Describe the general business strategy of the investigated firm/organization

Walmart information systems

For the final project, a 3-4 page proposal (double-line spaced, twelve-point font) must be submitted that describes the final project. This proposal will describe:

Target of study
o What firm or business is being studied?
o What is the information system/information technology system that will be studied?
o What industry sector does it belong to?
o At first glance, how is this information system/information technology application being utilized to gain a competitive advantage? (This is a superficial assessment since you have not done the project yet!)

Significance of target
o Why is this particular information system/information technology application significant in the context of current and future business strategy for this firm?

Data sources
o What types of data sources will be used (business periodicals, company literature, research, personal interviewing of key contacts in the firm)?
o Who will be your principal contacts/informants for this project at the target organization?
o What types of data sources will be used (business periodicals/company literature etc.)?

Project plan (more in-depth if worked on as a group)
o A tentative schedule for the tasks of data collection, writing, and final editing, and which team members will do them
o The division of tasks & responsibilities among team members, for example:
o which team member(s) will do research on each section
o which team member will serve as team leader, coordinating other team members’ activities
o which team member(s) will serve as liaison to the instructor
o which team member(s) will collate and edit the complete paper
o which team member(s) will prepare the PowerPoint presentation slides for the final project

presentationStructure for the final project

Here is a suggested outline for the content of the project:

1. Introduction to the industry sector: [1-2 pages suggested length]
a. A brief overview of what the firms in this industry do and how they do it.
b. Also, who are the major players in this industry?
c. What is the state of competition in this industry? (You may to think about this in terms of the 5-forces model)
d. What factors tend to determine the basis of competitive advantage in this industry?

2. Introduction to the firm being investigated: [1 page suggested length]
a. What does the firm do?
b. How big is the firm [Example: # of employees, assets, annual revenue]
c. What are the firm’s primary products or services that it manufactures/delivers?

3. General relevance of information technology to this industry: [1 or 2 pages
suggested length]:
a. Do the firms use information technology in a wide range or narrow range of
business activities?
b. Has investment in information technology been high or low among firms in
this industry?
c. Do other firms in the industry appear to have employed IT for competitive
advantage?

4. What is the information technology being used for competitive advantage and
where is this information technology being used? [2 or 3 pages suggested length]
a. Describe the general business strategy of the investigated firm/organization
(ex: Low-cost producer, Highest quality service provider, best manufacturing
technology innovation, etc.?)
b. In what business activities (or value chain activity, if you like) is the
firm/organization using information technology?
c. How is the particular information technology application that your team has
chosen to study being employed by the firm to (a) enhance the performance of
the organization’s business activities & (b) gain competitive advantage?
d. What special skills, training, or expertise are necessary to operate this
enhanced information systems competency of the firm(s)?
e. How does the competitive advantage manifest itself in respect to business
strategy? (Does it yield cost advantages, quality advantages, scope
advantages?)
f. What are some operational and performance benchmarks used by the firm
to measure its competitive position in the marketplace? How does IT affect these
benchmarks?

5. Is the competitive advantage yielded by the information technology really a
sustainable one? Why is it sustainable? [2 pages suggested length]
a. Could other firms create easily duplicate the organization’s information
systems competency? What factors might prevent easy duplication or make it
cost too much in terms of time and resources?
b. In the short term, what are the threats and opportunities in respect to the
competitive advantage derived from the organization’s information systems
application?
c. In the medium term, what are the threats to the sustainability of the
competitive advantage?
d. In the true long term, no technologically based competitive advantage (even
of nations) is really sustainable – therefore describe the long terms trends that
may equalize the information technology found in the organization’s industry or
the driving forces that may fundamentally redefine and restructure the industry’s
products or services.

Format of the Final Project
– Cover-page with: (a) Name of students on the project team, (b) their e-mail
addresses, and (c) the title of the firm that has been investigated
– 12 page maximum with all sources footnoted excluding a full bibliography (2 – 3 pages) with all data sources identified and enumerated: articles, contacts/interviews, Web sites
– Double line-spaced!
– 12-point font!

Final Project Presentation

A sample final project PowerPoint presentation can be found on the D2L course
site under “Assignment Samples”.

During the last class session period, (Zoom) student teams will make 15-20 minute
presentations that orally summarize that which they learned in their final projects.
Each team should assemble about a dozen power point slides – they should try to
present within 12-15 minutes, leaving about 5-8 minutes afterwards for Q&A with the
audience.

The instructor recommends that:
a. Each team should utilize only two presenters.
b. Each team should practice the presentation once before the presentation to make sure that the presentation will go smoothly within the allotted time frame

The presentations are evaluated with the following criteria:
a. Content – Did the presentation really describe the competitive use of IT?
b. Clarity – Was the presentation clear and comprehensible?
c. Punctuality – Did the presentation (excluding Q&A) stay within an appropriate allotted time frame
d. Responsiveness to Q&A

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