Descriptive questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Descriptive questions - Assignment Example Business Operations: Worldwide business operations are handled with the help of technology. IT has played a big role in managing backhand support; the LAN, WAN systems, and connectivity through websites is supported by IT teams in organizations. Management Information Systems (MIS), a system that is used by companies in order to manage their operations, deal with customers and store data is due to advancements in technology. The latest trends include storing the data on virtual cloud, and being able to retrieve and present with the help of DropBox, Skydrive etc., is a great development into IT industry (Slatman, 2013). Food Processes: In food industry, where technology has changed many ways of business operations, both input and output side. For input side, order procurement is an area where with the use of JIT (Just in Time) inventory systems, the storage costs are minimized. Moreover, with the use of bar codes, effective inventory management gives a change to businesses to analyse which items are slow movers and what are fast movers and how effective marketing must be used to create pull factors for such items. At processing stage, machines are being used to monitor the temperature, humidity and other factors. Use of automated machines is increased in order to increase efficiency and decrease the service time. McDonalds, a well-known food chain used a prototype of robots to handle the processes of fries and shakes (Pantelidis, 2009). Sociocultural Forces in IT: Information technology has largely impacted on sociocultural factors. With the use of internet and latest technologies, people share a set of different values: Cultural and Ethnic Identity: with regards to Information Technology, the previous cultural identity of people, that is they are recognized and affiliated with a particular cultural norms and values, seems to vanish. With increasingly virtual world, people seem to own and present their own individual identities. The trend is widespread in West, though the East is in process of adopting it and the pace is quick. With increasing number of internet users, mostly due to the growth in Asia and Middle East, the cultural identity is taking new shape. A mix of cultural and personal identities, the ethnic aspect is equally affected due to change in technology. It is evident in real world the size and pace of immigration taking place. However due to technology, in virtual world, the ethnic identity is obscured by factors such as individualism, personality, self-concept and the like. Question 2 (a) Direct Marketing, one of the oldest form of marketing has been used in different ways. Direct mail, email, promotional material in shape of broachers, leaflets, billboards as well as advertisement on TV are few forms where consumers are tried to inform, persuade and remind about the presence of a product or a service. Many a times it is surprising to see how purely website businesses use TV as a promotional media as opposed to online media (where the consumers are just a click away from website businesses). The presence of such strategy is an example that consumers are complex, hard to comprehend and many a times irrational. Therefore they must not be treated by simple forms of selling, rather with a well-thought strategy with