0
How could a business leverage its investment in information technology to build startegic IT capabilities that serve as a barrier to entry by new entrants into its market?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
The cost of building and maintaining a strategic IT platform can be very expensive.
Leveraging investment in IT: By investing in advanced computer-based information systems to improve efficiency, firms are able to develop new products and services that would not have otherwise been possible without their strong IT capability.
Barriers to Entry: By increasing the amount of investment or the complexity of the technology required to compete in an industry or market segment can also discourage or delay other companies from entering a market
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
Why was Bunker Hill considered a startegic location?
money
How did hoplites change greek military?
Is becuse with that startegic they alway win.
How can internet technology help a business form startegic alliances with its customers suppliers and others?
I don't have specific knowledge about your question but if you are searching answer related to Internet business then this site may help you............. millions of traders are involved in forex market and they are testing their career......... http://www.forexz.co.cc/
What has the author K J Radford written?
K. J. Radford has written: 'Startegic and Tactical Decisions Edition' 'Information systems for strategic decisions' -- subject(s): Decision making, Management information systems 'Strategic planning' -- subject(s): Strategic planning 'Individual and Small Group Decisions'
How did the Roman army compare to the rest of the world?
The Roman Army Compared To The Rest Of The World? the Roman army was very advance and was very startegic compared to the rest of the world
What was the impact of colonialism in Malawi?
So America can have slaves.The above answer is very simplistic, there were many reasons why Africa was colonized most of them being driven by profit and business interests. Africa has massive natural resources to exploit and that was predominantly the driving force behind deeper expansion into Africa, during the early 1900s Africa also provided a military basis and startegic area for the allied forces during WW1 and WW2.
What were the main reasons Britain won the battle of Trafalgar?
The main reasons Britain won the battle of Trafalgar was their superiority in ships. The Britsh were better equipped in a post revolutionary country, while France was undergoing the revolutioin right then and Spain was still years away from revolution. The British had superior rate of firing cannons along with the startegic brilliance of Admirl Nelson widely regarded as the most brilliant naval commander of all time. Last but not least we have to take into consideration that the majority of French Navy's officers were killed during the first years of the Revolution because they were aristocrats so that the French Fleet lacked of experienced and skilled leaders starting from rank of Admiral going down to its lower ranks. Furthermore, it should be worth of mention that the French never adopted the "carronade" which was the most effective piece of ordnance at short range naval combat of the time and equipped all Ships of the Line of Britain. Indeed the genius of Napoleon didn't cover the naval warfare, which he more or less always underestimated and neglected as a secondary factor of strategy.
Which are the precautions you will take to avoide failures in strategies if you are the general manager of a production unit?
Startegic management is a set of managerial decisions and actions aimed at the generation OS sustainable competitive advantage . Strategic management operates on several time scales.shaort term strategies involve planning and managing for the present.long term strategies involve preparing for and preempting the future. To avoid failure on strategic we have to be srict on the following factors. 1. Good prepartation of line managers- Line managers need to understand the key concepts and language of strategic planning.many line managers adopt a grudging , mechanistic approach to their planning duties.line managers to become more effective strategy formulators has to do with broadening their perpective. They need to think about the business as a whole rather than only their own function.They also need to know what questions will be asked and what challanges to expect when they submit their proposed businessplans for approval. when line mangers can focus on real problems in their own companies.They can enahance their understanding of the strategic context and implecations. An oppotunity to learn how to think more broadly and how to hehave in ways that are more flexible and adaptive. 2. Correct definition of the business- The management of a firm defines each of the business they are conducting can have a profound bearing on the business strategic behaviour,its competitive clout and on the strategic options management may choose to implement. It means the marketplace requirements and comptitive dynamics,which best positions the firm to compete successfully. 3. SUB (Stratgic business unit)- when strategic planning is newly installed ,it is often assumed that the organizational units already in place should handle the planning,specially,the product line organization with its associated localized stratgic perspective impeded consideration of several important factors that charadterize this market , These include , Quality and style-Customers expect that which they purchase be co-ordinated interms of Price- customers expect a pricing policy that unifies within the context of the manufacturer's quality and style philosophy. Competition- The division responsible that its competitors and distribution channels were identical to those faced by its sister divisions. The following principles should guide the SBU. > If competitive forces require a larger unit than normal spans of control would dictate,go with the larger unit. > when separate units are strategically appropriater for external reasons but must ,for economies of scale, share central facilities and services ,let them share but keep them as separate units, > include with in the jurisdiction of the SBU all functions and process the unit head nees for executing the strategy. > Leave the unit head free to take profits where stratgy dictates,Hence nothing smaller than an SBU should be a profit cetre. 4.- Focus on the numbers- When performance numbers govern strategy formalation,SBU managers responsible for carrying out the strategy tend to make constrained strategic choices.such choeces seldom relect the realities of the industry markets and competitve environment. 5> Balance between extenal and internal consideration- This means developing an unerstanding of the firms industry ,markets,customers,and competition,.using this knowledge to determine what is strategically relevant when assessing the firms capabilities and competitive stregths and weakness.understanding and focusing on externals is crucial in making the strategic choices that will lead to the desired long-term outcomes. 6> self assessment- This is the quality of managements analysis of the organization capability to carry out various strngths and weakness in the light of possible courses of action is an important consideration in the choice of strategic option.this assessment is an important input to the definition of the work required to implement the selected options. 7> Sufficient action detailing- operational and strategic planning is to begin an action planning . each group first can identify and analyze the issues that must be resolved for implementing a particular strategy. they can rought out the major action steps to resolve each issue and thus implement the strategy.The group then presints its proposed action programme to the unit strategic planning team.After the planning team has heard,they deal with time frame,risk analysis allcation of resposnibility resource requirements,organizational obstacles,performance measurement and monitoring devices. 8> Sufficient effective participation acrss function- Strategic plans are of better quality and are more likely to be implemented successfully when the plan is formatated by a team of executives and managers working thgether in real time. this team should include the SBU general manager, the fundtional heads who report to this executive and middle-level managers ,elected for their ability to contribute usefully to the debate, Organizational arrangement ,control system,productivity programme is the main point from strategic planning to strategic management . so , as the general manager of a production unit we have to take the prcaution of all those above points to avoid failures in strategies.
Bases of departmentation?
Departmentation is a process resulting out of choice to group tasks according to some criterion. The resultant process of departmentation includes decisions regarding segregating organizational work, allocation of work to persons, telling all involved who is in charge and provide for the support needed by those. Given the nature of these choices and decisions, departmentation and the criteria or bases used for creating departments can have serious impact on the organization's effectiveness. Nine bases of departmentation are common among managerial choices: (a) Departmentation by numbers: Perhaps this is the simplest way to create groups or units within the organization, if we assume that all the individuals available are possessing same skills, abilities and other required qualifications. If so, and if the manager has a fair idea of how many people might be required to carry out the task, the grouping by size is ready. Given this nature, we might guess that this method is more useful where the task requires more of a muscle force (for example, an army battalion, or the building contractors' work-force) rather than use of specialized skill. (b) Departmentation by time of duty: Generally this basis is chosen when the operation or organizational activity is required to be carried on round the clock. The staff which is divided as per the time or shift basis might possess a set of different skills and abilities. Usually we find departmentation using this method at the lower levels of the organization, including manufacturing operations at the plant level, various security and control operations. Within the service sector, we find medical or firefighting services available round the clock, all days of the week. (c) Departmentation by function: This widely used method of departmentation is found in almost all organizations at some level and to some degrees. Groups are created such that within a group, people perform same function or activity, which at the lower level can even be identical. Example is a production department where all the jobs are focused on one activity, and the machine operators or workers assigned to a particular job such as machining or turning might be doing the same work. When work is divided like this, we have different groups performing different activities, so after functional departmentation, coordination among these groups is required. (d) Departmentation by Process or Equipment: This basis of departmentation is sometimes required by the technology itself as part of the production activity, where the transformation of raw material into finished goods is achieved through performance of various processes. Example is production unit of textiles, where workshops dedicated to processes like spinning, weaving, dying etc. sequentially operate to manufacture the finished goods. For other organizations also, sometimes the cost of specialized technology makes more sense for some facilities to be organized by process and be shared. Example is the Electronic Data Processing unit in small a organization. (e) Departmentation by Location or territory: If an organization's activities are scattered and if the differences across locations are significant in terms of customer preferences or the difficulty in handling complex scheduling issues, or the importance of local participation in decisionmaking , it makes sense to use departmentation by territory or location. The Indian Railway, for example is divided along territorial lines into central railway, western railway and so on. This method of departmentation is observed in the sales and service departments of many organizations where the major departmentation at the first level below the head of the organization is along functional line, but at the sub-department level, the sales department would have geographic regions or zones catered to by regional or zonal offices. (f) Departmentation by Product: as the name suggests, the grouping of activities is by the product, which evolves mainly in organizations that have grown into multi-product set-up. The usually preceding functional organization might not be supporting the growth and spread of business across different types of products. The head of the organization might be supported by product managers, in turn who might be supported by various functional sub-departments dedicated to specific product. On a large scale, these product managers become heads of divisions run like separate companies within the overall company. While this arrangement is good for paying close attention to the market, the demand and the competitive scenario for each of the products, it might be too expensive to maintain this type of departmentation unless the sales volumes or profits are high enough to justify it. (g) Departmentation by Customer: One more method to pay close attention to the needs of the customer is to create departments by customer types. We have within banks this type of departments - retail banking for retail customers, corporate banking for business clients, separate services for high net worth individuals, and so on. The rates offered for same products or services might be different in case of some departments compared to the routine business with retail individual customers, because again the volumes or the deal values might be very high. If so, even the procedures and rules, the purchase process, payment methods etc. might be different for these departments. (h) Departmentation by Market or Distribution Channel: Companies who want to ensure that their product reaches the intended customers through multiple channels so that the product enjoys high saliency and provides easy reminder to the customers can consider this type of departmentation. You can take the example of VIP luggage. This product is available in its dedicated, company owned show rooms as well as through the distributors and retailers. Each of the last two sell this brand along with several others. If so, once again you might wonder if the commonly needed service functions such as accounting or human resource management would be provided separately for each department managing a separate channel of distribution or market of the same product. If so, there might be confusion also, apart from high costs. But examining the structures of the organization, we would realize that departmentation by this type is also usually combined with some other basis for the best results. (i) Departmentation by Services: This type is especially meant for combination with other type(s) of departmentation, because it refers to the type of internal services provided within the organization and the number of people engaged in those services. The examples are Management Information System (MIS), Human Resource Management, Legal, Secretarial Assistance, House-keeping, Maintenance, Medical facilities and so on. These services are helpful in keeping the business activities and the flow of revenue-generating processes smooth. However, when dedicated in-house departments are created, sometimes they add to staff and operational costs because the support work required may vary and during the down-side of fluctuating type of business. Additionally, when separate departments such as MIS are created, they might generate volumes of reports which are not found usable by the intended users. Finally, the separation of service form the intended users sometimes leads to great importance attached to the service itself, for example purchasing of most cost-effective parts, but it does not satisfy the need of the intended users. Source: Gerloff E. A. (1985), Organizational Theory and Design - a Startegic Approach for Management, McGraw-Hill Series in Management pp. 228-233
