Information Systems Research
Preamble:
Conduct relevant research on an existing company that is struggling to remain in
business. Alternatively, you may choose to create a new company with a new information
system. Identify areas that the company is deficient in their competitive approach, and find
out why they are struggling. Utilize the Porter’s Competitive Forces Model when doing said
analysis. Where did they go wrong, and from there, choose one stance:
You plan to work with the group as a consultant to remedy their issues with
the aim of keeping them in business. The proposed solution should include an
Information System
You plan to create your own business so that you can be an effective
competitor that will aim to capture the mass of their clientele. The proposed
solution should include an Information System
The Information Systems research of a mid-size or large company should be of one of the
accompanying topics. You must choose from one of the following of sectors:
1. Education
2. Retail: Clothing, Food, Supermarket
3. Restaurant or Hotels
4. Movie Theatre
5. Car Rental
6. Transportation: Airline, Land, Sea, of Car Rental
Areas to be Covered:
1. Conduct research on an existing company, or create a new company that is intended to use
technology to innovate or dominate the industry. Include:
- History of the existing company; or the background information of the company you
intend to create - Current technology in place, or what you intend to utilize in the new company
- What is the current state of the company with the current system (or lack of) that is
in place?
2. Identify two similar companies (in the same sector as your business) that has implemented
an IS and has seen positive results, or that has failed to notice the impact that technology
would have on their business; you can feel free to select two companies that have
implemented an IS, or two companies that have not implemented an IS, or one that has
implemented an IS and one that did not implement an IS.
History of the companies
What IS/technology is in place? If none is in place, be sure to describe the current
practice What is the impact of the implementation (or lack of) on the business?
3. Identify an emerging technology that is disrupting your existing industry of your company
E.g. Ride sharing on the taxi and limousine , Online colleges on conventional
Universities, and Self-serve Kiosks at Fast food restaurants
- What can you learn from this disruptive technology?
- What disruptive technology will your company implement? Be sure to be as
specific as possible. - You must outline and justify which Information System(s) you will utilize to
enhance the current business, or that you will implement in your new organization
4. Impact of Data Analytics on society
- Explain the technology, if any, that is currently being used to analyze data
- Why is the data being collected?
- How is it being used?
- What would you change to ensure that the data collected is utilized to the fullest
capability? Be sure to use an Information System
5. Explain the importance of the IS in the organization
- Without the IS, how would the company perform?
- What is the impact of the implemented IS?
- Was it a wise decision to implement the IS?
- Will the IS result in a positive Return On Investment (ROI)?
Introduction
Technology has advanced to become an extremely significant part of business today, and the application of information technology has become virtually unavoidable. Thus, to remain competitive in the current domestic or global market, most businesses have developed novel strategies associated with information systems and have incorporated them into their business models. Besides, such information systems have a central role in running and effectively managing businesses. The primary role of the information systems is to manage essential production data and based on the information. It aids the organization management, owners, and production in optimally running the business and maximizing profit margin and efficiency. Retail stores like Walmart have effectively incorporated the information systems into their business model and to the numerous departments of their organization, encompassing supply chain management, client and supplier management, and inventory management. The systems are designed to interact with one another to increase the efficiency of interdepartmental relations and ensure the company’s success. Hence, the paper explores the implementation and application of information systems in Walmart and two of its core competitors, Amazon and Costco.
Background Information
Walmart is an internationally recognized company established in 1969 and is involved in wholesale, retail, and other essential units in various formats globally. Particularly, the company offers an assortment of businesses and services at a very low price, which has been the main source of its increasing client pool and market shares. Walmart mainly functions through three segments: Sam’s Club, Walmart global, and the Walmart United States. The Walmart US component primarily consists of the company’s merchant idea within the nation operating under the enterprise brands and digital retail. Further, it provides fiscal services and related products encompassing prepaid cards, wire transfers, bill payment, and check cashing. The second segment, Walmart global, is mainly classified into retail, wholesale, and other designs operating outside the US. Some of the formats include hypermarkets, home improvement, supercenters, apparel stores, drug chains, and digital retails (Daniel, Neves & Horta, 2017). On the other hand, Sam’s club includes the membership warehouse clubs, which provide optical services, auto purchasing, battery and tire centers, and enterprise operations support services. Therefore, Walmart is a diversified organization dealing with many business lines and substantially influences the market.
According to Heller (2017), Walmart is the largest retailer globally that uses information technology to enhance its operation and acquire a competitive edge essentially. The main way that the company has implemented IT in its operation is through the application of radio frequency identification system, RFID, technology to enhance their operations by further advancing its labor cost reductions, advancing market intelligence, and inventory control enhancement. Further, reducing the company’s inventory and product out of stocks was an essential part of beginning the application of the RFID for the firm. Also, because of its sustained growth, Walmart began to implement FRID utilization in 2003 to keep track of the shipments of the products sent to various locations and products stored within the warehouses (Tan et al., 2018). The implementation of the technology has allowed the company to develop and become the world’s largest retailer by being the master of supply chain management, which, in turn, has enabled the company to bring the lowest plausible prices to its clients. Further, using the RFID in identifying and effectively tracking the inventory via the supply chain has been ideal for the organization since this system enables quick and easy real-time transfer of information stored on the tags on the products or even pallets. Also, the technology has allowed Walmart to transfer much more data than the bar codes traditionally utilized for the same purpose.
Two companies in the retail industry use an IS
The first company assessed in the retail industry is Amazon, which is perceived as to be among the leading retailers that sell an extensive array of products through the online platform (Salam, 2016). The company was established by an entrepreneur known as Jeff Bezos in 1994, which was facilitated by the revolution period of the 1990s that availed several chances to the emerging entrepreneurs. The initial objective of the founder was mainly engrossed on marketing particular products using the internet like videos, books, compact discs, and computer hardware. Assisted with dedicated employees, the founder created a common website amongst users in the first year of operation. Originally, the firm merely had 2000 titles stored in the warehouse, and its business model was designed to collect books from various wholesalers and publishers and directly deliver them to clients. Though the organization began as a book store and marketing its services online, it had diversified its production by including electronics, DVDs, music, and apparel in the first ten years of its operation. Additionally, in 2005, the organization acquired firms like CreateSpace.com, BookSurge, and MobilePocket.com. Also, the Amazon prime was created that year to guarantee free shipping of products was executed mainly to support students’ requirements. By 2010, the organization had acquired numerous firms like AbeBooks.com and Election 2008 store.
The company has embraced the new and current technologies that have the potential to boost business productivity. Similar to Walmart, Amazon uses the RFID technology in the supply chain, which has resulted in maximized inventory visibility (Bae et al., 2016). Also, the technology has enabled the company to track products and shipments successfully. Further, the company has applied this technology, mainly in 2014, in detecting the products taken from a particular shelf by clients. Moreover, the application of this technology has made it possible for Amazon to detect and track products and items in all its outlet stores. Overall, the technology has advanced to become a powerful resolution to ensure that online inventory is promptly managed and seamlessly completed.
The second company assessed is Costco, which first opened in 1976 under the Price Club name. The location was later converted to an airplane hangar on Morena Boulevard in San Diego. The organization’s sales team mainly targeted the small businesses and a selected audience of non0buisness members since they established that the company could attain a higher purchasing power in serving such clients. Further, with the particular focus, the development of the warehouse club industry was started. In 1983, the initial Costco warehouse site was opened and operational within Seattle (Zhang et al., 2021). Also, the company is perceived as the first organization to develop from zero to three-billion-dollar level within less than six years of operations. Further, when the Price Club and Costco merged in 1993 to become the PriceCostco, it developed and had around 206 locations generating approximately $15 billion in annual sales. Since its establishment, the company’s operating strategy has remained modest: maintaining the charges down and surpassing the savings on their members. Besides, their vast membership base and incredible purchasing power, amalgamated by the continuous quest for efficacy, results in the company having the lowest possible prices for their members. The company resumed its initial name in 1997 and has since developed and expanded globally. In the previous financial year, the company’s total sales were at $116 billion.
The company has implemented Electronic Data Interchange, EDI, technology, which enables the computer-to-computer exchange of documents mainly in standard electronic form amid Costco and its members. Costco transforming from the paper-centered exchange of the such documents to the application of EDI has given it certain advantages like enhanced processing speed, eradicated mistakes and substantially reduced costs, and enhanced relations with its business partners (Nguyen et al., 2021). The computer-to-computer EDI implemented by the company has completely replaced postal mail, email, and fax. Whereas email is an electronic strategy, the exchanged document through email still necessitates individuals to handle it rather than computers. Moreover, having individuals involved in the process often significantly slows down the processing of document and re-introduces a certain percentage of error. Rather, the EDI documents can flow directly through the suitable application on the company’s computers.
Disruptive technologies
Disruptive technology is an innovation that substantially alters the way clients, businesses, and industries operate. Technological advancement has ensured the introduction of online shopping, e-commerce businesses, and on-demand delivery, which has completely changed client preferences and purchasing behavior (Majumdar, Banerji & Chakrabarti, 2018). Individuality and personalization are the high market demands, thus causing the companies in the retail industry to turn to disruptive technologies to maintain their clients satisfied and serve them from every angle. Further, the ideology applies computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning algorithms to simplify the shopping experiences. Ultimately designing and developing technologies alongside novel clients’ expectations would significantly influence the industry, thus resulting in tomorrow’s shopping a personalized, quick, and more convenient experience (Kohli, 2020). Some of the disruptor technologies within the industry encompass the application of artificial intelligence, data-driven targeting, geo-fencing and beacon, and virtual reality tools to improve the in-store navigation and experience.
The advancement in technology like virtual shopping assistants, AI-powered recommendation engines, in-store stylist robots, and bot-managed billion counters, among others, have significantly altered the dynamics of retail. Further, heuristic learning has provided such bots with the capability to conduct in real-time with the smartness collected from clients’ data mining (Maksood & Achuthan, 2016). Currently, the organizations within the industry are establishing means and techniques of using these robots in their daily operations to mainly streamline the functions like store layout, stocking, and product presentation, and in the course making such technologies relevant in the perception of their online counterparts. Additionally, the mobile empowers the organizations to reach greater audiences in a personal, real-time, location-aware, and geo-targeted manner, which leads to beacons and geo-fencing that benefit the retailers. Gradually, the retail companies are installing in-store beacons to be used mainly for location-based marketing, enticing clients to walk to the stores and offer value-added experiences in-store, giving them a competitive edge over others in the industry.
Additionally, data intelligence and data analytics present a striking image of reinvented retail, and the companies have established numerous uses for this tool. The client contextualization and identification that can deliver an incredibly personalized experience are perceived as essential in the industry. Thus, gathering, transforming, and analyzing the client’s offline and online shopping behavior, demographics, preferences, and social profiles for precise consumer targets is central to the company’s effectiveness (Kohli, K. (2020). On the other hand, e-commerce websites operate so that they often precisely comprehend the customer requirements, and the data is always available in all the devices the clients prefer to use. This organized, well-selected, and presented form of shopping often makes it easy and appropriate for the clients due to the reduced timeframe used in shopping. Therefore, the renovation of brick-and-mortar stores as emotion-experience centers with the advanced aspects of AI-enabled virtual mirrors has aided in bridging the individual limitations of the two platforms and resulting in a proper coordinated market for the clients.
