Research Korner

Executive Summary : Management Info System

Contents 1.      Introduction 2.      Executive Summary 3.      Background of the company 4.      RFID and its significance 5.      Wireless Technology 6.      Potential of RFID 7.      M-commerce and its significance 8.      Information Technology 9.      Potential of M-commerce 10. Barriers of M-commerce and RFID implementation 11. Issues relating to technology 12. Conclusion and Recommendation 13. References                                     Introduction MIS begins where computer science ends. Computer scientists deserve accolades for developing and delivering ever more advanced forms of information technology: hardware technology; software technology; and network technology. Yet because no technology implements itself, there is more to MIS than just information technology. In a sense, an information system is an instantiation of information technology, where the same information technology can be instantiated in different ways. One dimension of MIS, therefore, is that it involves not just information technology, but also its instantiation. There are the rich organizational and political processes whereby a given set of information technology is instantiated and there are the rich organizational and political processes pertaining to the continual managing, maintaining, and changing of the information technology so as to sustain the instantiation.  MIS involves the information system and the organization (1999).   An information system and its organizational context each have transformational effects on the other. They are more like the reagents that react to and change each other's properties in a chemical compound than the inert elements that retain their respective properties in a chemical mixture. The reactive process is what leads some MIS researchers to describe MIS phenomena as emergent. In the same spirit, socio-technical systems theory makes the claim that separate efforts to optimize the technical system alone and the social system alone will not only lead to a global suboptimum, but can even be unfeasible in the first place. Equally, the same information system can be a success in one organization but a failure in another, while the same organization can experience success with one information system but failure with another. Hence, the information system and the organizational context must be studied, understood, and managed together, not separately. So another dimension of MIS is that it involves, as reactive and inextricable elements, both an information system and its organizational context ( 1999).   MIS researchers seek to contribute to the documentation, innovation, or illumination of better ways in which people in organizational contexts can use, manage, and maintain information technology.  MIS involves what some people own research subjects themselves consider to be a profession and corporate function. Unlike the situation for most behavioral scientists, the relationship between MIS researchers and their research subjects is that the latter are constituents to whom the former are responsible and whom, to some extent, they must serve. Without MIS as a profession or corporate function, there would be no reason for MIS research ( 1999).   The management information system (MIS) is the main device currently used to computerize the majority of agency functions. To guarantee the effectiveness of a MIS, the design must be compatible with cognate agencies. For example, if an information system is being installed in a mental health agency, the data collected should be pertinent to other relevant service providers, not to mention all founders. The core data collected by any agency should focus on clients, workers, treatment outcomes, and the processes critical to service delivery (1991).This information should allow managers to view immediately how clients are served, the types of services that are provided, and the quality of treatment that is offered. This critical output allows agencies to conduct other important activities that are essential to the accountability process, such as cost-benefit analysis. When designing an information system, files are normally in a free-form or fixed-format. Free-form is often adopted to record a client's assessment, treatment, and follow up. This strategy allows personnel to describe clinical activities in great detail. However, the data that are gathered are often difficult to summarize and condense (1991).   Executive Summary  As years pass by new technologies and communication techniques are known. These technologies build a bridge between companies and its clients. The technologies help companies in gaining a better understanding of the clients and it makes clients experience easier and convenient way to transact their business.  Two new technologies being integrated into business systems and strategies is RFID and M-commerce. These two technologies provide a different and a better way to serve clients. These two technologies revolutionize the way clients are served and give the clients a different experience in transacting with companies.   A company that makes use of these two technologies is Sony Corporation. This company is constantly evolving and bringing itself to newer heights. The paper will discuss about the background of Sony Corporation a company who is starting to make use of RFID and M-commerce technology. The paper will discuss about RFID its concept and significance. The paper will discuss about m-commerce and its concept and significance. Moreover the paper will discuss about the Potential of RFID and M-commerce. The paper will look into the barriers of M-commerce and RFID implementation. Lastly the paper will discuss issues relating to technology, management and organizational issues. The information acquired will be used to create a conclusion and recommendation.   Background of the company Sony Corporation is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, with headquarters in Tokyo. Sony designs, manufactures, and sells electronic equipment. It is a leader in the development of consumer electronics goods, such as videocassette recorders, cellular and cordless telephones, compact disc equipment, and television systems. Sony also manufactures computers and related devices ( 2003). Sony actively encourages innovation by its employees. Design engineers are given budgets and time for innovation and experimentation. The company holds an annual contest in which engineers show off their prototypes; bonuses are awarded to those whose prototypes are selected for eventual manufacture and marketing. Sony continually makes and offers new products, most of which are tested in the Japanese market. Sony has been particularly successful in the United States market; however, it is outsold in Japan and elsewhere by Matsushita, another Japanese electronics giant (2003). Sony started with twenty people in 1946, and has grown to 8,000 people in twenty years. In keeping up with such a rapid growth, the company could not depend on the usual yearly hiring of freshmen. Sony gathered a wide variety of personnel by such methods as personal acquaintance, and public announcement. As a result, school history and seniority are never considered by Sony's management. Only the ability and qualifications of a person are considered basic factors for personnel assignments. However, as the company started to grow, Sony's management began to face pressure from the traditional Japanese social influences. To maintain its freedom to act, management thereupon decided to delete a man's school history from his personnel record. It was a bold step to take in Japan. But it resulted in greatly boosting morale, among Sony employees. This decision created a sensation and was highly appreciated by the people who are trying to introduce modern management in Japan (1969).   On the other hand, Sony management became aware that it was a mistake to disappoint the men and their families by completely abolishing the seniority promotion system. For the seniority concept is a firmly established business and social practice in Japan. Still, to keep active and adjustable to keen international competition, and to the fast-developing electronics technology, Sony must have flexibility in personnel management. A compromise has therefore been developed. Sony gives such titles as assistant manager, manager, and general manager to people on the traditional seniority basis. But the functions and the range of responsibility of a section or department are set according to the capacity of the person who assumes the management of that section or department. To carry this idea out, Sony, being flexible, changes its organization as frequently as necessary (1969).   Sony Corporation, considered the most progressive in the Nikkei Corporate Reform Survey, has a very high foreign ownership of 45.3 per cent. This exceeds the total ownership of Japanese financial institutions which run at only 14.9 per cent. This unique characteristic may well be the main stimulus for Sony's pioneering position in quasi-US corporate reform (2001). In a transnational corporation, strategic decision making is either centralized, decentralized, or a combination of both. The level of autonomy granted to a foreign subsidiary depends on a number of factors, including the type of product or service being sold, capital and resource requirements, and the financial impact that the affiliate's performance has on the company's overall operations. In a centralized management approach, foreign subsidiaries have limited decision-making authority and most important matters are made by senior-level managers. The Sony Corporation, for example, is very much a centralized company. The company's board of directors is mostly Japanese and strategic decision making occurs principally in the Tokyo headquarters (2001). Radio Frequency Identification Radio frequency stands for electromagnetic waves of a wavelength suitable for wireless communication. In place of a bar code, an RFID system uses a plastic tag, sometimes as small as two matches laid side by side. Embedded in it is a digital memory chip the size of a pinhead. For the most part, the tag contains more information than a bar code. Because radio is used, tagged products do not have to be aligned carefully for scanning. In its more sophisticated read-write version, RFID has an even more stunning advantage. Without touching or removing the tag, a user can alter the information on it. The user can change the itinerary of a component on the factory floor, for example, or the destination of a shipment or break it up into smaller segments headed for various cities. Compared with the RFID, the bar code is somewhat dumb. RFID is one of the important items in supply chain management ( 2003).     In a typical read-write application, a product with an RFID tag moves down a conveyor or through a warehouse door aboard a forklift truck. The tagged product passes a gate or checkpoint, with a stationary antenna the size and shape of a small dinner plate. A transmitter sends a burst of radio waves through the antenna to the chip inside the tag to read the information stored in it, to change the information, or to impart a new message. The tiny RFID tag has an antenna of its own, a loop of copper plating (f 2003). RFID tags are tiny, it carry between 64 and 96 bits of information and have a life of at least ten years. They are inexpensive and can be energized and activated by radio waves from a scanner/receiver in close proximity, or can be hooked up to a battery. After being activated by the transmitter's power, the RFID tag then passes the information to the retailer's stock system. RFID tags have already been trailed and applied in a variety of applications. Applications that give different benefits to different kinds of businesses.   McDonald's and KFC are trialing RFID tags; the US Department of Defense will be incorporating RFID tags to improve the management of inventory through hands-off processing; Nokia is incorporating the tags in some of its mobile phones; theme parks are providing them on wristbands to identify the positions of children; and the European Central Bank is considering incorporating the tags on new Euro notes to reduce counterfeiting and track illicit monetary flows ( 2003). For retail companies RFID is important and significant. It provides a different way for them to give service to its clients.  New store technology will improve reliability for both customer and retailers.   When a customer selects an item and adds this to their shopping trolley, retailers will read the merchandise's RFID tag and present the details to the shopper via shopping trolley mounted visual display. No longer will the customer be disadvantaged by the omission of shelf pricing or getting to the checkout only to be told that the product is not on the system and needs a delaying price check. Through the use of the unique RFID tag the customer will be advised of these details at the point of merchandise access which is the shelf or bin stocking the merchandise. Once the price information absence is detected, the retailer's system can search or calculate the price before the checkout is reached. Aiding the retailer, this technology will indicate the low or out-of-stock situations at the shelf as customers place the item into their trolley, long before the item is removed from the inventory system at the checkouts. Stocks can be replenished earlier as different clients buy the companies products. Staff will have a perpetual inventory rather than depending upon physical stock updates ( 2004).    Wireless Technology Wireless technology has distinguished itself as a potentially low-cost solution to the issues of universal service and access, in both the developing and developed worlds. At present, costs for wireless access are less distance sensitive, thereby offering access solutions to rural communities and geographically isolated regions. But it is clear that the costs of wireless access services, when compared to wire line access, will soon be significantly cheaper, even for residential and business communities in highly populated cities. This alteration of the cost curves for wireless and wire line access services represents a significant opportunity to employ liberalization to reinforce a significant trend: decreasing costs for access in the telecommunications industry. If increased competition in wireless access can help decrease costs, the increased service penetration that follows should lead to more opportunities for economic and political participation (1997). Wireless technology has also been at the foundation for a third kind of competition in the telecommunications marketplace globally: wireless access. In the United States, the most prevalent form of wireless access has gone under the name of cellular telephony, with mobile phones targeted mostly to high-end customers.   In a number of countries throughout the world, multiple providers have been licensed to provide competing services in a given geography. In most cases, that geography has been national, but, in the United States, a variety of large and smaller companies have developed to provide service in a wide range of service areas (1997).  Technology changes culture. That much is clear from the experience most of us have had with the introduction of new technologies in our lifetime, such as the telephone, television, and the computer. There exists a whole wealth of literature on the relationship between technology and culture, ranging from the examination of printing presses and stirrups, to the development of the city, the sciences, and the technologies of the modern age. There are fewer consensuses on what kinds of consistent patterns can be drawn from these diverse examples. Nevertheless, the political and economic scientists have largely agreed on a term for the process particularly modernization (1997).   One example of wireless technology is the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Increasingly different industries are turning to a method called radio-frequency identification (RFID).  RFID has a great potential and is said to create positive change for a company who will use it. Potential of RFID Radio frequency identification of unique products in distribution and supply chains appears to be a burgeoning revolution for some of the world's largest companies. Companies both large and small produce and distribute billions of products annually to wholesalers and retailers. Tracking shipments, monitoring and controlling inventories, and maintaining inventories represent a significant business effort. While bar codes have provided many advantages in the retail industry, they have also been a major asset on the manufacturing floor. Components and sub-assemblies are bar coded to improve materials handling and increase productivity and maintain inventories at optimum levels (2004). Bar codes are easily scanned with a variety of electronic devices as part of automated data recognition and materials handling systems. However, barcodes are an optical line-of-sight technology where the scanning device must see the barcode to be read and interpreted. Barcode labels may be scuffed, damaged, or wrinkled, which makes it difficult to obtain a valid scan. Additionally, barcodes are not really automatic identification technology, as they are usually read just a few times. It is at the time of the reading that people know anything about the product, such as at a checkout counter (2004).   The concept of radio identification is not new, but a novel invention and innovation brought about by the convergence of a number of technologies. These technologies include the discovery of radio waves, the invention of the transistor and microprocessor, and other developments. Radio identification tags offer many of the same benefits as barcodes, but also include many other advantages. Several significant advantages of RFID tags are that they are radio devices and can be read while they are moving, do not require a line-of-sight positioning, and can store large amounts of data. There are many applications where RFID tags can be used. Some of the more common applications include automatic toll collection, wildlife and livestock tracking, railway car tracking, inventory control and monitoring, and retail anti-theft systems. Current usage of RFID tags is primarily directed toward large shipping containers and palletized goods and high-value goods and products. Radio frequency technology can provide retailers with automatic customer recognition systems to provide more convenient service and speed to customers (2004).  RFID helps companies have a more organized and highly advanced way of managing their inventories and supplies. Sony uses this kind of technology to monitor their inventory and supplies. They also use this to monitor the activity of their products when in the different stores they have and when the said products are being shipped to the different locations.   M-commerce The wireless Internet and its commercial usage, known as mobile commerce (m-commerce), represent opportunities as well as challenges for entrepreneurs. The mobile Internet is in an evolutionary phase similar to the one the traditional Web entered five or six years ago. A limited number of online services are available to users. However, the potential for the mobile Internet has already gained wide acceptance. According to a market research firm the global market for m-commerce is expected to reach $200 billion by 2004. Other people says that companies are beginning to consider m-commerce as a high priority because they are unwilling to make the same mistakes that led them to underestimate the potential of the traditional Web. Companies that view mobile devices merely as additional front-ends for the delivery of Web-based content and services will find it difficult to succeed in the new era of ubiquitous communications and commerce ( 2003).   On the other hand, those entrepreneurs who understand that the mobile Internet is a unique business challenge and opportunity and embrace it as such can build m-commerce strategies that capture market share. Offering information, services, and providing transactions via devices that allow the user full mobility are elements positioned in the core of mobile commerce. M-commerce represents a different business philosophy and requires different business models. It will make the business environment more demanding on companies in an m-commerce environment. A huge number of business opportunities will pop up, and it is up to a new generation of entrepreneurs to take advantage and fully exploit those opportunities. The question is not whether the new technology and its mobile commerce applications should be adopted. The question is when and how to adopt m-commerce. What applications are already profitable for small and medium-sized businesses? How can they be successfully implemented? What is coming up in the technological pipeline? Visionary entrepreneurs, such as , who dreamed of having a computer on every desk, will succeed, will get rich and famous ( 2003).   Mobile network operators are challenged by declining margins in their traditional business. Declining revenue per user represents a phenomenon that will force network operators to implement new services continuously to remain competitive and turn around the trend of the decreasing marginal revenue. Value-added services will become an important new source of revenue and will accelerate the rapid growth of mobile commerce. Forecasts estimate that, by 2010, mobile services will be generating about half of operator’s average revenue per user. The operator’s role as portal providers and content aggregators often through alliances with content and service providers will allow them to offer customers a new, more personalized and comprehensive range of information and services, while enabling them to differentiate themselves from the competition ( 2003).   Growth in mobile commerce is likely to be driven by alliances between banks and telecommunications companies. Both parties have particular strengths which if brought together can add considerable value. Banks have a banking license, credit verification skills and an established retail network. Mobile operators provide a modern brand image and the infrastructure of a mobile network. Both have a large customer base upon which to draw. While some companies have made public their objective to provide financial services when restrictions on the allocation of banking licenses are lifted, others believe that the partnership route is the way forward. So far, banks have taken a cautious approach and built their mobile capabilities for small numbers of customers on a trial basis. They now face the challenge of scaling up the infrastructure to cope with larger volumes of users (2002).   Information Technology For businesses, information technology (IT) is only a means to an end. Information Technology is the use of knowledge to make and implement commercial decisions. Efficient organizations require established systems to enable them to make the best possible decisions in the situations they are likely to meet. Thus an organizational information system should collect data, analyze and present this as useful information that can be retrieved as the basis of expert knowledge at the point of decision. Once decisions are made they must be passed on to those who implement them, carried out, and the success or failure of the operation monitored ( 2002). Increasingly decisions can be automatically implemented using the technology, thus enabling organizational objectives to be achieved with maximum efficiency. In many cases businesses could even profit from having their physical plant destroyed, but could never recover from losing their information resources. Hence some economists argue that information is a fourth major factor of production which is of increasing importance. However, an important point not so far stressed, is that the business information that has been described is not just a series of isolated lists but is all interrelated. If one piece of information alters then many other items will be affected. In other words a business’s information is a system and should be organized accordingly ( 2002).   The quality of an information system will depend not only upon the excellence of the hardware and the subtlety of the software employed, but also on the accuracy and relevance of the data collected, plus the quality of the human professionals who use the system, This, in turn depends upon the extent to which the organization succeeds in coordinating and motivating employees to achieve corporate objectives. From all of this, and a measure of common sense, some preliminary principles of good information management may be suggested. The contribution which modern information technology particularly through a good information management will ensure that information available to decision makers is appropriate,  accurate, timely, easily accessed, economically provided, consistent, safeguarded and of high quality. Many organizations are dependent on information technology and information systems in running the business. These information systems are often very complex and very expensive to develop, therefore organizations need a way to develop such systems in order that they can realize the benefits expected of them. The information systems must deliver the requirements of the business plan or strategy Many cited examples of IT delivering substantial benefits or efficiencies are the result of the convergence between computing and communications technologies ( 2002). For example, a modern supermarket certainly uses computers for pricing products at the checkout and performing related stock control, ordering, accounting and loyalty card tracking. However, the whole system involves the convergence of many technologies, including optics, lasers, materials handling, magnetics, communications and transportation. Take out any of these components and the system would need to be redesigned. Therefore people are likely to see an evolution from IT to ST (system technology). What is often referred to as an information system can be thought of as the brain and nervous system of a wider system of some kind ( 2002).     Potential of M-commerce  In the new decade, the call for information technology will be information, any time, any place and on any device. Accordingly, e-commerce is poised to witness an unprecedented explosion of mobility, creating a new domain of mobile commerce. Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is the ability to purchase goods anywhere through a wireless Internet-enabled device. Mobile commerce refers to any transaction with monetary value that is conducted via a mobile network. It will allow users to purchase products over the Internet without the use of a PC. The potential of m-commerce is considerable for those willing to develop mobile-specific business strategies. As m-commerce matures, current mobile operators will rely less upon usage fees and increasingly derive revenues from content and services (2001). Additionally, m-commerce is going to bring about a massive change in the way users consume products and services. Mobile devices offer users the ability to receive information and perform transactions from virtually any location on a real-time basis. M-commerce users will have a presence everywhere, or in many places simultaneously, with a similar level of access available through fixed-line technology. Communication can take place independent of the users location. The advantages presented from the omnipresence of information and continual access to commerce will be exceptionally important to time-critical applications (2001).   The agility and accessibility provided from wireless devices will further allow m-commerce to differentiate its abilities from e-commerce. People will no longer be constrained by time or place in accessing e-commerce activities. Rather, m-commerce could be accessed in a manner which may eliminate some of the labor of life's activities. For example, consumers waiting in line or stuck in traffic will be able to pursue favorite Internet based activities or handle daily transactions through m-commerce applications. Consumers may recognize a special comfort which could translate into an improved quality of life. Knowing the location of the Internet user creates a significant advantage for m-commerce over wired e-commerce. Location-based marketing, via global positioning technology, will soon be available in all mobile devices. Through GPS technology, service providers can accurately identify the location of the user. Utilizing this technology, m-commerce providers will be better able to receive and send information relative to a specific location (2001). Since mobile devices like cell phones are almost always on, vendors will know the location of their customers and can deliver promotions based upon the likely consumer demands for that location. Mobile devices are typically used by a sole individual, making them ideal for individual-based target marketing. Mobile offers the opportunity to personalize messages to various segments, based upon time and location, by altering both sight and sound. New developments in information technology and data-mining make tailoring messages to individual consumers practical and cost-effective. Relevance of material and the de-massing of marketing become possible through the personal ownership of mobile devices (2001). M- Commerce’s main potential is it being cost lesser than traditional e-commerce. In e-commerce there are different materials needed to use the marketing technique while in e-commerce the materials needed are lessened. Sony is continuously making use of mobile commerce it takes advantage of this new technology to inform clients about their products and make them buy these products.   Barriers of M-commerce and RFID implementation Once the strategies are formulated and new technologies are discovered, they need to be implemented. The implementation process should consider the risks involved, with an incremental approach when they are high. For a manufacturing company, smaller quantities of the product are produced. The products are evaluated by comparing them to performance specifications and customer needs. At this point, the seven quality control tools and the daily management techniques are applied. The evaluation phase then detects if the products conform to specifications. If so, full-scale production commences. There is, however, a need to continue routine testing of the production process to ensure that product specifications are still being satisfied. The goal of this phase is to ensure that the company is doing the right things ( 1993). In the implementation of M-commerce and RFID there are different barriers this include the claim that these two if not used well can lead to abuse, conflict with laws and traditions in different countries, technological incapacity of different branches, and limitations of the technology used. In the implementation of M-commerce and RFID a barrier is the claim that these two can be used for abuse. RFID and M-commerce is said to be possibly used for negative things and things that can give more problems to people. In the implementation of M-commerce and RFID a barrier is these two can have conflicts with the laws and traditions of the countries that a certain company is located.   A reason why RFID and M-commerce is not sometimes implemented is due to the conflict with the laws and traditions of different countries. Some countries are so strict in permitting new technologies to be used. While in other countries want to maintain their tradition and contradict new technology.  The law in one country is different from one another this prevents the two territories to communicate with each other. Moreover a barrier to the implementation of RFID and M-commerce is technological incapacity of different branches. Not all branches have the same capabilities. Some can accommodate the new technologies while others cannot. This makes implementing RFID and M-commerce more difficult. Lastly a barrier to the implementation of RFID and M-commerce is limitations of the technology used. There are instances where the new technology is not compatible with the technology currently use. This makes the implementation harder and gives companies more problems.   Issues relating to technology New technologies can affect the marginal productivity of production factors and hence the derived demand for inputs when they are non-neutral and exhibit either capital-saving or labor-saving effects. The direction of technological change has important consequences for the equilibrium levels of the market price for inputs. . New technologies can be either centripetal or centrifugal according to their impact on regional and industrial concentration. In the latter case new technologies, such as electric power and lately advanced telecommunications, favor the even distribution of firms and plants in regional space and the reduction in their minimum efficient size. In the latter, new technologies, such as petrochemistry and assembly lines, may favor concentration when they lead to relevant economies of scale and scope (2002).   The introduction of technological changes in fact is not free nor is it the result of an autonomous process. It requires the intentional investment of dedicated resources to conduct research and development activities, to acquire external knowledge and take advantage of new technological opportunities and to elaborate upon tacit learning processes, to generate localized knowledge. Localized knowledge consists in fact of the accumulation of the benefits of experience and learning by doing, learning by using, learning by interacting with consumers, learning by purchasing.   Firms are able to upgrade the existing technology only when they can blend the generic knowledge made available by new scientific discoveries and general movements of the scientific frontier with their own technological know-how. Hence localized knowledge makes it possible to capitalize on the generic knowledge with the know-how acquired using the techniques currently in use. This dynamic leads firms to prefer to remain in a region of techniques which are close to the original one and continue to improve the technology in use. Firms induced to innovate by irreversibility and disequilibrium in both products and factors markets search locally for new technologies. The direction of technological change is influenced by the search for new technologies that are complementary with the existing ones. The rate of technological change in turn is influenced by the relative efficiency of the search for new technologies.    This is all the more plausible when the introduction of technological changes is made possible by the accumulation of competence and localized knowledge within the firm (Antonelli 2002). As new technologies become available technological changes becomes imminent for companies. New technologies like RFID and M-commerce promote changes in different companies like Sony Corporation. It gives companies a new strategy but additional concerns.  It urges people within the company to adjust to changes that abruptly happen so that they can compete with rival companies.   Conclusion/Recommendation An information system and its organizational context each have transformational effects on the other. They are more like the reagents that react to and change each other's properties in a chemical compound than the inert elements that retain their respective properties in a chemical mixture. Sony designs, manufactures, and sells electronic equipment. It is a leader in the development of consumer electronics goods, such as videocassette recorders, cellular and cordless telephones, compact disc equipment, and television systems. Sony also manufactures computers and related devices. Sony actively encourages innovation by its employees. Wireless technology has also been at the foundation for a third kind of competition in the telecommunications marketplace globally.   RFID has a stunning advantage. Without touching or removing the tag, a user can alter the information on it. The user can change the itinerary of a component on the factory floor. RFID is one of the important items in supply chain management. Radio identification tags offer many of the same benefits as barcodes, but also include many other advantages. Several significant advantages of RFID tags are that they are radio devices and can be read while they are moving, do not require a line-of-sight positioning, and can store large amounts of data.  M-commerce represents a different business philosophy and requires different business models. It makes the business environment more demanding on companies in an m-commerce environment.   M-commerce is going to bring about a massive change in the way users consume products and services. Mobile devices offer users the ability to receive information and perform transactions from virtually any location on a real-time basis. M-commerce users will have a presence everywhere, or in many places simultaneously, with a similar level of access available through fixed-line technology In the implementation of M-commerce and RFID there are different barriers this include the claim that these two if not used well can lead to abuse, conflict with laws and traditions in different countries, technological incapacity of different branches, and limitations of the technology used. Since there are different barriers to the implementing M-commerce and RFID companies can find out reasons for these two technologies to be adaptable to the different barriers. In doing so the barriers can be slowly removed or lessened and the technological changes can be initiated.   Companies can also initiate slow addition of these changes to their technology and system. By doing this companies can use the two new technologies and they can help the personnel adjust to the new technologies. Moreover to ensure that the two technologies will not be abused companies must add security tools to it. These security tools should be highly strict and impenetrable to ensure that no other problems will come out. Lastly companies to conquer the barriers can engage in partnerships and collaborations with other companies that are not their direct rivals. Companies can engage in collaboration with others to withstand the barriers. By doing this the coverage of the barrier will be smaller and it is easier for companies to break the barrier.  As more companies combine each others assets it will be easier to remove the barriers of implementing the two new strategies.

Executive Summary : Management Info System

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Customer strategy/customer service in Lloyd's TSB : A case study

Customer Service in Lloyds TSB               In order to provide a foundation for the paper, let us first differentiate the qualitative research with the quantitative research. The quantitative paradigm is based on positivism which takes scientific explanation to be nomethetic (i.e. based on universal laws). Its main aims are to measure the social world. To test hypotheses and to predict and control human behavior (Newman and Benz 1998). Quantitative research is based on the assumption that the world can be investigated using scientific method and that there is an independent reality. Quantitative research is based on the belief that measurable influences (independent variables) affect measurable outcomes (dependent variables) in a cause-effect manner. Quantitative research is generally conducted in a controlled environment, such as laboratories, or using anonymous data such as statistics collected through surveys, questionnaires, structured interviews or tests. Quantitative studies are studies in which the data can be analyzed using conventional statistical methods (Peat 2001). As its name implies, quantitative research is concerned with quantities – how to measure phenomena and how to express those measurement. A researcher who takes a quantitative approach to investigating a topic aims to learn more about it. Taking a quantitative approach to research implies asking questions about the phenomena that can be counted. Researchers who take a quantitative approach often work within positivism, as this paradigm frames the world as a collection of apparently independent phenomena to be counted, measured and otherwise catalogued as the prelude to deducing the rules or laws underlying them and giving them coherence (MacNaughton et al 2001).               On the other hand, the qualitative paradigm stems from antipositivistic, interpretative approach, is idiographic, thus holistic in nature, and the main aim is to understand social life and the meaning that people attach to everyday life (Peat 2001; Darlington and Scott 2002; Hansen 2006). According to Newman and Benz (1998) a qualitative research involves an interpretative, naturalistic approach of the subject matter. Qualitative research is about studying things in their natural settings. A researcher conducting qualitative research attempts to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them. Qualitative research involves different methods of gathering and collecting of empirical materials such as case study personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactions, and visual texts. Qualitative research methods allow researchers to explore issues from the perspectives of the individuals directly involved in the experiences. In qualitative research, behaviors, understandings, actions and experiences are not measured using statistical analysis as in quantitative research (Devers 1999; Sofaer 1999). Instead, detailed written descriptions and explanations of the phenomena under investigation are produced. Qualitative methods are those that collect data in the form of talk, words, observations, visual images and documents.                Case study is a form of qualitative research. The case study approach, as an academic research, is widely used. The strength of a case study approach is that it is possible to handle several types of empirical material like documents, artifacts, interviews and observations. A case study is a specific instance that is frequently designed to illustrate a more general principle. The single instance is of a bounded system such as a class, a school, a community or an individual. It provides a unique example of real people in real situations, enabling readers to understand ideas more clearly than simply presenting them with abstract theories or principles. A case study can enable readers to understand how ideas and abstract principles can fit together. Case studies can penetrate situation in ways that are not always susceptible to numerical analysis. Case studies can establish cause and effect. One of their strengths is that they observe effects on real contexts, recognizing that context is a powerful determinant of both causes and effects. Contexts are unique and dynamic, hence case studies investigate and report the complex dynamic and unfolding integration of events, human relationships and other factors in a unique (Cohen et al., 2000, p. 181).             In archetypal form, the case-study strategy seeks to examine a single instance of some broader class of phenomena in order to generate a rich and complex understanding of it. Cases may be defined at any level of analysis from the individual and group to the organization, industry, economy, society and so on. By virtue of its aims, using this strategy often means engaging in a wide range of research methods such as interviews, questionnaires, observation, and the analysis of documentary records (Thomas 2004).   Advantages of the Case Study Approach             The case study is an excellent vehicle for research. It is a vehicle that is especially suited to small-scale research and may well appeal to a researcher carrying out an in-house research. Some advantages are the following: 1. It can be carried out by a single researcher. 2. It is relatively cheap and not dependent on expensive technology. 3. A case study will always generate empirical data and information. 4. It takes place in a natural setting within an actual organization (White 2002). 5. The results are more easily understood by a wide audience as they are frequently written in everyday, non-professional language. 6. They are immediately intelligible; they speak for themselves. 7. They catch unique features that may otherwise be lost in larger scale data; these unique features might hold the key to understanding the situation. 8. They are strong on reality. 9. They provide insights into other, similar situations and cases, thereby assisting interpretation of other similar cases. 10. They can be undertaken by a single researcher without needing a full research team. 11. They can embrace and build in unanticipated events and uncontrolled variables (Cohen et al., 2000, p. 184). Disadvantages of the Case Study Approach             With a case study approach there are a number of limitations as follows: 1. The results may not be generalizable except where other readers/researchers see their application. 2. They are not easily open to cross-checking, hence they may be selective, biased, personal and subjective. 3. They are prone to problems of observer bias, despite attempts made to address reflexivity (Cohen et al., 2000, p. 184). 4. With a single atypical case study, it is often difficult to separate out what is unique to the organization involved and what is common to similar organizations 5. Case studies can generate a lot of information, since each different method used produces its own findings (White 2002).               The paper will tackle customer service at Lloyds TSB, United Kingdom’s leading financial services providers. In this research, the researcher will be using secondary data in analyzing customer service at Lloyds TSB. Secondary data are data that have been collected for some other purpose. Secondary data can provide a useful source from which to answer the research question(s). Punch (1998) mentions several advantages of using existing data. Expenditure on obtaining data can be significantly reduced and data analysis can begin immediately, so saving time. Also, the quality of some data may be superior to anything the researcher could have created alone (Thomas, 2004, p. 191). On the other hand, the chosen research method also has several disadvantages. Data that have been gathered by others for their own purposes can be difficult to interpret when they are taken out of their original context. It is also much more difficult to appreciate the weak points in data that have been obtained by others. The data may be only partially relevant to the current research question (Thomas, 2004, p. 191).   Service Quality             Lloyds TSB is a financial organization that offers different financial services. As such, the organization is considered as a member of the service sector. Quality in services is completely different from quality in manufacturing. Quality in manufacturing rested on the resolution of tangible, visible, persistent issues while quality in service is directly measurable only in relation to the tangible aspects of the transaction. Service quality is intangible and instantaneous. It perishes with the completion of the transaction and cannot subsequently be verified or audited. It depends not on what actually happened but on how the parties to the transaction feel about what happened. The manufacturing models of quality cannot deal with the problem of service quality because they focus on the tangible, not the intangible, and quality is verified and audited after the event. Service quality cannot be verified after the event; it must be assured before hand (Beckford 2002).             By definition, services are intangible. The product that is a service or that component of the product that is a service cannot be seen, touched, or felt. As a deed, performance or action, a service is consumed as it is produced, such that the acts of production and consumption are inseparable. Services are perishable, in that they cannot be inventoried or produced and stored for later use. Nor can they be produced without some level of customer interaction. Since services are produced and consumed in real time, they are inherently variable – from customer to customer, from provider to provider and from time to time for the same customer and/or the same provider (John 2003).   Characteristics of Services Services as Intangible             Services are performances. Services cannot be seen but they can be experienced. The product is a process. Services are the result of value creating activities. The product being purchased is an experience and not a physical good (John 2003). In the hospitality industry for example, hotels provide the service of overnight stay as their core product. The customer does not take title to the room that is being rented. The hotel provides the use of the room for the duration of the time that the customer has paid for. Services are Consumed and Produced Simultaneously             The acts of production and consumption occur simultaneously in services. Services are produced and consumed in real time. There is a great deal of interaction before, during, and/or after the service between provider and customer. In services, the provider is part o the product. The personnel that the customer interacts with are a part of the product (John 2003). For example in a bank, the quality of service provided by the bank teller is a factor in customer satisfaction. The bank teller is part of the product. Services are Perishable             Since services cannot be produced and stored for later use, as physical products can, services are said to be perishable products (John 2003). For example in a restaurant setting, a waiter’s time or unproductive when he is not serving a customer. A bank’s customer service staff ready to handle customer enquiries is not producing a service unless there is a customer to serve. A vacant room perishes when a guest does not check-in within a given day. The factors of production such as labor, facilities, equipment, and billable time are the value-creating assets for the service provider. Services vary from Production to Production             Service products as experiences vary form one experience to the next, form customer to customer, as well as for the same customer from one occasion to the next. When there are several steps in the service process where the customer interacts with several different personnel of the service provider, there could be variation from one interaction to another (John 2003).   Lloyds TSB             Lloyds TSB is one of UK’s leading financial services providers. The operations of Lloyds TSB Group in the UK were conducted through over 2,000 branches of Lloyds TSB Bank, Lloyds TSB Scotland plc and Cheltenham and Gloucester plc at the end of December 2006. International business is conducted mainly in the US and continental Europe. Lloyds TSB Group’s services in these countries are offered largely through branches of Lloyds TSB Bank. Lloyds TSB Group also offers offshore banking facilities in a number of countries. Lloyds TSB Group’s activities are organized into three divisions: UK Retail Banking, Insurance and Investments and Wholesale and International Banking. Services provided by UK Retail Banking include the provision of banking and other financial services to personal customers, private banking and mortgages. Insurance and Investments offers life assurance, pensions and investment products, general insurance and fund management services. Wholesale and International Banking provides banking and related services for major UK and multinational companies, banks and financial institutions, and small and medium-sized UK businesses. It also provides asset finance and share registration services to personal and corporate customers, manages Lloyds TSB Group’s activities in financial markets through its treasury function and provides banking and financial services overseas (Lloyds TSB Annual Report 2006). UK Retail Banking             UK Retail Banking provides a wide range of banking and financial services through its diversified, propriety distribution network and highly recognized and well-regarded brands to some 16 million personal customers through 2,000 branches across the UK. UK Retail Banking is the largest personal current account bank with over 12 million current account customers, have the largest number of internet banking customers in the UK and operate 11 call centers, all in the UK. UK Retail Banking’s strategic priorities are to grow revenue from its existing customer base; expand its customer franchise; and continuously improve productivity and efficiency. UK Retail Banking’s strategy is customer centric with its vision being to help its customers succeed financially so that they reward the company with more of their business, stay with the company longer and recommend the company to others. Insurance and Investments             Insurance and Investments offers life assurance, pensions and investments products, general insurance and fund management services. The Scottish Widows brand is the main brand for new sales at Lloyds TSB group’s life, pensions, Open Ended Investment Companies and other long-term saving products. Lloyds TSB General Insurance is targeting growing share in chosen customer segments, developing key insurance partnerships, improving margins by better customer management and improving service and efficiency. Wholesale and International Banking             Lloyds TSB’s business within the Wholesale and International Banking area cover a broad scope, serving thousands of customers, ranging from start-ups and small enterprises to large organization and global corporations. Combining the respective strengths of some 3,000 people in Corporate Banking and Products and Markets, Corporate Markets plays an integral role in leveraging and expanding the customer franchise and building deep, long-lasting relationships with around 17,000 corporate customers. Making Wholesale and International Banking a great place for the company’s customers to bank is its number one priority. As a relationship bank, Lloyds TSB places its customers at the forefront of its vision and it strives with passion to meet the customers’ needs. Products and Services             The company offers a wide range of products and services for different types of customers. The products offered by the bank can include the following features: debit card, cheque guarantee, ATM functionality, overdraft, access cash machines, access to the account through telephone and internet banking, access to branch network etc. Markets             Lloyds TSB focuses on building competitive advantage in its competitor markets by seeking opportunities to consolidate its position in business where it is already strong, through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions, and by divesting businesses in markets where it is not a leader. Products and services are managed and coordinated from the main office. The sales force is consist of bank advisors, colleagues, and customer service representatives.   SWOT Analysis Strengths             One of the strengths of Lloyds TSB is its quality customer service. The company has a relationship focused strategy that serves as its greatest strength and a source of sustainable competitive advantage.  Through the high quality service that the staff renders to the customers, the company achieved high customer satisfaction and advocacy. The company is notable for its ability to build long-term relationships with its customers. The company has a strong customer focus and it continues to enhance product capabilities and to improve processing efficiency. Another strength is the company’s employees who are the source of competitive advantage for the company. The company through its investments on the training, development and rewards of the employees have high employee engagement scores and strong sales performance. 1. Strong Customer Franchises – across its main businesses, Lloyds TSB Group has strong core banking franchises, but smaller market shares in associated product areas. Lloyds focuses on being differentiated in the creation of customer value to win a bigger share of its customers’ total financial services spend. Strong franchises depend on having highly motivated employees. Motivated employees, combined with investments in improving service, help to build customer satisfaction (Lloyds TSB Annual Report 2006). 2. Continuous Productivity Improvement – in recent years, the Lloyds TSB Group has been building a set of capabilities in ‘six sigma’ (error reduction), ‘lean manufacturing’ (operations efficiency) and procurement. Alongside those capabilities, the Lloyds TSB Group applies an ‘income growth must exceed cost growth’ discipline in setting goals for each business, requiring a wider gap between income growth and cost growth for lower growth/return businesses than for higher growth/return businesses. Finally, the Lloyds TSB Group has been simplifying management structures, aiming to reduce layers of management and increase spans of control (Lloyds TSB Annual Report 2006). 3. Capita Efficiency – Lloyds has developed a framework to be able to measure economic equity requirements across all its businesses, taking into account market, credit, insurance, business and operational risk. Using economic profit as a key performance measure enables the Lloyds TSB Group to understand which strategies, products, channels and customer segments are destroying value and which are creating the most value and to make better capital allocation decisions as a result (Lloyds TSB Annual Report 2006). Customer Service             Lloyds TSB is a leading financial services provider in the United Kingdom with worldwide presence. The group focuses on quality customer services as a tool for attracting and retaining customers as well as encouraging customer loyalty. In order to achieve superior customer service capabilities, the group invests on technology as well as training its staff to be service-oriented (Lloyds TSB Annual Report 2008). Technology             Customer service is often dependent on backroom operations, processing individual transactions and monthly statements, and the hardware and software necessary for these transactions. While rarely seen by the customer, such operating systems provide employees access to customer information and affect the accuracy and timeliness of processing. Competitive operating systems form a base for all customer service activities. Effective customer service starts with managements' commitment to invest in competitive systems that give employees an edge when dealing directly with customers (Reynierse and Harker 1992). Examples of the different systems that the group is using in order to provide quality customer service are discussed below: 1. Pegasystems – Lloyds has invested in business process management software to improve process efficiencies and customer service in its payments exceptions handling function. 2. ACI – Lloyds TSB has implemented a gateway which will link to the Faster Payments Service infrastructure. 3. E-Procurement – Lloyds TSB has rolled out a new e-procurement system which it hopes will reduce costs and make its overall procurement process more efficient. 4. Web Camera System – Lloyds TSB is able to make a daily analysis of customer wait times, teller usage , and teller productivity by installing a new Web Camera system.   Technology is used in understanding customers and identifying their needs. One process that aims to understand customers is Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can be defined as the development and maintenance of mutually beneficial long-term relationships with strategically significant customers (Buttle 2000). CRM according to Plakoyiannaki and Tzokas (2001) is an IT enhanced value process, which identifies, develops, integrates and focuses the various competencies of the firm to the ‘voice’ of the customer in order to deliver long-term superior customer value, at a profit to well identified existing and potential customers. Customer relationship management focuses on strengthening the bond between customers and the firm by maximizing the value of the relationship for the benefit of both the customer and the firm. As a business philosophy, CRM is based upon individual customers and customized products and services supported by open lines of communication and feedback form the participating firms that mutually benefits both by buying and selling organizations.             Customer Relationship Management has emerged as one of top priorities of many companies. When applied correctly, CRM uses technology that can help a company leverage increased customer knowledge to build profitable relationships. The focus is on learning more about customers and using that knowledge to refine every interaction with them. At a time when most products and services have become commodities, knowing the customer and treating each as an individual is the most effective way to win allegiance.     Customer Service Orientation             The group builds a customer-focused environment and trains and educates its workforce to become customer service-oriented. A customer focus according to John (2003) necessitates a deep understanding of customers and their activities, interests, and opinions around the particular value or solution that the firm is providing. It should be an attitude that is pervasive and that permeates throughout the firm such that it becomes ingrained as a culture. At Lloyds TSB people are the most valuable resource. Managing its people effectively is fundamental to the success of the business and achieving the group’s vision of being the best financial services organization in the United Kingdom. Creating a great place to work is a core priority of the people strategy which seeks to enable Lloyds TSB to be recognized, both within the financial service sector, but more generally in the UK employment market as the best company to work for. To achieve these goals Lloyds TSB aims to create a high commitment, high performance organization. The values of each business unit are based on the core group values of: o   Putting customer first o   Acting with integrity and respect o   Taking personal responsibility o   Working as a team Customer Relationship Marketing             Customer Relationship Marketing is defined by Stone et al (2000) as the use of a wide range of marketing, sales, communication, service and customer care approaches to: <ul style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in" type="circle"> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Identify the company’s named individual customers</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Create a relationship between the company and its 	customers that stretches over many transactions</li> 	<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> 	Manage that relationship to the benefit of the customers 	and the company</li> </ul>             Bose (2002) defines customer relationship marketing as involving the integration of technology and business processes in satisfying the needs of the customers. According to Swift (2001), CRM can be defined as an enterprise approach to understanding and influencing customer behavior through meaningful communications in order to improve customer acquisition, customer development and customer loyalty. He added that CRM must be integrated into everything a company does and must involve the entire company.              Primarily the aim of CRM is to build loyal customer relationships, where the organization can anticipate the needs of the customers, use information to personalize relationships, and encourage the customers to further their business relationship with the organization by earning their confidence and trust. CRM emphasizes three essential ingredients of customer relationships. 1. Customer Acquisition – identifying the profitable customers and creating strategies to attract them. 2. Customer Development – delivery of customer needs, wants and requirements when, how and where they want them to optimize profits and revenue. 3. Customer Retention – building and sustaining customer loyalty. Customer Acquisition 1. Effective Customer Classification – the management and staff analyze the customers (backgrounds, stay history, needs, wants etc.) through the company’s data mining tool and then group them into segments. Through segmentation, the company manages its customers as individuals or small groups and become more knowledgeable in analyzing customer data. 2. Services Segmentation – the company integrates services segmentation in its strategy. Through services segmentation, the company management and staff ranks its customers (according to guests classification) and then render services that are designed for particular segments. Customer Development 1. Data Capture/Data Warehousing o data warehousing or data mining is being used by the company in collecting information about the customers. The data are gathered through customer-service provider interaction in every part or department of the company. Some of the factors the data that can be collected are customer behavior, customer value (profitability and potential, and customer portfolio. 2. Knowledge Management –Lloyds TSB manages customer knowledge. Customer knowledge management enables the management and staff to capture the customer’s previous and current status, the methods of transaction that they prefer, their future needs and future requirements. Customer Retention/Loyalty 1. One-to-One Marketing –Lloyds TSV gathers high volume of data about the individual and try to adapt its product and service offerings as closely as possible to the individual customer’s needs. Marketing decisions must be based on the knowledge of the customers’ behavior and attitude. 2. Loyalty Program –Lloyds TSB uses a loyalty program to gather information about the customer’s needs, demands, behavior and requirements. It is also an opportunity to stay in touch with the customer in a regular basis. It can also be an opportunity to customize the services that are rendered to the guests.    Dealing with Customer Complaints             In dealing with customer complaints, the company is very careful so as not to push customers to look for other service providers. The company makes sure that it deals with customer complaints in a way that make customers feel valued and appreciated. Here are some of the ways the company deals with customer complaints effectively. 1. Making sure that the customers can easily contact the company when they have complaints. It is important that the company provides information on how customers can reach it when they have complaints. The people who are in-charge with handling customer complaints must promptly respond to the customers. 2. Appreciating the customer’s time and effort in informing about the product’s or/and service’s weaknesses. Let the customer know that the information that he or she has given is valued and will be dealt with. 3. Dealing with the complaint promptly. By dealing with the complaint promptly and by solving the problem quickly, the company makes the customer feel that it is committed to customer satisfaction.     References Beckford, J 2002, Quality, Routledge, London.   Bose, R. 2002. ‘Customer Relationship Management: Key Components for IT Success’, Industrial Management and Data Systems, vol. 102, no. 2n pp. 89-97.   Darlington, Y and Scott, D 2002, Qualitative Research in Practice: Stories from the Field, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.   Hansen, E C 2006, Successful Qualitative Health Research: A Practical Introduction, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.   Hayler, R and Nichols, M 2006, Six Sigma for Financial Services: How Leading Companies are Driving Results Using Lean, Six Sigma, and Process Management, McGraw-Hill Professional.   John, J 2003, Fundamentals of Customer-Focused Management: Competing through Service, Praeger, Westport CT.   MacNaughton, G, Rolfe, S and Siraj-Blatchford, I 2001, Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.   Newman, I and Benz, C R 1998, Qualitative-Quantitative Research Methodology: Exploring the Interactive Continuum, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, IL.   Peat, J K (ed.) 2001, Health Science Research: A Handbook of Quantitative Methods, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW.   Punch, K F 1998, Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, Sage, London.   Reynierse, J H and Harker, J B 2002, ‘Employee and Customer Perceptions of Service in Banks: Teller and Customer Service Representative Ratings’, Human Resource Planning, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 31+.   Stone, M, Woodcock, N and Machtynger, L 2000, Customer Relationship Marketing: Get to Know Your Customers and Win Their Loyalty, Kogan Page Publishers.   Swift, R S 2001, Accelerating Customer Relationships – Using CRM and Relationship Technologies, Prentice-Hall.   Thomas, A B 2004, Research Skills for Management Studies, Routledge. 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Customer strategy/customer service in Lloyd's TSB : A case study

Customer Service in Lloyds TSB In order to provide a foundation for the paper, let us first differentiate the qualitativ...