THE ALLURE OF MYSPACE
1. How do businesses benefit from Myspace? How do Myspace members benefit?
Businesses
benefit from Myspace because they can advertise and also retrieve
information from these users so that they can target and better serve
their market. The businesses can advertise to a particular set of
individuals who fit their target market. They can also retrieve their
potential user’s age, location, marital status, language, gender, etc.
to analyze what types of individuals may be interested in their
products.
Myspace members
benefit from Myspace because they can network with millions of people
who also utilize the service. They can do job searches, blog, play games
and e-mail.
2. Does Myspace create an ethical dilemma? Why or why not?
Myspace does
not create an ethical dilemma because all of its users subscribe by
choice and therefore consent to the sites agreement.
3. Do parent
and schools’ objections to Myspace have any merit? Should a site like
Myspace be allowed to operate? Why or why not?
I do believe
parents and school objections should be valued. They object Myspace
because they are trying to protect children from being hurt by
individuals who misuse this site. Although some people object this site.
I believe that Myspace should be allowed to operate. There are a lot
more positive aspects to this networking site than negative ones.
Myspace is listening to the concerns and doing the best they can to
protect individuals who could be a target to sexual predators. It is
also the parent’s responsibility and not Myspace responsibility to
protect and watch their children.
RENAULT SPEEDS UP DELIVERY WITH A NEW DSS
1. How did this DSS
improve decision making at Renault? Describe some of the decisions that were
improved by using this system.
The new DSS software solution designed for overall
operations of Renault Company has made a huge progress for entire value
chain
of the company. This software has managed to link the company directly
with the customers through the dealers. Similarly, it has made the whole
process of car manufacturing, customization
and the sales of car highly efficient. To every successful project, it
involves
a lot of decision making process. Some of the improved decision making
by this
new DSS software can be discussed below:
A. Customer order
handling : Since the DSS software was able to receive the order
directly
from the customers, through car dealers, they were able to optimize the
mix of
models, critical options like engine, gearbox, and secondary options
like colour, in-car electronics etc. Similarly, they were able to
analyse a large number of customer orders with a powerful computer
processor capable of
processing 140 millions evaluations in 10 minutes. In contrast,
previously the numbers of car orders were taken as per
the order the dealers. If a car was left in a showroom for a long time,
the
dealer would ultimately need to reduce the price of a car making it
unprofitable to sell a Renault car.
B. Efficient Assembly
plant : With the new DSS software, there was significant improvement
in order sequencing. Based on the customer orders, the numbers of cars
to be manufactured
were sequenced as per
their critical and secondary
requirement. Also, the company managed to reduce a lot of production
cost by systematization
of the whole process. The car sequence ensured the workload to be
sequentially
distributed and managed to reduce variable costs like painting which
required
painting tubes to be washed. With proper sequencing, it ensures lesser
wastage
in paintings.
C. Smooth cooperation
among the various departments : The software also managed to give a
clear
picture of whole assembly line, which in return helped to define clear
job roles of each department. For example, they were able to
allocate sales targets and work into manufacturing issues like planning
problems, constraints, decision variable. The sales department was able
to
focus on ability to produce profitable mix of the car.
D. Future planning
and software modification : The introduction of new DSS software
solution was simply a start to much more sophisticated planning
process. The initial software had some drawbacks and needed to be
modified accordingly
for its international production houses in various countries. It led to
healthy
competition among research teams from Europe, Canada and Brazil for
innovation
solutions like car sequencing and increment in evaluations. Similarly,
the company is now looking into speeding the delivery process through
optimized routing
of delivery vehicles from plants to dealers via intermediate dispatching
centres, which requires extensive calculations of worldwide
transportation network of Renault.
Hence the company was able to make efficient decisions for
over all supply chain and thus gaining a competitive advantage in the value
chain management process.
2. How much of an impact
did this DSS have on business performance? Explain your answer.
The newly introduced DSS software solution has had an
outstanding impact on the overall business performance of the Renault company.
It has helped the company to communicate with the customers effectively by
taking orders quickly and processing the order in the assembly line and the
delivering back to the customer. It has several business implications to the
company.
Initially the whole supply chain was time consuming and
highly inefficient due to the legacy mainframe systems, which could not handle
the ever expanding product line of the company and options available for the
customers. Ever since the replacement of such system with DSS system, the
company has reaped the benefit of technology advancement in terms of product
development, production and sales. The impact of DSS can be further discussed
in following points:
A. Sales : with the advance order handling software, the
company was able to provide customized cars to its customer with reduced lead
time. Similarly, they were able to order more varieties of cars to the customers through quicker
product development and market penetration. Similarly, with quicker order
handling, the company was able to increase the customer satisfaction and
reliability.
B. Production cost
control : One of the essential parts of manufacturing based industry is to
reduce if not control its production costs. With the new DSS, the company was
able to improve its product sequencing at manufacturing plant and reduce production cost of car painting process and
other variable costs like
electricity, chemicals etc. When the cost price of a car is reduced, it
increases the profit in sales of the car. Hence it leads to increase business
performance.
C. Planning and implementation
: With centralized information system and
database, each department was able
to extract required information from the central server.
For
example,
the sales department focused on the ability to
produce the right mix of models, engines, equipment levels, colours, and
options every month while industrial planners focused on weekly production
volumes for each plant. Similarly, this kind of planning provided a feasible
sales targets and implementation of plans in each departments across the
production houses of Renault Company across the globe.
D. Competitive
Advantage : The smooth operation of the entire supply chain is able to give Renault
Company
a
competitive
advantage
compared
to
its
competitors. Even if the decision to implement DSS was on the wake of intense competition,
it will ensure that the company has a competitive advantage
on product delivery and thus increase in
customer satisfaction.
Hence the new DSS system has huge implications on business
performance of the company. It will ensure that the company will able to
sustain in long run by creating a competitive advantage in supply chain
management.
3. What management,
organization,
and
technology
factors
had
to
be
addressed in order to make this system successful?
To be able to implement the new DSS software system, the
company had to go through various hurdles in the initial stages. Similarly, due
to various manufacturing sites of the company worldwide, it required extensive planning and controlled
execution of the plans. Some of the various factors that were addressed during
the DSS system are as follows:
a. Management: The Renault Company has an extensive network
of dealers, manufacturers and customers across the globe. To be able to manage such extensive
network,
it
requires
a
huge
management
prowess
and
regional
cooperation. To manage a centralized command, this
company
needed
this
software to report various information such as sales report, manufacturing
plant report etc. The system was designed such that customer orders flow directly
from dealers to assembly plants, bypassing corporate headquarters. This ensured
that the regional management
team
as
well
as
the
management
team
at
the
headquarter was aware of the company’s day to day operations.
b. Organization: Since the Renault Company has a diverse organizational
environment through out its regional corporate offices/manufacturing houses, it
was important to incorporate such practice to make this system successful.
Similarly depending upon the customer
order and manufacturing limitations in each area, the plant operators requested
for the modification of software as it was unable to handling the car
sequencing at assembly line. To solve this issue, Renault research teams from
Europe, Canada, and Brazil competed to provide a solution. The software now
performs more than 140 million evaluations in ten minutes.
c. Technology: It is certainly the most important issue to be
addressed in this renovation process. In fact, the DSS software
solution itself is a technology. However, the implication of this
software is not limited to few computers only. It has touched every
aspects of the supply
chain which are computerized. For example,
the sequencing of assembly line. Depending upon the order of
the customers, the software analyses the efficiency of production line.
For
example, if there are 14 red cars, 23 blue cars and 2 black cars,
depending
upon the delivery date and painting efficiency, the software will
recommend the
exact sequencing on which the cars can be painted. Similarly, this
system has revamped
information system of every department. Now each department can collect
the required information from central server making their information
need much
more easier.
Hence proper planning and addressing of the above factors
contributed to effective implementation of DSS system.
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