Knowledge Management And Information Systems

This report explores the concept of knowledge management and information systems, focusing on Sainsbury's as a case study. It covers the corporate objectives, structure, and business model of Sainsbury's, along with a critical evaluation of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. The report also recommends the most appropriate knowledge management information system for Sainsbury's and discusses the key implementation challenges the company may face. Overall, it provides valuable insights into the subject of knowledge management and information systems.

Knowledge Management And
Information Systems

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
1. Sainsbury’s and its overview, objectives, structure and business model................................1
Corporate Objectives of Sainsbury’s.......................................................................................2
Business Overview of Sainsbury’s..........................................................................................3
Corporate Structure of Sainsbury’s.........................................................................................3
Business Model of Sainsbury’s...............................................................................................4
2. Critical evaluation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of Sainsbury’s
along with environmental factors and competitors......................................................................5
SWOT Analysis.......................................................................................................................6
PESTLE Analysis....................................................................................................................7
3. Recommendation for the most appropriate knowledge management information system for
Sainsbury’s to improve its performance in current and future and attain firm’s objectives........9
4. Key management implementation challenges that company may face while executing
recommendations.......................................................................................................................10
5. Introduction that includes general overview and organisation of report...............................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Knowledge management system is defined as any kind of information technology system which
stores as well as retrieves knowledge, locate sources of knowledge, improve collaboration, mines
repositories of obscure knowledge, acquires and utilises knowledge or in some other manner
improve the knowledge management process. For the survival of any organisation, knowledge is
very important. It provides a competitive edge to organisation over rivals as well as its
employees. And the information and data that come with knowledge that assist company to make
informed decisions (Aksoy and Algawiaz, 2014). Knowledge management is one of the highly
iterative process that includes six major task such as develop, capture, define, store, tag and
circulate which helps organisation to manage information and knowledge within firm.
This report is based on Sainsbury's which is the leading supermarket chain of United
Kingdom. The company was established in year 1869 and its headquarter is located in London,
UK. It deals in retailing industry and offers groceries and other products to customers. This
report covers information about corporate objectives, corporate structure, overview of business
and organisation's business model. it also includes critical evaluation of strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and challenges of the company along with other environmental factors by using
pestle analysis and porter's five force framework. Apart from this, it also includes information
about different knowledge management information systems among which the appropriate
management system will be recommended to company. In addition to this, some management
implementation challenges that company may face at the time of implementing recommended
system are included in the report along with short introduction that includes general overview of
report.
MAIN BODY
1. Sainsbury’s and its overview, objectives, structure and business model
Knowledge management is characterized as the process of developing, sharing, utilising as
well as managing the information and knowledge of a company. It is the multidisciplinary
strategy or approach to accomplish objectives of organisation by making good utilisation of
knowledge (Ali, Tretiakov and Whiddett, 2014). For each and every organisation, it is very
necessary to manage knowledge as it increases the efficiency of decision making within
1

organisation. It also ensures that all the workforce have an access to entire expertise held in the
company, a smarter manpower is developing who are enable to take informed and quick
decisions that will provide benefits to the organisation. The Knowledge Management System
utilizes in the organisation comprises of various practices utilised in a company to determine,
develop, represent, distribute as well as allow adoption to experience and insight. This
experience and insight comprise knowledge either embedded in the practices and processes of
organisation or embodied in employee. Sainsbury’s is one of the well-established supermarket
chain of London, United Kingdom. The firm is looking to bring advancement in its Information
Technology infrastructure as well as is considering an array of Knowledge Management
Information Systems (KMIS) to be incorporated with any other apposite system (Archer-Brown
and Kietzmann, 2018).
Corporate Objectives of Sainsbury’s
In order to ensure growth and success of an organisation, there are some objectives which
are set by management of Sainsbury's. The corporate objectives of the company are mentioned
below:
Online expansion: it is one of the objective of company to expand its business online in
order to maximize its customer base and attain higher growth. The firm wants to improve its
online presence and increase its sales and enhance delivery operations. For this purpose, firm
requires to bring upgradations in its information technology infrastructure so that it enable to
administer customers with user friendly interface in order to provide them with good experience
while shopping (Bamel and et. al., 2014).
Differentiation: It is an another objective of company in which company try to
differentiate itself and its offerings from its competitors. For the fulfillment of this objective,
company required to ensure that adequate knowledge is maintained within firm with effective
market research so that market gap could be understanding properly and product portfolio will be
developed accordingly.
2

Business Overview of Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury is one of the well-known and largest supermarket chain in which was
established in London, United Kingdom. The company was founded by John James Sainsbury in
around 150 1 years ago in year1869. The company has around its 1500 stores in United Kingdom
which offers variety of products and services to customers. The holding firm J Sainsbury plc was
cleaving into three divisions: Sainsbury's Argos, Sainsbury's Bank and Sainsbury's super markets
Limited. In year 1992, The company became one of the leading retailer in London. New 1995,
Sainsbury's is overtaking by Tesco to become the leader of market (Florin, 2014). In year 2016,
Sainsbury acquire home retail group which made it one of the leading merchandise retailer in
United Kingdom. Currently, the firm is undergoing restructuring of information technology
infrastructure in order to diversify its activities and operations and enhance its presence in
market. This helps company in improving its services and delivery network.
Corporate Structure of Sainsbury’s
In order to accomplish business objectives in an appropriate way, it is very necessary to
determine the corporate structure of the company so as to determine the pattern in which
activities and tasks are performed. Sainsbury's follow hierarchical structure which provides it
with the flexibility and ensure communication at all the levels in an effective way. The upper
level manager is responsible to provide guidance to their immediate lower level people which
addresses issues like power distribution, accountability and authority (Ghobadi and Mathiassen,
2016). This structure helps management in quick decision making and ensures appropriate flow
of communication at all the levels in an effective and efficient way. The corporate structure of
Sainsbury’s is mentioned below:
3

Figure 1: Sainsbury's Organisational Structure
Business Model of Sainsbury’s
The business model of Sainsbury's is designed in such a way that it develops value for its
shareholders, employees and customers now as well as in future. Its business model is vast in
which each and every function performed by organisation is divided as per the market demands
and the objectives of business. Its business model consists of several functions including supply
chain, logistics and channels (Giampaoli, Ciambotti and Bontis, 2017). Its business model is
supported by a structured strategy or approach to manage the business appropriately. Risk
management, cost management and governance are the key strategies of business to run its
operations and function successfully. The company offers high quality product and services to its
customers which provides them with some value. The elements on which the business model of
Sainsbury’s is based upon can be understand by the below mentioned image.
4

Figure 2: Sainsbury's Business Model
2. Critical evaluation of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of Sainsbury’s along
with environmental factors and competitors
The extrinsic business environment combines of micro and macro factors which directly
impact decision of establishment to achieve the pre adjudge objective in a better way.
Nevertheless, due to enormous level of competitiveness among firms, negative impact possesses
among organisation led to failure in achieving sustainability and growth in a systematic manner.
There are various kinds of theories which support company to take better decisions so company
could enlarge the profit- making ratio among competitors with an amazing style. Sainsbury go
through an intense level of competition which effects its ability in accomplishing their pre-
defined goal without any problems (Grant, 2016). To overcome such problems, Sainsbury taking
an initiative to apply various models to make them understand and to analyse the potential of
competitors to improve the production level. Some models and their implementation of
Sainsbury business are mentioned below:
5

SWOT Analysis
This is the framework which helps an organisation in determining its strengths,
weaknesses, threats and opportunities that enable a company to take appropriate measures to
eliminate threat and overcome weaknesses in an appropriate way. The swot analysis of
Sainsbury's is mentioned below:
Strengths:
 One of the strength of company is its philosophy that it applies to functional units. The
company follow low cost strategy which leads it towards increase customer base and
enhance sales. The company also has good brand image in the market which helps it in
attracting more number of customers and attaining high profitability in market (Gürel and
Tat, 2017).
 The innovative promotional strategy of company to promote its products and services in
market appropriately is the another strength of Sainsbury's that highly contribute in its
growth and success. It also helps organisation to generate high amount of sales and
profits. For instance: brand match promotion is the strategy that company utilized in
which each commodity that company sold to its customers is compared with competitors
that helps consumers in differentiating the product of firm with its competitors. This
promotional idea of organisation provides it with competitive advantage in market.
Weaknesses:
 High price of products in comparison to competitors is one of the weakness of
Sainsbury's that adversely impact sales of its products and services (Massaro, and et. al.,
2016).
 The another weakness of company includes brand switching. As there are many
competitors available in the market which offer similar products as Sainsbury’s provided
to its customers. This creates a risk for company of brand switching. Instead of having
strong promotional and loyalty programs, company faced difficulties in retaining its
customers for long term.
Opportunities
 The company has the opportunity to expand its business in other areas also or in new
geographical reasons by partnering with other firms or establish joint venture.
6

 Growth of business in rural areas is the another opportunity that company has as now
these areas are also using branded products. A supermarket culture is developed in the
rural areas which provides company with the opportunity to attain growth and success in
the villages (Mathooko and Ogutu, 2015).
Threats:
 One of the major threat that company faces is intense competition and market. There are
many retailers available in the market who are operating their business in the similar
industry. This creates tough competition for Sainsbury's to attain sustainability in
market.
 Changes in laws and regulations of government also creates threat for the company in
running it business operations effectively and smoothly and attaining growth and
sustainability in market.
PESTLE Analysis
Pestle analysis is a tool that helps manager of Sainsbury's to analyze the external business
environment factors so that their impact on activities and operations of business can be
determined. The pestle analysis in context of refereed company is mentioned below:
Political factor: it includes policies, rules and regulations made by government, political
stability or instability, tariffs etc. In United Kingdom, the political environment is stable that
helps company in running its operation smoothly as the policies and procedures of government
are not changing very frequently (North and Kumta, 2018). This enables manager to work
smoothly without making any frequent changes in its policies and practices. However, due to
Brexit, company face high pressure in relation to modify its existing practices. It adopts changes
effectively, and modify its all the functional activities accordingly that help company in
maintaining good brand image and gaining competitive advantage in market.
Economic factor: it encompasses interest rate, Gross domestic product, economic
growth, inflation, deflation etc. which impacts the activities of business. In the market of United
Kingdom, people are more concerned about the prices, that influence the sales of Sainsbury.
Because of brexit, the prices of fuels have increased which ultimately increase the transportation
cost of company that negatively impacts the sales of products and services. In order to overcome
7

this, company provide its customer with appropriate offers and discounts that enables it to run its
business effectively and attain good profits (Ruzic, 2014) .
Social factor: this factor is associated with changing needs and preferences of customers,
demography, lifestyle etc. People in United Kingdom are more concern towards their health and
propose more to have healthy and balanced food. This creates a challenge for Sainsbury's to
deliver hygienic food to consumers effectively. To overcome this, the firm adopt fair trade
movement which involves all the information about packaging and food processing in
descriptive way. This enable company to increase its market share and enhance its profitability
ratio effectively.
Technology factor: in this, technological advancements and innovations are included.
The company use high end technological processes in order to provide products and services to
its customers which helps it in in gaining competitive advantage in market over the rivals. The
demand among the people of United Kingdom regarding online shopping is increasing
continuously which provides the company with an opportunity to increase its customer base by
offering online shopping facility to its consumers (Soto, Popa and Palacios, 2017). The company
also make use of artificial intelligence in order to improve its operations. This helps company in
attaining competitive position in market.
Legal factor: under this, all the laws and legislations made by government are included
that needs to be comply with by the company. Sainsbury's follow all the laws and regulations
made by government which helps it in running its business operations smoothly and effectively
in the market of United Kingdom. It also helps company in eliminating all the legal
consequences that company may face due to noncompliance of laws.
Environmental factor: today, people are more concern towards the environment and
prefers to buy product with those companies which do not harm environment in anyway by its
activities and operations. In order to protect the environment, Sainsbury takes various initiatives
like it sell food stuffs loose and ask customer to bring their own containers and carry bag. This
will help in reducing carbon footprint and highly contributes in protecting the environment
(Sowa, 2014).
8

3. Recommendation for the most appropriate knowledge management information system for
Sainsbury’s to improve its performance in current and future and attain firm’s objectives
Knowledge management information system refers to a range of the frameworks that is used
by the organisation to represent, create, distribute, and experience the processes and practices. It
gives the different choices that are helpful in performing and solving the problems by the
experienced person. With reference of Sainsbury’s this information system helps the business to
enhance its performance and efficiency in both future and current terms. This system software
helps in learning and organizing the data and maximize the potential of an employees to perform
a task very well and assist in smooth running of the business enterprise (Valio Dominguez
Gonzalez and Fernando Martins, 2014). It includes various types of the knowledge management
information system that can be explained below.
 Intranet based system- It can be shown as a private network that provides the
information and sharing the dynamical and linked data within the company. It is a
significant activity to systematize and add the explicit knowledge and spread into the
departments. The best example of this knowledge management information system is
Microsoft Internet information server. It can be designed for the internal communication
which means information can be transferred within the organization only. It is generally
used when the firm wants to transfer their secured information to other departments.
 Electronic document management – It refers to that knowledge management
information system that is used to storing and organizing the different kinds of
information, documents and the files. It can store a large amount of digital documents and
includes an efficient document retrieval features. So that if a company need to delete or
secured data they can get it easily by these feature. It also includes various features like
indexing; cataloging which are grab from the traditional form of document and it can be
studied in the field of library science (Vij, and Farooq, 2014).
 Groupware – This type of knowledge information system helps in coordinating and
collaborating the wide range of applications. It helps in managing group activities, project
management system, information management system and workflow systems. It can be
supported by the computer supported cooperative work. The best example of Groupware
is Microsoft Exchange and the Lotus Notes. Its common activities are discussion and
9

group chats which are very important to take the organizational decisions. It includes
communication, conferencing and collaborative tools.
Above all three tools of knowledge management information system Sainsbury’s should use
intranet based system that is very effective tool and it can be accessed by authorized users. Here,
company can update its information technology infrastructure. Because of this they consider
various knowledge management information systems in their firms so that they will integrate
their operations. In this they choose intranet system because it keeps the information secured,
communicate the information when it is needed and who is to be needed. In this all the
departments are integrated with other so that task can be achieved on time and results come in an
effective way. It can help in improving the productivity of the organization by reducing the silos
in information and create a communication in a multiple way.
4. Key management implementation challenges that company may face while executing
recommendations
As above discussed about various KMIS (knowledge management information system),
Sainsbury is about to enlarge its market size or share in a better way. And on the other hand, also
there are certain challenges they might undergoes. Some of the challenges that company may
face while implementing the recommended system are mentioned below:
 The leading threat Sainsbury can face because of adoption of groupware is network
security issue, such as keeps in touch with server, making work server programs,
confirmation of clients, synchronous access. However, such difficultly times can be
address by providing good training programs and by also hiring professional managers.
As because of this, it makes them drive to enrich its rate of productivity and to also
improve its profit rate among competitors in a smooth way (Whisnant and Khasawneh,
2014).
 Adding to this, because of implication of share, a possibility is there of appearing poor
governance system in Sainsbury working culture, it also increases communication gap
between business decision making and IT. From now on, to achieve the successful
completion, Sainsbury can aim and clear objective topic specialist and then let business
objectives manage the arrangements with IT. From such action, it sanctions Sainsbury to
10

give rise to better working relationship, also can improve the employee presentation in
productive manner.
5. Introduction that includes general overview and organisation of report
This report includes the significance of knowledge management and information system
within organisation as well as the way knowledge management system helps company improving
its existing performance in market along with the future performance. This report also includes
the framework like SWOT analysis and pestle analysis. SWOT analysis help company in
determining its strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats whereas pestle analysis helps in
determining the factors which impacts on activities and operations of business as well as the
decision making of Management within the organisation. Sainsbury's the selected organisation
which is one of the leading supermarket chain of United Kingdom that of provide customers with
high quality product and services (Soto, Popa and Palacios, 2017). Apart from this, this
framework help company in analysing the dynamic nature of environment of business and also
helps in determining the ways to overcome the threats and gaining competitive advantage in
market. Different types of knowledge management and information systems are suggested that
can be utilised by Sainsbury's and the most appropriate knowledge management information
system is recommended to company in order to enhance its performance. This will enable
organisation to enhance its performance and gaining competitive advantage in market over the
rivals.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that knowledge management is
very crucial aspect for an organisation which helps it to attaining its objectives by ensuring best
utilisation of knowledge. It helps in improving efficiency of organisation by enhancing the
decision making process of management. It also helps organisation in storing, analysing and
utilising information and knowledge appropriately which helps company attaining competitive
advantage in market over the rivals. It not only helps the organisation to improve its performance
but also help employees in the same. Proper determination of strengths and weaknesses along
with opportunities and threats will help company in taking appropriate measures to gain
advantage over rivals. Proper analysis of business environmental factors also helps in
determining their impact on activities and functions of business. Intranet based system is one of
11

the very effective tool for the organisation as it helps it in keep its information secured and
communicate it appropriately to others.
12

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aksoy, M. S. and Algawiaz, D., 2014. Knowledge management in the cloud: Benefits and
risks. International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research. 3(11).
pp.718-720.
Ali, N. A., Tretiakov, A. and Whiddett, D., 2014. A content validity study for a knowledge
management systems success model in healthcare. JITTA: Journal of Information
Technology Theory and Application. 15(2). p.21.
Archer-Brown, C. and Kietzmann, J., 2018. Strategic knowledge management and enterprise
social media. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Bamel, N and et.al., 2014. Usage, benefits and barriers of human resource information system in
universities. VINE: The journal of information and knowledge management systems.
44(4). pp.519-536.
Florin, N., 2014. A Study of Banks’ Competitiveness in United Kingdom and Bangladesh Using
PESTEL Model. Journal of Applied Management and Investments. 3(2). pp.74-82.
Ghobadi, S. and Mathiassen, L., 2016. Perceived barriers to effective knowledge sharing in agile
software teams. Information Systems Journal. 26(2). pp.95-125.
Giampaoli, D., Ciambotti, M. and Bontis, N., 2017. Knowledge management, problem solving
and performance in top Italian firms. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Grant, S. B., 2016. Classifying emerging knowledge sharing practices and some insights into
antecedents to social networking: a case in insurance. Journal of Knowledge
Management. 20(5). pp.898-917.
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., 2017. SWOT analysis: A theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research. 10(51).
Massaro, M., and et. al., 2016. Knowledge management in small and medium enterprises: a
structured literature review. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Mathooko, F. M. and Ogutu, M., 2015. Porter’s five competitive forces framework and other
factors that influence the choice of response strategies adopted by public universities in
Kenya. International Journal of Educational Management. 29(3). pp.334-354.
North, K. and Kumta, G., 2018. Knowledge management: Value creation through organizational
learning. Springer.
Ruzic, L., 2014. Risk assessment of knowledge management system. Online Journal of Applied
Knowledge Management. 3(2). pp.114-126.
Soto, P., Popa, S. and Palacios, D., 2017. Social web knowledge sharing and innovation
performance in knowledge-intensive manufacturing SMEs. The Journal of Technology
Transfer. 42(2). pp.425-440.
Sowa, J. F. ed., 2014. Principles of semantic networks: Explorations in the representation of
knowledge. Morgan Kaufmann.
Valio Dominguez Gonzalez, R. and Fernando Martins, M., 2014. Mapping the organizational
factors that support knowledge management in the Brazilian automotive
industry. Journal of Knowledge Management. 18(1). pp.152-176.
Vij, S. and Farooq, R., 2014. Knowledge Sharing Orientation and Its Relationship with Business
Performance: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach. IUP Journal of Knowledge
Management. 12(3).
13

Whisnant, B. and Khasawneh, O., 2014. The influence of leadership and trust on the sharing of
tacit knowledge: Exploring a path model. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly. 6(2).
p.1.
14