1. Describe Simons model of decision making and illustrate it with a business example.

According to Herbert Simon a decision maker follows the process of decision making disregarding the decision or the type of decision and the motive behind the decision. This process of making decisions is followed consciously or without knowing it. The model describes the process of decision making as comprising four steps: 1. Intelligence This stage encompasses collection, classification, processing, and presentation of data relating to the organization and its environment. This is necessary to identify situations calling for decision. 2. Design Here decision maker outlines alternative solutions, each of which involves a set of actions to be taken. The data gathered during the intelligence stage are now used by statistical and other models to forecast possible outcomes for each alternative 3. Choice The decision maker must select one of the alternatives that will best contribute to the goals of the organization. 4. Implementation In this stage the decision is put to test and monitoring and reviews are carried out. For example, a manager finds on collection and through the analysis of the data that the manufacturing plant is under-utilized and the products which are being sold are not contributing to the profits as desired. The problem identified, therefore, is to find a product mix for the plant, whereby the plant is fully utilized within the raw material and the market constraints, and the profit is maximized. The manager having identified this as the problem of optimization, now examines the use of Linear Programming (LP) Model. The model used to evolves various decision alternatives. However, selection is made first on the basis of feasibility, and then on the basis of maximum profit. The product mix so given is examined by the management committee. It is observed that the market constraints were not realistic in some cases, and the present plant capacity can be enhanced to improve the profit.

2. Using industry of your choice analyze the industry competition by using porters five competitive forces model, in your analysis explain the position of ICT Using porters model we can analyze the Telecom industry in Tanzania. Telecommunications industry touches nearly all of us in Tanzania. Made by complex networks, telephones, mobile phones and internet-linked PCs, It allows us to speak, share thoughts and do business with nearly anyone, regardless of where in the world they might be. Telecom operating companies make all this happen. Telecommunications industry in Tanzania consists of mobile phone companies, Data operators and Internet service providers. The following are the Mobile phone companies operating in Tanzania: Zain Tanzania, MIC Tanzania Limited (tiGO), Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited, Vodacom Tanzania, Benson Informatics Limited AND Zantel. The industry is regulated by Tanzania Communication regulatory Authority. Plain old telephone calls continue to be the industry's biggest revenue generator, but thanks to advances in network technology, this is changing. Telecom is less about voice and increasingly about text and images. High-speed internet access, which delivers computer-based data applications such as broadband information services and interactive entertainment and also mobile banking is transforming the way people interact and changing business processes in Tanzania. Porters five forces model analysis of the industry. Threat of New Entrants. The telecom industry is capital intensive and the biggest barrier to entry is access to finance. To cover high fixed costs, and initial capital requirement plus licensing fees and loyalty payments. Thus entry is limited to the availability of capital from investors. Meanwhile, ownership of a telecom license can represent a huge barrier to entry. In Tanzania telecom companies have to apply to the Tanzania communications Regulatory Agency (TCRA) to receive regulatory approval and licensing. Also the scarcity of solid operating skills and management experience makes entry even more difficult. So its fair to conclude that entry in the telecom industry in Tanzania is a favorable factor.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers. At first glance, it might look like telecom equipment suppliers have considerable bargaining power over telecom operators. Indeed, without high-tech broadband switching equipment, fiber-optic cables, and mobile handsets and billing software, telecom operators would not be able to do the job of transmitting voice and data from place to place. But there are actually a number of large equipment makers around. There are enough vendors, arguably, to dilute bargaining power. The limited pool of talented managers

and engineers, especially those well versed in the latest technologies, places companies in a weak position in terms of hiring and salaries. Thus power of suppliers is favorable factor in the industry. Bargaining Power of Buyers. The bargaining power of customers in Tanzania is rising. This is due to increased choice of telecom products and services as telephone and data services are almost similar, regardless of which companies are selling them. This is characterized by frequent price reductions, offers discounts and even prizes to keep customers loyal. In case of switching costs they are relatively low for residential telecom customers and slightly higher for larger business customers, especially those that rely more on customized products and services. Thus its fair to conclude that bargaining power of customers is unfavorable factor in this industry. Threat of new Substitutes. In Tanzania there are two main threats for telecom companies. One being Products and services from non-traditional telecom industries such as data providers and internet service providers these offer broadband internet services, and satellite links can substitute for high-speed business networking needs. Another serious threat is the Internet and the arrival of the fibre optic cable which is currently being distributed and installed countrywide by TTCL: internet is becoming a viable vehicle for cut-rate voice calls and at higher speeds and efficiency thus greatly lowering costs and prices charged by telecom companies. Currently the threat of substitute products is a Favorable factor in the industry although this might change in the future. Rivalry among existing firms. Competition is "cut throat". The deregulation of the industry has brought in multinational telecom companies alongside TTCL. The wide use of mobile phones and use of internet and social media has made every Tanzanian hooked to telephone companies so all competitors now must lure customers with lower prices and more exciting services. This tends to drive industry profitability down. In addition to low profits, the telecom industry suffers from high exit barriers, mainly due to its specialized equipment. Networks and billing systems cannot really be used for much else, and their swift obsolescence makes liquidation pretty difficult. Thus we can say the competitive rivalry in the industry is a negative factor. ICT plays a major role in the industry as everything in the telecom industry is ICT related. The telecom industry can be said to be the host of ICT as it allows the networking and wide use of ICT in businesses and everyday life.

3. When ZANTEL introduced their mobile banking called ZPESA, a number of mobile phone operators jumped on to the business, mobile banking and mobile money are revolutionizing the face of personal and business banking in Africa. There is no need to carry a bank card or cheque book on you, you do not even have to visit the local bank branch to transfer or withdraw money all you need now is a mobile phone with a SIM card. In line with the resource based view theory explain what has been happening? The resource-based view theory states that competitive advantage of a firm lies primarily in the application of the bundle of valuable resources at the firm's disposal. Valuable resources are those which are heterogeneous in nature and not imitable or substitute without great effort. Zantel had a competitive advantage when it first started using ZPESA. In order for a firm to maintain its competitive advantage requires that these resources remain heterogeneous in nature and not perfectly mobile. This entails that the resources fulfill the following conditions Valuable A resource must enable a firm to employ a value-creating strategy, by either outperforming its competitors or reduce its own Rare To be of value, a resource must be rare by definition In-imitable If a valuable resource is controlled by only one firm it could be a source of a competitive advantage Non-substitutable Even if a resource is rare, potentially value-creating and imperfectly imitable, an equally important aspect is lack of

To gain advantage a firm needs to care for and protect these resources to ensure prolonged advantage over the other firms. A competitive advantage is sustainable when the efforts by competitors to render the competitive advantage redundant have ceased Zantel had to ensure that they maintain the mobile banking to themselves in order to maintain their competitive advantage offered by the new mobile banking service ZPESA. When a number of mobile operators started offering the same service as ZPESA then the competitive advantage was lost as the resource lost its characteristics as a valuable resource. Since firms are heterogeneous they are able to create competitive advantage and thus profit by offering the same service or operating in the same industry. Mobile banking is now offered by most mobile networks in Tanzania but with varied resources and capabilities employed by the given firms. Vodacom have vodapesa, Tigo have tigopesa and Airtell have also their own airtell money. In order for a firm to have complete competitive advantage over the rest and to earn above average returns it needs to employ valuable resources which competitors cannot have. The emergency of mobile banking and the subsequent attempts by mobile networks to offer this service ensures that all the firms get normal profits on the use of the service.

REFERENCES 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Tanzania accesed on 5th June 2012 at 14:00 2. Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/telecom.asp#ixzz1x1VifRV0 accessed on 4th may 2010 at 20:00 3. http://www.scribd.com/doc/18046759/Chapter-2-various-concepts-of-MIS accessed on 4th june 2010 at 20:00 4. http://www.tcra.go.tz/display.php?type=regulations accessed on 4th june 2010 at 20:00