British Airways - Management Information System

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British Airways

Management Information System

Assignment

Southbank University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. No Title Page No.

. Introduction 2

2. British Airways 5

3. SWOT Analysis 7

4. Information System at British Airways 9

5. Conclusion 23

6. References/Bibliography 24

.0 Introduction

.1 What is Management Information System?

Management information system, the name itself suggests that the company's data or important records are preserved in an electronic form. An information system can be defined technically as a set of unified components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making, co-ordination and control in an organization. The functions benefit the managers to support decision-making, coordination and controlled information systems. Also the employees get an advantage to analyse problems, visualize complex subjects and create new products with new innovative techniques. The information systems have a great influence on the managers in any particular organization as decisions are impossible without information and managers are constantly seeking more and better information to support their decision-making.

Any particular Information systems have a feature to contain information about particular people, places and things within the organization or in the environment surroundings it. By information we mean different data, are base of raw facts representing events occurring in organization or the physical environment before they have been organized and arranged into a form that people can understand and use. Any organization needs to inculcate the basic three activities of an information system. And initially the company or any organization needs to generate the information that organizations need to make decisions, control operations, analyse problems and create new products or services. These activities are input, processing and output. Input deals with collection of raw data from within the organization or from its external environment. Processing converts this raw input into a more substantial form. Finally output transfers the processed information to the respective people who will use this data. Information systems also require feedback, which is output that is returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.

(K.Laudon & J Laudon, management information systems, Fifth Edition, Chapter1, page no 7)

Information systems are costly to purchase, install, and maintain. Therefore, in a world where business enterprise is operated for value maximization, it is natural to suppose that Management Information System offers economic value and that this value overcomes the costs. As such it has rightly been an objective of Management Information System research for at least two decades to determine the economic role of Management Information System.

Management Information System improves the firm's competitiveness and makes them flexible, more responsible and more profitable through decreasing the cost and creating possibilities for accessing new markets and customers.

.1 Function of an Information System

(K.Laudon & J Laudon. Management information systems, Fifth Edition, Chapter1, page no 8)

.2 A Business Perspective on Information Systems:

An information system is an organizational and management solution, based on information technology, in terms of any business perspective, to face the obstruction and hindrance generated by the environment. To fully understand information systems, a manager must understand its own organization and management in broader aspect and information technology dimensions of the systems and their power to provide solutions to bridge the gap between the organizations and meet the incompetence of the organization in a better way.

Information systems are an integral part of organizations. Indeed for some companies such as AIRLINES INDUSTRIES, without the information systems there would be no business. The key element of an organization is its people, structure, operating procedures, politics and culture. The above-mentioned industry can be broadly defined in form of BRITISH AIRWAYS. British airways are one of the world's fastest airline service providers. We would deal in more details how British Airways maintain high level of Information Systems.

2.0 British Airways: New Technology Paradigm

History of British Airways

British Airways can trace its origins back to the birth of civil aviation, the pioneering days following World War I. On 25 August 1919, its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T), launched the world's first daily international scheduled air service between London and Paris. That initial flight, operated by a single-engine de Havilland DH4A biplane taking off from Hounslow Heath, near its successor company's current Heathrow base, carried a single passenger and cargo that included newspapers, Devonshire cream and grouse. It took two and a half hours to reach Le Bourget. Shortly afterwards, two more British companies started services to Paris, and to Brussels. These pioneer companies struggled against severe difficulties. Passengers were few, fares high, and air travel rarely less than an adventure. One pilot took two days for the two-hour flight to Paris

As a result, British Caledonian was born in 1970, when the original Caledonian Airways took over British United Airways. Two years later, the businesses of (BOAC) British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways (BEA) were combined under the newly formed British Airways Board, with the separate airlines coming together as British Airways in 1974.

In July 1979, the Government announced its intention to sell shares in British Airways. The Civil Aviation Act 1980 was passed to enable this to happen. Lord King was appointed Chairman in 1981 and charged by the Secretary of State for Trade to take all necessary steps to restore the Group to profitability and prepare it for privatization.

In February 1987 British Airways was privatized. Over one million applications were received for shares in the airline, offered at 125 pence, making the flotation 11 times oversubscribed. Freed from the constraints of Government ownership, British Airways announced a merger with British Caledonian in July. The merger went ahead following approval by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission later that year.

Today British Airways operations are carried in more than 130 countries and cities round the globe with 600 offices and destinations. If we closely analyze the success of British Airways over the years, we can see that due to adapting new technology in the business and the use of appropriate technology in proper planned systems have had dramatic changes in the operation in British airways. The following exhibit explains how implementing information systems in the company influenced British airways.

(www.britishairways/history/html.pdf)

.1 Major Influences on British Airways Associations

(T.Lucey, Management information systems, Fifth Edition, Chapter7)
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3.0 SWOT Analysis

3.1 Strengths:

* British Airways is one of the most competitive and robust airline services in the world.

* Growth in international trade drives growth in international travel at the faster rate than growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

* The speed of British Airways and the fall in real prices has meant that British Airways has increased market share of its passenger.

* In terms of fatalities per passenger mile, the long-term safety record of British Airways is better than other airlines services

3.2: Weaknesses:

* As ...

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