Management Information Systems Essay Example For Students

Management Information Systems Essay 1. General Motors has several internal and external influences that are challenging them to reduce their operating costs and become more efficient. In doing an analysis of the General Motors using Porters Competitive Model these influences become clear and opportunities for the company to reduce costs and increase efficiency using information systems becomes obvious. Porters Competitive Model is a model used to describe the interaction of external influences; specifically threats and opportunities that affect an organizations strategy and ability to compete Laudon Laudon, 2005, p. 103. Starting at the center of the model is the current industry, which includes General Motors and their typical competitors, such as, Ford, DaimlerChrystler, and the Japanese Laudon Laudon, 2005. All of these traditional competitors are able to produce cars at a much cheaper cost than General Motors. Looking at the supplier portion of the competitive forces model, part of the reason General Motors was u nable to produce cars inexpensively in comparison to their competitors was that they were producing a lot of their own parts. Their competitors were able to purchase parts from outside vendors at lower prices. General Motors viewed this as an opportunity and has since shed a lot of workers and factories and are currently searching everywhere for the lowest prices on parts. Also General Motors was very slow at producing cars because of old information systems and outdated processes. A lot of General Motors systems could not communicate with each other, which was causing a major lag in the production of automobiles. By integrating these systems they were able to become faster and leaner and were able to increase their customer focus Laudon ; Laudon, 2005. In the competitive forces model, General Motors also has influence from new products and services to reduce costs and increase efficiency. General Motors wants to experiment with new ways to serve their customers, one of which was on line shopping, allowing customer to shop for car models and colors online and giving them dealerships in the area that were currently in possession of the car they preferred. By utilizing the Internet, GM was able to provide additional services to their customers and allow them to also purchase vehicles online. General Motors also found an opportunity to build vehicles to order. This allows them to reduce the cost of inventory and sales incentives by finding ways to make cars that customers have actually ordered Laudon ; Laudon, 2005. Another new technology-based service General Motors has been experimenting with is called OnStar. OnStar is a navigation, Internet, safety, and communications capability that is available on a majority of GM models. Customers have to subscribe to the service but with the service they receive roadside assistance, stolen-vehicle tracking, and concierge support such as making dinner reservations Laudon ; Laudon, 2005, p. 111. OnStar is a comprehensive ser vice, however, has not been successful in gaining interest of a lot of GM customers. New entrants to the automotive market have been a threat to General Motors. Some of these entrants include Nissan and Hyundai. Although, they have been around for a while, they are increasingly gaining a large portion of the market and have been very efficient in product development and bringing new models to the market quickly. In response to this threat General Motors has attempted to stream line their product development portion of their business. In the past, General Motors would have to go through several departments and systems to take a car from design phase to actual production. The average was typically 48 months for this process. After some analysis, General Motors has formed a single committee that now handles the entire product development process. They removed all of their former design and engineering systems and replaced them with a single system called EDSs Unigraphics Laudon Laudon , 2005, p. 112. Everyone involved in the committee has access to this new system and are able to access from a web-based interface to share three-dimensional designs Laudon Laudon, 2005. It now takes General Motors approximately 18 months from initial design to production. Customers also play a part in the competitive forces model. General Motors still struggles in changing potential and actual customers perception of the company from a second rate automobiles compared to their competitors. With the Internet service and new product development technique they hope to change this perception and bring new automobiles and services to these customers. Information technology has played a large role in the redesign of General Motors. They have been able to successfully reduce operating costs by becoming more efficient and competitive. They have integrated several systems and have stream lined internal processes to reduce costs and have also utilized the Internet to gain new customers and aid in sales of automobiles. General Motors will need to continue using information systems to gain advantages over their competitors and to stay a major competitor in the automotive market. 2. Within the last few years preventing future terrorism attacks like the one that occurred on September 11th has become a major concern for both citizens and the government of the United States and globally. In response to this concern, governments and their organizations have created massive databases of personal information on citizens and whom they think could be potential terrorists. These databases have brought up questions of social and ethical issues regarding citizens privacy and rights in regards to the information being collected. Drug and Alcohol Abuse EssaySince this technology reaches customers globally, businesses need to ensure that their new systems are capable of supporting international customers. Language and cultural barriers can create a chaotic environment but with the right system and business processes this challenge can become obsolete Laudon Laudon, 2005. When building the information architecture companies must be aware of what they currently need to do business, but also allow the system to be upgraded in the future for changes that may occur. Business is changing rapidly and the system that they create should allow them to adapt to these changes and not hinder them. Hardware and software should be compatible and allow information to flow freely. This is crucial in the design process Laudon Laudon, 2005. A final challenge of management is in regards to responsibility and control. They need to find a way to ensure that proper security is stored and sensitive information is only handled by those that need it to do their job. Although they want the information shared they also need to have control of the information Laudon Laudon, 2005. Internet technology is crucial to a companys success in regards to reducing operating costs and increasing efficiency. It can provide the company with new customers and streamline business processes. However, there are some management challenges that need to be addressed when using this technology. If the company is aware of these challenges and addresses them successfully the full potential of this technology will be reached. 4. Information systems and technology is allowing businesses to reach consumers in ways that they were unable to do before. One such method is direct sales over the web, where manufacturers are now cutting out the intermediary and directly selling to the consumer. This process is called disintermediation Laudon ; Laudon, 2005, p. 123 and is allowing consumers to purchase goods at a cheaper cost by eliminating the middleman who would typically raise the price in order to make a profit. Web personalization has also made a large impact on consumers. Web personalization is the tailoring of web content directly to a specific user Laudon ; Laudon, 2005, p. 123. Basically when a customer visits a website and either purchases a good or views certain items the web page alters according to each customers preference. For example, at Amazon.com if a certain book is purchased the next time that customer logs on there is a suggested list of books that are similar to the one previously purchased ar e listed that Amazon.com finds may be of interest to that customer based on there previous purchase. Many websites are using web personalization because it allows them to provide customer service and a sales tactic without having an actual salesperson present. It also makes the customer feel as if they are being catered to and that they are valued Laudon ; Laudon, 2005. Data is also collected from purchases of customers to find what is the best selling product so that the company can keep plenty of that product in stock. For example, Dillons stores in Wichita uses what is called a Plus Card which keeps the information of the customer contains the customers demographic information. Every time the customer uses their plus card Dillons keeps track of what is being purchased. Items that are popular can be put on sell to increase revenue or inventory can be updated to provide for these items. Besides being used as a marketing tool, businesses also use the Internet to provide customer service. Instead of having a call center where a customer needs to talk to a physical person they can use the Internet and browse frequently asked questions to get information or answers. They also can send emails to the business and expect a response in little time. Using the Internet for customer service allows the customer to be in control and tailors to the customers tim e schedule. There are many benefits in using technology to gain customer information. The most popular is as a marketing function to provide customers with the products that are most popular. Also, it allows them to provide salesman type services without a physical salesperson or customer service representative. This is saving businesses money by reducing the cost of employing this person and is tailoring to the flexibility needs of the ever-demanding consumer. ReferencesLaudon, K.C. ; Laudon, J. P. 2005. Essentials of Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.