Information Systems Strategy & Management: JB Hi-Fi Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the information systems strategy and management employed by JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, two major players in the retail sector. It begins with an introduction to information systems strategy, highlighting its importance for achieving organizational goals. The report then delves into the competitive environment of these companies, comparing their business models and product offerings. A key focus is the informative system maturity of each enterprise, examining how they leverage information systems to enhance supply chains, improve communication, and gain a competitive edge. The report also addresses methods for overcoming resistance to change within organizations and explores potential leadership and governance structures. Furthermore, it discusses the assumptions made throughout the analysis and their potential impact on the business strategies. Recommendations are provided to improve technical sectors and database security. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of information management in effective decision-making, highlighting the critical role of well-designed databases in supporting adaptive decisions. The research indicates that information system and strategy are effectively used to enhance strategic planning in both companies, while tactical planning appears to have a lesser impact.

Information Systems Strategy
and Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Organisation and its competitive environment................................................................................2
Informative System maturity of the Enterprise................................................................................3
Functions................................................................................................................................4
Methods of overcoming Resistance to change and possible Leadership and governance structures
..........................................................................................................................................................4
Assumptions and Effect on report....................................................................................................5
Analysis and Recommendations......................................................................................................6
Summary..........................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................7

ABSTRACT
It's the key factor to achieve the effectiveness of decision making in an organisation.
This research explore extent to which management information system attained to make fruitful
decisions in both organisation. The research inspected whether the selected financial institutions
vary as to the use of management leadership of decision making for strategic and tactical
planning purposes. The outcomes of the research stated that management information system and
strategy was essentially used to improve planning of strategies in both the organisation. Another
point revealed in the regression analysis is that tactical planning has no effect on decision
making whereas strategic planning has a clear effect on decision making in both organisations.
INTRODUCTION
Information system strategy and management is an important part of any organisation. It
helps the organisation to attain its goals and objectives. Information system strategy is a primary
part of the today's technology world which let the organisation to use resources and to categorize,
store, process and transfer it. It gives a facility of applying metrics and analytical tools for their
information and allow them to grab the opportunities for growth and certain ways to improve
operational effectiveness.
JB Hi-Fi is an Australian and New Zealand company which is based on retailing of the
consumer goods mainly in Video games, CDs, DVDs and other electronic items. This Its main
competitor is HARVEY NORMAN which was established in year 1961 specialised in electrical
goods and appliances by Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman. In 2016, Harvey Norman owned
approximately 280 stores including franchised stores in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
In this assignment, several number of things will be discussed in relation with the
information management. It is a vital part which enables an entity to grow and develop in an
ethical manner. With the dynamic environment, working conditions are changing for employees
so does the internal factors of the information system of which company get the advancement
and thus effective production is the outcome. Hence, the information system section of the
company has the vital role affecting every part of company.
ORGANISATION AND ITS COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
JB Hi-Fi: Apart from its history mentioned in the introduction, JB Hi-Fi has transferred
its business sector towards music CDs and now, they are major retailer of selling Plasma and
1

LED televisions with Audio video, photography camera, car music system and gaming sector as
well. In October 2016, JB Hi-Fi struck a deal which acquired the good guys warehouses within
Australia making them the largest electronics retailer (Banker and et. al.2011.).
Harvey Norman: Their operating structure is quite different or can say unusual from
others as every section of the company has separate entity for the management. . Therefore,
there are many stores which are combination of three of four separate entities contributing
revenue to Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd. through lease payments and portion of sales (Bélanger
and Crossler, 2011). However, to motivate sales people and improvement of services, sales
commission is still in act across many stores.
Competitive Environment: A competitive environment is an external dynamic
environment in which a business runs, functions and competes. Direct competitors like JB hi-fi
and Harvey Norman are businesses that are selling almost the same products and services and
there is not much difference among their production environment. . But the companies sell at
almost same prices and services provided to customers (Jung and Joo, 2011). Variety of products
provided by both the companies can be substituted by each other products. To be more effective
and efficient as compared to others, many steps have been taken by both like training for better
services, quality with cheapest price and strategies prepared for better outcomes, etc.
2

Basic steps which are taken by both the companies and even any other organisation who
are in the competitive environment are:
 Basic financial planning done by The CEO and top level team
 Planning done with the appropriate forecasting for dynamic environment
 Planning done with the external help
INFORMATIVE SYSTEM MATURITY OF THE ENTERPRISE
Information system is used by the both companies to enhance supply chain like updating
applications and portals from which they connect with clients and gateways by which employees
share information and resources (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). So, maturity is something which
gives an ability to the organisation for upgrading themselves on a continuous scale and also,
higher is the maturity, more will be the chances of company to minimize scale of error and
improve quality of resources allocated by organisation. In other language, it is also known by the
name capability maturity model which means the systematic and improved methods of
developing computer software (Peter and Donnelly, 2011).
3
source 1: Strategy and the Business Environment, 2012

Functions:
Role of Information System Maturity is to reform the process and software for more
effective outcomes and improved abilities. By sustainable use of IS maturity model, a company
gains the potential capabilities within business (López-Nicolás and Meroño-Cerdán, 2011). It not
only develops the software part of enterprise but also advances employees to achieve their task in
a quick manner with A grade quality. It also upgrades the database of organisation in which
financial and resourceful information is stored and takes it to the next level for better usage and
way of communication. Several areas where this maturity model can be affected are:
 Online stores services provided by both the companies has transaction processing system
which uses multiple gateways for payments done online. So these gateways can be more
effective and efficient in terms of safety and multiple ways of transaction facilities by the
gateways (Malhotra, Melville and Watson, 2013). These improvements can lead to the
better competitiveness and outcomes.
 Management support system is used within organisation for creating and sharing useful
information and data amongst each other. History and current data of performance and
the tactical appliances for better outcomes are some of the ways for which software is
developed for fluent communication and more competency to other rival company
(Willcocks, 2013).
METHODS OF OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE AND
POSSIBLE LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES
There is one thing assured in the business, that is, change because the economies changes
rapidly and to survive that, flexibility is required to survive and prosper. So, if the organisation
goes through some changes resistance can be seen among employees. There are various practices
which every company use to overcome the resistance:
 Abstracting new ways to communicate with the staff members about changes and new
things which will be in act (Mithas, Ramasubbu and Sambamurthy, 2011). Updating
about the up-gradation by the meetings can be a good idea.
 Explaining the new strategy to each department of organisation by the means of
conducting meeting that will help employees about the knowledge of dealing with new
updates. It is essential for each member of organisation to understand the aim and
procedures of new business strategy.
4

 Conducting seminars time to time by enterprise in order to update knowledge and
procedures on a regular basis.
 Select a group who has good communication skills and transferring to managerial
position to help managing plans and their enactment.
 Key deliverables development for every sector of the organisationwho are involved in it.
Deliverable can be stated as the final report of outcomes from the implementation of new
strategic plan. Each group's leader must submit deliverable for the goals. (Peppard and
Ward, 2016).
 Making bond between implementation to compensation. Creating milestones to the task
and rewarding after achieving milestone will motivate employees and also state the
success rate of new strategy implemented.
 This can help out with leadership and governance structures because resistance will
active leadership between them to communicate to team members and also maintain
structures of policies governed by the Australian Govt. in aspect to the new
implementation of strategies.
ASSUMPTIONS AND EFFECT ON REPORT
Assumptions: There are various assumptions assumed throughout the report that if it
comes in act and applied to the business strategy it can affect in positive as well as negative
manner. The assumptions assumed has the main aim of achieveing the goal in an effective and
efficient manner and not only that but also increase goodwill along with the competitiveness for
a long period of time (Prajogo and Olhager, 2012).Service or product need are the major
assumptions which a company requires but does not identify. . If it is believed that the idea has
not been yet discovered or applied then benefit can be taken by showing company that how will
the product idea will make a difference and company move towards the betterment. Profitability
is another assumption which can be assumed as when a business starts even if it is large or small,
it takes time to cross the break-even point and attain profit. So, till that time, capitalisation is
required till the profit is achieved. Apart from that, it is assumed that when companies undergo
the strategic changes, most of the employees resist to adopt and accept it. So, to overcome the
resistance, many steps like conducting meetings, approaching Individual or appointing the
employee as manager who can handle issues and has good communication to explain the need
and the benefit from it.
5

Affect: It depends on company that how does these changes affect them. There are possibilities
that either it can go in positive direction or can result in a negative manner. Chances are essential
factor but only when company confirms the betterment of them and employees related to it, then
only it is applied but being a risk factor it can sometimes go on a different track which is not
expected and can affect in negative manner. (Qrunfleh, Tarafdar and Ragu-Nathan, 2012). So
from the above statement, it can be said that assumptions can lead to either good or bad and the
way it should go depends on the risk taker.
ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS1. Information technology is becoming rapidly important in improving the quality and
minimizing the costs. Safe guarding the companies and client's information is important
due to chances of treason ..2. JB hi-Fi and Harvey Norman has to watch out from the strong approach of intruding
which can be done from outside as well as from inside, so improving the database
security can be a good way to avoid the risk. (Reich, and Benbasat, 2013).3. Clients and the consumers have major roles to play in labelling privacy and security
concerns.4. Employees who are undergoing the changes within organisation face problems while
adapting new guidelines and procedures and thus, it creates drama and conflicts between
the employers and employees.
Recommendations
Analysis of the report done above states that both organisation faces issues so to reduce them
steps recommended towards technical sector must be taken carefully along with the full security
of databases in order to avoid the intrusion(Ward, 2012). If company undergoes any changes
then it must take important steps to maintain the trust and working environment of employees in
an effective manner.
SUMMARY
Information management and strategy is most important to reach effective decisions in
both organisations. They are aware that information system is a special purpose system helpful in
management . This assignment has highlighted that this sector should be applicable and
accessible in supplying appropriate and good quality of information from generation to its users.
6

To information management being vital and effective and carefully conceived, designed and
executed database should exist to communicate the adaptive decisions. In nutshell, the results of
the research stated that information system and strategy used to enhance strategic planning in
both the companies are effective. Another revealing is that information is least implemented in
the tactical planning.
7

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Banker, R.D., Hu, N., Pavlou, P.A. and Luftman, J., 2011. CIO reporting structure, strategic
positioning, and firm performance. MIS quarterly. 35(2). pp.487-504.
Bélanger, F. and Crossler, R.E., 2011. Privacy in the digital age: a review of information privacy
research in information systems. MIS quarterly. 35(4). pp.1017-1042.
Jung, Y. and Joo, M., 2011. Building information modelling (BIM) framework for practical
implementation. Automation in Construction. 20(2). pp.126-133.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2015. Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital
Firm Plus MyMISLab with Pearson eText--Access Card Package. Prentice Hall Press.
Laudon, K.C. and Laudon, J.P., 2016. Management information system. Pearson Education
India.
López-Nicolás, C. and Meroño-Cerdán, Á.L., 2011. Strategic knowledge management,
innovation and performance. International journal of information management. 31(6).
pp.502-509.
Malhotra, A., Melville, N. and Watson, R.T., 2013. Spurring impactful research on information
systems for environmental sustainability. Management Information Systems Quarterly.
37(4). pp.1265-1274.
Mithas, S., Ramasubbu, N. and Sambamurthy, V., 2011. How information management
capability influences firm performance. MIS quarterly. pp.237-256.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.
Peter, J.P. and Donnelly, J.H., 2011. Marketing management: knowledge and skills: text,
analysis, cases, plans. Plano: Business pub., INC.
Prajogo, D. and Olhager, J., 2012. Supply chain integration and performance: The effects of
long-term relationships, information technology and sharing, and logistics integration.
International Journal of Production Economics. 135(1). pp.514-522.
Qrunfleh, S., Tarafdar, M. and Ragu-Nathan, T.S., 2012. Examining alignment between supplier
management practices and information systems strategy. Benchmarking: An International
Journal. 19(4/5). pp.604-617.
Reich, B.H. and Benbasat, I., 2013. 10 Measuring the Information Systems–Business Strategy
Relationship. Strategic Information Management. p.265.
8

Ward, J.M., 2012. Information systems strategy: Quo vadis?. The Journal of Strategic
Information Systems. 21(2). pp.165-171.
Willcocks, L., 2013. Information management: the evaluation of information systems
investments. Springer.
Online
Strategy and the business environment. 2017. [online]. Available through:
<http://www.innovationforgrowth.co.uk/blog/strategy-and-the-business-environment/>.
[accessed on 5th october 2017]
9