Considering the facts outlined in the Casa del Libro case, I would propose using a number of criteria against which to evaluate both options and decide on an approach.
I believe Casadellibro.com should consider at a minimum:
a) The objectives set by Planeta, the parent company, which as the case indicates were cost control and reduction of losses.
b) The reliability of analyst projections for continued growth in the online market, despite the overall market being down due to the dot.com crash and September 11.
c) The investment that would be required to re-design the UNIX platform to make it operational (in this case, investment made in the platform until that point should probably be considered a sunk cost; going forward costs should be compared to the cost of developing the alternative Microsoft platform).
d) The scalability of the MS platform, should the online market grow as projected.
e) Ongoing maintenance and support costs for both platforms.
f) The intended timeline for the new Casadellibro.com to be online and whether redesign of the existing platform or development of a new one would fit within that timeline.
I believe that after considering these criteria and applying the knowledge that the Microsoft platform would entail lower development and maintenance costs, I would place more focus on market forecasts. If the company had a good reason to believe that the market would grow significantly and that the Microsoft solution would not be scalable, then that would make the switch a short term solution and would not necessarily address the company’s needs or save money in the medium term. However, if market growth was expected to be less than what was originally anticipated when selecting the UNIX platform, I would recommend to the company to switch to the simpler, flatter, more economical Microsoft platform. To conclude, I believe that it is necessary for us to make an assumption in order to provide an answer to the problem. We will therefore assume that market growth would be below projections and we will propose a switch to the Microsoft platform.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Who's at the heart of the financial meltdown?
I'd like to share this very interesting article from the Guardian on the people who 'caused' the current credit crisis with all of you.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/26/road-ruin-recession-individuals-economy
Tesco case
The IT generated advantages at Tesco are multiple. Tesco is a wonderful example of a retail giant who took their everyday IT tools and used them in new and insightful ways in order to create competitive advantage.
Like any other supermarket, Tesco had a POS (point of sale) system, however, with the introduction of the Tesco Clubcard in 1995 they enhanced their POS system to be able to 'read' the card data, thus turning an everyday retail tool into an immensely valuable data source. They then invested in data warehousing facilities to host and analyze the data collected. They created a model of tagging, categorizing and grouping the data that gave them a level of customer profiling that had never existed before. They used this technology to amass data about where their customers lived, what they purchased, how frequently they purchased it and subsequently analyze it to deduct whether they were price sensitive, affluent, health conscious, good cooks, busy professionals, etc.
How could they use this information? They could more accurately estimate demand for different products, they could determine which categories of products to discount more heavily to maximize sales, which new products to introduce, what coupons to offer to their customers, etc. In my opinion, the way they used technology in this instant revolutionized their operational and strategic planning, redefined their marketing as well as their supplier relationships. If they wanted to introduce a new product line, they could use this information to estimate consumption much more accurately than the common industry method of market research using consumer groups. In Tesco's case, the information they had was for already for their existing clients, not potential clients. It was a shift in their way of doing business. If they noticed that a product they might have expected their customers to be buying wasn't selling well they could look for targeted solutions and customized promotions. Similarly, they could proactively work with their suppliers to determine the product mix, prices, discounts and other promotional activities that would work best for their customers. These are just some high level examples of the power of the customer management information system they created.
Another way they took advantage of IT technology was of course in launching their online store, Tesco.com which allowed them to become the 'number one e-grocer' in the UK in 2001. Here again, they took a simple IT architecture and made it fit their store model. They added partners who could provide a variety of products, beyond groceries, to their customers. With customer satisfaction in mind they also created 'Price Check', an online price comparison tool that allowed customers to compare Tesco prices to those of other retailers.
To conclude, in my opinion Tesco took the average supermarket model and its IT resources and build upon it with a clear view and without adding unnecessary complexities. This gave them a competitive advantage against their competitors which allowed them to increase their market share and to become the number one supermarket chain in the UK.
Like any other supermarket, Tesco had a POS (point of sale) system, however, with the introduction of the Tesco Clubcard in 1995 they enhanced their POS system to be able to 'read' the card data, thus turning an everyday retail tool into an immensely valuable data source. They then invested in data warehousing facilities to host and analyze the data collected. They created a model of tagging, categorizing and grouping the data that gave them a level of customer profiling that had never existed before. They used this technology to amass data about where their customers lived, what they purchased, how frequently they purchased it and subsequently analyze it to deduct whether they were price sensitive, affluent, health conscious, good cooks, busy professionals, etc.
How could they use this information? They could more accurately estimate demand for different products, they could determine which categories of products to discount more heavily to maximize sales, which new products to introduce, what coupons to offer to their customers, etc. In my opinion, the way they used technology in this instant revolutionized their operational and strategic planning, redefined their marketing as well as their supplier relationships. If they wanted to introduce a new product line, they could use this information to estimate consumption much more accurately than the common industry method of market research using consumer groups. In Tesco's case, the information they had was for already for their existing clients, not potential clients. It was a shift in their way of doing business. If they noticed that a product they might have expected their customers to be buying wasn't selling well they could look for targeted solutions and customized promotions. Similarly, they could proactively work with their suppliers to determine the product mix, prices, discounts and other promotional activities that would work best for their customers. These are just some high level examples of the power of the customer management information system they created.
Another way they took advantage of IT technology was of course in launching their online store, Tesco.com which allowed them to become the 'number one e-grocer' in the UK in 2001. Here again, they took a simple IT architecture and made it fit their store model. They added partners who could provide a variety of products, beyond groceries, to their customers. With customer satisfaction in mind they also created 'Price Check', an online price comparison tool that allowed customers to compare Tesco prices to those of other retailers.
To conclude, in my opinion Tesco took the average supermarket model and its IT resources and build upon it with a clear view and without adding unnecessary complexities. This gave them a competitive advantage against their competitors which allowed them to increase their market share and to become the number one supermarket chain in the UK.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Meneame.net
Meneame.net
I just saw the notice on the Meneame case study....No time to prepare anything spectacular but here's my two cents:
a) Could Meneame turn into an economically sound project?
I assume we are asking if it could be economically sound, not sounding, and my answer is yes. A low cost platform with a huge following, a large number of registered users and sustainable growth in terms of number of users, number of visits, etc has to have qualities that could be explored with an economic benefit in mind. But as the site grows in popularity so do its needs and to be economically sound it would need some fairly stable sources of revenue.
b) The obvious suggestion would of course be advertising and considering the data inputs of users and the large number of registered users, they could potentially offer targeted advertising at a higher price.
They could also explore the possibility of using this network for market research purposes at a fee (users interested in participating would receive and small fee and so would Meneame). Or they could use it as a platform to launch and test applications, especially open source ones, again for a fee. There are a lot of other options trying to capitalize on the user community and on the purpose of the website to share content but it's getting late on a Sunday, or in fact early on a Monday morning and I think I will stop here. In case this wasn't due today I will improve it at a later date!
I just saw the notice on the Meneame case study....No time to prepare anything spectacular but here's my two cents:
a) Could Meneame turn into an economically sound project?
I assume we are asking if it could be economically sound, not sounding, and my answer is yes. A low cost platform with a huge following, a large number of registered users and sustainable growth in terms of number of users, number of visits, etc has to have qualities that could be explored with an economic benefit in mind. But as the site grows in popularity so do its needs and to be economically sound it would need some fairly stable sources of revenue.
b) The obvious suggestion would of course be advertising and considering the data inputs of users and the large number of registered users, they could potentially offer targeted advertising at a higher price.
They could also explore the possibility of using this network for market research purposes at a fee (users interested in participating would receive and small fee and so would Meneame). Or they could use it as a platform to launch and test applications, especially open source ones, again for a fee. There are a lot of other options trying to capitalize on the user community and on the purpose of the website to share content but it's getting late on a Sunday, or in fact early on a Monday morning and I think I will stop here. In case this wasn't due today I will improve it at a later date!
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