Strategic Information System: Star Box

This article discusses the strategic information system and accounting information system for Star Box, an Australian organization. It includes the organizational structure, operational problems, system acquisition method, system flowchart, and recommendations for the organization.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Strategic Information System: Star Box
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Organizational Background of Star Box................................................................................3
Part 1......................................................................................................................................3
1. Organizational Structure of Star Box.............................................................................3
2. Operational Problems of Star Box.................................................................................5
3. Most Likely System Acquisition Method......................................................................8
4. System Flowchart of Star Box.......................................................................................9
5. Control Problems within System.................................................................................10
Part 2....................................................................................................................................10
1. Adoption of Accounting Software Packages...............................................................10
2. Current Market Size.....................................................................................................11
3. Identification of Market Leaders and Competitors......................................................11
4. Relevant Recommendations and Suggestions..............................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................12
References................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
The generic strategies are extremely important for any organization as they are
utilized by the organization to obtain the competitive advantages or benefits. The generic
strategies are obtained and made with the help of an information system, known as the
strategic information system or SIS (Laudon and Laudon 2016). The business model of any
organization is responsible to create, deliver as well as deliver the respective values in
various contexts like economy, social and cultural. Strategic information system helps the
organization in describing the business model eventually and thus successfully forming the
business strategies. The competitiveness of the organizational business model is enhanced
with this strategic information system and thus several organizations have acquired this
particular type of information system for their business with the sole purpose of gaining
success and strategic benefits (Arvidsson, Holmström and Lyytinen 2014). Moreover, the
importance of IT or information technology is checked with this strategic information system.
The subsequent literature review will be outlining a brief discussion on the strategic
information system as well as accounting information system for a selected organization of
Australia. In this case, the selected organization is Star Box. The literature review would be
providing the organizational structure, several problems in operations and many others for
Star Box. This particular Australian organization also comprises of various extraordinary
strategies. All the strategies will be well defined here. Apart from these, the most likely
system acquisition method and control problems of Star Box will also be given here. the final
part of the literature review deals with the suitable and effective accounting information
system for the organization.

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Discussion
Organizational Background of Star Box
Star Box Limited is the best company for any type of wooden box as well as
packaging industries. This particular company began its journey in the year 1952 and for all
these years, they are claimed to the best organization for packaging or wooden boxes
(Starbox.co.nz. 2018). Currently, this organization, i.e. Star Box is one of the major and
important organizations for manufacturing wine boxes, cable reels, wooden presentations,
pallets and cases in the entire New Zealand as well as Australia. Furthermore, this specific
organization produces boxes or crates for the purposes of shipping or display.
During the early years of this organization of Star Box, they started with the
manufacture of crates and boxes for only those industries that dealt with military and soft
drinks. Today, they are even manufacturing the presentation boxes or bed frames. There are
six major kinds of goods or products, which are being manufactured by this organization
(Starbox.co.nz. 2018). These six kinds of products are gift boxes, cases and pallets, cable
reels, display stands and wine boxes. They are extremely popular amongst their customers,
since, they always use materials of the best quality. They use these materials for the products
they are delivering. The competitors of this organization are far behind than this organization
in respect to the competitive advantages, product quality and excellent services.
Part 1
1. Organizational Structure of Star Box
The typical hierarchical arrangement of the communications, duties, rights and
responsibilities of any specific organization is known as organizational structure. This type of
structure defines the procedure of roles and powers that are eventually assigned to the
employees or parts of the organization (Boonstra 2013). The information flows from the

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various hierarchies of the organizational structure through the three management levels. This
type of structure mainly is dependent on the organizational strategies or objectives and the
type of organization.
Figure 1: Structure of Organization of Star Box
(Source: Starbox.co.nz. 2018)
The above provided graph demonstrates the various significant or vital levels of
management, which are the top level, middle level and lower level management. The board
of directors or the shareholders are the parts of the top level management (Galliers and
Leidner 2014). This top level management is responsible for taking all types of decisions.
The organizational structure of Star Box is completely centralized and thus the rest of the
management levels have to follow the instructions of the top level management. The middle
level management comprises of the production departments, technical department, human
resources department, financial department and marketing department. The middle level
management gets instructions from the top level and they complete their work accordingly
(Wu et al. 2013). The final level is the lower level management, which gets orders from the

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middle level management. Several staff members are present in the lower level and all of
them help to fulfil the organizational goals and objectives.
2. Operational Problems of Star Box
In spite of having various important and significant advantages, Star Box does
comprise of some of the most significant operational problems within their systems
(Pearlson, Saunders and Galletta 2016). These operational problems are required to be
mitigated as soon as possible; else they would be in a major problematic situation. The
various operational problems of Star Box are given below:
i) The very first problem with the operation of Star Box is that as they are responsible
for providing excellent quality materials for the clients, the price of these specific products
and services are immensely higher than the rest of the organizations providing similar
products and services (Li 2013). Due to the high price, many new customers do not want to
buy products and the existing customers do not wish to continue their tenure with their
organization of Star Box.
ii) The second operational problem of Star Box is that they do not comprise of risks
management skills. This lack of risk management becomes major problem for them as they
do not know how to manage their risks.
iii) The degrading market shares are the third operational problem within Star Box.
They are not being able to continue their top position with the present share market
(Whittington 2014). The competitors are slowly acquiring the entire market.
iv) The fourth operational problem with Star Box is the erroneous strategies. These
erroneous strategies were extremely dangerous for the organization as they have only brought
problems for them.

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v) The fifth operational problem of this particular organization is that they are not
advanced with technology. The strategies they have undertaken within their system are not up
to the mark for the changes in technologies. In today’s world, each and every organization
should be extremely upgraded with their technologies for being successful (Willcocks 2013).
This is another reason for their downfall in shares. The systems should be eventually
upgraded regularly to be advanced with the technological world.
vi) The next significant operational problem includes the changes that are occurring in
the market trends. This type of change is not easily acceptable by the organization as they are
not being able to cope up with the changes. Due to this constant changing, the organization is
facing major problems.
vii) The conflicts amongst the three levels of management are another vital problem
within the organization of Star Box (Bernus, Mertins and Schmidt 2013). This type of
conflicts should be checked and mitigated as soon as possible. If these conflicts will not be
resolved, the organization might be facing serious issues in future.
Figure 2: Shares Degradation in Star Box
(Source: Starbox.co.nz. 2018)

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The graph given above has shown the sharp degradation of the shares within the
organization of Star Box. During the year 2010, their shares were more than 30% of the total
shares. However, during 2012, this share percentage has degraded to 5%, which is extremely
harmful for the company (Altameem, Aldrees and Alsaeed 2014). The shareholders as well as
the shareholders of Star Box are in grave danger due to this.
An organizational strategy of any specific organization refers to the summation of the
activities that the organization has decided to take for achieving all the long term and short
term goals. When all these activities are added up, they become the strategic plan of than
organization. The minimum time for a strategic plan to become completed is one year and it
involves all the three management levels.
The organizational strategies of Star Box are unique in their terms. This is eventually
because the organization is much older and the management bodies are much experienced
than the other organizational or management bodies (Bajdor and Grabara 2014). Following
are the various strategies of this organization that are helping to be on top throughout their
tenure.
i) Market Link Strong: They have tried to keep their market links absolutely strong in
comparison to other organizations. This is extremely important as they are manufacturers and
a constant supply of raw materials is required by them.
ii) Following Finance related Strategies: They follow strict discipline in all the
finance related matters and they are able to mitigate the problems substantially (Therivel et
al. 2013).

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iii) Good Approach for Investment: The next significant strategy of Star Box is that it
follows a strict and good approach for investments. They make sure that the investments are
proper and there is no problem for them.
iv) Exporting Products in Market: This particular strategy they have taken recently
(Uçaktürk and Villard 2013). They are not any more restricted to domestic market and now
they have started exporting their products to the international market as well.
v) Providing Flexibility to the Labours: The final strategy for the organization of Star
Box is that they provide utmost flexibility to their labours. For this flexibility, they are
providing, the labours are extremely happy with their work and does not want leave the
organization.
3. Most Likely System Acquisition Method
The organization of Star Box Limited has acquired a system for the purpose of system
acquisition within the organization. They are thus following ERP or Enterprise Resource
Planning for their organization. It is the sole ability for delivering the integration of all types
of business applications. The tools of ERP substantially share the common procedure and
even a data model, thus covering the basic operational processes for properly integration
(Worrell, Wasko and Johnston 2013). The scalability and the flexibility of the business are
eventually enhanced with this ERP. Star Box decided to integrate their business processes or
operations and thus chose enterprise resource planning. Since, they are manufacturers; they
have to manage several things like finance, raw materials, finance, logistics and many more.
Thus, they require ERP for this purpose.

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Figure 3: Benefits of ERP in Star Box
(Source: Starbox.co.nz. 2018)
4. System Flowchart of Star Box
The system flowchart of Star Box clearly demonstrates the sales procedure.
Figure 4: Systems Flowchart of Star Box
(Source: Starbox.co.nz. 2018)

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The flowchart starts with the requirement of the product. The design of the product is
then explained here. The other step is the definition of the problem. Next, it is being analyzed
properly. Synthesis and the optimization are done in the respective steps (Belfo and Trigo
2013). Once, the analysis is done, the product designing is completed and the evaluation of
prototype is done. Then manufacturing as well refinement are done and finally the final
product is completed.
5. Control Problems within System
The problems within Star Box are mainly because of the erroneous strategies of the
organization. The shareholders are in trouble for their investment in the business and as the
market trends are altering, they are not being able to cope up with the new trends and new
advancements of technology (Demski 2013). Since Star Box is considered as the best
company, they should advertise their products properly, so that the customers get an idea
about them. However, the marketing team is much inactive in comparison to others.
Moreover, conflicts resolution should also be maintained properly.
Part 2
1. Adoption of Accounting Software Packages
The accounting software packages help the company to properly execute the
accounting related processes and also proper financial advantages from them. There are
various accounting software packages in market and Star Box has implemented the package
of Xero amongst them (Xero Accounting Software. 2018). It helps them to obtain all
advantages of cloud and support to the clients. Moreover, it is extremely fast and thus is
implemented by Star Box. The threats or issues are extremely reduced with this particular
accounting software.

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2. Current Market Size
The market size of the organization of Star Box is degrading with the advancement of
technology within this organization (Simkin, Norman and Rose 2014). The new strategies
that they have for the business are being utilized by them. Furthermore, the accounting
software, Xero is providing major competitive advantages to the business and slowing they
are coming back to top. Customer relationship management is another significant strategy for
them to regain their position (Galliers and Leidner 2014). The reduction of product prices
would also be helpful for them.
3. Identification of Market Leaders and Competitors
In spite of being on top amongst the organizations of packaging and wooden boxes,
few more organizations are present, who are slowly coming into limelight. Following is the
comparison between the other organizations and Star Box in respect to shares.
Sales
Other 8.10%
The Wooden Box Factory 9.80%
ABC Crates 12.50%
Starbox 36.30%
Sydney Crates 33.20%
Figure 5: Comparison of Shares of other Organizations and Star Box
(Source: Created by the Author)

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The above graph clearly stated the position of Star Box and other organizations in
respect to shares in share market (Starbox.co.nz. 2018). The main competitor is Sydney
Crates and the other competitors are The Wooden Box Factory and ABC Crates.
4. Relevant Recommendations and Suggestions
The recommendations for Star Box mainly include reducing the costs of the products,
since their prices are extremely high. The second problem is that they are not advertising their
products properly and the customers are not getting any information about them. The
recommendation is that they should advertise their products more often with a more effective
team for marketing.
Conclusion
Therefore, conclusion can be drawn that strategic information system is defined as the
type of information system, which is responsible for the successful creation and enhancing
the competitive advantages or alterations within the systems of any specific organization.
This is a type of information system that helps to take or make important and significant
strategies for the betterment of the organization. The other types of information systems like
transaction processing systems, management information systems, decision support systems,
enterprise information systems, online automated systems, enterprise resource planning and
many more could be utilized with the strategic information system. The organization that has
implemented the strategic information system within their business is likely to become more
successful than others. The products, services and various capabilities, which eventually
provide competitive advantages to the organization, are obtained by the SIS. Moreover, the
errors of the system are reduced with this and the system or business operations become
completely error free. Decision making is also enabled with this system and hence it is
extremely popular. The above literature review has provided a detailed discussion on the

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strategic information system and accounting information system for the popular organization
of Australia, Star Box. It is the most popular organization for packaging and wooden boxes.
The review comprises of the complete structure of the organization and the various problems
in their business operations. Moreover, the system acquisition method and the
implementation of accounting software packages are also provided here. The market position
of Star Box with proper suggestions is also given in the review.

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References
Altameem, A.A., Aldrees, A.I. and Alsaeed, N.A., 2014, October. Strategic information
systems planning (SISP). In Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and
Computer Science (Vol. 1).
Arvidsson, V., Holmström, J. and Lyytinen, K., 2014. Information systems use as strategy
practice: A multi-dimensional view of strategic information system implementation and
use. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.45-61.
Bajdor, P. and Grabara, I., 2014. The Role of Information System Flows in Fulfilling
Customers’ Individual Orders. Journal of Studies in Social Sciences, 7(2).
Belfo, F. and Trigo, A., 2013. Accounting information systems: Tradition and future
directions. Procedia Technology, 9, pp.536-546.
Bernus, P., Mertins, K. and Schmidt, G. eds., 2013. Handbook on architectures of
information systems. Springer Science & Business Media.
Boonstra, A., 2013. How do top managers support strategic information system projects and
why do they sometimes withhold this support?. International Journal of Project
Management, 31(4), pp.498-512.
Demski, J., 2013. Managerial uses of accounting information. Springer Science & Business
Media.

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Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E. eds., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges
and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
Li, C.Y., 2013. Persuasive messages on information system acceptance: A theoretical
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Behavior, 29(1), pp.264-275.
Pearlson, K.E., Saunders, C.S. and Galletta, D.F., 2016. Managing and Using Information
Systems, Binder Ready Version: A Strategic Approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Simkin, M.G., Norman, C.S. and Rose, J.M., 2014. Core concepts of accounting information
systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Starbox.co.nz. 2018. Wooden Boxes & Packaging Auckland | Starbox. [online] Available at:
https://www.starbox.co.nz/ [Accessed 26 Apr. 2018].
Therivel, R., Wilson, E., Heaney, D. and Thompson, S., 2013. Strategic environmental
assessment. Routledge.
Uçaktürk, A. and Villard, M., 2013. The effects of management information and ERP
systems on strategic knowledge management and decision-making. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 99, pp.1035-1043.
Whittington, R., 2014. Information systems strategy and strategy-as-practice: a joint
agenda. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 23(1), pp.87-91.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems
investments. Springer.

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Worrell, J., Wasko, M. and Johnston, A., 2013. Social network analysis in accounting
information systems research. International Journal of Accounting Information
Systems, 14(2), pp.127-137.
Wu, Y., Cegielski, C.G., Hazen, B.T. and Hall, D.J., 2013. Cloud computing in support of
supply chain information system infrastructure: understanding when to go to the
cloud. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 49(3), pp.25-41.
Xero Accounting Software. 2018. Online Accounting Software – Free Trial, Free Support |
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