Computer Science HW

ISTC2021 MIS – In-Class Exercise

In this assignment, choose a pair of companies from the list below. Research those companies to see if you can determine their corporate strategy. You may use the companies’ web sites, articles written about the companies, etc to find information. The companies’ mission statements, vision statements, and goals, should all help in your understanding of the company. Several teams will be asked to present their findings.

1. Companies you may choose:

www.nytimes.com vs. cnn.com

www.woot.com vs. www.amazon.com

www.petco.com vs. www.healthyfoodforpets.com

www.brooksbrothers.com vs. www.ae.com

2. You are then to answer the following questions:

a. How do the companies’ market segments differ (i.e. their target markets)?

b. How do their competitive pressures differ?

c. How do their competitive strategies differ?

d. How do their products/services differ? Is this apparent through their website? How?

e. How is the user interface of their websites different? Does the web site match their target market?

f. How could either company change its website to better accomplish its competitive strategy?

g. Would the change you recommended in step (f) necessitate a change in one or more of the company’s value chains? Explain.

2. Use your answers in question 2 to explain the following statement: “The structure of an organization’s information system (here a web storefront) is determined by its competitive strategy.” Structure your answer so that you could use it in a job interview to demonstrate your overall knowledge of business planning and its relationship to information systems.

This is a graded assignment and must be submitted prior to the end of class.