INFS1602 Study Guide - Final Guide: Data Quality, Cost Estimate, Switching Barriers
29 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Information Systems: Enabling Business in a Digital World
CHAPTER 1- Information Systems in Global Business Today
Information Systems are a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and
distribute information to support decision making and control in an organisation.
•!Interdependence between organisations and information systems
Interdependence between business strategic objectives/ processes and Software
(Hardware, Data management, telecommunication)
Information Systems tries to achieve 6 strategic business objectives:
Operational Excellence
Changes in strategy, rules and business
processes requires changes in hardware,
software, databases and telecommunication.
New product, services and business models
Business Model: Describes how a company
produces, delivers and sells a product or
service to create wealth
Customer and supplier intimacy
E.g. When a JCPenny dress shirt is bought,
TAL runs the number through a computer
model and decided how many replacement
shirts need to be made and in what size,
colour and style. TAL send details to
retailer’s warehouse. JCPenny inventory is
therefore zero.
Improved decision making
Forecasts, best guesses and luck = raise
costs and lose customers.
IS = real time, accurate information
Competitive advantage
Survival
Dimensions of Information Systems
Organisations Management, Technology
Complementary Assets
Complementary social, Managerial and organisational assets are required to optimise returns
from IT Investments.
Organisational assets
Appropriate business model
Strong IS development team
Efficient business processes
Managerial assets
Strong senior management support for
technology investments and change
Teamwork and collaborative work
environments
Training programs
Social assets
Law and regulations
IT enriched educational programs
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
CHAPTER 2- Information Systems, Organisations and Strategy
Strategy: Specific pattern of decision to influence upon core competencies to attain
competitive advantage
Core competencies: Unique skills that can be utilised in value creation activities
Competitive Advantage: Product/ service that an organisation’s customers place a greater
value upon than on a similar offering from a competitor
First mover Advantage: When an organisation can significantly affect its market
Synergies: Outputs of some units that can be used as inputs for other units
Organisation: Social entity with a collective goal that exists within a contextual environment.
They take resources from the environment and process them to produce outputs.
Features of Organisation
‐!Routines and business processes (leads to productivity and efficiency)
‐!Organisational politics (People have different specialities, concerns and perspectives)
‐!Organisational culture
‐!Organisational environment and structure
Organisational Type
Description
Entrepreneurial Structure
Young, small firm with a simple structure in
a fast-changing environment.
Machine Bureaucracy
Large organisation in a slowly changing
environment producing standard products.
Divisonalized Bureaucracy
Multiple Machine Bureaucracy producing
different products/services under one central
headquarters.
Professional Bureaucracy
Where goods and services depend on the
expertise and knowledge of professionals.
Weak centralised authority.
Adhocracy
Task force organisation with large groups of
specialists in short-lived multidisciplinary
teams responding to rapidly changing
environments.
Adaptation to environmental change and uncertainty requires:
‐!Optimising internal interdependences
‐!Maintaining effective alignment with external environment
‐!Both ^^ guided by organisational strategy
How IS impacts Organisations
Economic Impacts
‐!IT changes the cost and quality of information
and changes the economics of information
‐!IT substitutes labour (contract external
suppliers instead of internal- less expensive to
outsource than hire employees)
‐!IT reduces both agency and transaction costs
by using networks.
Organisational and Behavioural
Impacts
‐!Flattens organisations
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Broadens distribution of information to
lower-level employees and increases
management efficiency
Managers receive more accurate
information on time, so much faster at making
decisions (less managers required)
‐!Post-industrial organisations (knowledge
and competency > formal positions)
IT encourages task force-networked
organisations in which group work becomes
necessary
Understand Resistance to change
‐!IT changes structure, culture, processes and
strategy
‐!Require change in personal and individual
routines
‐!Unfreeze, introduce innovation, refreeze
Business Value Chain Model
‐!Views firm as series of basic activities that add value to products or services
‐!Highlights activities where competitive strategies can best be applied (Primary vs
support)
‐!Primary: Directly related to the production and distribution of the firm’s product/
service. E.G. operations, sales and marketing, logistics
‐!Support: Makes the delivery of primary activities possible. E.g. HR, technology,
administration and management.
‐!Each stage determines how IS can improve operational efficiency and improve
customer and supplier intimacy
5 Competitive Forces that Shape Strategy
•!Threat of New Entrants (High when entrance is easy. Some industries have high
barriers to entry e.g. pharmaceutical).
•!Bargaining Power of Buyers (To reduce, an organisation must make it more attractive
for customers to buy from them than from their competition)
•!Bargaining Power of Suppliers (Firms do not have alternate suppliers.
•!Threat of Substitute Products/ services (High when there are many alternatives to a
product/ service)
•!Rivalry Among Existing Competitors (continuous new products, services, efficiencies)
4 Basic Competitive Strategies:
‐!Low cost leadership
‐!Product differentiation
‐!Focus on market niche
‐!Strengthen customer and supplier intimacy (Make high switching costs)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Information systems: enabling business in a digital world. Chapter 1- information systems in global business today. Information systems are a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organisation. Interdependence between business strategic objectives/ processes and software (hardware, data management, telecommunication) Information systems tries to achieve 6 strategic business objectives: Changes in strategy, rules and business processes requires changes in hardware, software, databases and telecommunication. New product, services and business models business model: describes how a company produces, delivers and sells a product or service to create wealth. Tal runs the number through a computer model and decided how many replacement shirts need to be made and in what size, colour and style. Forecasts, best guesses and luck = raise costs and lose customers. Complementary social, managerial and organisational assets are required to optimise returns from it investments. Strong senior management support for technology investments and change.
