Reference no: EM132227661

Research Project

In the team research project, you will assume the role of a team of analysts, hired by an incoming CIO of a particular company in the real world, to conduct a research case study of the use of Information Technology (IT) by that company. Your goal will be to produce a viable analysis of the company's use of IT for your client before assuming the new position. In general, your client is interested in knowing more about:

- The general background of the company's main business, and the major historical events that led to the company's current state of affairs regarding its use of IT.

- The firm's current use of IT with respect to the firm's existing services and business strategies.

- Any problems or issues the company is currently addressing, and any area or areas for improvements with respect to the use ofIT.

- Any possibilities of developing a new operation or venture, supported by the use ofIT innovations.

If the organization you selected is a large company or a conglomerate, you may need to focus only on one of its business units. Also, sometimes not all of the areas of IT (e.g., E-Commerce, SCM, DSS, Innovation...) are applicable for a particular company, and we might not have enough time in one semester to study all areas IT operations of a large company. You may select the most interesting area(s) to focus on.

You will compile your findings into a written report that will be submitted at the end of the term.

SELECTION OF THE COMPANY

Identify a company that will be the basis of your analysis. The company should be a reasonably large public company. In general, you can choose from any firm you wish. It can be one that is reflective of the company or industry that you currently work in, or perhaps one that you would like to become involved with in the future. The company does not need to have a household name, but you need to make sure that the firm has a substantial body of publicly available information associated with it.

I don't mind if you "double dip" by studying a company you are also researching for another class. However, you need to collect information and write on the topics related to this class. It would be quite obvious if you recycle material written on other topics (e.g., accounting standards, marketing strategies, etc.) without relating it in any way to IT.

Also, we do not want two teams to study the same company. So if your selections clash, the first team that informed me the selection gets to keep it. The other team will need to select adifferent company.

INFORMATION SOURCES

You will have to do some investigative research on the case study using a variety of sources. Fortunately, today there is a multitude of information sources available, such as the Web and the university or local libraries. Feel free to use any information sources available to obtain information on your company. For this project we do not require first hand data (data obtained through direct contacts with employees of the company). However, if you could acquire such data it would certainly help you strengthen your report. Make sure you document all your information sources.

TASKS

You will be conducting a step-by-step evaluation of the case. Here is a general guideline for the tasks you should perform for your case research:

1. Identify major historical events, including those related to the overall business (e.g., founding of the company, major acquisition, launching of an important product, etc.),and those related to IT (e.g., start of online selling, implementation of ERP, etc.). Build a timeline of these events. The timeline could be provided as an appendix to your final report.

2. Develop a brief basic profile of the company that identifies thefollowing:
– What products or services does this company provide? Who and where aretheir customers?
– What is the mission and the global strategy of this company? Who are theirsuppliers, partners, financiers, etc.? What are the operations of the company, including their headquarters, operations, plants, regional offices,etc.?
– Who are their competitors and how do they compete withthem?

3. Identify the problems or issues the company is facing:
– What problems or issues the organization had to addressrecently?
– What problems or issues currently confront thecompany?
– What critical decisions are they currently trying to make? What are theirneeds?
– What are the trends in the industry that they are involvedin?
If you have learned Porter's five forces and/or SWOT analysis, you could also perform those during this step.

4. This would be the main task of the project: How has the organization used IT toaddress the specific problem(s) you have identified in the previous step? For those issue(s) the organization is facing currently, develop an analysis that examines an IT solution that provides improvements. Consider doing thefollowing:
– Characterize their current IT operations usingdiagrams.
– Identify a couple of alternative solution approaches to theproblem.
– Identify the benefits of each approach. Use quantities as much aspossible.
– Identify potential problems and issues regarding implementation of eachsolution.
– What will be the cost of the improvements over the next three years? What will bethe expected investment andreturn?
– Recommend a solution and givereasons.

5. Additionally, you could also identify and discuss any new technologies and new possibilities that might have significant future impacts on the company or theindustry.

As mentioned earlier, you can select some of the most interesting area(s) of IT operations to focus on for your analysis. For example, for a toy manufacturer that also sells directly to consumers on its web site, supply chain management and e-Commerce would be two critical areas for the company.

REPORT

You will develop a written report for the new CIO. The purpose of the report is to convince them that your analysis is viable, and your conclusion is sound.

Report Format
The report should be designed to provide a convincing case of your analysis. You can use all or any of the information and material you have developed to date. Reports should be 10-15 pages double spaced, including all sections, figures and tables. Edit the paper using APA style.

Your reports will be turned in to the Blackboard SafeAssign anti plagiarism system to identify any unoriginal material, so please write your own words. Direct quote is acceptable as long as the literature is properly cited. When your paper is checked, a report will be returned to show the percentage of original text which is in your document. Your paper will be penalized with a one percentage point reduction for each percentage point above 10% of unoriginal text.

The following is a suggested outline for your report (you are free to modify it base on the nature of your specific case):

I. Introduction:
• Overview of the firm(s) you arestudying
• Current business issues and problems theyhave
• Statement and discussion of their problem(s) and needs understudy
• Goals and objectives of thestudy
II. Methodology:
• A summary of the steps used to analyze theproblem
• Identify and justify any assumptions that you made in evaluating theproblem
III. Findings:
• Present and discuss your analysis results. Use any of the data, tables and information that you havedeveloped.
• Quantify the investment and returns that would be involved in the solutionsstudied.
• Description of how the analysis would change if your assumptions weremodified.
IV. Recommendations:

• List the recommendations that you would make to theorganization.
• Back up your recommendations with reasons why they should befollowed.

PRESENTATIONS

Each team needs to prepare a final presentation to deliver to the class. The following are general guidelines for the presentations:

• Keep slides to aminimum.
• Slides should be in PowerPoint formatonly.
• You will be required to stay for the entireperiod.
• Presentations should be clear, concise, to thepoint, and limited to 20-30 minutes.
• The format of the final presentation basically follows the outline of the finalreport:

o Introduction (2-3slides)
• Brief overview of thefirm
• Current businessissues
• Statement and discussion of the problem(s) understudy
• Goals and objectives of thestudy

o Methodology (1-3slides)
• A summary of the steps used to analyze theproject
• Identify and justify anyassumptions

o Findings (2-3slides)
• Present and discuss your analysisresults.

o Recommendations (2-3slides)
• List the recommendations that you would make to the firmregarding improvement.
• The presentation should include a question and answer period.

Attachment:- project instructions.zip