Introduction

Super Television Ltd is a constantly growing TV manufacturing company. It has recently entered the international market. That is an important step for the company. As the international market is even more competitive, the company had to find ways to make its performance more efficient and gain a competitive advantage and therefore make more profit. This report will illustrate how Super TV is divided in many departments, and how they work. I shall show how the information flows in the organisation and how these departments interface with each other. I will describe the importance of information systems and its role in integrating new technology and in decision making processes. The report will also include the exploitation of electronic commerce and the consequences of it.

Task 1

Super TV is a business, so it is considered to be a human-made system (Elliott 2004, p.49). It is divided into more sub-systems (see appendix 1) and according to the systems theory (Wikipedia 2007) Super TV as a business information system is concerned with the flow of data and information between different departments (sub-systems) throughout the whole organisation. The flow of information between departments is essential for the company to be effective and efficient in its activities. Figure 1 is an illustration of the flow of information in Super TV between its departments, when a customer places an order. Appendix 2 shows a level 1 data flow diagram.

Figure 1. Level 0 data flow diagram.

Like every system, Super TV has its inputs and outputs. The outputs are directly related to the system’s objectives (Elliott 2004, p.62). Every department of Super TV has its own inputs and outputs, but all of them have a common goal – an efficient, successful and profitable company. To get a desirable output of an input, it goes through processing. For example, an input in the Marketing department would be an idea of an advertisement. This idea has to go through several stages of processing. The idea has to be verified by the market researchers that it is appropriate and addressed to the right target market. Finally the idea has to be transformed into a real advertisement. That would be the output. An example in the manufacturing department would be raw materials as input. They have to be processed to be turned into the necessary parts for televisions.

As the business environment of Super TV consists of numerous systems and subsystems, various systems are connected by their inputs and outputs (Elliott 2004, p.62). For instance, Human Resource Management department’s output is educated staff, and educated staff is an input in any other department, like an advertisement specialist in the Marketing department or new engineers are also inputs in the Manufacturing department.

As Business Systems Analyst once again I have to pay attention to the importance of Super TV being as effective and efficient as possible. Super TV is a dependent system, because, as I depicted above, the output of one system can be the input to another system (Elliott 2004, p.64). Hence, control and feedback about performance and output of every department is vital for the company. Because an error, for example, in the Manufacturing department would lead to a failure to successfully produce televisions. Or an unsuccessful advertising campaign would result in loosing customers and therefore Super TV would be less profitable.

Benson and Standing (2002) have said that a systems boundary (or environment) is everything that lies within the range of the system and interacts with the system. Super TV is in a very competitive world-wide business environment. Its 10 business units are concentrated in 5 major UK cities. The business has been expanding constantly over its 10-year life. According to Super TV’s success in the local market, it has great opportunities to expand its business to the whole European Union, North America and the rest of the world. To evaluate its prospects, PEST analysis is an important start:

  • Political. UK government confirmed that the country will have switched to digital TV by 2012 (Digital Television 2007). The USA will turn off analog signals and transmit only digital ones by 2009 (Kantor 2005). That is important information for the television manufacturers. TV is an important long term purchase for people. That is why Super TV should concentrate on manufacturing digital televisions.
  • Economical. If Super TV is to enter foreign markets, it has to take other currencies and exchange rates into account. For example, British pound is already twice as valuable as US dollar (Financial Times 2007). It means that the UK productions will be very expensive in the American market. Becoming an international company, Super TV should also consider moving its factories to countries where the labour is cheaper, such as Vietnam or Indonesia.
  • Social. Modern designs and being easy to use nowadays are important preconditions for people choosing their TVs. The rapidly expanding problem of global warming also should be taken into account – produce TVs that consume less energy.
  • Technological. Between the two most popular screen types, I would suggest Super TV to produce LCD over plasma screens. Even though to produce the same size LCD TV is more expensive, its higher resolution, better picture quality and longer lifespan make it more attractive for the customers. LCD screens are also lighter, easier to ship and install, and they are far less fragile (Flat TV People 2007; CNET 2007). Super TV should also produce High Definition (HD) televisions, because of the great picture quality that digital television and new Blu-ray and HDDVD systems offer. It is a key feature in the future TVs (Select Digital 2007; Blu-ray 2007).
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Task 2

To improve product and manufacturing performance Super TV will acquire a new computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacture (CAM) systems. Computer-aided design permits to create design models on a computer screen. To achieve different design concepts, the structure of the designs can be easily modified and simulated. A great advantage of CAD is that it saves time comparing to manual methods. The three-dimensional drawings can be rotated, tilted and reshaped as required. CAD would make designing TVs much easier and the process and sketches would be more foreseeable (Wikipedia 2007).

Nowadays for TV ...

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