Information Technology & Global Business — Winter 2021

Definitions

Information technology infrastructure

Disruptive technologies

data marts

Collaborative CRM

Upselling

Scope Creep

Software Localization

Information technology makes it possible to “never be out of touch.” Discuss the pros and cons of always being available to your employees and clients.

What are the major capabilities of DBMS and why is a relational DBMS so powerful?

Discuss the various tools of accessing information from databases.

Explain the difficulties involved in managing data. What are the problems associated with poor quality data?

Explain the importance role that information systems play in supporting a supply chain strategy.

In some cases, individuals engage in cybersquatting so they can sell the domain names to companies engage in cybersquatting by registering domain names that are very similar to their competitors’ domain names in order to generate traffic from people who misspell web addresses. Discuss each practice in terms of its ethical nature and legality. Is there a difference between the two practices? Discuss

Differentiate between customer-facing CRM applications and customer-touching CRM applications.

It has been said that most systems fail because system builders ignore organizational behavior problems. Why might be so?

What are the issues and technical alternatives to be considered when developing international information system?

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What are the objectives of project management, and why is it is so essential in developing information systems?

What are the challenges posed by global information systems? Elaborate the management solutions for these challenges.

Traditional retail in the United States, the kind you find at the malls, and urban department stores, is in trouble. The very large retailers such as Walmart, Macys, Kohls, Sears, and Nordstrom all have reported about 1% to 2% sales growth since the recession of 2008. In 2016, Target, Macys, Sears, JCPenny, and others are closing hundreds of stores. Since 2000, consumers have been shifting away from traditional retail goods like apparel and electronics (the mainstays of retail stores), and buying more services like vacations, exercise, dining, and health care. The much bigger threat to traditional retail is coming from online retail, mostly Amazon,that has gobbled up the lion’s share of online retail (about 25% of all online retail), and has been growing at astounding rates like 15% to 20% a year since 2008. Apparel and electronics are also the largest sales items for online retailers, so the physical stores and the online giant all compete selling the same goods. Traditional retailers have spent over a billion dollars in the last decade trying to become online retailers, and meet consumers wherever they want to buy, online, or at the store. It’s called an “omnichannel” strategy: using multiple channels like physical stores and online Web and mobile apps to sell products. Many traditional large retailers such as Walmart, Macys, and Costco, have wound up in the top ten online retail rankings. But so far the omnichannel strategy has not been especially successful in keeping up with Amazon’s growth. In what promises to be the online battle of the decade, the two biggest players, the heavy weights, Walmart and Amazon, are going head to head for the consumer dollar. In a broader sense, it’s the online-business model versus the physical- department-store business model which was invented by Macy’s in 1870. But to be fair to the traditional retailers who have developed their online and mobile sales channel, it’s more accurate to say it’s the omnichannel model versus the pure-online digital model of Amazon. Here’s how the two heavy weights shape up. Walmart’s revenues in 2015 were $485. billion ( Amazon employs about 222 million people. That works out to $481,000 of revenue for each employee. The retail battle of the decade shapes up as a contest between a giant traditional retailer that is growing very slowly, and has only a tiny online presence, versus the largest online retailer which is growing very rapidly, and has no physical store presence. Both companies have significant financial assets, and nearly limitless credit, to build or acquire whatever capabilities they choose. Walmart needs to develop new systems and capabilities both in-house, and through acquisitions. In 2016 Walmart bought the start-up Jet.com, and small but fast-growing Amazon competitor. The outcome will in part be determined by how well Walmart can develop a competitive logistics system to compete with Amazon.