Management Information Systems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management Information Systems - Assignment Example Evidently, these activities will assist the organization to improve its productivity automatically and hence to optimize communication across all layers of the organization and between the organization and the supplier. To illustrate, each football kit sold in a retail outlet is communicated to the supplier automatically and the supplier in turn will send more football kits to the retailer to address the shortage of items sold. Electronic data interchange is the most applied form of inter-organizational system and it facilitates instantaneous information transfer from computer to computer. An effective IOS can benefit an organization in several ways. First, it greatly aids the organization to reduce overall risk level in the organization, and to take advantages of economies of scale. Second, an IOS helps the organization to utilize the exchange of technologies and to increase competitiveness to a great extent. Finally, this system is beneficial for organizations to eliminate investme nt barriers and enhance global communication. There are some potential challenges to inter-organizational systems. ... Since there are no effective assessment methods and benefits measurement processes, system managers find it difficult to convince the top management about the feasibility of financing an inter-organizational system. Due to this weakness, managers cannot evaluate employee performance in connection with the IOS operations. In short, it is difficult to identify how an IOS influences the supply chain efficiency and the overall organizational performance. If the employees are not familiar with the inter-organizational system, it can be a challenging task for the system managers to ensure proper flow of information within the organization. Lack of funding is another challenge unique to IOS. As mentioned already, the top management often hesitates to fund IOS needs because most of the IOS benefits are intangible and the top management officials cannot be easily convinced about the potentiality of those intangible benefits. Finally, fast changing technologies, particularly information techno logy raise potential threats to the efficacy and affordability of the inter-organizational system. 2. Digital Economy Digital economy can be simply stated as an economy which is based on technologies. Digital economy is interchangeably referred to as internet economy, web economy, or new economy. With the emergence of new business practices and technologies, the concept of digital economy is being greatly intertwined with the traditional economy but a clear delineation is very difficult. The term digital economy was coined by Don Tapscott in his book titled ‘The digital economy: Promise and peril in the age of networked intelligence’. According to the Australian

Business ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Business ethics - Essay Example Based on ethical theories and literature, this paper will attempt to show that it is important for companies to embrace the concept of sustainable development in order to grow their bottom line and ensure future growth. Companies are required to embrace sustainable development because by doing so, they will be fulfilling their ethical obligations to sustainability. In order to understand these ethical obligations, this paper analyses the ethical theories related to sustainability and how they apply. In an article by Mohamed Eid (2012) on sustainable development, the author relates the four major ethical theories to sustainability. These theories help understand how sustainable development is critical to any company. The first ethical theory supporting sustainable development is utilitarian ethics, a theory that focuses on the need to maximize good and the promotion of happiness. Based on this theory, sustainable development is approached by looking at the balance between economic, social and environmental welfare. Companies are thus required to engage in actions that will promote the overall good by striking a balance between these aspects. Companies have to focus not only on themselves and the maj ority in society but include the minorities as well. This requires that future generations are considered when making critical decisions. This also demands a focus on the economic gains of the company that meet the needs of all stakeholders (Najam, 1999 p. 70). The utilitarian theory requires companies to use approaches and methods that promote happiness from the individual level to the wider society. Companies thus need to create an environment that guarantees a better future for everyone. Secondly, sustainability is also tied to the deontological theory in which it is argued that actions are either right or wrong irrespective of their consequences. In this case, actions need to be justified by accepted universal principles. Currently,