Order Number |
679607997697 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT & FINANCE
E-BUSINESS MODULE
(Module Code: MMIS2304)
ASSIGNMENTS FOR Academic Year 2020/2021 – Semester 1
Module Duration: 11th October 2021 to 06th February 2022
Lecturer: BHAUGEERUTTY Vinod SHARMA
Assignment 1: Individual Marking (50%)
Aim: To understand the scope and design of e-business
Learning Outcome:
THE PROBLEM SCENARIO
Woolsmorth is a large retail company specializing in groceries and clothing. It was founded in 1995 and currently has more than 200 department stores in the UK. The company has been very successful over many years but is now facing new challenges because of the credit crunch.
Company Headquarters is located in central London. Many of the business functions are dispersed around the country as Divisions: Sales in Birmingham, Human Resources in London, Customer Relations in Northampton, etc. All the Divisions have their own internal Local Area Networks, connected to Headquarters by a variety of wide area platforms. The company does not manufacture goods in its own right: short-term contracts are made with a large number of suppliers for various clothing lines and for groceries. Consequently, some network links have been developed for communications with suppliers, and the larger suppliers are required to carry out all transactions with Woolsmorth using EDI. There is still, however, a significant reliance on Sales staff to make visits to suppliers in order to negotiate contracts, approve new product lines and generally to troubleshoot.
In order to support its retail activities, Woolsmorth has a significantly-sized, but somewhat fragmented internal networking and telecommunications infrastructure in place. This has been built up incrementally over the last 15 years, starting with a Data Processing Centre which was located in Walsall (West Midlands). The Data Processing Centre is still the Centre of many of the company’s transaction processing activities. The various internal networks were put in place at different times; using components purchased from a variety of vendors, and comprise a miscellany of topologies and network operating systems. This situation has led to some problems of inter-networking, with consequent loss or corruption of data.
In 2002, in response to increased building and rental costs, the company decided to supplement its department store activities by initiating catalogue sales. Customers would be sent a catalogue by post and order forms would be returned to an Order Processing Centre in Sales Division in Birmingham. From there, orders would be forwarded to the Data Processing Centre in Wilsall, by means of a leased line arrangement. The catalogue arm of the business is proving less profitable than in recent years, partly due to competition from rival companies which have moved into e-commerce and online sales, and partly due to delays and errors in fulfilling customer orders.
In 2005, the company decided to open some stores in selected European locations. This has been successful to the extent that extra revenues have been generated, but unexpected costs have also been incurred. The problems appear to relate to a number of factors, such as delays caused by the need for key staff to travel to these locations to train and otherwise to communicate with the local staff. The company currently has 10 European outlets, mainly in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
In the last two years, Woodsworth has experienced falling sales, which has come as something as a shock to the company. Immediate responses to this problem included dramatic, if somewhat haphazard price reductions, but this had limited success. Costs also rose as a consequence of holding large quantities of unsold stock. The company has prided itself on its unique culture which has fostered staff welfare and hands-on management, rather than reliance on, for example, distributed Management Information Systems supporting management decision making.
A new Chief Executive was appointed in 2010 and put forward a new business strategy which attempted to “modernize” the management culture and which emphasized the following key points:
The Chief Executive has some sympathy with the notion that the new business strategy needs to be underpinned by high quality internal networks and systems, but not all senior management share this view.
Some issues:
Some of the requirements as provided by the company are as follows:
Your task
You are invited, as an experienced consultant, to put together a strategic plan and a technical report (which is comprised into a final report), on the basis of the evidence supplied in this brief. The report should include the following deliverables (These should conform to sections of your report):
You are required to analyses different eMarketing strategies and help adopt a suitable eMarketing strategy to promote the organization.
iii. proceed to checkout in a secure mode and choose different payment methods
Assessment Criteria
Word Count: 2500-3000 words
Introduction | 2 Marks |
Prioritisation of the problems and rationale | 8 Marks |
eMarketing Strategy | 10 Marks |
Recommended solutions to problems | 10 Marks |
The Technology | 5 Marks |
The Design | 8 Marks |
Legal and Ethical issues | 5 Marks |
Conclusion | 2 Marks |
Submission Details
Deadline: At latest Wednesday of Week 7 @ 17 hrs
Caution: Any report submitted after Week 7 shall be entitled to a penalty of 5% per day for the student!
-THE END-