Week 3 Questions

Define TPS & DSS, and explain how an organisation can use these systems to make decisions and gain competitive advantages

TPS (transaction processing systems) and DSS (decision support systems) can be used to make deciisons and gain competeitive advantages.
TPS is a basic business system that serves the Operational level (analysts) in organization. This emcompassess al of the information contained with a single business process eg. ATM. (daily operational task.- OLTP)
DSS works for complex/unstructured-semi structured problems.  

Describe the three quantitative models typically used by decision support systems. 
1. Sensitivity analysis –variable influencing decisions

2. What if analysis- effect of ‘change.’

3. Goal seeking analysis
> all used as quantative decision support tools

Describe business processes and their importance to an organisation. Business process is a standard set of activities that accomplish a specific task – no automate. These allow a business to reduce costs, thereby making it more effective resulting in an increased profit.

Compare business process improvement and business process re-engineering. Business process improvement (BPI) Is where a business is always improving. Aka a “continuous improvement model”.
A business process re-engineering (BPR) is instead where a business needs to completely re-do and start up the business from scratch.

Describe the importance of business process modelling (or mapping) and business process models. BPM  is different information flows. Ie making the business automated. This adaoption of technology is where the business uses ebusiness models. 

Week 2 Questions

Explain information technology’s role in business and describe how you measure success?
Information technology is directly linked throughout every aspect in business. 
IT both provides a great insight to anyone learning about business, and gives those an advantage whilse potential to tranform it. 
> Reduces costs, improves productivity & generating growth. role= facilitating communication and inc. business intelligence (each business function.) = effective & efficient. 


Measure IT's success= Usually measuring ROI indicates success rate. Difficult for IT  as hard to tell. egs 'such as is the internal IT operation performing satisfactorily?' or 'How is my outsourcer performing?'
Main important KPI's include
(i) Efficiency and effectiveness metrics;
efficiency measure the performance of the IT system including the throughput, speed and availability. 
effectiveness measure the impact including customer satisfaction, conversion rates and sell-through increases. both ensuring the business is achieving its goals and objectives. 

(ii) Benchmarking (Baseline metrics/ values). This process of continuously measuring system results, comparing to benchmark values and identifying steps to improve. 


List and describe each of the forces in Porter’s Five Forces Model?
Five Forces models maintain competitiveness. 
1. Buyer power: strong buyer power is monopsony ie. one buyer with many suppliers can control the price. This is reduced through loyalty programs (eg. upgrades etc)
2. Supplier power: High when reliant on one supplier (control price, quality and shifting costs. eg microsoft.) This is decreased through standardisation - and easily switch suppliers. 
3. threat of substitute products/services: must maintain competitive advantage to alternatives by switching costs
4. threat of new entrants: Entry barriers are what customers have come to expect and must be offered from a new business to come to survive. 
5. Rivalry among existing competitors: high when competitive market, low when more complacent. Reduce rival power by switching costs.


Describe the relationship between business processes and value chains?
Business process is a standardised set of activities to accomplish a specific task- each of these processess add value to this 'value chain.' play a integral role in strategy execution.

Compare Porter’s three generic strategies?
Through comparison between (i) Broad Cost leadership: low cost to a wide market, appealing to a large audience (ii) Broad differentiation range of prices at several price points  gaining a large stratified audience and (iii) Narrow Focused strategy is niche and somewhat exclusive.