Specifics And Features Of Marketing - A Case Study In Manufacturing And IT Alignment

Issues face when managing IT/IS strategically in private and public sectors

Discuss about the Specifics and Features of the Marketing.

Accounting Information System (AIS) is a computer-based method that track the activity of accounting related with the resources of the information technology. Today Accounting Information is necessary for the organization to understand the financial situation accurately. It is important to analyze the long-term strategic decision that has an effect over the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing and IT alignment is an important concern for the technical and Industry manager. Information Technology has a positive impact on the productivity and performance of the Manufacturing Industry. The report will do a case study in the area of Manufacturing and a research has conducted in Accounting Information System to help the client to take decision for their investment in the Information System so that they can come up with the next level of their business. This report discusses the key challenges identified until date. In some cases, the references have suggested to relate the challenges. The summary of the challenges that have for each segment has discussed below in the fifth section. The interesting thing that has noticed here is that most of the industries face the similar challenge. The report will compare the issues and the challenges faced then contrast them to understand and manage the IS/IT strategically. It will evaluate the competitive advantage achieve by the organization through IS strategy. By the innovative use of strategic IS, the organization will be able adopt some approaches. Outsourcing has used as a strategic option. Here, it has discuss about the strategic option chosen that is the outsourcing, that would be managed by the Director of IS/IT. The study has include the case evidence to support the arguments done on the strategic information systems which has add business value through IS/IT to an organization. Finally the report discusses about the internal control strategy develop by the organization to avoid the risk that could harm the integrity and honesty of the organization staff. 

Each organization of public and private sectors produce values for stockholders but they differ in the environment, resources and those of the nature of value for the implications of creating and implementing strategy of manufacturing. In the sector of public, organization accountability model of manufacturing has become more complicated. The leadership of the political is responsible for the strategic information and the leadership of the executive is responsible for managing the implementation of policies. The strategic management process will effectively manage the relationship of strategy between the executive and political leadership.

An organization sustain with the help of IS Strategy to achieve a competitive advantage

According to Boyne (2015), the issues and the challenges that each sector faces are:

- Service not the 'profit' agenda:  an individual require effective and efficient provision from each of the public and private services to minimize the tax. 'Value' is the guiding concept for the public sector of the organisation rather than the 'profit' in manufacturing.

- the need for holding up the accountability and transparency of manufacturing in public sector organization that leads to 'red tape' and bureaucracy and a more risk-averse and less flexible culture then the private sector.

- Integrating the emerging technologies platform and transferring them.

The above analysis gives the information that in the manufacturing industry public sector organization are different from private sector organization in which they may have implications to manage their IT/IS capabilities in manufacturing.

The Manufacturers Alliance for productivity and Innovation (MAPI) and Deloitte conducted a leading practice of risk assessment. The risk professional has significant challenges in technological advance. Manufacturers could extract more meaning and direction for huge data sets through predictive modeling and analytical tools. The Cloud Computing has enabled the manufacturer to get benefits from IT that is robust. They do not have to maintain infrastructure, software and hardware in house. The manufacturer also faces environmental factors. The velocity and complexity of the strategic risk has considered to understand the importance of growing. The issues and challenges that the organization faces in the manufacturing industry are (Venkatesh, Sykes and Venkatraman 2014):

-Interoperability: the organization has the ability to integrate and share information and the process of the business with the use of common standards and work practices

- Trust and security: the citizen must feel confident enough to use their personal data securely and deal with responsible and appropriate manner

Another case study based with regard to organization that faces the issues and challenges are:

- The changes from the infrastructure and rationalization to developing a new and innovative solutions signify the IS/IT strategy (Münstermann, Smolinski and Sprague 2014).

- The need of development and enhancement of the systems are computer/ electronic based.

- Both the internal and the external stakeholders share the knowledge and the role of management portal.

From the cases above it can be experience that public sectors are facing difficulties in developing an information system strategy. However, the use of IS/IT still has a benefit to facilitate and enhance the relationship of internal and external policies. 

To obtain a competitive advantage, strategic development is important to use and manage the IT/IS based system effectively. This goal can be achieve if the organisations approach to the Strategic information system Planning (SISP) to convert the conventional system of information to Strategic System of Information. The Strategic System of Information will then help the organisation to alter the business strategies, structure or plan for the environmental changes and competitive advantages that are achieve over their competitors (Alshubaily and Altameem 2017). It will help organization to do things better. The organization should always aim to maintain and develop the IS/IT systems to support the operation of the business effectively. It is difficult to use the information system for achieving a competitive advantage. To achieve such advantages there should be coordination between the management, technology and the organization. Strategic Information System has built in such a way that the manufacturing industries strength cannot be imitated easily. To gain the competitive advantage from strategic information system the organisation should have many resources (Sakas, Vlachos and Nasiopoulos 2014). The resources may include a well-developed database to obtain a flexible platform of information technology and a continual investment to sustain with the advantages.

In the Manufacturing industry, around 60 % of individual use accounting information for decisions in production of equipment and 8.89% disagree to use it (Fullerton, Kennedy and Widener 2014). Around 51.11% agree to use accounting information to take decisions in facilities and 11.11% disagree, 48.89% agree to use accounting information to take decisions in production control and planning where 11.11% disagree, and 48.89% agree to use accounting information to take decisions in vertical integration and 6.667% disagree. Around 51.11% agree to use accounting information to take decisions in production quality trade and cost controlling and 6.667% disagree.

It is recommended to follow some proposed conditions before the development and implementation of strategic information system that includes:

- The senior organization management active support, to discover the implementation process and the strategic opportunities

- To integrate a plan for use of strategic information system into the process of overall organization of strategic planning

- To report directly to the business managers those that affect the use of strategic information system

- To place the control mechanisms in the hand of business managers

- To be always ready to use the strategy for information system 

In the Strategic Information System, the manufacturing organization uses the information system to develop an effective innovation for the use of strategic IS. It is essential for the success of the organization in the present business environment globally. The organization can adopt the use of information system to create and identify the new products and the services for the development of the niche market (Veselovsky et al. 2015). The internet and telecommunication network gives better opportunities to develop innovative use of strategic IS in manufacturing. It is also essential to align the information system and the IS/IT application with the business strategy to address the business needs for the future. The current IT of manufacturing organisation should use information systems to understand the management, organization, and the IT that forms the system (Cecez-Kecmanovic et al. 2014). In the rapidly changing environment, IS should focus on the organization performance. For a simple use of strategic application, it is necessary to identify and properly plan a positive relationship between the financial measures and the IS/IT system of manufacturing (Luftman, Lyytinen and ben Zvi 2017). Social networking sites strategically use information system that are align to business to promote the business growth which results in increase in the productivity, customer satisfaction and the better performance of the employee of manufacturing indutry.

Some companies provide offshore manufacturing services and delivers quality-imported apparels to the client (McCormack and Hargovan 2015). However, they have design and manufacture offshore according to the timeframe, specifications and budget of the client. The director can now choose the outsourcing strategic option to manage the design and manufacturing services. As this company functions independently, outsourcing may allow the company to do the business more effectively and efficiently.  Outsourcing is also a bit different from the off-shoring that include the contracting work with the overseas. The outsourcing can be done in two ways: Either Outsourcing component that is single for the daily operation, or else outsourcing the part of the business strategically. For example, an Apple manufacturing company fulfills their operational model through outsourcing. The company designs an internal product and on their behalf, the manufacturing chain and the complex supply have operated by the contractors (Kolawole and Agha 2015). Outsourcing the portion of a company with the advertising fliers print is a daily operation.

1. a) Tasks that are not a vital component of the strategy but are critical to the operations

Suppose the company manufacture an organic fruit snacks. Therefore, there arise choices in which way to deliver the products to the outlet and the grocery store that has an impact on the people who ultimately buy the snacks. Shipping the product by self has a strategic advantage, as it will be timely and cost effective which avoids unwanted fees for delivering and storage (Baloguna 2016). Thus, such type of outsourcing may help the manufacturer to complete the task more efficiently.

1. b) Commodity tasks: These tasks are also a good platform for outsourcing. Many outsourcing companies offer overnight shipping of array of services. To quickly get the same quality of business card similar to this company, the individual owner has to invest on inks and printers. Alternatively, can hire full time team members and leverage the economic scale for full-service facility that has offered by the business. Here, it can redirect the full-time staff through the funds save to some other areas of the company. Another example of such type of outsourcing is customer service all center.

There are some best ways where they can decide at what time a task need to be outsource by performing a calculation for the cost or the time. For example, the owner plans to hire an in-house developer to increase the flexibility design of the software. Meanwhile, there is a need arise to update the website and the back-end systems. For that outsource the work for short-term to a contractor, and recruit an in-house developers for a long-term goal (Johnson, Wilding and Robson 2014).

Outsourcing requires a goals and timeline with the contractors to conduct a cost/time analysis. A clear communication is requiring for base cost saving and outsourcing the development work to the contractor. It is better to go in person with the in-house team rather than giving information through emails, phone calls or other media of communication (Leonardi 2014). If everything is utilized properly, business operations can be stream-line through outsourcing. It helps in utilizing the resources strategically and maximizes the time for growth. 

In the public sector, value is related to products and services of the production so that an impact can be created on the socio-economic issues that are affecting largely to the society. The taxpayer does not want to pay more and the recipient of the welfare wants to get more that is influencing the democratic processes of the public value generation (McCue, Prier and Swanson 2015). For the organization, Information system has added a business value. The organization can achieve long-term and short-term goals and use the strategy of information system to improve the productivity and effectiveness of the business. The information system is successful because of the management style, overall environment of the organization and the prevalent structure of the organization.

The key is to make realize the worker for accepting the information system. There are several ways to add value to the business through Strategic Information System.

To establish the role of strategic information: The process has two stages:

1. a) The information needed is given from the investigation and research phase and
2. b) articulating the strategy and mission. For the first phase, the assessment of the senior management and the amount they are willing to pay is required. On the value of competitor intelligence a direct link has been delivered between the bottom line and the large strategic investment. A good information is available for the successful outcome of the strategic decisions that include new investment, new launch and product development, promotion and pricing, location of the offices and factories, and selection of the market and targeting (Zedtwitz et al. 2015). From all this investigation, a role can be played to determine the area of high information leverage.

To identify what the users really need: For any strategic information, it is essential to research about the market. Therefore, the methods like interview, usage analysis or survey that are used by the researcher can be used. It will help to achieve the results and benefits.

To segment the market: Grouping the common needs of the customer into a segment is a keystone for the marketing strategy. The common pitfalls conflicts between the ‘important and the urgent’ can be overcome by defining the method of segments to develop different pricing, resources and services approach (Kindström and Kowalkowski 2014).

To create a product uniquely: There are some aspects in which values can be added to information and the challenges made to customize it. Some of the aspects are timeliness, accessibility, usability, utility, quality, medium, repacking, flexibility, customized and reusability.

Marketing and sale: For a unit to have a successful information to sell and market its services is an important aspects of marketing. In this event, it is necessary to meet the customer through in-house conference for annual research or sales meeting. Another aspect of marketing is pricing that add value to business.

Evaluating and receiving feedback: Receiving feedback and evaluation give a tune to the product offer and the strategy of the market.

Exploiting the technology: The information technology will be used to leverage the scarce resources and offers opportunities that give a great benefit of technology that allows access to virtual library for the collection of the information from the desktop of the user’s.

Making a selective outsourcing: Outsourcing is the fashion of current management to attract the broader range of skills and knowledge with low cost. Through outsourcing, some specialist retains information skills to manage and select the external contractors (Hajduk 2016).

Building a better partnership: The level of partnership with the clients and suppliers can be strengthened through organization level, individual and teams.

Developing hybrid skills: As a information professional, business can be improved by broadening the skills to become a hybrid. Therefore, to remain as a specialist, it is better to take time and develop the skills through management training and joining courses and event of the industry (Ashari et al. 2014).

An internal control is a procedure adopt in a business to ensure a reliable and accurate financial information compliance with the operational requirement to achieve the objectives of the business. A good internal control helps in managing the resources for an efficient and effective operation (Osadchy and Akhmetshin 2015). Some of the business lacks of attention, little respect for employees, no code of ethic, which would create an environment to manipulate the staff easily for gain. The manufacturing system use Information Systems to record the analysis, classify, calculate, identify and report the transaction to maintain the accountability (Iskandar 2015). To develop the internal control strategy, the organization should ensure that all the staff takes responsibility of operating the internal control properly. However, the employee will later appreciate even though it takes time to make the employee understand the importance of internal control, but the time spend will be known when they understand why certain thing are done. For every development of the organization, the ‘tone’ should be the top business priority because it is important for the owner to behave in the same manner as it is expected from the employee with regard to behaviors and setting examples. The staff should be involved in the area of business for the process of developing. Establishing a good communication between the organization and the employees will encourage them to report the breach in the internal controls and talk about the issues (Savolainen Lopez-Fresno and Ikonen 2014). The organization should make their staff feel that they are doing the right thing.

Some areas of the business have risk of loss or fraud that requires a strong internal control .To provide a positive flow of good internal control, it is better to set up the internal controls to let the staff know about it. The type of control that needs to be developed by the organization are:

Financial controls: The organization should have a strong control especially while growing the business. Reporting the key financial information and keeping the effective control enables the owner to manage the business.

Sales: Correctly estimates the revenue and stock to get the figures of accurate sales. If the sale trends feedback is quick and reliable then changes can be done to the circumstances to the responds quickly. It is advisable not to ship goods without an invoice and ensure to have a written procedure of cheque, credit and cash sales.

Account receivable: The organization should take care of the profit erosion and a flow shortage that has arise due to the failure or delay in collecting the due accounts. In anyway account receivable asset is important for the business.

Cash receipts: Most of the employees commit a fraud at the time of cash receipts because of the available mode of payment and it becomes difficult to match the cash with that particular transaction.

Payroll: If internal controls procedures are not followed then it is easy to commit a fraud as many payrolls are now automated. When using the electronic payment, it is often required to change the password. The person should ensure that the passwords are not handed to other employees in their absence to avoid all possible frauds.

Conclusion

The above report concludes that the difference between the strategic management has appeared as content rather than as a form. In both sectors, they comprise of organizations in which they manage the short-term perspective of budgetary that focuses the financial mainly rather than the strategic goal. Therefore, the public sector needs to approach strategic management to help them clarify their expectations from their authorizing environment, internally communicating with the strategic direction more consistently, and at the same time, they are demonstrating externally about their manufacturing organizations’ ability to respond and interpret to their frequently changing priorities and political signals. The manufacturing industries are facing difficulties in developing an information system strategy. However, the use of IS/IT still has a benefit to facilitate and enhance the relationship of internal and external policies. Some areas of the business have risk of loss or fraud that requires a strong internal control .To provide a positive flow of good internal control, it is better to set up the internal controls to let the staff know about it. In the report, it has found that the outsourcing can be done in two ways: Either Outsourcing component that is single for the daily operation, or else outsourcing the part of the business strategically. If everything is utilized properly, the manufacturing business operations can be streamline through outsourcing. It has thus help in utilizing the resources strategically and maximizes the time for growth. The report also has aimed to maintain and develop the IS/IT systems to support the operation of the manufacturing business effectively. It is difficult to use the information system for achieving a competitive advantage. To achieve such advantages there should be coordination between the management, technology and the manufacturing organization. The report has shown that the Strategic Information System has built in such a way that the manufacturing company strength cannot be imitated easily. In each sector, value has related to products and services of the production that has an impact created on the socio-economic issues that are affecting largely to the society. Despite of the difference in the concept of value, the manufacturing organizations needs has brought more complex stakeholder environment. Therefore, for the strategic management each sector needs a highly adaptable approach for implementation. Information profession is an existing prospect to add value to the information so that organization can make decisions strategically. The report has discussed about the marketing approach based on their experiences. By implementing, the guidelines properly can improve the visibility and position of the strategy for the information units in manufacturing. This enhances the client satisfaction with cost effective and helps them to expect opportunities and threats. Above all this, it will help the manufacturing organization to work in securing the future of the information units of the in-house. 

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