W5 - Brick, Brick and click, From brick to click, click

W5 - Brick, Brick and click, From brick to click, click

Source / Reference:

1.  http://www.hsbc.com.hk/1/2/home

2. http://www.apple.com/hk/

3. http://www.amazon.com/

4. http://www.chowsangsang.com/new/chi/detect.htm

Content

Brick and click e-business is a kind of strategies that have offline and online components, which has physical store and online branch of business. The advantages of this type of strategies are convenient for both customers and suppliers to buy and sell goods or services. It has better communication between the business and customers because customers can reflect their thinking quicker and business is more efficient in collecting customers request in  both online and offline platform. The disadvantages are business needs more effort to align the online and offline operations. Apple is applying this strategy to run his business.

Brick is a kind of strategies that only have offline stores which means there is no any online activities. The advantages of this type of strategies are business has more face to face communication, business may collect more accurate useful information of the customers. Customers may try the products directly. However, the rental, labour and other cost may be higher, it will slow down the growth of the business. Also, this strategy limits the working hours. Mostly, businesses which sell luxury products, apply this strategy to run their business, for example Chow Sang Sang Jewellary.

Click is a kind of strategies that only have online components, which means there is no any offline activites. The advantages of this type of strategies are business has no any geographic resistant, customers may come from every corners of the world. It can reduce time cost and the money spent in renting, labour cost. Since the Internet nowadays is a necessary of people, therefore it can also reduce advertising cost. Amazon is one of the businesses applying this strategy

From brick to click is a kind of strategies that company moves transaction from offline to online. The advantages of this strategy are the cost for the renting and operating of the shop are lower and easier to provide customized services or promotion. One the other hand, it may loss the customers who do not get use of online operation. It is quite difficult to apply this strategy in the real world. Hong Kong Bank is running adopting strategy that quite similar to from brick to click.

W4 - Strategic Alliance Model

Source / Reference:
1. http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_venkatraman_strategic_alignment.html 

2. http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net


Subject:
In Lect 4 - Which alignment strategy in SAM model is the best? and why?

Response:

In the lecture notes, lack of alignment between business and IT/IS strategies causes an institution or organization unable to recognize value from the IT/IS investment. According to the website, lack of alignment between the business and IT strategy and a dynamic administrative process lead businesses in difficulties to understand or estimate the benefit and the cost of the IT/IS investment. It is consistent to the definition from the lecture note.

In the lecture notes, the web page above and another web page, the SAM is divided into 4 parts, which is business strategy, IT strategy, business infrastructure and IT infrastructure.

Business strategy describes the relationship between business scope, distinctive competencies and business governance. They include everything that may affect the business atmosphere, make business into success and the relationship between the business and external parties. 

IT strategy describes the relationship between technology scope, systemic competencies and IT governance. They include the information technologies that fit the business strategy, the benefits that IT technologies can bring and the external factors that the business is depended on.

Business infrastructure describes the relationship between administrative structure, processes and skills. They are the business structure, operation in each business process component and the relationship between them, the management of the human resources.

IT infrastructure describes the relationship between IT infrastructure, processes and skills. They include all the technologies and knowledge in computing, activities of the IT infrastructure, the work done by human resources for IT.

Strategic execution perspective aims to avoid delay and error, improve the quality of service and reduce time cost. It is achieved by changing the information technology infrastructure.

Technology transformation only wants to find out the best IT competence that fit the business use regardless the business structure.

Service level aims to improve the delivery of business own products, services and processes by using IT. Business strategy may guide it at the back.

Competitive potential concentrate in the IT environment and find out the best business strategy when new technology is innovated.

Service level may be the best since many companies are using this approach to expand their business activities. For example, taobao is using a networking platform to gathering many sellers and buyers. It earns thousands of millions of dollars every year.

I think these four perspectives are also essential. If any one of these perspectives misses, some functionalities of the model will disappear. For example, we pick the competitive potential perspective off, and then business may not have enough updated information in order to make decision accurately.