How do you know what information systems are really needed by a business and which are the most

important? How should a company’s structure or culture affect the building and use of information
systems?
Information systems provide real economic value to the businesses. With businesses involving in large
number of activities and having different level of management, information systems are not only just
needed for information storage but also to ease the process of decision making, communication and
overall efficiency of business. Some of the information system that are important for business are
transaction processing system, enterprise system, management information system, decision support
systems, knowledge management system and many more.
Each organization has a unique culture, fundamental values and beliefs and a certain way of doing things.
The way information system is used in an organization and the success of information system being used
also somehow depends upon the organization culture. For example, for an organization whose priority is
customer services a lot of importance is given to customer relationship management systems.

Management analysis of Dirt Bikes USA:

Carl Schmidt and Steven McFadden noticed that dirt bikes were getting popular in the United States and
with their knowledge and interest for bikes started Dirt Bikes USA. The company’s goal was to produce
dirt bikes that performed and looked better than other foreign brands by using the best custom parts
available from all over the world. The company wanted to launch manufacturing of well salable dirt bikes
which would comply with the customers’ requirements of high quality materials used for manufacturing,
wearing qualities and usability.

Talking about the culture of the company, the company was founded on a friendly family atmosphere that
emphasizes attention to detail and quality, ongoing learning and innovation and employee contributions.
The employees pay great attention to the quality of their work. Dirt Bikes USA has strong culture because
most employees of the company agree on the company’s culture. Many of the employees are dirt bike
racing enthusiasts who often take part in different racing competitions in order to promote the products of
their company. Similarly, the company has created an environment where the employees, distributors, and
retail customers are urged to contribute ideas on how to improve products and service of Dirt Bikes.

As a small growing company, Dirt Bikes USA produces dirt bikes most of which are sold in the United
States. The company specializes in off road and motocross motorcycles that emphasize racing
performance, styling and best quality parts sourced from all over the world. There are two types of
products available to the customers namely Enduro and Moto. Dirt Bikes currently produces four models:
the Enduro 250, the Enduro 550, the Moto 300 and the Moto 450. Enduro models are mostly for
endurance racers and Moto models are for moto racing. The company primarily sells its product through
the network of 40 authorized distributors all over the States. Moreover, the company cooperates with
independent European distributors selling a small percentage of dirt bikes in Europe.

Dirt Bikes is a small private company and not very hierarchical. The company follows a “flat”
organization structure with little middle management (in some department) between staff and executives
to manage its business. The company consist of production, administration and sales and marketing
department with 120 employees working in design, engineering and production. Among them there are 3
designers and 3 engineers, 4 employees who represent parts department, 10 employees work in service
warranties department, 5 employees work in shipping and receiving department. The Sales staff consists
of a marketing manager overseeing 5 sales representatives. The corporate administrative staff consists of
a controller, an accountant and two human resources staff members, three secretaries, and two
information systems specialists.

A company like Dirt Bikes should use different types of information systems to support its design,
purchase, production, sales and services as well as its administration. A good supply chain management
system would help the company to rapidly communicate orders and product design, help with inventory
management, and help track the orders and shipments and plan production based on actual demand. Use
of enterprise system would help company integrate the data of all departments. For example, if an order is
placed not only the sales department but manufacturing department will also be able to access the
information. Similarly, a CRM systems will provide the company with all the information to coordinate
all of the business processes that deal with customers in sales, marketing, and service to optimize revenue,
customer satisfaction, and customer retention. The company could also use marketing information system
to monitor trends in domestic as well as international markets among bikers. Talking about the
technology, the company can use web for its internal as well as external business process. As we can see
that the sells is declining in year 2014 so in order to boost sales the company can use E-commerce. It can
sell as well as advertise its product and services over internet which will help reach to a large customer
base and reduce its dependency on distributors.