2.2 Bottom-Up
The Bottom-Up leg will help Asda to evaluate its current position and capabilities, also the money, budget, and investment available for this costly project. By using audits Asda can examine their strengths and weaknesses, and improve on these elements. Also, this leg promotes research and development through the use survey methods, by looking at current performance and research on new strategies. Essentially this leg considers the users and specialists, so that an appropriate plan can be composed by the use of their feedback and suggestions.
The new store based delivery service will involve staff picking home ordered goods from the shelves of a nearby store. With this method Asda can accelerate their home shopping expansion plans without the setup costs of dedicated picking centres. The store-based system can be built up very quickly and easily, with low infrastructure costs, and will double the number of products available to order in London and the south-east..
Parallel running of the two systems has showed the in store method works best. However, it does have disadvantages. Goods are not stored according to optimum path or accessibility in store, but in a way that ensures that customers pass by as many goods as possible. This means that in contrast to the dedicated warehouse, a large number of personnel are required. As stocks are on shelf, customers may find products they need are out of stock, leading to customer dissatisfaction.
2.3 Inside-Out
Asda can identify preferences through the use of creative influences inside (encouraging internal suggestions at all levels) and outside the organisation via environmental scanning to assess customer feedback with regard to services, products and deliveries. It will aid them to examine the requirements of Asda consumers in varied locations around the country, and realise an internal need for sufficient knowledge and training.
Asda can use Benchmarking as tool, and set standards and procedures in comparison to Tesco. The success of Tesco direct is widely seen as confirmation that high street retailers can succeed in the e-commerce world by using their existing infrastructure to serve online customers. Tesco have always assembled online orders directly in local supermarkets, rather than from dedicated depots. Asda also need to find out why Safeway, Somerfield and Budgens have all closed their in store picking systems and their online service, and also investigate how Iceland’s combination of in store picking and warehouse picking works effectively.
With the help of entrepreneurs and visionaries, Asda can be more aware of possible supportive innovation and technological movement within the market.
3.0 Critique of Earl’s Model
Earl’s model is a useful tool as it looks at the organisation as a whole systematically, and provides insight on their situation. It can help provide clarification of Asda’s business needs and strategy in IS use, evaluates the current IS provision and use, and provides innovation of new strategic opportunities afforded by IT. By applying this multiple methodology at Asda, they may experience many benefits, such as; improved top management support, improved resource forecasting, improved business planning, improved user communication, and a better understanding of the organisation and business.
Leg one assumes that business goals are well defined. The translation from business goals to critical success factors, to information systems strategy could be changing; therefore, integrating the three legs may prove difficult. The model also doesn’t take into consideration the fact that that the different departments within Asda may have different IS needs and priorities; therefore lacks goal congruence. It can be argued that leg two is non-strategic, uncoupled from the business, and driven by the technologist. Leg three can be expensive and time consuming, and the recommendations that result from the analysis may be full of uncertainties, and therefore, high risk. This means that Asda will hold only a brief contingency plan, and as a result they will not be able to move rapidly with the changes being made in the market causing Asda to fall behind.
Earl’s model lacks people issues and the element of participation and involvement, which would place Asda at a disadvantage if they did not incorporate it. People issues are important to Asda, as they need to know the views, opinions, and feelings of customers and employees in order to function effectively. By using CRM (customer Relationship Management), as a tool alongside Earl’s model, will help Asda to obtain, enhance, and retain customers.
Tesco is very competitive, and benefits from being the first-mover in the e-grocery market. Asda will have to incorporate elements of Tesco’s tactics in order to compete. Earl’s model does not protect Asda from the threat of new entrants to the e-grocery market, as identified by Porter, as it ignores the major aspects that differentiates and attracts consumers to their market. Hence, it does not seem to provide a tailored fit to the specific need of the business. The static nature of the model hinders the important assessment of frequent changes in the macro environment.
4.0 Conclusions
Earl’s model highlights significant benefits; it encourages Asda to maintain an independent clear business focus, supports the alignment of the organisations IS strategy with their existing corporate strategy as well as providing a consideration upon alternative offerings. Yet, major shortcomings are also illustrated by the models disregard for Asda’s incapability to adjust to their specific requirements and lack of commendation for business nature understanding to enforce a competitive edge. Furthermore, there is no reference to maintaining the system, and future development.
Earl’s model has introduced many e-commerce opportunities for Asda, as it helps to produce a relevant, understandable business plan. As all Earl’s ‘legs’ are connected together, it produces an achievable strategy for their picking method, which can be taken upon successfully with the usage of more research and communication. Although competitive advantage, and people issues are provided by Earl, they are not fully sufficient. Therefore, in order to carry out a more detailed and specific analysis, other tools will need to be used alongside Earl’s model, such as; Porters Five Forces, Customer Relationship Management, Total Quality Management, and The Socio-Technical model.
REFERENCES
Earl M, 1989, Management Strategies for Information Technology, Prentice Hall
Robson W, 1997, Strategic Management and Information Systems, Pitman
Pearlson K, 2001, Managing and Using Information Systems: A Strategic Approach, John Wiley & Sons Inc.
To obtain a detailed insight on Earl’s Three Pronged Model refer to:
Earl M, (1998), Management Strategies for Information Technology, Prentice Hall, Page 67-79
Mission Statement: Asda aims ‘to be Britain’s best value fresh food and clothing superstore, by satisfying the weekly shopping needs of ordinary working people and their families who demand value’ accessed on 18/04/2002
‘CRM is a coordinated set of activities revolving around the customer.’ See Robson Page 263
Reference to Porter’s Five Forces Model cited in Robson W, 1997, Strategic Management and Information Systems, Pitman
