Exploring Business Initiatives

CHAPTER 6 : EXPLORING BUSINESS INITIATIVES

Organization Information

 

- Information is everywhere in an organization. 

- Employees must be able to obtain and analyze the many different levels,formats,and gralarities of

  organizational information to make decisions.

- Sucessfully collecting,compiling,sorting,and analyzing information can provide tremendous insight

  into how an organization is performing.

 

 

The Value of Timely Information

- Timeliness is an aspect of information that depends on the situation.

- Real-time information- immediate,up-to-date information.

- Real-time-system-provide real-time information in respone to query requests.  

 

The Value of Quality Information

- Business decisions are only as good as the quality of the information used to make the decisions

 

The Value of Quality Information

-Characteristics of high-quality information include :

• Accuracy
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Uniqueness
• Timeliness
   





Organizational Structure that Support Strategic Initiatives

CHAPTER 5 : ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES THAT SUPPORT STRATEGIC INITIATIVES.

Organizational Structures

 

- Organizational employees must work closely together to develop strategic initiatives that create

  competitive advantages.

- Ethnics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their

  business upon.

 

IT Roles and Responsibilities

 



- Information technology is a relatively new functional area,having only been around formally for

  around 40 years.

- Recent IT-related strategic positions is Chief Information Officer(CIO),Chief Technology Officer

  (CTO),Chief Security Officer(CSO),Chief Privacy Officer(CPO) and Chief Knowledge Office

  (CKO).

 

       1) Chief Information Officer(CIO) is oversees all uses of IT and ensures the startegic

           aligenment of  IT with business goals and objectives.Broad CIO functions include :

 

          a) Manager - Ensuring the delivery of all IT project,on time and within budget.

          b) Leader - Ensuring the strategic vision of IT is in line with the strategic vision of the

                             organization.

          c) Communicator - Building and maintaining strong executive relationships. 

      

       2) Chief Technology Officer(CTO) is responsible for ensuring the throughput,speed,accuracy,

           availability,and reliability of IT.

       3) Chief Security Officer(CSO) is responsible for ensuring the security of IT systems.

       4) Chief Privacy Officer(CPO) is responsile for ensuring the ethical and legal use of

           information.

        5) Chief Knowledge Office(CKO) is responsible for collecting,maintaining,and distributing the

            organization's knowledge.

 

The Gap Between Business Personnel and IT Personnel

- Business personnel possess expertise in functional areas such as marketing,accounting,and sales.

- IT personnel have the technological expertise.

- This typically causes a communications gap between the business personnel and IT personnel.

 



 

Improving Communications

- Business personnel must seek to increase their understanding of IT.

- IT personnel must seek to increase their understanding of the business.

- It is the responsibility of the CIO to ensure effective communication between business personnel

  and IT personnel. 

 

Organizational Fundamentals-Ethnics and Security

- Ethnics and security are two fundamental building blocks that organizations must base their

  bussiness on to be successful.

- In recent years,such events as the Enron and Martha Steward,along with 9/11 have shed new light

  on the meaning of ethics and security.

- Ethics- the principle and standards that guide our behavior toward other people.

- Issues affected by technology advance :

• Copyright
• Fair use doctrine
• Pirated software
• Counterfeit software

- Security is organization information is intellectual capital-it must be protected.

- Information security is the protection of information from accidental or intentional misuse by

  persons inside or outside an organization.

- E-business automatically creates tremendous information security risks for organizations.

 

 

 

 

PAST YEAR EXAMINATION

OCTOBER 2009 (PART D)

1) Identify five (5) of competitive advantages used by AirAsia?  (5 marks)
     - Developing new products or services.
     - Entering new markets.
     - Increasing customer loyalty.
     - Decreasing costs.
     - Attracting new customers.

2) Which of the Porter's generic strategies were applied by AirAsia in the case study and
     explain with example. (6 marks)
    

     The Porter's generic strategies were applied by AirAsia is cost leardership.Cost leadership is  has

     a low cost and broad market.AirAsia competes by offering a broad range of products at low price.

     Its business strategy is to be low-cost provider of goods for the cost-conscious consumer.For

     example,AirAsia operates scheduled domestic and international flights and Asia's largest low

     fare,no frills airline.AirAsia pioneered low cost trvelling in Asia. 

 

3) Based on Porter's Five Force Model,analyze AirAsia buyer power and supplier power.(9 

    marks)

 

   Porter's Five Force Model divided by five is buyer power,supplier power,threat of substitute

   product or services,threat new entarant and rivalry among existing competitors.

 

  Buyer power is the ability of buyer to affect the price they must pay for an item.For

  example,AirAsia operates with the world's lowest unit cost of US$ 0.023/ASK(available set per

  kilometer) and a passenger break-even load factor of 52% .

 

 Supplier power is the suppliers' ability to influence the prices they charge for supplies(including  

 materials,labour,and services).For example,AirAsia currently the main customer of the Airbus

 A320.The company has placed and order of 175 units of the same plane to service its routes.