Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Strategy Triangle

1. A business strategy is a well-articulated vision of where a business seeks to go and how it expects to get there. It is the form by which a business communicates its goals. Management constructs this plan in response to market forces, customer demands, and the organizational capabilities. Market forces create the competitive situation for the business. Some markets, such as those faced by airlines, makers of personal computers, and issuers of credit cards, are characterized by many competitors and a high level of competition such that product differentiation becomes increasingly difficult. Other markets, such as those for package delivery, automobiles, and petroleum products, are similarly characterized by high competition, but product differentiation is better established. Customer demands comprise the wants and needs of the individuals and companies who purchase the products and services available in the marketplace. Organizational capabilities include the skills and experience that give the corporation a currency that can add value in the marketplace.
Successful firms have an overriding business strategy that drives both organizational strategy and IS strategy. The decisions made regarding the structure, hiring practices, and other components of the organization strategy, as well as decisions regarding applications, hardware, and other IS components, are all driven by the firm’s business objectives, strategies, and tactics. Successful firms carefully balance these three strategies – they purposely design their organization and there IS strategies to complement their business strategy.
Business strategy drives organizational strategy and IS strategy. The organization and it’s IS should clearly support defined business goals and objectives. Organizational strategy must complement business strategy. The way a business is organized either supports the implementation of its business strategy or it gets in the way. IS strategy must complement business strategy. When IS support business goals, the business appears to be working well. IS strategy can itself affect and is affected by changes in a firm’s business and organizational strategies. Moreover information systems strategy always has consequences – intended or not – on business and organizational strategies.
If the business strategy was not the driver, the triangle will become unbalance.

2. Marketing Strategy and E-Commerce Introduction With the rapidly advancing technologies that are occurring in modern business, organisations are required to be ready, and able to adapt within their ever-changing environment. It is true across all diverse industries that in order to stay competitive, organisations must be able to utilise the various tools that technology has to offer. Technological factors have been of growing importance, particularly in recent years. A major factor involved in these technology issues is the use of the Internet as a major issue to modern organisations. The Internet has been rapidly growing since it's inception and is now commonly used in all sectors of societies, in all corners of the globe. The Internet has quickly become one of the most valuable assets in modern technology, and as such, is developing as an integral part of modern commerce. As with past technologies, the Internet will have future technological advances develop from its own growth.. so the organization and IS strategy should according to the current social environment and the technology development to change the traditional way.

3. The chief information officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of information technology within an organization. The CIO typically reports to the chief financial officer and in IT-centered organizations to the chief executive officer. In military organizations, they report to the commanding officer or commanding general of the organization. While the military CIO is the steward for IT issues, CIO can accord the current technology, economic and social environment to adjust the strategy which the company using now. So CIO can provide organisational and strategic flexibility in order to make the company following the social, technology and economic change.



Reference:
[1] Home > Free Essays & Book Reports > Marketing > Marketin Strategy In E-Commerce, http://www.freeessays.cc/db/29/mul54.shtml Access on 17 Feb

1 comment:

Ms-Sha said...

You gave a good try on relating to other theory in your first answer - I'm impressed.

Your second answer does not really answer the question. You merely elaborated the advantages of Internet, without much mention on how the business strategy should be changed to grab those as opportunities.

Good try on the last answer, but it's not very clear in answering the CIO's role in general.

Overall, good job!