Strategic and Information Systems

Organizations and persons have functioned for many years, say hundreds of years by organizing and predicting the future outcomes in a sensitive way. It went on like this till the 1950s when official and proper strategies became famous. Since after this time, strategies such as that have been used by government, business or not for profit organizations. Promoters and activist of official strategies assert that any organization can advance and develop its efficiency if it is able to predict its change in environment, foresee problems or difficulties and build up plans or policies to act in response to those difficulties. However, planning that is done casually and predicted are costly actions that raise questions about their supremacy or authority over casual planning and prediction. Furthermore, the people who criticized the official strategy assert that it initiates firmness or stiffness and impedes originality. These critics involve many people who notice with realistic experience.

introduction.

the prediction of technology can be described as forseeing where technology is going to be in the future.steps must be observed when a statement of a project is made.the choices and resolution should be determined at the begining of the project succession in order to forsee the future and be aware of the technology's to apply. in addition due to the other alternative technology options, forcasting is required on a regular basis for companies, if possible the forcast result may be enumerated earlier and changes can occur.this results can be measured and this will approximate the level of the transfomation needed. another feature of technology forcasting is doubt about the impacts of technology in this world, for example inflation.inflation is a decline in the power of money.it has influenced technology both in good and bad ways.creditors will lose money and debtors will gain money when an unexpexted inflation occurs. tools such as field testing,interviews and prototype are been used together with forcasting to obtain assurance in the marketplace.

Any organization that is capable of putting into practice valuable prediction will be more prepared to look for the stability between handling demand for goods or services and the ability or facility to meet this demand. The capability of utilizing this distinctive stability helps an organization to utilize this as a benefit for competition over its competitors.

strategic planning is the method of approach used in making choices and assigning its supplies to follow this approach.it provides the basis and structure of a business arrangemnet. organizing the strategic plan of a business is an effective requirement for business sucess,without this plan most business will probably be unsucessful.analysis technique which dells employs for strategic planning is SWOT analysis refers to the strenght, weeknesses, opportunities and threat that a company undegoes

strategic planing questions invlove some of the following questions:

• what do we produce
• what do the customers want
• how can we satisfy this want

once the obectives and goals of the company are defined, strategic planning and forcasting have to be put in place to achieve this. The objectives or aims of an organization are basically a more visible declaration of the idea or vision identifying the undertakings to be attained if the vision becomes a reality. The set out goals are more recognized proclamation of the exact or precise activities necessary to realize the goals beginning from the present or existing position. At this stage, preparation developed should cover the following issues: vision,mission,vale,strategies,programs.

the aim of this essay is to illustrate and demonstrate the various ways the company dell applies forcasting and strategic planning to its business operations, how they interact with each other and method used.the objective of this essay is to critically evaluate the concept of success of this company, followed by organisation factors researched on this topic.

methodology

information was collected from internet sources and acadamic books

history of dell

dell was founded by a man named micheal dell in 1984.his aim was to designs and customizes its computers according to the needs of the customer.micheal dell was still a student of university of texas and the company was still called PC'S limited.the year after dell produced its first computer of its own specification and named it turbo which had eight megahert processor.what makes dell different is the fact that it allowed individuals to customize their products when ordering.micheal dell made a change in the ways computers were been sold. product line today includes desktops,laptops,server and so on.the company GROSSED 73million dollars in the first year of trading.in 1988 the company went PUBLIC giving shares for 8.50 a piece and changed its name to dell.the fisrt dell laptop made its appearance in 1991 and in 1933 dell company became one of the top fives company companies in the world.in 1996 their products were sold through the website.it grew between the 1980s and 1990s to become the largest seller of computers.operations carried out by dell includes customizing hi tech products like laptops, desktops and servers.in 2010 dell has topped HP and acer in the production of computers. dell says the customer comes first and that is an integral part in the companies structural heritage and hierarchy is creating long-lasting partnership and working with them to provide their needs and provide solutions that support their sucess.the concept of solution being driven to address the specific customer challenges.in 2005 it took first place among the ranking of "most admired companies" issued by forbe magazine.dell has undergone a series of past events. one of which was achieving an increase in dual numbers in sales done yearly. The vision statement is to operate hand to hand with partners and supply readily products at all times including the supply of quality customer encounter in the market place.

dells sucess implementation:

The following discuss how the company achieved success, the process involved.

• direct sales
• biuld to order
• supplier integration

dells business strategy model

direct sale

this model called the direct sale model has been in existence for ages.dell company produced almost all its products after an order was made by a customer. presently, dell is among on the few computer makers that builds their own personal product.this type of process has successful over the years.its a competitive advantage over competiors, while also selling its products at a lesser price.Dell also managed tooffload much of the financial burden of manufacturing to suppliers, and its manufacturing efficiency is legendary.because of this model dell has grown faster than its competitors hp and acer

build to order

The method Dell used in developing maintenance for the 100 percent construction ability, importantly to enhance its need in planning and company appropriate performance, order to minimize the time taken in ordering delivery of services and improve the customer's service. They went into partnership with Accenture to rapidly produce an innovative, high-performance chain of supply and development resolution. because of usuage of this model dell has grown faster than its competitors hp and acer

Presently, in Dell's foundations is all over the world, and the program paid an excess. Now in place in Dell's plants around the world, the program paid for itself five times over during the first 12 months of operation.

The company has the ability to become accustomed more quickly and efficiently quickly varying technologies, and also keeping up with its reputation as a high-performance industry.

Dell is a ruler provider of products and services required for customers to construct their technology infrastructures. The company was originated in 1984 and presently has about 34,400 employees in 34 countries, worldwide marketplace contribute in surfeit of 15 percent, and yearly revenues of almost $32 billion.

-supplier integration

Traditional computer companies had to be vertically integrated. They developed the many components of the computer themselves. When Dell started, they could not afford this traditional process. Instead, Dell leveraged investments made by others and focused on the delivery of solutions and systems to customers. This is the heart of the direct business model. It has allowed Dell the leverage their relationships with both suppliers and customers. The few suppliers of Dell are the equivalent of partners. They are treated as if they were actually part of Dell. The partnership will last as long as the partner maintains their leadership in technology and quality. The suppliers of Dell are told exactly what the company's daily requirements will be. This is made possible from the free flow of information that is shared between Dell and the supplier. Technology enhances the economic incentives of this type of collaboration because it speeds time to market and creates value that is shared between buyer and seller.This type of collaboration posses the challenge of change of focus from how much inventory there is to how fast it's moving. This is measured by inventory velocity, which has Dell working with suppliers to continually reduce inventory and increase speed.

The secret to dell's achievement is the synergy between all of its competencies.the direct sales system both enables and relies on the build-to-order system.the build to order system both enables and relies on the supplier intergration system.

Objectives of dells strategic plan:

swot:

swot analysis which is part of strategic planing is used to determine the strenght,weakness,opportunities and threats involved with dell.this analysis identifies and specifies the issues which are positive or negative to dells business objectives.first the strenght of the company which is been used to achieve the objects of dell, then weakness which includes factors affecting the business ,and thenopportunites which will aid the achievement of these objectives, finally threat includes environmental or external factors which affect performance.the process of identifying these swat analysis is very important for businesses such as dell as it invloves steps involved for achievements of objectives and development.

strength and weakness relate to matters concerning the following resources:sales of a product, operations efficency, product services,cost productivity.

-strenght:

Dell is the World's largest PC maker their products are one of the best globally.by providing customers with the best effective way to meet their needs. dells profeicency is their cost strategy.they sell their products directly to customers thereby reducing conselator..

-weakness:

new product market on corporate clients.The company gets their suppliers from other countries that can cause the company some embarrassment. In the year 2004 Dell had to recall 4.4 million laptop adapters because of a fear that they could overheat, causing electric shocks or fires.

-opportunity

bringing new products to the marketplace at an affordable price.also introducing new products such as printers and also non-computing goods.

dell is selling low cost products to retailers in the united states of america.they rebrand for other companies gives the company new market segments.

-treat

the competitiors of computer companies pose a big threat in the market place world wide. rivals such as acer and hp deduce the growth of the company. dell gets product components from far regions like indian where the work cost are really cheap, but this infomation is available to competitiors, so they can apply the same process.

also as dell been a global company, it is open to instability in the global exchange market.variation in currency rate could leave the company exposed to possible loss in part of its supply chain technology changes is also a treat because of advancement of technology in the economy

MONITORING THE STRATEGY

the help of digital nervous system nevertheless the ceo might find out what is going on on the tactic front and on all other sides. this is one of the major stragic problems . can you supervise tactics and their results at any time they want or anywhere you want. The solution cannot be positive unless the nervous system is widely spread giving optimistic answers to a dozen other significant questions.

1. has e-mail developed into the main internal message system?
2. is it possible to get trade data information on-line?
3. do they use PCs for trade study?
4. do individual use the digital system to get rid of paper and official procedure?
5. have you improved procedures to abolish single-task work for multi-functional tasks?
6. does monitoring the system improve excellence and competence?
7. Do customers have feedback on-line?
8. clients association are they put up into the system?
9. Do you converse by means of the digital system with all contractors and associates with the endeavour of restricting cycle times and hastening processes?
10. is the middleman eradicated, replacing of deliverables?

getting right and accurate answers from the questions above has so many advantages and having wrong answers minimizes the companies efficency.it requires no knowlege of technology and business awareness . the right answers underpin the efficency of the strategic plan.

forecasting

Most people view the world as consisting of a large number of alternatives. Futures research evolved as a way of examining the alternative futures and identifying the most probable. Forecasting is designed to help decision making and planning in the present.

dells uses forcasting method to make decisions and plans about its fututure.futute researchers examine and identify the best alternative future features.it makes it possible for people to alter or be prepeared for whats ahead of them in the future.no matter the type of forecasting we apply, there will be an issue about uncertainty and blind spots will occur .

the accuracy of dells forcast was between 70 to 75 percent due to its accurate account selection.whenever there is an uncertainty in the company dell manager raises the forcast on high-end products because it is way better and much easier to sell up and high-end had a more extensive shelf life.

Distribution Planning Strategy

demand planning includes push and pull system,understanding the customers demand on cost matters, positioning of goods at appropraite distribution centres all this to reduce working the working capital.

dells strategic process:

Conclusion:

the strategic plan reseacch outcome identified the problem dell has dealing with the market.the company foucsus mainly on the business side is the market and ignoring the individual side.the aim is to develop a strategy plan for dell company with its focus on products for students.

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