COMPETING WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Roll# BBA-19-010
Name Abdul Sattar Langah
Class BBA-III
Instructor Mr. Abdul Qudoos Noonari
Department Institute of Business Administration

1ST MAY 2021

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 Table of Contents
Value Chain and Strategic Information System ............................................................. 2

Strategic use of IT ........................................................................................................ 2

Re-engineering Business Processes .............................................................................. 2

The Role of IT ............................................................................................................... 3

A Cross-Functional Process .......................................................................................... 3

Reengineering Order Management .............................................................................. 3

Becoming an Agile Company ........................................................................................ 4

Strategies for Agility .................................................................................................... 4

Creating a Virtual Company ......................................................................................... 4

A Virtual Company ....................................................................................................... 5

Virtual Company Strategies.......................................................................................... 5

Building a Knowledge-Creating company ..................................................................... 5

Kinds of Knowledge ..................................................................................................... 6

Knowledge Management ............................................................................................. 6

Knowledge Management Techniques .......................................................................... 6

Knowledge Management System (KMS)....................................................................... 7

Summary ..................................................................................................................... 7

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Value Chain and Strategic Information System
The product is supplied to the end users from manufacturing department through various steps
that includes; manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, Retailors and then consumers. All these
work jointly for a specific product and services to deliver to its final consumers in form a value.

The information system provides data that helps whole supply chain to offer goods and services
in a specific targeted market. Two functions are followed in this whole process:

1) Primary function
A function in which the main purpose is to manufacture and deliver product.
2) Information support system
The support system helps the organizations to record and manage day to day activities
performed within the premises of organization.

After performing these both functions the managers try to find out the most appropriate and
defective section to improve it, in order to enhance capabilities in providing goods to customers.

Strategic use of IT
Whenever any firm or organization uses strategic use of IT in business, it usually gains some
competitive differentiation and change over its competitors and rivals prevailing in the targeted
market.

The changes or competitive advantages can be in following perspectives:

Product: Company can enhance technological information in a specific product.

Services: It can enhance efficiency and effectiveness in activities to provide unique feature of
services to its customers.

Capabilities: The use of IT makes able a company to perform its operations and working activities
in a short period of time which makes it too much faster in saving time and offering best of
services to its customers.

Re-engineering Business Processes

The reengineering of business processes by using Information technology. Entrepreneurs and
managers use IT to bring the manual system to the automatic machine system for record keeping
and track data regarding every performed activity to secure and to make fast business
transactions.

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The managers use IT to develop new methodologies to support business transactions and make
new overlays of business to record transactions. It helps in improving cost of the product as it
adds new specifications in the product like online availability of product just on a single touch of
fingers. It improves quality as IT helps performing operations more quickly at lower cost, less time
spending and much more. It enhances speed of operations performed within the premises of
organization and moreover it helps in improving performance of services more quickly and
accurately through proper channels of online trade.

The Role of IT
Information technology plays vital and important role in reengineering and strenghening any business. It
enhances efficiency and effectiveness in processes of the business, improves communication within every
authority and employee of the firm and provides a platform to a business to make collaborations over
various aspects of activites within the business.

A Cross-Functional Process
The development and usage of information technology is done with various number of
application software. These software include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) that makes able
managers to utilize different sort of assets according to their need and keeps track of every
inventory manufactured with the firm. It also uses Web-enabled electronic business and
commerce systems that help every business to work locally. Regionally, nationally and
internationally..

Reengineering Order Management

The process that are managed by using IT works effectively and efficiently and their order of
arrangement is described below.

 CRM systems using Internet or Extranets to manage daily based data of customers.
 Supplier-managed inventory system using networks to manage inventory.
 Cross-functional ERP software for integration of manufacturing, distribution, finance and
HRM.

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  Availing e-commerce websites to customers to order entry, status checking, payment and
services that generates customer, product, and other status databases accessed via
networking systems.

Becoming an Agile Company

Agility: It is the ability to grow rapidly by changing fragmented global market, selling best values
using internet technology.

The Agile companies earn a lot of profit by their unique way of functioning at different market
either nationally or internationally. Some specifications are shown below:

 Broad availability of products at various ranges

 Short model lifetimes
 Individualized products
 Arbitrary lot sizes

Strategies for Agility

The strategies that an Agile company usually practice are stated below:

 It provides products like a solution to customers that solves their problems

 Cooperation with customers, suppliers and rivals
 Brings cost efficient products in the market as soon as possible
 Organizes to thrive on change and uncertainty
 Utilizes the impacts of the knowledge to its people that they possess

Creating a Virtual Company

The virtual companies usually use IT to manage all the activities of their business that makes them
able to link people, organizations, assets and ideas. Their inter-enterprise information systems
links their customers, suppliers, sub-contractors and competitors.

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A Virtual Company

Virtual Company Strategies

The strategies which virtual companies apply that make them so competitive and efficient in their
business activities are stated below:

 They usually share their risk and information with their alliance partners
 Link complimentary core competencies which makes them stronger
 Reduce concept-to-cash time through sharing
 They easily get into new markets and share markets or customer loyalty
 They takes move from selling products to selling solutions

Building a Knowledge-Creating company

The knowledge building company refers to a company which grows constantly through its learning
processes from various sources. It possesses some features which are stated below:

 It constantly creates new business knowledge from its knowledge.

 The collected information is disseminated throughout the organization.
 Using the collected information the products are services are manufactured more effective and
qualitative.

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Kinds of Knowledge
There are two kinds of knowledge which are used in the organizations

1. Explicit Knowledge
All the information of knowledge that is in the form of data, documents, and things that
are written down or stored in computers.
2. Tacit Knowledge
The information of data is in the minds of the workers. It represents the most important
and vital knowledge or information within the firm.
A knowledge-creating company makes tacit information available to others.

Knowledge Management
Successful Knowledge Management

The successful knowledge is when it creates techniques, technology, systems and rewards for
getting employees share what they know. It makes better use of accumulated workplace and
enterprise knowledge to formulate the business strategies more fruitful.

Knowledge Management Techniques

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Knowledge Management System (KMS)
The management systems of knowledge used to manage the whole organizations. This is the
strategic use of information technology. It helps in managing organizational learning and know-
how throughout the organization. It provides assistance to the employees to create, organize,
and make available to important knowledge within the firm. It avails the information wherever
and whenever it is needed.

The knowledge in KMS includes processes, procedures, patents, reference works, formulas, best
practice, forecasts, and fixes.

Summary
The final goods are distributed up to final users or end users through supply chain management
that includes Manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, retailor and consumers. Every organization
has different sources to deliver its good to the consumers. By following supply chain management
they are also able to keep record of transactions at daily basis. Strategic use of IT helps the
organizations to enhance their product and provide good services to their customers to gain
different capabilities to retain these customers. They pass through various procedures to
reengineer their business strategies in order or gain more and more profit than their competitors.
They use IT to enhance their working capabilities and to get orders and deliver products more
easily. CRM helps them to manage their customers, ERP provides assistance them to make
decision about utilization of assets. By gaining too much profits and applying various business
enhancing strategies they become Agile by which they manufacture best of the goods and
services in various ranges. Being Agile they make cooperation with their customers and
competitors to get best knowledge from the target market. Agility makes them unique and they
become virtual firms which links them with every concerned person dealing in the business
activities. They start gaining knowledge from their employees and customers and use it to get
more competitive strategies and advantages over their competitors. Finally they use Knowledge
Management System (KMS) to gain and disseminate information throughout the organization
and use it to enhance their productivity and to manufacture more qualitative products by fixing
their issues or lacking features.

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