This report discusses the recommendation of a new information system for Amazon Australia to provide better customer experience and gain a competitive advantage. It also includes analysis of Amazon's value chain, competitive strategy, and management approaches.
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Introduction to Information System Executive Summary Amazon.com is a leading retailer selling wide range of products online through the various distribution system. It is founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. The company also provides various services other than the e-commerce like cloud computing, AWS, and sell products under their private labels. They also have a centralised information system, which aligns every activity related to the business operations of the company. It integrates with the supply chain and logistics of the company, which help them in regulating the value chain effectively. In this report, the views and issues of various stakeholders are described with the recommendation of a new information system to provide better customer experience. In addition, various views have been explored related to the Human Activity System (HAS).
Introduction to Information System 1.Introduction Amazon is one of the leading e-commerce industry, which is also known for its innovation and disruptive technology. The company strategic goal of diversification and expansion can easily be seen with the help of their continued growth and vision and their customer-centric strategy is one of the critical success point, which makes them the leader in this industry. In addition, Amazon can use the help of the Human Activity System (HAS) which will help them in gaining their vision and mission more effectively. This system is just theoretical, not exists in reality, and expresses some purposeful purpose human activity (Aggarwal & Ryoo, 2011). This means that they are intellectual constructs and are not integrate with actual real-world activity. Indeed, the human interaction will have a straight influence on the performance of the system when an individual move from a natural system to human natural system. Amazon information system plays an important role in the business operations of the company, which help them in providing better services to the customers. However, with the integration of Human Activity System in their information system, there will be the rise in the competitive advantage, which will help them to gain more customers. In this report, the overall analysis of the operation of Amazon will be done including its value chain, competitive strategy, information system and these are will be analysed with the help of several management approaches and models. 2. Part 1 2.1 Part 1- question a An electronic e-commerce company, Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. It was started as a bookstore making a presence online but later diversified through selling various other products like cd, DVDs, video games, furniture, jewellery and other electronic items. With the time, Amazon is able to accomplish its mission with their dynamic strategies and innovation. It also becomes second largest online selling retailer in terms of sales and the largest by market capitalization (Davis & Khazanchi, 2008). For every other country, Amazon has a different domain name so that the customer can get their product easily and their home currency prices (Hu, Liu, & Sambamurthy, 2011). The success of Amazon strategy lies in their long-term goals with the integration of strong values and cultures. Their approach of being customer-centric organization also helps in expanding worldwide. In the segment of product selection, they always
Introduction to Information System sustain leadership as by offering many products and services. One of the major strategies of Amazon is its positioning which includes finding a Niche market and targeting that category. They also take advantage of the approach of customer personalization. Considering Amazon operations, they are various key decision areas, which the company make focus - Designing of goods and services, Management of superior quality, process and capacity design, location strategy, layout design and strategy, human resource and job design, supply chain management and scheduling (Arnott & Pervan, 2008). Other than the online retail business, with the help of innovation and disruptive technology, Amazon is also a leading presence in AWS (Amazon Web Services) which is used by many big companies like Netflix, and they are also investing in drones to make deliver a product with them in future. In addition, they have also had self-made branded products including Kindle, fire stick, OS, Echo devices with a personal assistant and many more (Newcombe, Rath, Zhang, Munteanu, Brooker & Deardeuff, 2015). This shows that innovation with disruptive technology is a part of Amazon strategy, which also makes them one of the leading e-commerce in the world. 2.2 Part 1- question b In the management approach of Mintzberg, it is stated that different structures of the organizations arise from the different characteristics that shape them. A leader in the industry always finds the best and effective way to integrate the main internal and external elements and redesign them for the purpose of continuous improvement. There are different structures of Mintzberg’s Organization types, which includes professional organization, divisional organisations, innovative organizations, machine organizations and entrepreneurial organisation (Lunenburg, 2012). The organization form Amazon Australia is a divisional organisation. The main reason behind this statement is that the nature of divisional organization includes different business units and product line and they are all controlled by the central headquarters. The main advantage of this structure is that it helps line managers to make more control over the operations and business decisions, unlike the machine structure. Amazon.com headquarters is located in Seattle, Washington and their various sub- branched are spread in different countries of the globe having a unique structure and
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Introduction to Information System all make their own decisions according to the local market segment (Cappos, Beschastnikh, Krishnamurthy & Anderson, 2009). 2.3 Part 1- question c Value chain analysis helps an organization in evaluating its primary and secondary activities that add value to their products (Soosay, Fearne & Dent, 2012). It also helps organization in finding out the best way to reduce cost and climate waste and thus increase profitability by gaining an advantage over the competition. Primary Activities of Amazon Australia– Inbound Logistic s OperationsOutbound Logistics Marketing and SalesService Firms InfrastructuresHuman ResourcesTechnology DevelopmentProcurement Primary ActivitiesSecondary Activities
Introduction to Information System Inbound Logistics–In this primary activity of value chain, Amazon Australia takes full responsibility for logistics, customer service and the return of product in any case. The orders, which are fulfilled by Amazon (FBA), are linked with this inbound logistics aspect of their value chain. For example, if a person orders a piece of furniture from Melbourne, Australia and that product delivers by FBA instead of FBM (Fulfilled by Merchants), the customer can able to get the choice of one day or two day delivery with free shipping and other benefits (Kawa, 2017). This will increase the efficiency of the whole value chain; however, the process also depends on various other factors. Operations–In Melbourne Australia, Amazon.com have successfully opened their 24,000 square metre centre and this fulfilment centre will be situated in Pellicanos M2 Industry Park. In addition, Amazon’s head office will be located in Sydney headed by Rocco Braeuniger (taking the role of country manager). The AWS segment of Amazon will help the company in making a global presence over the sales of online servers and database, cloud computing and other services for the several agencies, universities and start-ups. Business organization whether on large or scale find it beneficial as AWS offers more than 516 services and features (Newcombe, Rath, Zhang, Munteanu, Brooker & Deardeuff, 2015). Outbound Logistics–Amazon Australia had made various agreements with the agents for the purpose of distribution of goods. They will also rely upon various other business organization for the fast delivery of the products such as FedEx, UPS and TNT (Chesbrough, 2011). The aim of Amazon Australia here is to pull more amount of customers by making their company different from the competitors in terms of service and not only in the price. The outbound logistics of Amazon also includes, - Fulfilment centres, digital delivery and physical stores. Marketing and Sales–Various vendors in Australia are using Amazon Marketing Services in Australia as this is helping them in boosting their sales through performance-based advertising. Amazon Marketing Services enables vendors to sell their products to the right buyers with highly personalised targeting (Cyr, Hassanein, Head & Ivanov, 2007). Amazon also consists of various solutions for the rise in awareness and increase of the conversion rate in the marketplace. This includes Sponsored products, headline Search Ads and Product Display Ads. Services–For every organization, an exceptional customer service is the major source of value creation and in the case of the Amazon, it can easily be seen with their vision statement stating that they want to be the Earth most customer- centric company. One can easily find how well the Amazon is in terms of customer service is. However, In Australia, Amazon also offers coaching programs to the sellers, which help them in getting alert about the opportunities
Introduction to Information System for the competitive pricing and selling selections (Lawrence, Richards & Lyons, 2013). Supporting Activities of Amazon Australia– Firms Infrastructure-This includes the central customer data warehouse present in the Sydney, which consists of all the information and records of the customer, vendors and suppliers of Australia. This infrastructure also uses the help of AWS and other web services so that the real-time information can be synchronised to all the divisions over the globe. Human Resource–The HR team partners of Amazon Australia always looking for the HR resources who possess the traits of a leader. The company are also using the services of temporary people and resources in spite of hiring fulltime employees so that to better serve the targeted segment by saving a huge amount of costs (Motahari-Nezhad, Stephenson, & Singhal, 2009). Technology Development–Amazon Australia is investing huge in the R and D department so that to make themselves different from the competitors in terms of strategy. The integration of Amazon Prime free delivery and Amazon Prime video also comes in the supporting activity (Bamburry, 2015). The innovative services of the company such as personalised recommendations and once click ordering are also improving the technological aspect of the company supply chain. Procurement–In Amazon Australia, their procurement professionals always add value to their supply chain through the process of continuous improvement as they procure non-inventory goods and services for their fulfilment centres (FCs). They always keep an effective balance between the internal customers and external suppliers. 2.4 Part 1- question d With the help of Porter’s Competitive Force model, it can easily be analysed that what are the various forces shaping the competition in the online retail industry and what is the Amazon Australia position in this place. It is a very effective tool for analysing the level of competition and helps the company in the formulation of strategy. Bargaining power of Amazon suppliers–Currently, the bargaining power of the Amazon is low to medium as they are always in the sky when it comes to
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Introduction to Information System supplying chain. This means that most of the suppliers need to work according to the rules set by Amazon and follow the respective standards of the supply chain laid down by Amazon. However, a many-advanced country like Australia is building their new payment platform that will transit to a real-time system (Isckia, & Lescop, 2009). Therefore, this innovation has a capacity to build an alternate infrastructure of payment system, which may affect Amazon Australia in its operations. Bargaining power of Amazon buyers –The bargaining power of buyers is high, as their various competitors present like Harvey Norman in Australia, which causes worrying to the Amazon. Nowadays, every customer has sufficient knowledge of the benefits and features of most of the products due to the rise in the digital economy (Swink, & Song, 2007). The threat of substitute products –In this aspect, it is high. Many Australians also prefer physical retailers instead of online. Although, Amazon provides excellent customer service however, the custome r. The threat of new entrants–The threat of new entrants is low for Amazon. In Australia, there is no presence of the various international online retailer like Alibaba and eBay and rise in the digital technology and innovation leads to various barriers to the entry of Australia e-commerce economy. Amazon is a big brand who already invested $700m for the long-term success in Australia and with its continuous improvement in the digital field, it will be hard for any other company to enter into the Australian market with a competitive position. Rivalry in the Industry–The level of competition in the Australian market is high which may also cause troubles for the Amazon to make their competitive stand in the market as various competitors like Coles, Wools Worth and Harvey Norman already build their strong presence in the market. 3. Answer to Part 2 3.1 Part 2- question a One of the most elementary issues faced by the e-commerce online business industry is the inadequate stock. This situation occurs many times when the customer is trying to purchase online and the site shows that “item is not available” (Godana, & Ngugi, 2014). This affects the brand value and goodwill of the company and Thus they have to maintain a sustainable level of stock and also made their site accurate so that it does not show those products which are currently out of stock or not in the hand of supplier.
Introduction to Information System In the Business to Consumer Electronic Commerce, the primary stakeholders are the retailers and consumers who sell the products whereas the executives are the secondary stakeholders who manage the entire process from getting raw materials to its delivery. Here, many customers faced the problem of insufficient stock, as the retailers are not able to manage their stocks on time. In Australia, for the purpose of branding, Marketing Department is the other stakeholder in which sales department is involved in controlling of various arrangements in sales. In addition, the ERP system of the company is integrated with the e-commerce system by IT personnel department as it is connected with stock management in the Amazon Australia. This made Amazon and it all departments to face negative reviews of the customers and this show the inefficiency in the management of Amazon which destroying its goodwill and shifting of the customers to the rivals. 3.2 Part 2- question b Manufacturers A Manufacturers A Manufacturers AContractors Build Plan Call-Offs Site SpecificStock levels/ extras/ supplier performance
Introduction to Information System Do the job! Pickup/move Schedulerequirements 3.3 Part 2- question c Lane Black box (Pool) Message Flow Purchase OrderSequence FlowRequest of Changing POInvoice End Event Customer Manufacturers AManufacturers A Merchants A Manufacturers A Manufacturers A Manufacturers B Merchants CManufacturers C STOCK YARD X houses worth of goodsSite Manager Labour / Plant Progress Chase
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Introduction to Information System Message Start EventTaskGateway Online Shop 3.4 Part 2- question d (Source: Petter, DeLone, & McLean, 2008) Suggest Change Check Stock Level Pack GoodsShip Goods NO Sufficient Stock Yes Order Complete Order Received
Introduction to Information System In 1992, This model is developed by William H. DeLone and Ephraim R. McLean. In this model, information system is analysed and evaluated from six dimensions. These all dimension gives a broad view of the IS success and are proposed to be interrelated rather than independent. This information system model can be integrated with the issue in Human Activity System so that to evaluate the problem of insufficient inventory in Amazon, Australia. In this IS model, the information quality can be defined as the quality of the information that can be captured by the system and so able to store and deliver (Gent, Danabasoglu, Donner, Holland, Hunke, Jayne & Worley, 2011). In this model, the algorithms are such strong that they can provide benefit to the users and the organization effectively. In this procedure, the inability of the system to deliver and store accurate information for the readiness of stock causes a problem of inaccurate and insufficient inventory. Therefore, it affects the customer satisfaction as the customer is not be provided with stock as per their requirement and also the system here cannot make benefit for the organization. In addition, this is one of the areas where human activity system is not successful. The next dimension is the System use/ Usage Intensions where information, quality of services and systems influence the use and usage intention. For impacting usage intentions, the system use is targeted to impact the customer satisfaction and in last this directly affects the net benefits which are provided by the system. Here the issue of insufficient and inaccurate inventory is related to the integrated use and usage of systems. The procurement or resource demand department does not update the requirement of stock and this affects the customer satisfaction by making the benefits hidden for the users. The next important dimension is the system quality, which can impact, IS on a great extent. This dimension can able to produce advantage or benefits with the help of mediational relationships in relation to the customer satisfaction and usage intentions (Jan, & Contreras, 2011). Here the issue of inadequate inaccurate stock influences the user satisfaction because it defines that system quality was not equal to the customer expectations. The quality of service is also a critical point in this Information System and it is evaluated based on the quality of service they will be able to produce. Here, the information system is not able to deliver the quality service to the consumers of Amazon Australia. In the perspectives or approach of Net System Benefits, they focus on the capability to produce with the help of information systems so that overall value can be determined
Introduction to Information System with the help of users, customers and organization. In the system, the net benefit is influenced by the use of customer or user satisfaction. Here also, as the customer satisfaction is not equal to their expectations, there is an inadequacy and the insufficient inventory. In the last or sixth dimension, the satisfaction of user directly impacts the benefits arise from the information systems. Various users like stakeholders are unsatisfied with the information system, as it is not delivering any benefits to them. 3.5 Part 2- question e An information is considered as a critical approach in the managerial decision making and information system. Information system plays an important role in the decision making of management as it leads to processing of information through the effective gather of information, in a scientific manner. In addition, there is a requirement of integrated information system, which helps management in the decision-making by providing them with current and future data. In the case of Amazon Australia, efficiency is started from the procedure when the inputs are being pushed to the system. Considering the inadequate and insufficient inventory, the organization information system should accurately process the data and inform the management about the inventory mismanagement so that they can handle it on time and consumer can get best shopping experience online (Hittle & Moustafa Leonard, 2011). The desired output can be evaluated in terms of effectiveness and efficacy. The information system needs also to deliver appropriate results in terms of procurement and therefore the customer will be satisfied if he/she receives the products readily available. 4. Answer to Part 3 4.1 Part 3- question a For adding positive value in the business and operations of Amazon, it is necessary that new information system come up with better inventory tracking, appropriate order fulfilment and coordination between all the process connected to the end i.e.
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Introduction to Information System consumers. A central information system is also necessary to the management of the data inventory through every division of the Amazon in Australia so that management can assure that there will always be availability of accurate level of stocks in the warehouse. The new information system of Amazon should be based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). It can be termed as fully decentralised service platforms, which can help Amazon’s information system to be robust and scalable. This information system will concentrate more on multiple applications rather than bigger processes (Wei & Blake, 2010). The major features of this system will be its integration quality, which includes the association between SCM, ERP, CRM and MIS. This will help in the development and growth of the Amazon in Australia. The stakeholders, which will be involved in this information system, will be the marketing team of Australia, warehouse staff, service staff and sales department. 4.2 Part 3- question b The important data and information that can be the part of new information system include the data related to the inventory or stock, sales data, marketing and sales department data and customer orders. This can all be clubbed in the inventory management software that will help the management in the customer orders, tracking and improvement in the inventory system (Bozarth & Handfield, 2008). As this software help by creating a knowledge point of the product identification, restocking notification and tracking of the product, it can also be integrated with the website of Amazon Australia i.e. www.amazon.com.au which enable centralised controlling from their central dashboard. This will not only improve the Amazon Australia operations but also leads to real-time information in the Amazon supply chain. 4.3 Part 3- question c
Introduction to Information System Account Manager 4.4 Part 3- question d In the new information system of Amazon Australia, the classification of the information system will be made as follows – The front end in the new information system will includes the department of customer service and calls centres that help in various functions such as Payment Card Industry compliance and also help the company in expanding their customer base by directly solving the queries of the customers. In the back end application, managing the order will be given significant emphasis so that the order will be fulfilled on time allotted. In addition, the real-time inventory management is a customer facing component which plays an important role in creating good relationship with the customers by the various tools of tracking, reviews, and shopping engine feeds and without this component, Amazon Australia will not be able to deliver agile capabilities and thus no competitive advantage will be created (Waller& Fawcett, 2013). 4.5 Part 3- question e If Amazon Australia installed this software in their inventory management system, it will help in tracing core and non-core activities significant for the business i.e. to have an STARTReview OrderCheck Inventory Ship Order End STARTCancelOrderEnd -
Introduction to Information System adequate stock of its core products. It will also fulfil the management approach of Just In Time (JIT) Inventory Management which will help in the increase of efficiency and decrease of wastages (Kesen & Baykoç, 2007). In the term of stakeholders, they will also get benefitted as this system set balance between the demand and supply of the stock so that customer can be served effectively. Aligning this information management system in the business will have a direct impact on various organizations functions like finance, operations, marketing and accounting. The inventories are also held by the company for the motives of speculative, precautionary and transactional actions. 4.6 Part 3- question f This new information system efficiency and effectiveness can be measured by several approaches of the management tools so that the task will be completed on time. The time needs to be measured which is involved in the completion of the tasks. Another measure can be done in the satisfaction of the staff. The competency and capability of the staff are also be considered to be a milestone of the entire inventory management. In addition, the rate of satisfaction of the vendors and suppliers and the last scan data of the inventory needs to be also evaluated. 5. Answer to Part 4 5.1 Part 4- question a In the part of recommendations, Amazon Australia can use the help of new information system for the better management control and balance between the demand and supply of the stocks with the help of schedule listings, tracking of inventory, handling the shipping, product catalogue building and customer feedback management. In addition, with the help of a digital channel and marketing, Amazon Australia can able to sell their product effectively and in the real time (Rowley, 2008). 5.2 Part 4- question b
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Introduction to Information System In Amazon Australia, the new information system will help in giving better customer service for a long period of time and also enables agility in the operations. It also helps the management by avoiding overselling a single product to two consumers on two different channels as this happens when there is no regular updation in the level of inventory. This new information system will also help the management in showing stock in the real-time so that management of the Amazon can make quick decisions. In addition, this will also aid to the unified information system and thus beneficial for the company in the terms of cost-effectiveness and efficacy.
Introduction to Information System 6. Conclusion In this modern industry, there are many organizations competing with their unique product and strategy. For gaining a competitive edge in the market, Amazon needs to focus on their core competencies and make align with the disruptive innovation and technology. With the help of a new information system, Amazon Australia can ensure that there will be cost advantages at various stages and so the customer experience will also be positive. In addition, with the integration of information system with the supply chain, the company can acquire real-time information of the customer data and information. The company should also use the help of digital channel and marketing so that to rise the customer experience.
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