Cases of Bis Essay Example
Cases of Bis Essay Example

Cases of Bis Essay Example

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  • Pages: 11 (2938 words)
  • Published: September 18, 2017
  • Type: Research Paper
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Liz Collarbone is a company that designs and markets men's apparel, furnishings, and fragrances for both women and men. In a recent year, their net sales reached a record-breaking $2 billion. The apparel industry is constantly influenced by changing fashion trends, which not only affect clothing design but also impact retailing and manufacturing structures. Boundaries between geographical locations are disappearing, while limitations are fading away. Consumers now prioritize versatility and value, defining these qualities themselves.

One example of this shift is the increasing popularity of casual dress, as it aims to simplify busy lives. These changing priorities have made consumers less loyal to brands or specific stores but more discerning and time-constrained in their decision-making process. Liz Collarbone addresses this rapid change by streamlining its core business processes and partnering with others through licensing and outsourcing.

By collaborating with external pa

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rtners, Liz Collarbone can handle activities that require less expertise, such as marketing watches or producing footwear and home furnishings. To further expand their success, Liz Collarbone has set specific corporate goals for themselves: doubling revenue to over $4 billion by 2000, reducing operations costs by $35 million annually, minimizing the time from product design to availability on the market, and improving customer communications.

To achieve these ambitious goals, Liz Collarbone has initiated a major technology overhaul project. This includes replacing over 80% of their business processes along with information systems, hardware components like computers or servers used within the organization software applications employed across different departments), databases (where data is stored), network capabilities (communication infrastructure).The process of transforming technology involves not only installation and maintenance but also aligning it with business needs and teaching employees to

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adapt. Naomi Karate, an advisor to the company, emphasizes the importance of managing the business aspect of a technology change for success. Liz Collarbone has implemented web-based tools to improve communication with suppliers and retailers. These tools enable retailers to track purchase orders and check transaction statuses instantly, eliminating the need for phone communication. As a result, over 60% of customer orders are now placed electronically. The company has made significant investments in software, improving tracking and communication with partners. This shift in technology has also impacted the design process as advanced software tools replace pen sketches. Additionally, designs are now sent electronically via the web instead of physically delivering them to retailers, saving time and money. Elastically networking technology enables global transfer of textile and design information. Ms.Karate believes that managing the business side of a technology change is crucial for success, even if the technology itself succeeds - an idea applicable to Liz Collarbone's situation too.To justify their investment in upgrading information systems to the board of directors, one might emphasize the benefits of improved tracking, communication, and cost savings achieved through electronic transmission of designs. This information is sourced from Kumara Fijian's article "IT Overhaul May Boost Fashion Profit" (Computerized, April 13, 1998), Tom Stein's article "Going Global" (Informational, February 2, 1998), and Liz Collarbone's web page at *http://www.Localization.Com accessed on April 15, 1998.

Large corporations handle millions of transactions annually and store significant volumes of transaction data. This data is often distributed among various computer systems in different locations. While this raw data is necessary for record-keeping purposes, it lacks value for managers and decision-makers unless it can be filtered and processed

into meaningful information. The analysis of this data can potentially lead to a significant increase in revenues and profits. However, extracting strategic insights from such a vast amount of data is a challenge akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Nonetheless, with modern high-speed computers and knowledgeable Information Systems (IS) staff, transforming raw data into valuable and profitable information is now possible.

Farmers Insurance Group faced a similar situation as they also had an extensive reservoir of raw data.Nonetheless, the dispersion of this information occurred across various computer systems in different locations. In the insurance industry, underwriting is crucial for determining the types of insurance policies and corresponding premiums offered by a company. Farmers Insurance Group's underwriting business holds responsibility for assessing insurance risk, which ultimately impacts the success or failure of the company. Individuals known as actuaries are responsible for evaluating insurance risk in such companies.

Tom Birdman, an assistant actuary at Farmers, asserts that traditional methods of categorizing risk are insufficient in gaining a competitive edge due to intense competition in the insurance industry. He highlights how insurance companies often classify risk based on factors like vehicle type, with sports cars being more prone to expensive accidents compared to sedans. Consequently, higher-risk categories can be assigned to sports cars by insurance companies who charge their owners higher premiums.

In previous times, intuition was relied upon by insurance actuaries to assess risk; they suspected that sports cars were more accident-prone than sedans. These hunches would then be tested and validated using computers.Birdman called this process using computers to "gather data that supports or disproves these intuitive assumptions." One disadvantage of this approach is that it may

overlook or misprice small yet profitable market segments. To address this problem, Farmers looked for a computer system that could identify lucrative market niches.

Farmers found the solution in a customized software product called Decisions, created by MM. Decisions was an advanced decision support system that integrated data from seven separate databases containing a massive 35 million records. Although it took longer than expected to consolidate raw data into valuable information, the wait proved worthwhile. By using the decision support system, Farmers was able to discover market niches they had previously ignored. The system enabled Farmers to determine that not all sports car owners were alike - older individuals who owned other vehicles were less likely to have costly accidents. By identifying this particular niche, Farmers could offer lower premiums to this segment of the sports car market. This insight gained from using Decision Edge resulted in millions of dollars in increased revenues. This practice, known as "data scrubbing," allows companies to consolidate vital information and generate additional profits. After assisting Farmers and recognizing the market opportunity, IBM decided to offer its Decision Edge software to other insurance companiesThis approach can be applied in other industries as well. MIT School of Business Semester - II Subject Name: Faded applies Telecommunications in package delivery

Faded, a multimillion-dollar company, has achieved success by offering reliable overnight delivery services for high-priority packages and documents. With a fleet of 590 airplanes, 40,000 trucks, and 137,000 employees, Faded is able to deliver over 2.9 million packages per day. The shipping process involves picking up parcels from customers or through drop-off at a Faded hub where they are sorted by

destination, loaded on planes, and shipped to the destination airport. Overnight delivery packages are guaranteed to reach their destination within 24 hours.

To ensure the utmost reliability in their shipping operations, Faded implements a thorough tracking system. Each package's journey from the shipper to the recipient is meticulously monitored. Upon package pickup, drivers use Supertanker, a portable handheld computer equipped with a bar code reader to log the package and gather additional information such as the destination's zip code. The Supertanker is then connected to a computer in the truck which transmits the data to the local dispatch center via radio waves.
This dispatch center has access to Faded's corporate database. Remarkably, within five minutes of initial pickup, the Faded database contains essential information about the package, including its identification, location, destination, and delivery route. The location data of the package is automatically updated using the package's bar code as it proceeds through each step towards its destination. The combination of telecommunications and computing allows Faded to know the package's location at all times and ensure proper procedures are followed. Any deviation would be quickly noticeable.

Package tracking information serves various purposes. It forms the basis for customer billing, and also aids customer service agents in informing customers about the whereabouts of their packages. Customers can access the Faded website to obtain this information as well.

In order to manage their internal operations, Faded developed a service quality index that considers 12 types of events that disappoint customers, including late delivery, damaged or lost packages, and complaints. Even a slight delay in delivering a package that was promised at a specific time is considered problematic, such as a

10:31 delivery for a package promised by 10:30.

To learn from past issues and mistakes employees throughout the company receive daily feedback reports identifying problems that occurred the previous dayOther major package delivery and shipping companies have also adopted this system. Faded has evolved from being solely a package delivery company to becoming a comprehensive corporate partner, handling all aspects of transporting a company's finished goods. This includes pick up, transportation, warehousing, and delivery. Throughout the entire process, customers are able to track the status of their orders at each step.

A prime example of this is demonstrated by Omaha Steaks. When orders are sent from their central computer to their warehouses, an automatically generated Faded tracking label is utilized. These orders fulfilled by the warehouses are then delivered by Omaha Steaks to a Faded hub for further delivery to the customers.

Faded has also taken on most of the warehousing and distribution responsibilities for National Semiconductor as another instance of their expanded services. National Semiconductor manufactures its products in Asia and ships them to a dedicated Faded distribution warehouse located in Singapore. The mainframe computer of National Semiconductor sends daily orders directly to Faded's inventory management computer in Memphis using a dedicated line. Subsequently, Faded forwards these orders to its warehouse in Singapore where packaging and shipping take place.

This new system has resulted in significant improvements such as reducing average customer delivery time from four weeks down to just seven days. Furthermore, it has effectively decreased distribution costs from 2.9% of sales to only 1.2%.Faded has enhanced its capabilities with e-business tools, such as e-shipping tools, e-commerce tools, an e-commerce Builder, and the Faded Global Developer program.

The e-Shipping tools allow users to initiate and track shipments from their desktops. Users can create shipping labels, track package status, find drop-off locations and rates, and manage returns from customers. The e-commerce Builder helps users build and manage a small online store. The Global Developer program enables merchants to integrate shipping and tracking capabilities into their websites.

In the above case study, the Business System components are identified as: a.Customers b.Products/Services c.Business processes d.Participants e.Information f.Technology

The Gerber story began in 1927 when Daniel Gerber's wife hand-strained solid food for their seven-month-old daughter based on a pediatrician's advice. Realizing the repetitive nature of this task, Dorothy Gerber suggested utilizing the Fremont Canning Company where their family produced canned fruits and vegetables.Experiments with strained baby foods resulted in workers in the plant requesting samples for their own babies. By late 1928, Gerber successfully introduced strained peas, prunes, carrots, spinach, and beef vegetable soup to the national market. Over time, Gerber has grown continuously and now offers nearly 190 food products labeled in 16 languages that are distributed to 80 countries.

To address the need for cost-conscious inventory management, Gerber has established partnerships with 40 major grocery chains. The objective of this system is to reduce inventory costs for both Gerber and customers while incentivizing store managers to purchase from Gerber. Remarkably, there is no charge for this inventory management service as it enhances customer loyalty and gathers sales data for refining baby food production plans.

Gerber aims to gain a competitive advantage through superior forecasting and planning. To facilitate this process, an electronic data interchange (EDI) system was created. This system relays sales information from grocery stores to Gerber's

headquarters in Fremont, Michigan. The received data is then input into Numismatics software which helps schedule new product deliveries.Numismatics, Inc., is a company that specializes in manufacturing software for supply chain management. Their solutions improve the movement of products within and between companies, from raw materials or parts through manufacturing to the delivery of products to end customers. By using Numismatics software, Gerber can make informed operational decisions, leading to increased revenue, reduced inventory levels, improved customer service, stronger relationships with trading partners, faster time to market, and lower overall costs throughout the supply chain.

While the Gerber-Numismatics system functions well overall, there was a slowdown in onboarding new grocers due to the need for translating all EDI messages from different grocery chains into a unified format. In addition to this challenge, Grabber's custom-built software for sending alerts and messages to inventory planners provided minimal data and often required manual searches through raw EDI transmissions for crucial information.

To address these issues, Gerber requested Numismatics to perform a systems analysis and design an enhanced EDI process that would be simplified. Numismatics partnered with Fronted MAT, an application integration specialist, in order to develop the Intelligent Messenger for Vendor Managed Inventory.This software product was created to format and prepare customer product activity data for input into Numismatics. Its goal is to provide consistent and comprehensive data, including product identification, unit of measure conversion, data validation, and sequence checking. Additional features were added based on user needs, such as intelligent routing of messages, event-driven notifications, and predefined trading partner business processes.

Gerber plans to be the first company to implement this new data transformation and messaging software. Their objective is

to significantly increase the amount of inventory they manage for grocery stores. Currently, Gerber sells about $700 million worth of baby food in the U.S. annually but only manages 27% of base sales. They aim to manage inventory for 80% of sales within two years.

In order to achieve these objectives, Gerber needs to go through different stages of an information systems project and involve various players with specific roles.

Sources: adapted from Craig Steamed, "Gerber Tightens Inventory Control", Computerized, June 8, 1998, p.57-58; Gerber Story and Products sections of the Gerber website at http://www.Gerber.Com accessed on June 19, 1998.Press Release: "Fronted Announces Intelligent Messenger For Vendor Managed Inventory"Illinois Power decided to invest in a new wireless system to save time and eliminate the need for drivers to travel to a central office. Now, they can simply wake up in the morning, get into their trucks, and download the service and repair tasks for the day. This has resulted in cost savings by reducing gas expenses and improving operational efficiency. Additionally, each truck is equipped with a GPS system that allows a central dispatcher to locate the nearest truck for emergency repairs. Illinois Power hopes that implementing this new system will increase profits and market share.

The benefits of the new system include time savings, elimination of driver travel to a central office, reduced gas expenses, improved operational efficiency, and increased profits.

To improve customer service and satisfaction for home users, Illinois Power could consider additional steps such as providing real-time updates on service and repair progress through the wireless system or offering online appointment scheduling options.

The retail industry could benefit from this new wireless system by using it

for efficient inventory management, tracking deliveries in real-time, optimizing routes for shipping goods, and enhancing overall logistics operations.

In 1995, eBay was founded by Pierre Midair with the goal of enabling Internet trading of collectibles. Initially focusing on items like Pez dispensers between collectors, eBay quickly grew into an online auction platform where individuals could sell collectibles and used items to other individuals. By mid-2000s eBay had millions of registered users facilitating millions of auctions daily across thousands of categories.In the second quarter of 2000, eBay generated revenues amounting to $97 million. One distinctive aspect of eBay is its unique approach to auctions. Unlike traditional auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's, eBay does not keep any inventories during the auction process. Furthermore, eBay expanded beyond its initial vision by allowing businesses to utilize the platform as a distribution channel. The top twenty sellers on eBay were responsible for a total of 72,000 listings. To participate in the auction process on eBay, both sellers and buyers need to register with the platform if they haven't already done so. Registration can be completed using either an email address or a chosen nickname. Sellers provide item descriptions (including pictures), specify minimum selling prices, and outline delivery methods. Afterward, eBay creates an auction with designated start and end dates, listing it alongside other ongoing auctions within the same category. Potential buyers also have the option to register with eBay and explore their desired categories of interest through a comprehensive list of ongoing auctions provided by the platform. These potential buyers engage in auctions by reviewing current highest bids and submitting higher bids if desired. The individual who places the

highest bid before the auction concludes becomes the winning bidder under a legally binding contract that obligates payment for the item won in question.

Trust is crucial in auctions on eBay due to the lack of personal familiarity between buyers and sellers, making it difficult to verify identities. Key concerns include accurate representation of items, delivery promises, and fulfilling bids. eBay has implemented mechanisms such as the Feedback Forum for users to assess previous feedback, up to $200 insurance coverage for buyers, and a fee-based escrow service. ID verification through Aquifer Secure is also available. eBay addresses website outage issues by extending eligible auctions for an additional 24 hours after outages lasting more than two hours. Despite these measures, instances of fraud involving stolen credit cards and misrepresented item descriptions have still occurred.Furthermore, there have been instances where fraudulent parties known as "shill bidders" have conspired together to place counterfeit bids with the intention of artificially raising auction prices.

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