questions: 1. Describe how information systems have changed the way businesses operate and their products and services 2. Information systems are too important to be left to computer designers. Do you agree with the statement? Why or why not? 3. How could information systems be used to support the order fulfillment process illustrated in Figure 2-1?...
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...[pic] Modernization of NTUC Income Case Study Major ：Business Administration Grade ：2013 Name ：Xia Yi’nan ID Number ：201311033030 Contents Contents............................................................................... 1 1.The problems.......................................................................2 1.1The problems faced by Income in this case.....................2 1.2How were the resolved by the new digital systems?.......2 2.Before migrating to the fully digital system..........................3 2.1The information systems.................. .............................3 2.2Business process............................................................3 3.After migrating to the fully digital system...........................4 3.1 Information Systems.....................................................4 3.2 IT infrastructure ............................................................4 4.The benefits that Income reap from the new system............4 5.How well is Income prepared for the future?.......................5 1. The problems 1The problems faced by Income in this case: Processes were vary tedious and paper based. Despite periodic investments to upgrade the HP 3000 mainframe that hosted the core insurance applications as well as the accounting and management information systems, it still frequently broke down. The COBOL programs that were developed...
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...professors can prove that by AACSB standards they have successfully taught students the material that they set out to teach. NEW! Customization and flexibility-New Learning Track Modules: This all-new feature gives instructors flexibility on determining which in-depth coverage they want to include for their course while still providing students with vital insight on key topics. NEW! Coverage ofglobalization - showing how to use IS in a global business environment NEW! Engaging Middle Eastern, Australian and Asian company cases: These new case studies are featured in each chapter, creating a more global learning experience Case Study - Soundbuzz's music strategy for Asia-Pacific p145 Case Study - Modernization of NTUC Income, one of Singapore's largest insurers p102 Opening Case - Al-Mansour Automotive: IT-enabled success p507 Interactive Session - Albassami's job is not feasible without IT p463 Opening Case - Ethical issues facing the use of technologies for the aged community p149 (Australia) NEW! Video Cases: Each chapter includes at least two business video cases (over 30 videos) which expand on discussed concepts and management practices Zum Seitenanfang New to this Edition NEW! Relevant and Current-Business Cases and Examples: The new focus of this edition helps students see the connection between information systems and business...
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...Modernization of NTUC Income MIS NO.2 9936002連孝容、9936017陳思瑄、9936026王晶婷 ★ 個案背景 NTUC Income創立於1970年，至今已成為新加坡最大的保險公司，其擁有180萬名客戶，總資產將近213億，旗下有3400位保險顧問及1200名員工。 NTUC Income所承辦的業務包含人壽保險、健康保險、一般保險、商業保險及儲蓄投資等服務。 ★ 面臨問題 1. 保險流程 在2003年以前，NTUC Income的保險流程非常冗長且以紙本為主。整個保險流程從客戶與保險代理人接洽、填完表單並提交文件開始，之後保險代理人員會將文件送交公司，再從分公司快遞至服務部，期間可能會延遲二至三天的時間。當服務部門收到資料後會登錄文件並排序，然後將案件資料送交負責承保的部門，而每份案件資料會隨機分派給承保人員。如要歸檔，將會有七位員工花二至三天的時間將送來的文件登錄與歸檔。目前總共有4500萬份的保單文件裝在超過16000個紙箱當中，不論何時要取出文件或要將舊文件放回原處都需要花費兩天的時間。 2. 資訊科技(硬體) NTUC Income會定期更新HP3000的主機，此主機是用來處理核心的保險應用程式及會計和管理資訊系統，但是卻經常當機。NTUC Income的資訊長說：『系統當機就像惡夢一樣，所有的工作皆會停擺，員工必須選擇手動方式調整資料或備份檔案，可是HP3000的備份系統只能夠復原至前一天的備份資料，因此當今天的資料沒有備份完成，所有受影響的資料都會遺失。』其中有一次的當機，就花了數個月的時間去復原遺失的資料。而HP3000系統總共發生了三次重大的故障。 3. 資訊科技(軟體) NTUC Income的IT部門所維護的COBOL軟體也發生數次的當機，而使用COBOL開發新產品也相當困難，因此常常會花費幾週甚至數個月的時間去開發新產品。 4. 資訊傳遞速度 由於NTUC Income 的交易處理系統仍是批次作業，保險代理人與保險顧問無法取得即時資訊，所以常常喪失產品交叉銷售的機會，而HP3000在連結電腦裝置或做遠端通訊時經常出現問題，因此當保險代理人在使用筆記型電腦提交文件時，會碰到許多問題。除此之外，許多部門仍使用紙本文件做資訊傳遞。 ★ 解決方法 1. eBao Life System NTUC Income在2003年6月採用eBao科技公司的eBao Life System，此系統包含了保單行政、銷售管理及補充資源等三個子系統。eBao Life System是以客戶為導向而設計的，且為影像及條碼技術的無間隙整合。除此之外，所有的應用程式會放在兩台至多台的伺服器上，各連接二至多條的傳輸線路，並採用負載平衡的方式，因此這將當機的發生率降到最低。 2. 硬體 NTUC Income決定以更耐用、彈性的架構來取代舊有的資訊科技基礎建設。例如，所有的分部都有掃描器、螢幕改為20吋、個人電腦的記憶體也更新到128MB，以及更新應用程式伺服器、資料庫伺服器和網頁伺服器的軟體與硬體，並且裝有磁碟儲存系統。此外，也將區域網路更換成光纖網路。 3. 災害復原計畫 NTUC Income建置即時的備份災害中心。在此中心，機器會不斷的運作，資料能即時地從資料中心複製到備份機器中，如果資料中心出現了問題，可以馬上使用災害復原中心的資料，整個作業流程可以繼續下去。NTUC...
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...102 Part On e Organization s, Manag ement, and the Networked Enterprise Modernization of NTUC Income CASE STUDY TUC In com e (Incom e ), one of Singapore's la rgest insure rs, has over 1.8 million policy hold ers with total asse ts of S$21.3 billion . T h e insurer e mploys about 3,400 insurance advi sors a nd 1,200 oHke staff, with the majority located across a n e ight hranch n etwork. On Jun e 1, 2003, Income suc ceeded in the migration of its le gacy insura nce sys tems to a di gital web-based system. The Hercul ea n task required not only the upgrading of ha rdwa re and applications, it also req uired In come to stream line its decade-old business pro cesses a nd IT prac tices. Up until a few rea rs ago, Income's insuran ce processes we re ver tedious and paper-hased. The e ntire in surance proces started with custome rs mee ting an agent, fillin g in forms a nd submitting do cuments. The agent would the n submit th e forms a l branches, from where th ey were se nt by couriers to th e Offi Cf, Services department. The co ll ec tion schedule co uld introdu ce delays of two to three days . Offi ce Servi ces would log documents, sort them, a nd then send th e m to departments for und erwriting. Proposals wef(~ allocate d to unde r w riting staff, mostly randomly . Accepted proposals we re sent for printing at the Computer Services de partm e nt and th e n redistribu te d. For storage, all original do cum e nts were packed an d sent...
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...Study) 2013 Finance, School of Business 宋蕊廷 201311034009 Modernization of NTUC Income 1. What were the problems faced by Income in this case? How were the problems resolved by the new digital system? Problems: (1) The old HP 3000 mainframe frequently broke down, and backup or reconciliation would be needed. However, If daily backup was not completed, the affected day’s data would be lost and cost months to do reconciliation. (2) The 1980s COBOL programs broke multiple times, halted the systems and caused temporary interruptions, and it took IT team long time(from several weeks to months) to launch new products. (3) Transaction processing for policy underwriting was a batch process and information was not available to agents and advisors in real-time. (4) Various departments did not have up-to-date information and had to pass physical documents among each other. How were the problems resolved: Income switched to the Java base eBao LifeSystem from eBao Technology. The new system seldom broke down, and it enabled the IT team to launch a new product only in a few days by using the table-driven rule-based product-definition module; plus, the real-time hot backup disaster-recovery 1/9 宋蕊廷 201311034009 ASSIGNMENT 1: MANGAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM center helped the company get real-time backup so that they didn’t need to do reconciliation. 2. What types of information systems and business processes were used by Income before migrating to the fully digital system? (1)Manual, delayed...
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...CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Chapter 1: Introduction and research methodology 1.1 Introduction: The subject chosen for the project is consumer behaviour and a preference in the matter of retail stores. Sangam Direct is a non-store home delivery retail business under Wadhawan Holdings. It offers consumers the facility to place their orders through the Website or Phone and Sangam Direct will home deliver the products at the appointed date and time. This project will deal with understanding their existing consumers’ preferences and behaviour while food and grocery shopping which will help them to serve its customers in a better way by making the required changes in their way of working according to the responses recorded during the study. 1.2 Objectives of study: • To understand consumer profile. • To understand consumer preferences. • To know the frequency of purchase by the customers from Sangam Direct. • To obtain customer feedback for providing better service. • To provide recommendations to the company to provide greater satisfaction to existing customers to retain them. 1.3 Scope of Study: This study will provide us information on Sangam Direct’s existing customers’ profile with respect to their psychographics, behaviour and demographics. It will also provide Sangam Direct with information which can help them retain its customers by acting as per the customer feedback and suggestions which don’t cost much. It can also be used as reference...
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