Business Intelligence at Canadian Tire - Free Essay Example

Business Intelligence at Canadian Tire The overall purpose of Business Intelligence systems and software is to manage and analyze data in a manner that would support effective decision making. The BI initiative could help Canadian Tire to manage and analyze its data in a way that would allow the company to consolidate and integrate some of its information systems. The information provided in the case indicates that CTC is operating and supporting many different operation systems, mainframes, hardware platforms, database management systems, production applications and desktop-based application and tools. Consolidating and integrating some of these systems would assist CTC not only in managing data more effectively, but also in cutting costs on the maintenance and management of its information systems. This is true of any information system that has room for consolidation and integration improvements. For instance, in the reading â€Å"The Quest for Customer Focus†, Continental Airlines was able consolidate its previous 85 to 90 database systems into just a 2 database systems. Merging the databases helped Continental improve its information system by creating a consensus between the data analysis with regard to matters such as who the most valued customers are. Integrating their information systems also helped Continental to eliminate costly problems such as customers being able to get more than one flight voucher for bumped flights, because gate agents and telephone agents were unable to determine if the customer had already been compensated using the previous system. The case mentioned 10 common challenges of business information implementation: â€Å"budget constraints, data quality, understanding and managing user expectations, culture change, time required to implement, data integration, education and training, ROI justification, business rules analysis, and management sponsorship† (Haggety Meister, Pg. 6). In the case of CTC, we believe that most important challenges that Eubank and Wnek had to consider were budget constraints, data integration and time required to implement. Implementing a new BI system can be costly and the information in the case indicates that CTC was spending a great deal of money on the systems that it currently has in place. One of the goals of implementing a BI system is to become more cost-effective, however implementing the system itself will be costly. According to the case, only 30% of the BI systems that are launched are actually successful. With larger organizations requiring more complex BI systems, the chances of successfully launching a BI system on time and within the budget are considerably lower. Data integration will also be an important factor to consider. As mentioned earlier, CTC had been using multiple different operating systems, hardware platforms, etc. In order to meet the goal of managing data more efficiently and cut costs, many of these systems will likely need to be consolidated and integrated. Lastly, Eubank and Wnek must keep in mind the amount time required to implement the business information system, as they had quick win requests that were currently pending. When considering the challenge of budget constraints, it should be considered that resources invested in the business information system now could lead to costs of maintenance and management of the information systems being cut in the future. Consolidating and integrating the existing system would significantly reduce costs for CTC in the future. It is also worth mentioning that if the BI system is successful it could improve business operations, which could in turn increase profits. When making decisions regarding the BI system, Eubank and Wnek had to bear in mind the goals of implementing the system and make their decisions with these goals in mind. When facing the challenge of data integration, we would also keep in mind the goals of managing data more effectively and cutting costs. We would carefully analyze the existing systems to determine what is working and what is not and try to go from there. We would also try to recognize any opportunity to consolidate systems, as it is often not efficient to have multiple different systems operating within the same organization. When facing the challenge of implementation time for the new system, we would first want to come up with a timeline that would efficiently meet the needs of CTC. As the reading â€Å"The Quest for Customer Focus† mentioned, implementing new systems and using the data that is collected in a way that is beneficial and meaningful to the organization can take a long time—sometimes even years. For example, it took Continental Airlines more than four years just to reach the communal coordination stage. In the long run, however, the investment of time and resources will pay off if the system is successful. In looking at the quick win requests, however, we would likely want respond to the requests that seemed to be the most in line with business goals simply because it the amount of time doing so may take away from the BI system being ready. Canadian Tire Corporation’s organizational structure can be divided into five main parts: Canadian Tire Retail (CTR), Canadian Financial Services (CTFS), Canadian Tire Petroleum (CTP), PartSource, and Mark’s Work Wearhouse. Each of these five components of CTC can then be broken down a step further. CTR operates 430 stores, with an automotive, sports and leisure, and home products â€Å"mini store† in each. This sector was a retail store, but CTC’s retail division was very unconventional and did not even look â€Å"retail†. In addition to managing the Canadian Tire Options MasterCard program, CTFS â€Å"managed the auto club, offered a variety of insurance and warranty products to more than six million customers, and provided integrated support to CTC stores, automotive service center and online and telephone shopping businesses† (Haggerty Meister, Pg. 2). CTP managed a variety of gas bars, car washes, and Pit Stops. PartSource sold automotive parts to home mechanics as well as professionals. Mark’s Work Warehouse offered causal as well as work wear to men and woman (Haggerty Meister, Pg. 2). Each of these five components of Canadian Tire Corporation was originally operating under their own IT system in order to fulfill their own needs. CTR used the IBM AS/400 system and a point-of-sale system that networked back to the CTR data centre. IMB RS6000 was used at CTFS. Point-of-sale systems were also used at PartSource and CTP. Finally, Mark’s Work Wearhouse operated on a totally independent system (Haggerty Meister, Pg. 3). It is clear that Canadian Tire Corporation was a very complex organization with many facets. The five components of CTC; CTR, CTFS, CTP, PartSource, and Mark’s Work Wearhouse, all serve different industries and different target markets. Within each of these components, again, a wide variety of products are being sold to groups of people with different needs. The breadth of products and services offered by CTC had a huge effect on the implementation of the business intelligence initiative. The IT department, like the business intelligence efforts in general, had become very disjointed at Canadian Tire Corporation. While there was an information warehouse (IW) used at CTC, other departments, such as finance, had their own information source, the Finance Retail Analytics Group (FRAG). The IW was quickly becoming obsolete and it produced different answers to many of the same questions, and did not provide any information at all at times (Haggerty Meister, Pg. 7). With the inability to obtain the data needed from the IW, Shadow IT groups formed. These can be defined as IT groups within the business units that catered to the individual needs of that group (Haggerty Meister, Pg. 4). The spending of these groups was not monitored, and they posed an unknown security risk to CTC (Haggerty Meister, Pg. 8). These Shadow IT groups surely became comfortable working with little to no supervision and an apparently unlimited budget. It is hard to tell if the Shadow IT groups were actually helping the company because without any semblance of a budget, it is difficult to see how cost effective they really were. Making changes to such a working environment may be a difficult task. Prior to the new BI strategy, the Shadow IT groups were a very important part of each group’s IT needs. With a more defined BI strategy in place, members of the Shadow IT groups may resist the changes set forth in the BI strategy. For example, cost control was one of the initiatives set forth in the BI strategy. Prior to the new BI strategy, the Shadow IT groups were working with essentially no budget. With a budget in place, Shadow IT group members may begin to feel the strain. Standardization and risk management were also mentioned. The Shadow IT groups were providing information solely to the group or department they were working for. Generally, none of the information used or obtained was uniform or even shared across departments; the information was also not be monitored. New rules and restrictions may hit some in these groups the wrong way. Shadow IT group members may be unwilling to share data with other groups, and may see the increased scrutiny on their activities as intrusive. It is unknown whether the Shadow IT groups would pick up the work set forth in the new BI strategy. When the new BI strategy is up and running, these Shadow IT groups would most likely integrate into the new BI strategy and essentially disappear. Their services will not be needed, as the IT system as a whole will become more streamlined and centralized. Each division of Canadian Tire Corporation will no longer need its own little IT department serving only interior needs. One of the biggest differences that can be seen from the exhibits is the elimination of the â€Å"independent data sources† within the previous BI environment, and folded into the â€Å"source systems† function. Previously, â€Å"Shadow IT† groups were providing data that was not a part of the BI environment officially. In the new environment, they will be brought into the fold. Another difference was the introduction of the data mart. A data mart is a subset of an organization where data is stored. Typically it is oriented towards a specific purpose or a major data subject that may be distributed to support business needs. These are analytical data sources designed to focus on specific business functions for a specific community within the organization. Data marts tend to be tactical and aimed at meeting an immediate need. The new model had multiple data marts—each one relevant to one or more units for which it was assigned. Each department was assigned its own data mart for which it can solely control its hardware, software, and data. This enabled each department to use, manipulate, and develop the data anyway as sees fit. The final difference between the current and desired BI infrastructure was the intranet presentation layer. This mainly dealt with the function of translation and encryption. CTC had a large number of mainframes, servers, operating systems, and hardware platforms which had distinct characteristics and represent data in many ways—the presentation layers managed the job of handling these differences between machines. The challenges of implementing the new system were the same that many organizations face. Creating organizational and cultural change across the business is an extremely challenging force to overcome, but one that ultimately shows a tremendous return for an organization. The BI implementation at CTC is a tremendous example of just that. The first step in the plan was the creation of a data warehouse that will contain data marts which can hold data from the five different business groups within the organization. This data warehouse will supply vital information to all of CTCs managers throughout the entire organization. These data marts will create a standardization process for organizing the data within the entire CTC organization, which accomplishes one of the long term BI goals of CTC. The second step is to coordinate with the various departments and Shadow IT groups within this organization. This could involve reorganizing of the Shadow IT staff members, specifically the employees which need to be involved in the entire process of the IT restructuring from start to finish. Placing them in roles that fit into the long term strategic plans would also help. The third step is to implement training that can help create better BI implementation process. A better workforce can lead to a better outcome. The final step would be to create a web portal for end users to access the new data marts. This portal will allow end users to query data that is relevant to their own business unit needs but deny access to information that is not needed for their specific job function. Following these steps should lead to a smooth restructuring of the entire IT infrastructure.

The International Business Environment - 4269 Words

Table of Contents Introduction International business Environment Theories Guiding Decisions of Firms Transaction Cost Theory International Product Life Cycle Theory Foreign Direct Investment Theory Of Internalization Competitive Advantage Theory SWOT Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Conclusion THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Introduction International business International business involves business activities that crosses borders ADDIN EN.CITE Brooks2004145(Brooks et al., 2004)1451456Brooks, I.Weatherston, J.Wilkinson, G.The international business environment2004New JerseyFinancial Times Prentice Hall9780273682479http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=rxzkqOPM9KUCBrooks20041451451456Brooks, I.Weatherston, J.Wilkinson, G.The international business environment2004New JerseyFinancial Times Prentice Hall9780273682479http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=rxzkqOPM9KUC( HYPERLINK l _ENREF_2 o Brooks, 2004 #145 Brooks et al., 2004). International business does not exclude small companies neither does it only occur when a company set up operational base ADDIN EN.CITE Shenkar2004144(Shenkar, 2004)14414417Shenkar, OdedOne More Time: International Business in a Global EconomyJournal of International Business StudiesJournal of International Business Studies161-1713522004Palgrave Macmillan Journals00472506http://www.jstor.org/stable/3875249( HYPERLINK l _ENR EF_7 o Shenkar, 2004 #144 Shenkar, 2004). The key consideration forShow MoreRelatedInternational Business Environment6667 Words   |  27 PagesModule specification INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Code: PGBM04 Credits: 15 Level: Masters FBL, Business School Board: Postgraduate Business Studies Learning Hours: 150 of which 30 CONTACT hours Rationale 1. The international business environment is multi-dimensional, including economic, political, socio-cultural and technological influences. While each can be viewed in specific national settings, increasingly they have become interrelated through processes of globalisation. In particularRead MoreInternational Business Environment3863 Words   |  16 Pages[Date] [Date] INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Globalization refers to the widely flow of production factors within the entire globe in order to understand the optimum resource allocation. Different authors provide different definitions of globalisation with their profound research. According to international monetary fund, globalization increases the rapid and extensive transmission of technology along with international commodity, transactionsRead MoreInternational Business Environment4226 Words   |  17 PagesINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Question 4: Compare and contrast the activities of two companies of your choice in the same industrial sector in developing new technology to try to maintain competitive advantage. 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Markets for goods and services are now global especially so for financial instruments of all kinds ADDIN EN.CITE Daniels2007150(Daniels et al., 2007)1501506 Daniels, J., Radebaugh, L., Sullivan, D.International Business: environment and operations, 11th edition2007Upper Saddle River( HYPERLINK l _ENREF_2 o Daniels, 2007 #150 Daniels et al., 2007). This paperRead MoreThe International / Global Business Environment Essay3139 Words   |  13 Pages THE INTERNATIONAL/GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Jessica Beer â€Å"Whatever your level of involvement, it is important to understand the global business environment and its influence on the manager s role. This complex role demands a contingency approach to dynamic environments, each of which has its own unique requirements.† (Deresky, 2010). Within the overall global environment, there are three subsections that global managers must understand comprehensively before they can expect to have successRead MoreInternational Business Environment, Italy5044 Words   |  21 PagesBUSINESS SCHOOL International Business Environment Assignment 1 Student ID: November 2012 CONTENTS Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Analysis of industry (sector) 5 Analysis of country (economy) 13 Recommendations 20 List of references 21 Executive Summary This work is a presentation of a short review of the current general economic situation in Europe, which includesRead MoreThe Effect Of International Marketing Environment On Business Environment Essay1398 Words   |  6 Pagesto the competitiveness and the survival of any business entity cannot be over emphasis in today’s business environment. (Kotler, 2011). Most businesses are expanding and getting into new market areas for economic and strategic reasons and it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not possible, for companies to insulate themselves from the effect of international marketing environment, even if their products are designed for purely local environment. For any marketing plan to be successful, it must

fuctions of management Essay - 975 Words

Out of the four topics I would say the first step in the four functions of management is organizing. Organizing The first step of organizing would be self-organizing and time management. Without self-organizing your team will not be organized and will start going to other places for leadership. Once the self-organizing is done then the manager can start organizing the team. Time management for your team should be a priority the team leader. The next step would be to develop a matrix and a chain of command. A clear chain of command will help organize the team. In my opinion Planning is the second step. Without proper planning the team or workers will start making their own plans and those plans may not be want the manager wants.†¦show more content†¦One valuable tool I have learned to use that helps me be a good leader is the website Out of the Box Coachingâ„ ¢ and Breakthroughs with the Enneagram by Mary R. Bast, Ph.D. 2005 she describes nine leadership styles and the faults and descriptions and as well as development skill. LEADERSHIP STYLE ONE: The Idealist A self-observing Idealist can be a wonderful leader: wise, tolerant, balanced, and focused on standards of excellence in ways that provide an exemplary vision for followers. Ones are often the purveyors of quality in an organization. LEADERSHIP STYLE TWO: The Mentor The most interpersonally oriented of all the leadership styles, healthy Mentors are unconditionally caring leaders who derive deep satisfaction from seeing and encouraging the development of others; they are typically great supporters of customer service. Well-developed Twos will also be aware of their own needs, which provides balance in their lives and allows them to give freely, without expectation of return. LEADERSHIP STYLE THREE: The Star Star leaders are often expansive, risk-taking go-getters who ensure high productivity for their organizations. Formidable models for others, they are efficient and supremely goal-oriented; consequently, they tend to rise to top organizational levels, or to run their own companies. LEADERSHIP STYLE FOUR: The Innovator Innovators are vital to the health of an organization because they are able to view things from aShow MoreRelated7-Eleven Management Control1601 Words   |  7 PagesGlobal 7-Eleven Management Control INTRODUCTION. Control. In management control is a critical fuction. Management control problem can lead to large loses and possibly even to organizational failure. (Kenneth and Van Der Stede, 2004). Why controlling became the crucial thing on an organization or company? it because controlling handle the process of monitoring, comparing, and correcting work performance. (Robbins and Coulter, 2009). 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Changing Business Environment for Disruptive - myassignmenthelp

Question: Some of the buzzwords you hear about todays economic environment are black swans, unicorns and disruptive strategies. Describe each of these and discuss how industry leaders should prepare for them. Can you insulate your company from their influence? Answer: Introduction Black Swans Black swans are events that occur suddenly and cause a major disruption in an industry, economy or the world stage at large. They are unexpected in nature and it is extremely difficult to predict their manifestation (Taleb, 2016). The financial crisis of 2008 is a classic example of a black swan event. When it hit the world economy, it caused disruptions to every part of the globe. It must be understood that the signs of these black swan events are most difficult to notice. There were only a few outliers who predicted the fall of the financial markets in 2008. But once a black swan event is triggered all that is left to check is who is most prepared. Similarly the dot com bubble burst in the year of 2001 and left everyone catastrophically impaired. Certain events cast their effect in a specific region like the Hyperinflation of Zimbabwe. This was the most unexpected and the steepest rise in inflation that the world has seen till today. The countrys inflation reached an astronomical 79.6bn percent (Koech, 2011). The causes behind these events are different for different events and challenging to predict. However, in this report we will be discussing the impact of major black swan events and how an organization can protect itself from its devastating consequences. Unicorn Startups Unicorns is a terminology given to startup firms which cross the $1 billion mark in terms of their valuation. The term was first coined by a venture capitalist Aileen Lee. According to research, there are over 100 million new startups every year. Not all of them see the light of the day and among the ones that do, hardly a handful are valued at over a billion dollars. Therefore, it is safe to presume that these unicorns are doing something different and better than their counterparts and hence it becomes imperative that the existing firms prepare themselves against their rise. A new startup either offers an entirely new line of products or adds on to an existing product line by offering it at a lower price. Either way, it hurts the existing organizations of the industry. Another important point to note is that these unicorns are extremely beneficial for any economy at large. They bring about a constant wave of innovation and help industries grow and consistently offer something new (Lee, 2013). They help to widen the customer horizons and set a rather tall benchmark for other players in the industry to follow. Uber, Xiomi, Air BnB, Snapchat and Flipkart are at the moment top unicorns of the world (Fortune, 2016). Flipkart, since its beginning changed the face of the Ecommerce industry, Xiomi managed to lead the mobile phone market share across the globe and Snapchat became the face of social media by attracting 173 million new users every day in quarter 2 of the 2017 (Business insider, 2017). Disruptive technology Disruptive technology is the term used to address any new technology that emerges out of the blue and disrupts the status quo of the industry. The advancement of such technology is imperative for the growth of any economy. It must be kept in mind that every technology or innovation, may or may not be disruptive. However a disruptive technology most definitely challenges an incumbent business (Danneels, 2006). Any new knowledge, expertise or equipment that first surfaces in the market, targets the overlooked customers of existing organizations. Here Paritos principle plays an important role which defines that every company focuses on its 20% of customers who generate 80% of the profits for the company. Therefore a most common strategy adopted by upcoming entrepreneurs is to design products or services in order to target those 80% of disregarded customers. This is how every new startup establishes itself. Nonetheless when these new firms upmarket and start targeting the remainder profitable customers of the organization, disruption occurs. As this completely disorders the status quo and functionality of existing firms. Recommendations PESTLE analysis PESTLE analysis is a strategy tool followed by managers that helps them gain an insight on their industrial environment. This tool helps organizations be aware of the events surrounding them (Ramli, 2015). This awareness often helps firms get a birds eye view of any new business or technology emerging in the market and in turn keeping themselves prepared for black swan events, unicorns and disruptive technologies. One important aspect of this analysis involves not ignoring small hints thrown by the environment, which is often the trickiest part. Awareness of competition More often than not, the startups are taken for granted as organizations assume that firms will take time to grow and build a market share. Whenever a competitor firm changes its business pattern, it symbolizes that either it is expecting a change in the industry or a change in the consumer behavior. This makes it very important to track and keep aware of what competitors are doing (Huffington post, 2014). Also, customers at large have a tendency of comparing products and services from different firms of the industry before actually investing on it. A company must aim to get selected in that procedure of comparison by the consumer, at least by their targeted customers. This competition is also required and rather beneficial for the industry at large, as it helps to keep organizations on their toes and helps shake off complacency (Forbes, 2017). Keeping a stern eye on the competitor not only keeps the firm up to date but also enhances customer service and in turn customer satisfaction (Massey, 2000). Focus on all consumer segments As the Paritos rule discussed above implies that organizations gain 80% of their revenue from 20% of their customers. This makes firms myopic and they focus only on those 20% of the customers. Their advertising strategies, product positioning and service deliverability becomes increasingly focused on those 20% of the customers and the remaining 80% remain rather overlooked. This is exactly what startups take advantage of. They target this 80% and grab a hold on the market. Soon enough when they penetrate towards the rest 20%, disruption occurs. Therefore, it is essential that in order to protect the firm from the harmful impact of disruptive technology, an organization focuses on all of its customer segments. Regular feedbacks from the customers, increasing service efficiency and improved customer relationships can help gaining customer loyalty which in turn can either completely prevent or at least reduce the impact of an emerging disruptive technology or a unicorn startup. Continuous innovation Needless to say that continuous innovation is mandatory to survive the competitive scenario that we live in today. Customer demands and buying patterns change at the drop of a hat and hence it is wise for any organization to keep up with this change and develop in accordance. A classic example of promoting innovation is the Google 80-2 rule which implies employees to devote 20% of their work time into developing something new, brainstorming on new ideas and working on them. Google has a clear motto of Innovate or die (Wired, 2013). This is a major reason behind Google being a super unicorn with a mammoth valuation of over $100 billion (Huffington post, 2014). Google along with Facebook is a super unicorn and what is interesting to note is that not every new thing that these firms bring to table might be a hit with the customer. Some innovations like Google Video, Google wave and Google notebook were absolute flops (Fortune, 2014). Similarly Facebook gifts, Facebook credits, Facebook poke and recently Facebook stories have failed to garner the attention of its audience (Tech world, 2016). However what is important is that the company continues to innovate and consistently offers newness to sustain in the market (Denning, 2015). Remain differentiated In the world where every industry is trafficked with so many organizations, the only way to make a mark in the minds of the consumer is to remain differentiated. This differentiation could be in the form of price, product, place, target consumers or way of promotions. Carving a niche is a sure shot way of reducing the impact of unicorns hitting the industry day in and day out. Also as long as a firm is able to differentiate itself from its competitors, it is most like to protect itself by being washed away by disruptive technologies that might see the light of the day. This is the reason why many firms are consistently putting efforts to differentiate their offerings in order to build a loyal customer segment and to keep up with changing consumer needs. Contingency planning Black swan events are challenging to predict and the most that can be done by any firm is to prepare for the worst at any given point of time. Organizations must perform a thorough industry analysis, consider the worst case scenario and ensure that the firm is prepared for it. This is the reason why many banks hire experts whose sole work on everyday basis is to tally their current performance and camouflage it over every possible scenario politically, legally, technologically, economically and financially. This gives the firm a clear idea of what it can survive and what it cannot. This contingency comes handy at the times of black swan events or swooshing off of a market by a disruptive technology. Conclusion Black swans, Unicorn startups and disruptive technologies are no more far away scenarios, rather they are todays reality. They exist and as a matter of fact the frequency of their occurrence is on a rise. They are also important aspects of the world as without them there would be a definitive lack of innovation. It is extremely important that organizations prepare for the advent of such scenarios as and when they arise. In this era of cut throat competition, the strongest organization will survive while the ones that succumb will face a disappointing departure. Therefore organization must be very aware of every move their competitors make, have a detailed knowledge of the industry and its factors, promote innovation as a culture of work, strive to remain differentiated and have a contingency plan in place for any hard times the firm may face. If not eradicate, these few calculative and strategic measures by firms are sure to reduce the impact of these unforeseen circumstance. 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