Chapter 2

• Organisation


  Formal collection of people and other resources established to accomplish a set of goals

  A system that constantly uses money, people, materials, machines and other equipment such as data, information and decision
• Value chain

  Series (chain) of activities that an organisation performs to transform inputs to outputs in such a way that the value of the input is increased
• Supply chain


  In a manufacturing organisation, they supply chain is a key value chain whose primaty activites include inbound and outbound logisitcs, operations, marketing and sales and customer services.
• Supply chain


  To other companies, concept of value chain is just as important because by adding a significant amount of value to their products and services, companies ensure their success
• Supply chain managemnt (SCM)


  The management of all the activites required to get the right product inti the right consumer's hands in the right quantity at the right time and at the right cost
• Customer relationship managment (CRM)

  • helps companies mange all aspects of customers
  • can get customer feedback to help design new products and services
• Culture


  Set of major understandings and assumptions shared by a group
• Organisational culture


  Major understandings and assumptions for an organisation

  Influences information systems
• Organisational change


  How organisations plan for, implement and handle change
• Change model


  Represents change theories by identifying phases of change and the best way to implement them
• Unfreezing 


  Ceasing old habits and creating a climate that is receptive to change
• Moving


  Learning new work methods, behaviour and system
• Refreezing


  Invloves reinforcing changes to make the new procees second nature, accepted and part of the job.
• Organisation Learning 


  The adaptations of new conditions or adjustments based on experience and ideas over time
• Reengineering 


  Process redesign

  Radical redeisgn of business processes, organisational structures, information systems and values of the organisation to achieve a breakthrough in business results
• Continuous improvement


  Constantly seeking ways to improve business processes and add value to products and services
• Technology acceptance model (TAM)


  Specifies the factors that can lead to better attitudes about the use of a new information system, which leades to higher acceptance and usage of the new information system
• Technology diffusion


  Measures of how widely technology is spread throughout an organisation
• Technology infusion


  Extent to which technology permeates (spread throughout) a deparments
• Outsourcing


  Contracting with outside professional services
• On-demand computing


  Also called on-demand business or utility computing.

  Resources are made available to users when required

  Rapidly responding to the organisation's flow of work as the need for computer resoruces varies
• Downsizing


  Reducing number of employees to cut cost
• Competitive Advantage


  Refers to the ways that company can produce goods or delivers services better than its competitors.

  To be more profitable than its rivals

  Can result in higher-quality products, better customer service and lower costs
• The factors that lead firms to seek competitive advantage

  • Rivalry among existing competitors
  • Threat of new entrants
  • Threat of substitute products and services
  • The bargaining power of buyers
  • The bargaining power of suppliers
• Rivarly among existing competitors

  Industries with stronger rivalries tend to have more firms seeking competitive advantage
• Threat of new entrants

  Entry and exit costs to an industry are low

  Technology needed to start and maintain a business is commonly available
• Threat of substitute products and services

  The more consumers can obtain similar products and services that satisfy their needs, the more likely firms are to try to establish competitve advantage
• Barganing power of customers and suppliers

  When customers or suppliers have a lot of bargaining power, companies increase their competitive advantage to retain customers and to maintain their bargaining position with their suppliers

  Suppliers can also help an organisation gain a competitive advantage
• Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

  • Cost leadership
  • Differentiation
  • Niche strategy
  • Altering the industry structure
  • Creating new products and services
  • Improving exisiting product lines and services
• Return on Investment (ROI)

  One measure of IS value

  Investigates the additional profits or benefits that are generated as a percentage of the investment in IS technology
• Productivity

  A measure of output achieved divided by input required

  Higher level of output for a given level of input means greater productivity

  Productivity = (Output/Input) x 100%
• Market share and speed to market

  The percentage of sales that a product or service has in relation to the total market
• Customer awareness and satisfaction

  Performance measurement is based on feedback from internal and external users
• Total cost of ownership

  The sum of all costs oveer the life of the information system
• Operations

  Systen operators primarily run and maintain IS equipment

  Data center manager, information systems security anaylsts, LAN adminstrator
• Systems development

  Focuses on specific development projects and ongoing maintenance and review

  Software developer, systems analyst, programmer, web developers
• Support

  Provides user assitance in hardware and software acquisition and use, data adminstration, user training and assistance and Web adminstration
• Chief information officer (CIO)

  Employs the IS department's equipment and personnel to help the organisation attain its goals
• LAN administrators

  Set up and mange the network hardware, software and security processses
• Certification

  Process for testing skills and knowledge resuting in an endorsement by the certifying authority

  CISSP, CCNA, HCNA, ISO series