Discussion Questions

1. Discuss the framework for Strategy formulation with example?

Where to compete and how to have cost leadership and
differentiation.

Strategy Formulation
Strategy formulation is a structure by which an association picks the most
suitable action to accomplish its characterized objectives, targets and
mission.

Strategy formulation has six steps as:

1. Define the organization,
2. Define the strategic mission,
3. Define the strategic objectives,
4. Define the competitive strategy,
5. Implement strategies, and
6. Evaluate progress.

Step 1. Define the Organization

Characterizing is to recognize the organization's clients. An organization must
distinguish the components that esteemed by its clients

Step 2. Define the Strategic Mission

Company’s strong key statement of purpose ought to incorporate the qualities
that holds the idea of the business, uncommon capacities or position the
association holds in the commercial centre.

Step 3. Define the Strategic Objectives

Characterizing key targets may incorporate market position comparative with
the opposition, creation, piece of the overall industry, client administrations,
company development, innovation, and deals increments.

Step 4. Define the Competitive Strategy

An organisation to figure out where it fits into the commercial centre. Three
variables must be viewed as while deciding the competitive strategy: the
industry and commercial centre, the organization's position competition with
the opposition, and the organization's strengths and weakness.

Step 5. Implement Strategies

An organisation may find a way to comprehend the commercial centre,
characterize itself, and recognize the opposition. Nevertheless, without
implementing the procedure, the organisation work will be no worth.

Step 6. Evaluate Progress

If objectives not met, the organisation must be versatile and adaptable to
perceive that changes may require.
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Where to compete
Strategy formulation in the organization will start identifying its long-term plan
to gain advantage – and maintain it – over the competition. This is the
competitive advantage; there are three factors at play when determining the
Competitive Strategy of the organization
Organization focus is on the competition. Knowledge about your competitors
and understand how they work. In defining a competitive strategy, you should:

 Understand of the operations of competitors, such as their products and

services, their marketing campaigns, and their customer bases.
 Analyze how the competitors are able to deliver value to their customers
through their product offerings.
 Identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors, and analyze how
they are opportunities and threats to the organization.
.

COST LEADERSHIP and DIFFERENTIATION

Cost leadership is way of producing goods and services at the lowest cost.
Differentiation consists in differentiating the product or service offered by the
firm, it could be achieved in various ways, through design, brand image,
technology, features, customer service, and dealer network.
Example:

Examples of a differentiation leadership have global brands like Nike and Mercedes. These brands achieve significant
economies of scale, but they do not depend on a cost leadership strategy to compete. Their business and brands are
made on influence customers to become brand reliable and paying a premium for their products.

2. Explain BCG Matrix (cash cow, stars, problem child, dogs)

with example.
BCG matrix is a planning model, which depends on the perception that an
organization's specialty units can be ordered into four classes:
 Cash Cows  Question Marks
 Stars  Dogs
Stars High Growth, High Market Share
Star units are leader in the class. Products are appealing and these are highly
competitive in the class.

Question Marks High Growth, Low Market Share

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The capability of these products is doubtful. In the event that the growth rate
is high with the correct strategies and ventures, however having low market
share is known as a question mark.

Cash Cows Low Growth, High Market Share

These products produce intriguing profits however should be replaced because
the future development will be lower.

Dogs Low Growth, Low Market Share

Dogs hold low piece of the overall industry contrasted with competitors.
Neither do they produce money nor do they require huge money.

Example
A perfect example to demonstrate BCG matrix could be the BCG matrix of
PepsiCo. The company has perfected its product mix over the years according
to what’s working and what’s not.

Here are the four quadrants of PepsiCo’s growth-share matrix:

 Cash Cows – With a market share of 58.8% in the US, Frito Lay is the
biggest cash cow for PepsiCo.
 Stars – Even though Pepsi’s share in the market has reduced to 8.4%, it
is still the star for PepsiCo because of its brand equity.
 Question Marks – Since it’s a mystery whether the diet food and soda
industry will boom in the future and will PepsiCo’s products will find their
place or not, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Quaker, etc. fall in the question
marks section of the PepsiCo’s BCG matrix.
 Dogs – As of now, there is not any product line that falls in the dogs
section of the PepsiCo’s BCG matrix.

3. Summarize a Business Model in detail.

The business model
A business model is a structural template of how a firm trans-acts with customers,
partners, and vendors. The business model sets out the activities that a company will
perform to implement its strategy, and strategy define the markets to be served and
the kinds of products and services to offer. Definitions of a business model can be
divided into three categories!

1. Economic Focused — the firm's economic profit model and logic of profit
generation.
2. Operations Focused — the internal processes and design of the infrastructure
than enables the firm to create value.
3. Strategy Focused — Overall direction of the firm's market position,
interactions across organizational boundaries, and growth opportunities.
 Discussion Questions
A representative sampling of the business model demonstrates the combination
of economic, operational and strategic perspectives.
1. A coordinated plan to design strategy along three vectors: customer
interaction, asset configuration and knowledge leverage.
2. The structure, content, and governance of trans-actions between the
firm and its exchange partners.'
3. A system that describes how the pieces of a business fit together.'
4. A company's core logic and strategic choices for creating and capturing
value within a value network)
5. A plan for the organizational and financial architecture of a business.'
6. How a firm creates and delivers value'
7. A conceptual framework for identifying how a company creates, delivers
and extracts value is the basic architecture underlying all successful
businesses’

By these definitions, the business model is a framework that describes the

specific structure of how a company creates and captures value within a
chosen value network. ° With its emphasis on structural choices, the business
model facilitates analysis, testing and validation of a firm's strategic choices.

4 Write down stages of the evolution of the IS/IT strategy process.

Stages of evolution of IS/IT

In Phase 1, the focus is on cash flow and annual financial planning and involves
relatively simple techniques to develop medium term budgets.

At Phase 2, the forecast sales and market growth. It is also predict the effect on the
income and expenses and changes to the balance sheet, but plan are still quantitative
and internally oriented, focusing on the gap between targets and the resources
available.

Within Phase 3, the organization might need to revise its products portfolio to meet
demands in more attractive market segments, increase the value added features of
existing products and services, or significantly reduce its unit cost. This also implies
identification of new product development, sourcing or marketing options, but also
satisfy the pressures and demands of the competitive market place.

By Phase 4, the organization is driven by the innovation and become capable of

creating its own business environment. This implies that in an increasingly dynamic
business environment, when products and services can quickly become obsolete, the
only real source of competitive advantage either is the ability to create market
changes, or changes cost by other factors, with new products or processes that are
superior to compete the competitors. Where the organization values, culture and
structures reinforce the processes and the capabilities required to develop the leading
role in the industry, enabling the company to have a significant control over its own
 Discussion Questions
destiny. Sustaining this leadership required continuing innovation and IT can be a
source of this innovation
5. Describe the relationship of evolving organizational maturity and
IS planning.
Five stages of organization evolution
Organizations usually evolved through five evolutionary growth stages:
INTRODUCTION.
When a new product is introduced to a market, the innovators may be the only
people aware of the new product. If the product is a new product class, the
innovators may not know what the product uses are. Recalling that the
innovators represent only a small percent of the population, the sales of the
new product will be low. During the introduction stage of a new product, the
developer enjoys a monopoly.
Unfortunately, the product monopoly does not usually translate to immediate
profits.
GROWTH.
As the early adopters begin to try the product, a sale begins to grow and
profits usually start to follow. When Chrysler introduced the idea of the
minivan, they were in this enviable position of having the only minivan on the
market.
As the early adopters begin influencing the early majority, sales and profits
sore
MATURITY.
By the end of the growth stage of the life cycle, the market is beginning to
become very competitive, and this trend continues into the early period of the
maturity stage. Although total sales continue to grow during the first part of
the maturity stage, the increased competition causes profits to peak at the
end of the growth stage and beginning of the maturity stage.

DECLINE.
The number of companies abandoning the market continues and accelerates in
the decline stage. Advancing technology may also bypass and replace a
product, as when tapes and CDs replaced the vinyl record.
The product will continue to exist as long as a few manufacturers can maintain
profitability. Eventually, even the laggards will switch, and the last companies
producing the product will be forced to withdraw, thereby killing the product
group.

Evolving organizational maturity with respect to IS planning

Technology led - carried out mainly by El specialists to establish technology

foundations, architectures and capabilities that should satisfy the expected
application needs of business users.
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Method driven - the use of techniques (often a consultant's methodology) to
identify IS needs by analysing business processes - an 'engineering' philosophy
based on top-down analysis of information needs and relationships.

Administrative - the main objective is to establish IT capital and expense

budgets and resource plans to achieve approved IS applications, usually based
on a prioritized wish list from users.

Business led - Business plans, usually at a functional level, are analysed to

identify where IS/IT is most critical in meeting short- to medium-term needs.

Organization led - the development of key themes fur IS/IT investment derived
from a business consensus view of how IS IT can help meet overall business
objectives, agreed by the senior management team
6. Devise the framework for IT/IS strategy formulation.
Framework for IS/IT Strategy Formulation

A Framework for IS/IT Strategy Formulation is using a range of tools and

techniques is required to satisfy efficiency, effectiveness and competitiveness
objectives. Informal techniques are also included to encourage creative
thinking and capture innovative ideas, both during and after the main strategy,
process has ended. Strategy formulation consists of business strategy and
planning, business analysis, information analysis and innovative thinking.
However, the most important is having a well-balanced team, with experienced
members who have business and IT knowledge, creative and analytical skills,
open and inquiring minds and a lot of common sense.

An overview model, the building blocks of the strategy formulation and

planning framework. Briefly, these are:
Inputs

1 The internal business environment: business strategy, product and services,

objectives, resources, and culture of the business.

2 The internal IS/IT' environment: the current IS/IT role in business, its maturity
coverage and contribution skills, resources and the technologically
infrastructure.

3 The external IS/IT' environment: digital technology trends and economics

plus potential application opportunities from new technologies and the use
made of IS/IT by others, especially customers, competitors and suppliers.

Outputs
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1. Business IS strategies: how each unit or function will use information and
IT applications in achieving its business objectives and/or creating new
business strategies and options.
2. IT strategy: technology investment and service plans and strategies for
the acquisition and management of technology, supplier relationships and
specialist resources.
3. IS/IT management strategy: policies and governance mechanisms to
enable the formulation and successful implementation of the strategy and
ensure it delivers the maximum available business benefits at acceptable
levels of cost and risk.

Defining and Implementing a Practical Approach to IS/IT Strategy Formulation

The next step is to ensure the strategy formulation process linked effectively
to business strategies. It is the responsibility to explain each step in the
process, what it should achieve the output documents and other materials.

• be flexible and modular and each process stage should build on outputs from
previous stages

• have the emphasis on the expected deliverables and how the results can be
best communicated to the different audiences,

• have clear checkpoints for interim reviews of progress

• emphasize the importance of engaging all types of people in the process in

ways that will enable them to contribute their time, knowledge and experience

• use simple, general-purpose diagramming and documentation tools, such as

Power Pole."' or Vision', spreadsheets and word processing.

7. Explain the implementation of Information Technology in the

department you are working in your organization or any other
organization.
The below six stages, is a guide for help explore any innovation
implementation.

Step 1: Communication
Start with an all-hands meeting to talk about the plans, including the timetable,
who will be affected, and information on the projects you have chosen.

Step 2: Outline a Blueprint for Change

 Discussion Questions
At the point when you choose to overhaul your innovation, you need a blueprint
to deal with the change. A decent outline ought to incorporate a realistic
period and budget.

Step 3: Assemble the Right Integration Team

At the stage of implementation, you've chosen a vendor and a framework (or
systems) that you feel will lift your business. Presently you have to consider
how that innovation and third party integration will be required.

Step 4: Assess Your Data and Your Team

It's essential to require some time to insure the information you're moving is
accurate and appropriately stored. Your implementer, alongside other allotted
clients, should get an plan under way to tidy up your information before
migration.

Step 5: Migration and Testing

A greater part of the time and resources spent on an innovation change is the
prep work. A few people will be excited for change, and some will battle it in
spite of their earnest attempts to grasp what is best for the business.

The migration procedure can be dull and frightening on occasion, however

there is no more prominent sentiment of alleviation than realizing that your
information has moved over appropriately and superbly into another
framework.

Step 6: Go Live
Your project is done and it's nearly time to celebrate! When the migration of
your information is finished, it's at long last time to set a go-live date with the
vendor.

8. Discuss and give examples of why business and IT alignment is

difficult?

Alignment of IT strategy with the organization's business strategy creates new

roles for IT and business leader and staff .For example there four critical roles
in the arena include political and cultural negotiators , business problem
solvers , project sellers(including the ability to identify and explain cost or
benefit of IT offering and interpersonal and cross-functional communicator
(Anon.2005).

Knowledgeable about how the new IT technologies can be integrated into the
business as well as among the different technologies and architectures, privy
to senior management's tactical and strategic plans, extant while corporate
strategies are discussed, and Comprehend the strengths and weaknesses of
the technologies in question and the corporate-wide implications. This will be
 Discussion Questions
related the maturity assessment applies the previous research that identified
enablers and inhibitors to achieving alignment strategies:

Enablers and inhibitors of strategic alignment

Enablers
Official’s upkeep for IT initiatives
IT Team involved in strategy work
IT Team comprehends the business
Business - IT partnership
Well-prioritized IT projects
IT validates leadership

Inhibitors
IT organization/business deficiencies in close relationships
IT organization not arrange well
IT fails to encounter commitments.
IT does not understand business operations
9. How can an effective continuous and flexible IS/IT process be
structured?

There is no standard approach for formulating the IS/IT strategy that can
guarantee success.
• The proactive search for competitive advantage through the use of
information and the application of technology.
• A broader scope for the strategy, which incorporates digital technologies, the
traditional uses of IT for automation, processing data and providing information
and communication.
• The development of information, systems and technology architectures to
guide the introduction and integration of new and existing applications and
technologies.
• Use of flexible approaches, whose aims are to find and implement
technology-based initiatives for the benefit of the business. They must:
• They must be responsive and able to shift resources to where they are
needed;
• enable and capitalize on innovative use of IT by business users;
• include knowledge of the digital capabilities of suppliers and customers
(current and potential);
• be able to identify and evaluate alternative options;
• include benchmarking to establish standards of performance of external and
competitive organizations.

Internal Business Factors Changes in the nature of the business or the

structure may result in reconsider the IS/IT strategy. For example: takeover by
a new owner(s) or the appointment of a new CEO or management team - this
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mean a new attitude to technology, more drastic change if it occurs as a result
of a merger or takeover;

• restructuring resulting from corporate strategic planning (e.g. changing from

a product-led to a customer-centric business, or establishing Shared Service
Centres for the main functional support activities such as FIR, Finance and
Purchasing);

• New products to market - where there is a recognition that the present

infrastructure is incapable of adapting to new requirements.

Technology Factors For example: competitive opportunities and threats (real

or potential) based on new IT developments such as Web 2.0, cloud computing,
social media, sensors, analytics, mobile and wearable computing.

10. Write short note on any one with example - Cloud

computing/Internet of things.

Cloud computing is the conveyance of various services through the Internet.

These assets incorporate devices and applications like information stockpiling,
servers, databases, systems administration, and programming.

Types of Cloud Computing

Public Cloud
Open cloud services are best for improvement system and web servers. Your
cloud-computing supplier will give you a cut of their computerized space that
they should impart to different inhabitants.

Private Cloud
Private clouds offer security. You don't need to share your computerized space
to any other person.

Hybrid Clouds
Hybrid clouds are the best of the both worlds. In the event that you are utilizing
a hybrid cloud, you can control an internal database and utilize the public
cloud when required.

Examples of Cloud Computing Services

Cloud Storage and Hosting

Keeping fundamental records in a central online storage location makes it

simpler for everybody to get to them. Cloud storage is indispensable for
organizations. It expands cooperation and effectiveness among associations.
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Business Intelligence
The accessibility of cloud-based BI frameworks set off probably the most
progressive changes in organizations. Complex information analytics,
processing, and reporting frameworks are currently accessible by means of the
Internet at low price value.

11. Discuss the roles of IT Leadership and how do they prioritize

the activity with example (purpose alignment model).

Information system (IS) important roles have experienced crucial changes over
the previous decade. The paper presents a literature on IS leadership positions
and results from an overview directed in Norway.

Together, maybe, they spread all the parts, but even that does not describe the
entire occupation of managing. Mintzberg's job typology is frequently utilized in
investigations of administrative work and described the different jobs;

1. Informational Roles.
2. Decisional Roles.
3. Interpersonal Roles.

Changes in both information technology changing the job of the information

system official. Despite the fact that these jobs were delivered by the CSC
consultancy firm with no logical methodology, they appear to be all around
custom-made for logical examination concerning IS leadership roles.
Individuals who fill these jobs don't really head up new offices or procedures,
however they impact and give administration over the hierarchical structures;

• Highest positioning information technology official

• Reports close to two levels from CEO, i.e., either reports to the CEO or
reports to one of the CEO's immediate reports
• Areas of obligation incorporate information system, PC tasks, media
communications, office mechanization, end-client registering/data focus
• Responsibility for key arranging of information resources.

The Purpose Based Alignment Model is a technique for adjusting business

choices and procedure and highlight plans around reason. The motivation
behind certain choices and plans is to separate the organization in the market;
the reason for most different choices is to accomplish and keep up equality
with the market. Those exercises that do not require operational greatness
either require finding to accomplish separation or do not deserve a lot of
consideration.
 Discussion Questions
In a while, purpose alignment creates promptly usable, down to business
choice channels that you can course through the organization to improve
decisions and structures.

Alignment works fit when you do these things:

 Define business and IT strategic plans

 Align IT with business needs
 Evaluate, plan, and implement enormous framework projects
 Filter and design highlights and usefulness
 Manage project scope
 Reduce protection from process improvements

12. Why aligning IT with business is important, explain with

example?

Business-IT alignment integrates the information technology to the strategy,

mission, and dreams of the organization. The company must view information’s
technology as an instrument to transform the business. This includes exploring
other revenue streams and integrating other sides of their business into each
other. An organization must rotate both IT and business specialists across
different departments and job functions. They ought to have the know-how and
experience of each sides of the business so that information and communique
is achieved. An organization must offer clear and specific goals to both the IT
and business personnel. Ensure that IT and business employees recognize how
the company makes or loses money. There need to not only be informational
unity, but a business as whole.

Amazon and Apple are key examples—obviously; innovation is coordinated and

adjusted inside their operational structure. In a few cases, they made the
necessary innovation and business strategy themselves!

13. Small case:((Amazon or Airbnb)) on digital disruption.

- Which business has been disrupted by Amazon OR Airbnb? discuss
it in detail and how?
- Discuss the strategy in terms of technology use of Amazon or
Airbnb?

Amazon is the most disruptive company in the world as they disrupted the
retail business. "By offering the 'long tail' of items that physical retailers can't
 Discussion Questions
give in stores, Amazon had the option to increase enormous offer in the
developing on the web market and take share from wasteful physical
contributions of wide combinations,"

Conventional retailers have retaliated in a few different ways, incorporating by

offering in-store help or administrations that can't be given on the web, for
example, customized determination or establishment guidance at retailers like
Home Depot (HD) or Best Buy (BBY). With a large portion of their stores in
rustic regions, retailers, for example, Dollar General (DG) or U.K.- based Tesco
(TSCO.UK) can accomplish more appealing financial matters in inadequately
populated regions than Amazon's moderately costly transportation and
conveyance to remote areas. Others, for example, Walmart (WMT) have been
exploring different avenues regarding web based requesting followed by in-
store pickup from its system of stores. Walmart and Home Depot have
additionally demonstrated ability to utilize their set up store organizes as
conveyance habitats for their own online contributions.

Here's an octet of creative ways Amazon has completely changed us. Since
Amazon Go is so new, we'll leave it off the rundown until further notice. Yet, it
absolutely may have a spot here soon.

1. PRIME

In addition to the fact that Amazon gave individuals quick and free (beside the
yearly membership expense, obviously) delivering on thousand things with
Prime, they additionally made individuals generally expect quick and free
transportation from each other organization. Presently, it's a frustration for
Amazon clients when they purchase something on the web from anybody and
don't get it in two days. That is not simply acceptable business, it's acceptable
advertising.

2. PRIME NOW

Not one to settle for the status quo, Amazon keeps on attempting to make
transporting considerably quicker for its clients. Prime Now, which is at
present accessible just in a predetermined number of regions yet keeps
extending, empowers people to get certain Amazon things

3. PRIME AIR

Still being developed, Prime Air could be a genuine distinct advantage—

empowering clients to get their requests conveyed shortly or less by means of
automatons who drop them at your doorstep. It's hard to believe, but it's true,
flying robots will convey your bundles following you put in your request. What's
to come is coming snappy.

4. A single CLICK PURCHASES

 Discussion Questions
We will in general underestimate advancements like a single tick purchasing
for allowed… until you go to another retail site and need to round out numerous
structures and navigate various pages to put in a request. In all cases, Amazon
truly has smoothed out the requesting procedure to make it as brisk and
simple as could reasonably be expected.

5. Push BUTTON
A little yet keen and down to earth development. Amazon run catches are a
physical indication of Amazon's a single tick requesting. You can get one for $5
for significant brands and afterward simply click it when you need to reorder
that thing and—voila!— your request is put.