Strategic Information System: Lion Beverage Company

This report outlines a brief description on the popular beverage company of Australia, namely Lion Beverage Company. It is one of the significant organizations that produce several types of beverages for the users. There are two parts in this report, which are external analysis and internal analysis. The external analysis comprises of business background of the organization, PESTEL analysis, Porter’s Five Forces analysis, competitive environment analysis and opportunities and threats. The internal analysis comprises of the tangible and intangible resources, identification of capabilities and analysis of core competencies. A suitable information system is being recommended for Lion Beverage Company.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Strategic Information System: Lion Beverage Company
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Part 1: External Analysis........................................................................................................3
1. Business Background of Lion........................................................................................3
2. Description of Industry..................................................................................................3
3. General Environmental Analysis...................................................................................3
4. Industry Explanation......................................................................................................5
5. Competitive Environment of Lion.................................................................................7
6. Opportunities and Threats..............................................................................................7
Part 2: Internal Analysis.........................................................................................................8
1. Tangible and Intangible Resources of Lion...................................................................8
2. Identification of Capabilities..........................................................................................9
3. Analysis of Core Competencies.....................................................................................9
4. Proposal of Information System Solution for Lion......................................................10
5. Evaluation of Proposed System with Recommendations.............................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
The strategic information system can be defined as those information systems, which
could be developed for the corporation of the business initiatives (Galliers and Leidner 2014).
The information systems are intended for providing several competitive advantages to the
respective company. The strategic information systems always deliver several services and
products, at an extremely low cost for focusing on the specific market segment for being
innovative. This strategic information system is one of the most important and significant
features for information technology and hence is termed as the basic requirement for any
specific organization. The strategic information system even helps the companies for
categorizing, storing, processing and finally transferring the information, which are to be
created or received (Arvidsson, Holmström and Lyytinen 2014). Several analytical tools are
being offered by this particular information system to help the organizations for applying to
the repositories of information. Various significant opportunities are recognized for the
growth and pinpoint the ways to improve the overall operational efficiencies and
effectiveness.
The following report outlines a brief description on the popular beverage company of
Australia, namely Lion Beverage Company. It is one of the significant organizations that
produce several types of beverages for the users. There are two parts in this report, which are
external analysis and internal analysis. The external analysis comprises of business
background of the organization, PESTEL analysis, Porter’s Five Forces analysis, competitive
environment analysis and opportunities and threats. The internal analysis comprises of the
tangible and intangible resources, identification of capabilities and analysis of core
competencies. A suitable information system is being recommended for Lion Beverage
Company.

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Discussion
Part 1: External Analysis
1. Business Background of Lion
Lion is the popular food and beverage organization, which operates in New Zealand
and Australia. This particular organization is responsible for producing as well as marketing
the range of wine, cider, beer, spirits and RTDs. Apart from these beverages, the dairy and
other beverages like plain milk and flavoured milk, cheese, yogurts, soy products and juices
are also produced by them (Lion. 2018). Lion was founded in the year of 2003 by the New
Zealand Breweries and the present Headquarters of this organization is in Sydney, Australia.
The owner of the company is Mitsubishi and the total number of employees currently is about
7000. The total revenue of Lion Beverage Company in the year of 2015 was 5.6 million
Australian dollars.
2. Description of Industry
The organization of Lion Beverage Company belongs to the Food and Beverages
industry. It is responsible for producing various types and categories of foods and beverages
for its clients (Lion. 2018). The organization of Lion Beverage Company produces several
significant types of products and services for the customers.
3. General Environmental Analysis
The PESTEL analysis eventually a specific tool that is utilized for the proper
identification of the macro external forces, faced by particular company. The six letters for
this PESTEL analysis are political factors, economic factors, social factors, technological
factors, environmental analysis and legal factors (Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016). The
respective PESTEL analysis for the organization of Lion Beverage Company is described
below:

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a) Political Factors: The first and the foremost factor in PESTEL analysis is the
political factor, which determines the limits to which the government or the government
policies would be impacting on any particular organization or industry. The political policies,
stability and trade, fiscal as well as the taxation policies are also included in these political
factors. These types of factors play the most significant role for Lion Beverage Company
(Willcocks 2013). The entire Australian government has eventually imposed a lump sum
amount of excise duty on each and every alcoholic beverage. Hence, the alcohol consumption
and sales have reduced to a specific level. The imposed taxes are the reason for this downfall
of shares. However, this particular company even produces flavoured drinks as well as soft
drinks and the costs of these products are not affected. This scenario is same in New Zealand,
where the price of beer has increased 4%.
b) Economic Factors: The next factor is the economic factor. This particular factor
impacts over the economy as well as performance and thus is directly affected to the
company and its profit. These factors mainly include foreign exchange rates, unemployment
or employment rates, costs of raw materials and interest rates (Cassidy 2016). Australian
Drug Foundation has restricted the usage and manufacturing of alcohols and hence Lion
Beverage Company is suffering from major economic and financial crisis. Moreover, the
marketing is even hampered by this. The goodwill of the company will also be affected by
this scenario.
c) Socio cultural Factors: The third factor is the socio cultural factor, which focuses
on the specific social environment and then identifies the respective emerging trends. The
requirement of the customer is also fulfilled by this (Whittington 2014). Lion Company has
produced a low carb beer for those, who are concerned about their weight. Hence, the
popularity of this organization is even more enhanced.

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d) Technological Factors: The technological factors refer to those factors, which
enable technological innovation within the business. These factors involve the alterations
within the mobile technology (Tsang 2014). The Lion Beverage Company has utilized
several significant technologies within their business for properly executing their business
operations.
e) Environmental Factors: The environmental factors refer to those factors, which
help in increasing the environmental benefits for the society. In Lion, the demand for the
consumption of beer has decreased for several conditions of climate.
f) Legal Factors: Lion Company is following each and every trading law and hence
is termed as completely legal for any business.
The other factors are global and demographic (Hill, Jones and Schilling 2014). The
global factors refer to those factors which make the business grow worldwide. The
demographic factors refer to the target audience of the organization. Lion has clients in all
over the world and hence these clients make them even more popular.
4. Industry Explanation
The explanation of the Lion Beverage Company is provided with respect to Porter’s
Five Forces, which are supplier power, buyer power, potential entrants, substitute products
and rivalry among competitors.
i) Supplier Power: The supplier’s power is extremely high for the organization of
Lion Beverage Company (Majchrzak and Malhotra 2013). It is a specific regional
organization that has some of its suppliers, responsible for the product distribution in the
entire Australia as well as New Zealand. The switching expenses of this particular company
are quite high and the total number of suppliers is less. The respective suppliers could easily

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choose from any other organization for their product distributions. However, the organization
of Lion Beverage Company comprises of some alternatives about the suppliers for
distributing the several products.
ii) Buyer Power: The buyer’s power is also very high for the organization of Lion
Beverage Company. Several other beverage companies are present within the market (Hill
2017). Furthermore, this organization has to eventually face a significant competition with all
the popular companies of non alcoholic as well as alcoholic beverages.
iii) Potential Entrants: The third factor is the potential entrant. Various new entrants
could easily enter into the market and take the respective position of the organization of Lion
Beverage Company (Wheelen et al. 2017). Hence, this particular organization should keep in
mind that they should not allow any organization to take up their place. The threat from the
new entrants is extremely vulnerable and important for the company.
iv) Substitute Products: Several substitute products are present in the market. It is
always in the mind of each and every customer to use products that are better and cost
effective (Ogiela 2016). Although, the organization of Lion Beverage Company is on the top
position of the food and beverage industry, there is always a high chance that the substitute
products would be acquiring the market subsequently.
v) Rivalry Amongst Competitors: The final factor is the rivalry amongst competitors.
The organization of Lion Beverage Company has several competitors and they should check
for their competitors significantly so that there exists no loophole for their downfall in the
market.

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5. Competitive Environment of Lion
The competitive environment of the Lion Beverage Company is much important for
this organization. They have a significant strategic group, who are responsible for checking
the competitive environment of this company. Since, several new firms have come into the
market; competitiveness has increased significantly and hence should be reduced at every
cost. Several other organizations are present to provide similar products to their customers
(Uçaktürk and Villard 2013). Lion would be facing major competitiveness in this particular
case. The other organizations have taken up a unique strategy for providing better products.
They are experimenting with the beverages and the tastes of the drinks are tested properly.
Lion has major threat of high competitiveness within their organization.
6. Opportunities and Threats
There are some of the major opportunities and threats for the organization of Lion
Beverage Company. The proper analysis of these opportunities and threats are responsible for
the proper identification of several threats, this organization is facing in this current scenario
(Morden 2016). The opportunities and threats of the organization of Lion Beverage Company
are given below:
i) Opportunities: The first and the foremost opportunity of this company is the
improvisation of their various products and services for the users. This helps them in
improving the position within the market and hence bringing significant variety within the
products (Eden and Ackermann 2013). Moreover, another important opportunity is that they
would gain utmost popularity in the world, since they would be able to understand the
demands of the clients.
ii) Threats: In spite of having various opportunities, the organization of Lion
Beverage Company do comprises few important threats. The first and the foremost threat for

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this organization is the entry of the new entrants within the business. This helps in reducing
their business growth to a drastic level (Peltier 2016). If the customers are getting better
products within lesser prices, there is a high chance that the customers would be using those
products. The cost of some of the beverages of this organization is extremely high and this is
major threat for the organization.
Part 2: Internal Analysis
1. Tangible and Intangible Resources of Lion
The organization of Lion Beverage Company produces several types of beverages to
the users. For this purpose, they are utilizing the several resources of the firm. These
resources could be sub divided into two parts, which are tangible and intangible resources.
i) Tangible Resources: The tangible resources are those resources, which are used by
the organization for obtaining opportunities and earning something for their economic
benefits. These are considered as the most important and significant resources of the
organization (Kummer and Schmiedel 2016). For the organization of Lion Beverage
Company, the various tangible resources are the land, buildings, machines and many others.
These specific resources are the most important as well as significant resources for the
organizational competitive advantages.
ii) Intangible Resources: The intangible resources, on the other hand, are those
resources that help the particular organization for gaining several benefits for the future. The
various opportunities of the organization of Lion Beverage Company could be eventually
considered as the intangible resources (Altameem, Aldrees and Alsaeed 2014). The various
intangible resources of this organization are better quality of their products and drinks and
even the good will of the organization. the expansion of the business is highly required in this
case and hence it provides major advantages for the organisation.

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2. Identification of Capabilities
The proper identification of capabilities of this particular organization majorly
indicates that the various opportunities, which are being achieved by this organization. The
respective organization of Lion Beverage Company is leading the food and beverage
industry. However, there is still scope for the organization to grow even better. There is a
core capability for facing the major competition with all the other rivalries (Simon, Fischbach
and Schoder 2014). There are some of the important factors that should be taken into
consideration by them. The improvisation of their products is the first and the foremost
factor. Some of the major parameters are present for indicating the organization of Lion
Beverage Company’s position.
3. Analysis of Core Competencies
The significant core competencies of any organization help in the proper
determination of the capability of the organization for making the respective strategic
planning and competing within the market. The proper analysis of the core competencies of
this organization is based on the four distinct criteria, which are as follows:
i) The strategy providing significant and important value for the overall company
growth.
ii) The strategy helps in increasing the shares of the market (Wheelen et al. 2017).
iii) The rival or the competitors should be followed properly.
iv) The strategy providing important competitive advantages for this particular
organization.
After the analysis, it could be confirmed that Lion is in a better position than the other
companies.

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4. Proposal of Information System Solution for Lion
The recommended information system solution for the organization of Lion Beverage
Company is the DSS or Decision Support System. Since, the organization is facing major
competition for their business and products, a proper decision making process is required for
them (Morden 2016). It helps in the support of the business for undertaking the decision
making activities.
5. Evaluation of Proposed System with Recommendations
The Decision Support System is responsible for serving the management, planning as
well as operations levels of the company and then helps the people for making proper
decisions regarding the problems (Peltier 2016). DSS has the core capability to sort out the
structured as well as unstructured decision related issues. The significant recommendation for
the organization of Lion Beverage Company is to implement or use DSS or decision support
system within their business. The most important advantage of this information system is that
it helps in reducing the overall costs of business and provides relevant solutions to the
difficult situations within the organization.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that SIS or strategic
information system is the set of guidelines that help the organizations in setting the plans as
well as strategies as per the existing principles. The most significant objective for the
incorporation this system is that the entrepreneurs are allowed for assessing the several
environmental alterations and using them for the beneficial aspects. There are three distinct
classifications of this particular system, which are financial, operational and finally strategic.
These three classifications are related on the basis of the businesses. The decision making
processes are extremely easier with the respective support systems, which could easily

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streamline the business objectives and then align the information systems with the help of
business strategies of that particular organization. The strategic information system can
provide the enterprises with relevant solutions, which allow them for setting as well as
meeting the long term and short term objectives of the business. Moreover, the specific
organizations can even help the businesses for incorporating the data mining enabled
databases and thus saving the confidential or sensitive information. The data collection
processes are well underlined for easing the several opportunities of the marketing. The
above report has properly outlined the strategic information system of the Australian
beverage company, namely, Lion. The external and the internal analyses of this particular
organization are properly done here. Moreover, a significant information system is being
recommended for the organization that would provide major competitive advantages and
hence the several issues related to the organizational business processes will be resolved.

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References
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Computer Science (Vol. 1, pp. 22-24).
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practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and
use. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. Auerbach
Publications.
Eden, C. and Ackermann, F., 2013. Making strategy: The journey of strategic management.
Sage.
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strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
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Hill, T., 2017. Manufacturing strategy: the strategic management of the manufacturing
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Kummer, T.F. and Schmiedel, T., 2016. Reviewing the Role of Culture in Strategic
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Management. CAIS, 38, p.5.
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Majchrzak, A. and Malhotra, A., 2013. Towards an information systems perspective and
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Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems
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