Supply chain management help on: Types of machinery & accessories
- About the company
The organization manufactures, support, maintain various types of machinery & accessories. This company belongs to a large group of privately owned company. This company majorly consists of the following i.e. software’s, mechanical engineering, defence, electronic manufacturing company.
The organization has approximately 150 workers. The organization was a part of an international enterprise i.e. a leading manufacturing company. In order to perform the various obligations, the organization was sold to a London based company. In the year 1990, the new owner shifted to East England. The overall responsibility of the organization was in the hands of the General Manager. The current annual turnover of the organization was estimated to be approximately 25million pounds.
The main aim of this report is to provide various possible solutions to the organization regarding the analytical tools which the organization could use keeping in mind the e-business strategy. Various challenges of adopting the e-business strategy have been discussed in the report. This report also highlights the various critical factors with regards to the company. The process analysis has been described in the report which would help in order to improve the overall performance of the same.
- IntroductionFive analytical tools in strategic management suitable for E Business have been listed as under:
Þ Storefront Model: The Store Front model would be referred to as one of the most popular e-business model. Such type of e-business model would help the organization in order to achieve various benefits (Torbay, Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2001). The storefront model would help in order to process the transaction, have fair security attached, online payment system as well as provide a platform which would help in order to buy & sell products online.
Þ Auction Model: The second model which could be used for e-business would refer to the Auction model. This model would provide different types of offers to its customers & the customers would be free to choose the cheapest amongst all or that offer which would satisfy the need of the consumer. Such types of models would act as an intermediary who would help in order to buy & sell their products.
Þ Portal Model: The third type of ecommerce model which could be used by the organization would be the Portal Model. This model would help the customers to find all the possible product offerings offered by enterprise. The portals should be made more specific which would consist of detailed information regarding the same. This would help the organization to interact with their customers or the potential customers as well. The portal model would act beneficial to the organization in many ways (Torbay, Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2001.
Þ Dynamic Pricing Model: Use of the various dynamic pricing models would help the organization to enhance its revenues with the help of different prices charged for different products. Initially, people used to physically get in touch with the retailers & wholesalers regarding any offers, but with the help of the dynamic pricing models over the web, people would be able to buy or sell the products in a click of a mouse (Viehland, 2000). Buying the products in bulk would help the customers to buy the goods at subsidized rates as compared to buy an individual commodity.
- Challenges for adoption E Business:
With the help of the upgradation in the technology, the organization would be able to work in the most effective as well as efficint manner. This would hlp in order to increase as well as enhance the business functions. The newer adopted technology would help the organization in order to have cheap, quick access to its customers all across the entire globe. Apart from all the benefits to the organization the various drawbacks or disadvantages attached to the same have been discussed below. They are as under:
Þ People: People for any given organization would mean serving its customers. But apart from them, there are employees would be in touch with handful number of people & represent the entire organization. The e-business would lead the entire organization empty. If someone is quite a jovial person then it would be a difficult task for the people working in the organization to stay in the years to come.
Þ Time: The second drawback attached to e-business would be in regards to the time attached to it. It is a myth that, e-business provides the information required for a particular levels of business in a struck of a second. It has also being hyped that; e-business would help in order to generate high levels of revenue.
Þ Sector Limits: The next drawback attached to it refers to that, there are various sectors who have not adopted the new version of technology i.e. e-business due to the various disadvantages attached to it. It has been seen that, even after adopting the e-business, there is a very little change in the organization. Acquiring e-business is a costly as well as a time consuming affair (Viehland, 2000).
Þ Internet Technology: The last drawback attached with the applicability of the e-business would refer to the technology which is being used by the organization. It must be regarded that, if the website goes offline due the various issues attached to it this might lead to a decline in the revenues. Hence, it must be kept in mind that all the technical issues attached to it should be resolved in the years to come (Viehland, 2000).
Various survey’s, research have been done by the authors which have helped in order to seek the various reasons for adopting r converting their business in to an e-business organization. According to Turban, Lee there are six forces which drives the electronic commerce in a particular organization. The critical success factors refer to the various aspects which would help in any organization to attain high levels of success. Successful implementation of these factors would help the business organization in order to attain the goals & objectives in the well defined manner.
- Critical Success Factors:
There are six critical success factors which have been attached with the applicability of the e-business have been discussed below in the report. They are as under:
Critical Success Factor 1: The first Critical success factor attached with e-business refers to be Consumer Centric. With the adoption of the consumer centric strategies, consumer tends to shifts it likes towards the one which has an online presence. With the implementation of the internet by the business organizations, the way information was initially being flown changed in a drastic manner.
With the applicability of the internet strategies, the consumers are directly communicated without involving any intermediary. With the implementation of the internet, many customers could be communicated at one time. Various sites such as www.consumerdemocracy.com has been made in order to communicate regarding the products, services, quality, features, complaints, praise, reports, information, statistics, discussion, rankings, descriptions, comparison, shady affairs (Torbay, Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2001).
Second, consumers can find and access information much easier than before. For the first time businesses must deal with a basic tenet of pure competition, a totally informed consumer. In a world where information is power, this can make sellers uncomfortable. Imagine the poor automobile salesperson who is greeted on the lot by a customer with a dealer invoice that shows the price the dealer paid for the car, easily available from automobile infomediaries such as Auto-by-Tel. These buyers won’t let dealers make big markups anymore.
Third, and most significantly, the Internet enables the information flow to be reversed so customer-centric companies can pull information from consumers to improve and customize products. Compare this with the product-centric company that pushes products to consumers. Companies that recognize this power shift to the customer will create a customer-centric strategy.
Critical Success Factor 2: Embrace outsourcing to improve business performance.
The second critical success factor which could be seen with the implementation of the e-business would be to outsource some of the functions which might help in order to improve the entire business operations. It must be seen that, the core functions of the organization i.e. planning, organizing, controlling, staffing, directing are also being out sourced (Williams, 2011).
The organizations are increasingly outsourcing their functions due to the following reasons. They are as under:
Þ Outsourcing would help in order to improve the overall efficiency of the business. This would also lead to a decrease in the costs & provide better services to its customers.
Þ The outsourcing in case of e-business would help the organization to establish & have an effective enterprise which would help in order to accomplish all the goals & objectives framed by the enterprise (Williams, 2011).
Þ Outsourcing would benefit the organization as it would help the enterprise to change its culture, have proper access to the various resources, use the expertise in such a manner which would help the organization to use the world class technologies & satisfy its customers.
Critical Success Factor 3: Act like a new entrant.
The critical success factor for the organization would be to act as a new entrant. It must be seen that, all those organizations that have linked up themselves with e-business would have an added advantage as compared to its competitors. It has been seen that, all the well established companies rely upon a modus operandi i.e. have low cost, increase the level of production, increase its presence by opening more number of stores. Cannibalization of the products is not be practiced & they do not try to innovate their products because of the additional cost attached to it (Torbay, Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2001).
Critical Success Factor 4: Use information management to differentiate your product.
The fourth critical success factor refers to the use of the technology which would help in order to innovate the product offerings. It has been seen that, with the use of the various technological patterns, the information age has changed. Information technology has been referred to as one of the key factors which leads to a change & creates a differentiated product all together. The information technology would help in order to decrease the level of competition. This would help the organization to practice an upper hand as compared to its competitors.
Critical Success Factor 5: Be a part of an e-business community.
The fifth critical success factor attached with the implementation of the e-business would refer to link oneself with the e-business. It must be seen that, the e-business should be able to link the customers, developer, and business people along with the various aspects of the business organization (Viehland, 2000). Such type of business would help in order to build mergers alliances & build a strong network which would help in order to formulate the business strategies. With the implementation of the e-business, critical information could be shared. This would help them in order to form a strong e-business strategy which might help the organization in the years to come.
Critical Success Factor 6: Executive leadership is essential.
The last critical success factor which is attached with implementation of the e-business would be with the help of executive leadership. Applicability of the e-business could not be successful in the absence of leadership & commitment towards the business. The strategies are mostly quiet vague & are framed by the management of the organization.
Business Process Strategy:
Process analysis refers to the different types of processes which have been formulated or structured in order to affix worth so as to transform the inputs into valuable outputs. Some of the inputs which should be kept in mind while reviewing the process analysis would be men, material, energy, capital, labor, etc. the outputs which might arise from converting the various inputs into outputs would be either a product or a service which is to be provided to the ultimate customer (Viehland, 2000). The process analysis would be quite helpful in order to assess the productivity of the organization. This would also help in the up liftment of the growth of the entire business.
The initial step which should be kept in mind in order while practicing the process strategy in order to see that the company should conduct in relation to the operations of the company in a new country in order to improve the overall performance of the business enterprise.
The process analysis would take into consideration the following activities such as:
Þ The first step in order to start up the process analysis would be to define the various boundaries which would help in order to link up the inputs with the outputs. For example, the startup point could be marked as input & the exit point could be marked as the output (Viehland, 2000).
Þ Structured flow diagram should be prepared which would help in order to illustrate the various flows of activities to be followed.
Þ Capacity for each & every activities mentioned in the above step should be kept in mind while studying the process analysis.
Þ Various other limitations should be kept in mind which would help in order to measure the one which has the lowest capacity (Torbay, Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2001).
Þ Operating decisions should be kept in mid which would help in order to improve the overall process analysis for a given organization.
- SWOT Analysis:
SWOT analysis could be defined as a strategic tool which could be used by any organization in order to be well versed with the internal as well as various external factors. The acronym SWOT means Strength, Weakness, Opportunity & Threats from the competitors. This strategic tool would refer to one of the most appropriate tool as it would help in order to have a detailed knowledge regarding the various aspects of e-business.
| Strengths |
Þ The main strength of e-business is that it is available 24 hours in a day & 7 days in a week.
Þ With the help of e-commerce, the products or the services could be reached at the destination. This would help in order to decrease the value of the product as compared to the market.
Þ The e-commerce would help in order to be fast & quite effective.
Þ Advertising or promoting the product with the help of e-commerce would help in order to reduce the overall cost of the organization as compared by practicing the conventional methods of promotion.
Þ The financial transactions within the organization could be undertaken in a struck of a second.Weakness
Þ The main weakness attached with e-commerce refers to that; there is no direct interaction with the customers.
Þ Convincing the customers does not exist within the organization as everything is done via internet.
Þ Other major weakness attached to the same is in regards to the fact that, people prefer to buy certain products by visiting the markets rather than buying it online.
Þ Potential customers could not be seen as everything is practiced on the internet.
Opportunities
Þ The major opportunity attached with e-commerce refers to the fact that the number of visitors have been increasing day by day.
Þ Many big firms have already started such type of marketing strategies which would help them to make the visitors habitual with the same.Threats
Þ The major threat involved in implementing e-commerce would be that, many people try to get access certain important details such as credit card numbers, etc.
Þ This lead to a decrease in the overall confidence of the people to use this method for marketing.
- Value Chain Analysis:
Value Chain analysis would refer to the analysis of an in depth analysis of the processes which would help in order to improve the overall effectiveness & efficiency of the e-business. Value chain analysis would consist of the following aspects such as inbound logistics, production process, outbound logistics, sales, marketing & customer service. The value chain in regards to e-business has been explained as under.
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