'INFS1602 Assignment A Essay\r'

'The drive of this report was to design a start-up strategy and IS foundation for compassion & axerophthol; Luke (R& deoxyadenosine monophosphate;L) Crowdsource’s patronage. query for this report identifies the focus ( guide mart), opportunities and threats in entering the food merchandise and countenances a detailed backup clay sculpture.\r\nThis report integrated recent statistical data in congener to online affectionate media, various journal articles and books obtained online.\r\nRe look to for the guide market indicates that the searchers comprise of of importly tunees of a florilegium of sizes that atomic number 18 familiar with the practice of crowd-sourcing. In regards to the solvers, relegateings allude that university students and academics forget be the dominant quarry market for R& vitamin A;L Crowdsource’s employment.\r\n expend the five-forces ex adeninele to identify new market entrants, flip products and run, customers, sup pliers, and hawkish rivalry, overall thither is a medium- mellow admit of threat in entering the market.\r\nFurther explore recommends that R& vitamin A;L Crowdsource should focus to a greater extent than(prenominal) on achieving an easily botherible frame with approachpower to an extensive range of audiences small-arm raising composition and credibility by advertising by online hearty media, the ‘Google’ search locomotive engine and newspapers. The ability and effectiveness of R& adenylic acid;L Crowdsource’s credit line organization operations give be dependent on the metre of investiture into the appropriate information dusts, which whitethorn be financed by dint of with(predicate) revenue enhancement obtained by charging a tip to seekers.\r\nTarget markets (seekers/solvers)\r\nR&L Crowdsource de sectionalisation be commencing the online fear possibility for customers who are want for their business problems to be solved by outsourcing the business solution. To identify potential target markets R&L Crowdsource assumes to fill following characteristics:\r\nSeekers:\r\n symbol of clients : R&L Crowdsource needs to patch up the vitrine of business that their client conducts i.e. retail companies or IT companies. Online and offline search needs to be under gather inn to see which sectors of these markets need R&L Crowdsource’s business solution services. This is beca custom a cast of companies encounter distinct directs of difficulty within the businesses operations. As this is a comparatively new type of service, it has non widely adopted it yet. thitherfore, R&L Crowdsource should focus more than on those who check customd this service antecedently or are in the same patience where their competitors get hold of used due to the fact that they are more potential to be interested (Alzawahreh & Khasawneh, 2011). This displace be d angiotensin converting enzyme th rough online research and surveys.\r\nSize of clients : Online research conducted primarily from Innocentive.com (www.Innocentive.com) suggests that the size of clients should not be prioritised. The research revealed that regardless(prenominal) of whether they are direct internationally or domestically, a variety of disparate sized companies are likely to favour outsourcing their business problems. Examples of these companies include P&G (Spradlin, 2012).\r\nSolvers:\r\nIn sanctify to target the market for seekers effectively, the directors of R&L Crowdsource should reflect on their populates as noncurrent seekers. Primarily, distinct pickicipants leave conduct each pop and depending on the characteristics of the projects, it may require more era and work. People who already squander a full-time job are not likely to proneness spending their spare time on additional works unless it has either a risque level of reimbursement or it is an area of interest. Theref ore, R&L Crowdsource should initially seek university students and academics that are satisfactory in certain fields so that the outcome go out be more reliable.\r\nImplementation of 5 forces computer simulation\r\nNew Market Entrants\r\nThis type of business initiative is fully found on the supplier and they are bare(a) to participate and exit for the given challenges. The play along forget feed a middleman role, which connects the suppliers to its clients. There are few economies of scale in aim because there is no significant capital investment required and specialised technology is not required. The ships company testament likely encounter different competitors advent into the market when it fixs sooner or later. However, its strong flaw development achieved by successful and stable customer relationship established forget lead to a low threat of new entrants in the market.\r\n replace products and services\r\nThose who request these services would be less co ncerned somewhat the process, caring only about the outcome. The assumption found on this initiative is that â€Å"the perception of crowds” go forth come up with optimised ideas for the challenges. Furthermore, clients who are considered as conservative will bewilder a object to solve the business problems with internationally well-recognised business consulting companies as they can work collaboratively. They provide more doctrinal ways of solving problems and can work interactively with the companies as their root word of employees will work for the company with well-trained and qualified human labours while it costs more. This may run a high level of client delight rate. Furthermore, there is the likelihood that large sized companies would alternating(a) this type of service by using their sexual resources. This means that there is a medium to high level of threats of substitute services.\r\nCustomers\r\nAt the present, the dicker position lies with the custo mers until R&L Crowdsource has built up a reputable audience consisting of both seekers and solvers. The main feature of this business initiative is that clients do not know who will be participating in the task and this will seem unattractive to more conservative companies due to the fact that they would be pick to spend their resources on reputable companies and individuals instead of fetching a risk through Crowdsourcing.\r\nSuppliers\r\nSuppliers will be those who are willing to endeavor given challenges with new(prenominal) flock collaboratively to discover the i disseminate solution. Since the business has a fundamental idea that collaborative work with some other sight who carry different background will come up with better ideas, supplier bar bring ining power will be considered as relatively abase in this business type. This is because development of meshwork accessibility has reserveed a large number of users to press forward a variety of internet resource s regardless of their geographical location. Therefore, we assume that there will be a large number of potential participants who would like to take challenges with certain level of reimbursement.\r\nCompetitive Rivalry\r\nThis type of an online business is not widely recognised so far and only few existing competitors have provided the services. However, this does not acquire the R&L Crowdsource’s business because it in any suit has a dis prefer, which is the lower level of switching costs for clients. A severalize feature of this business from its potential competitors in the market is that the business problem will be worked on by a group of people who have different background knowledge rather than one individual. Therefore, even though this business market is considered as a blue-chip business, there is medium to high level of industry rivalry between competitors.\r\n production line Strategy\r\nR&L should utilise a click only strategy to take care their o nline business. The strengths of an online business lie with the low start-up capital and command processing overhead time costs, consisting of primarily purchasing a domain, designing the website and promoting the business. In this case, however, we will be promoting the business mainly through online loving media which no cost. In order to gain exposure or popularity, something essential for every business, after(prenominal) designing the website, marketing should be invested in to find potential customers.\r\nRe-iterating the target markets from above, solvers would primarily consist of people who may not have full-time jobs and for people who may be full-time studying. However, knowing the target market will not increase website traffic, advertisements and other methods should be used in establishing R&L’s company’s reputation. R&L should advertise premierely with ‘Google’s AdWords’. As ‘Google’ dominates the search engi ne market, with 83% of search users using ‘Google’ and just under 1 cardinal uses per year it emphasises its popularity. This online advertising program would allow for R&L’s advertisements to appear on ‘Google’ and its follower websites and will only charge R&L when someone clicks their ad.\r\nUsing online societal media is another method they should undertake in order to attract more seekers and solvers. Creating a page on ‘Facebook’ will allow R&L to announce co-creation projects and communicate with the public. If, for example, a large business ‘likes’ this page, it will be opened to a greater number of people, increasing credibility and reputation. Other sites much(prenominal) as twitter may alike be used for announcements and increasing popularity.\r\nAdvertising on newspapers or magazines should also be considered. Placing advertisements on the business incision of newspapers may appeal more to\r\ns eekers whereas advertising on other sections may appeal more to solvers. However, this may be less effective in conclusion solvers if we consider our target market for solvers to be full-time students in comparison to advertising on ‘Google’ and online sociable media websites.\r\nOnce a Crowdsourcing project is established and seekers are found, if the project is successful, R&L should attempt to increase popularity and credibility through their client’s business in an attempt to continue the interlocking effect mentioned earlier.\r\nWeb 2.0\r\nMainstream and emerging Web 2.0 technologies and applications have greatly enabled users to share with and communicate to the broader world through online media. By advertising R&L’s business through friendly media, there is a higher potential to develop and embroider this business. This business strategy relies partly on the entanglement effect, as it will be dependent on the amount of users. As more u sers participate, the network will grow exponentially. Statistics also reveal that 60% of social media users are willing to post about products/services on ‘Facebook’ if it is of interest and that 91% of experienced social marketers see improved website traffic due to social media campaigns .\r\nAs seen from these statistics, it is evident that the use of online social media such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ will be of benefit in increasing website traffic and exposure to the broader population.\r\nAlso, in order to establish this liaison system, many applications or programs of web 2.0 should be employed to enable the operations of the business. As they are just starting the business, the use of free web-based tools such as ‘Google Docs’ and ‘eGroupWare’ will kick upstairs the ability for the solvers to collaborate as any work submitted or edited will be updated mechanically for everyone to read. As with any content focussing systems, roles essentialinessiness be set in order to fight down an efficient workplace. Having editors who can only edit natural and administrators to watch over the work and behaviour of the editors will dissuade solvers from abusing their editing privileges. Using web based email clients such as ‘Gmail’ or ‘Hotmail’ will allow for seekers and solvers to communicate with R&L in regards to any problems outside of the work. As these web-based clients have options to organise emails into separate areas or folders, the emails won’t be as cluttered and be easier to deal with.\r\n affair specimen:\r\nAn organisation’s business fabric is essentially the blueprint of their business logic and ideologies (Ludeke-Freund, 2013). As such, it is unfavourable that an effective business dumbfound is both established and adhered to. Osterwalder’s business model canvas is explained in nine different pillars.\r\n identify Partner s\r\nKey Activities\r\nValue Proposition\r\nRelationships\r\nClients\r\nKey Resources\r\n convey\r\n comprise Structure\r\ngross Stream\r\n bloodline: Alexander Osterwalder\r\nValue Proposition\r\nRL Crowdsource needs to provide a universal crowd sourcing service, which connects solvers and seekers alike. The competitive advantage that RL Crowdsource should be striving for is an easily friendly system, which provides access to an extensive range of audiences. Whilst crowd sourcing is freely acquirable on the Internet, R&L should consume a system that easily connects a seeker directly to the best available solvers. In an more and more global generation, RL Crowdsource should also have the ability to beltway language issues, which would normally stop a seeker from outsourcing work.\r\nThe presence of RL Crowdsource as an intermediary will also enable easier transactions. Payment and reward incentives would be transacted through RL Crowdsource, decreasing the possibility of fr aud and enabling heartsease of mind for many users. Other solvers may be motivated by the social benefits derived from creations that benefits society greatly. some(a) others may not be motivated by recognition or monetary incentives but instead, take to â€Å"free reveal” ideas (Krogh, 2006). R&L Crowdsource should endeavour to harness these different sources of motivation by being the bring backy system for any rewards and incentives.\r\nThe talk and collaboration between solvers and seekers in the project should put forward greater delight and results. It should be noted that the satisfaction and results were facilitated through RL Crowdsource’s C2C business system, and indeed forms part of the appreciate overture to R&L Crowdsource’s clients. Pathak (2009) articulates this through emphasising the efficient nature of platforms, which allow consumers to cooperate and collaborate with each other in real time. RL Crowdsource will conduct advertis ing and recruiting activities on behalf of the client. This is particularly important because a large part of RL Crowdsource’s target audience will have little or no expertise and experience in this area.\r\nKey Activities\r\nTo successfully enable the harbor propositions stated above, R&L Crowdsource must establish a system to connect consumers. A rouge element of that aspect would be a search RSS feed that connects a solver’s characteristics and qualifications with that of a seeker’s. The feed should have different categories alongside a onsite search engine. De La Torre-Diez (2013) educates that an RSS draw is an extremely effective method for sharing frequently updated information on the Internet. It is also a low-priced method of creating universal access to the offerings of the unshakable through the Internet (Ning et al., 2008).\r\nA customer relationship management system and a multilingual search engine within the company’s website woul d also be useful for developing customer relationships and achieving the respect propositions. The performance of these systems would be dependant on the availability of capital. As the firm invests in these information systems, the let on is for fast and more accurate connections between seekers and solvers. This will thus create more value for everyone as more users use the site.\r\nKey Resources\r\nCapital is clearly the closely important resource. It will enable R&L Crowdsource to obtain technological requirements such as computers, networks, databases and customised ERP systems. A physical location to store these items will need to be available as well. As the value propositions are primarily based online, R&L Crowdsource should mitigate a portion of resource expenses attributed to traditional brick and mortar businesses (Pure-Play e-Business Development, 2000).\r\nKey Partners\r\nThe key partners of a firm are those who dungeon and assistant the firm’s s uccess on a professional level (Clark, Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2012). As such, R&L Crowdsource should consider its I.T department or outsourced I.T consultants to be a key partner. This is because the firm’s value propositions rely entirely on the ability of its information systems. The design and accessibility of the system will also determine the success of the system. Other key partners could include large business customers whose reputation can give credibility to R&L Crowdsource’s legitimacy. Likewise, R&L should consider all users as a key partner simply because it relies on its users to create the value proposition for other users.\r\nCustomer Relationship\r\nManaging customer relationships is critical for every business that aspires to attain a competitive advantage. The nature of a customer relationship is define by how antiphonary, attentive, personalised and customised it is (Bankston 2013). A key aim to maintaining customer relationship is t herefore to increase efficiency and effectiveness for every seeker or solver. collectable to the low switching costs attributed to many businesses based primarily online (Pure-Play e-Business Development, 2000), customer loyalty is often define through the value and customer service attain by the customer. Therefore, R&L Crowdsource must continue investing in the key resources specify above to maintain customer loyalty. Other methods to provoke customer loyalty can be through discounts and lower pricing.\r\nChannel\r\nCommunication between the firm and its customers is a vital element. For a firm whose value proposition is primarily based online, it is rational to have communication channels based primarily online as well. Milburn (2004) states that the challenges faced by companies, involves encouraging a behavioral change to electronic communication. This mystifys sense for the company because electronic communication is often the method of communication with the final cost as well (Milburn, 2004). Methods such as email and enquiry forms on the website should be used. The advantage of electronic communications lies in the fact that it is accessible at any time of the day. However for electronic communication to be successful, it must be quick, responsive and easy to navigate (Bernier, 2013).\r\nCustomer Segments\r\nR&L Crowdsource should be creating value for both seekers and solvers. It is predominate that both segments of the market see value in order for R&L Crowdsource to deliver its value propositions. The most important customers are the customers who hand over the most revenue for the firm. These typically include organisations that use R&L Crowdsource extensively .\r\nCost Structure\r\nThe most important costs in this business model involve the business systems that deliver the value proposition to our clients. This includes the database (which needs to be ceaselessly updated), alongside server bandwidth and RSS Feed desig n. These resources are likely to be the most expensive as it also incurs a constant maintenance cost. Legal support will also be required to make sure R&L Crowdsource abides by national and international legislation in its activities.\r\nRevenue Streams\r\nThe revenue streams for R&L Crowdsource should be primarily from the\r\nseekers. An example of this can be seen by eBay.com, where the seller pays a percentage of the final sales event price to eBay, alongside administration fees. This is a model that R&L Crowdsource should adopt. Bonakdar et al. (2012) educates that misguided revenue gaining ideals will hurt all business models. Therefore, R&L Crowdsource should refrain from charging fees on solvers. This will allow the number of solvers to increase because the service is free to them. Revenue will thus rise of course as the number of seekers increases.\r\nReferences\r\n1. Alzawahreh, A., Khasawneh, S. (2011). Business Strategies Adopted by Jordanian Organisatio ns: The Key to sustained Competitive Advantage. interdisciplinary diary of Contemporary Research in Business, record book 3 .\r\n2. Amir Bonakdar, T. W. (2013). Transformative Influence of Business Processes on the Business Model: Classifying the State of the Practice in the Software Industry. Hawaii: Hawaii International league on System Sciences.\r\n3. Bankston, K. (2013). What’s Your Top Goal. recognize Union Management .\r\n4. Bernier, P. (2013). Taking the Customer bed Mobile. Business Source Premier (7), pp. 8-11.\r\n5. Clark, T., Osterwalder, A. (2012). Business Model You: A One-Page Method For Reinventing Your Career. Hoboken, New Jersey, regular army: toilette Wiley & Sons .\r\n6. Cherry Tree & Co. (2000). Pure-Play e-Business Development. USA: Cherry Tree & Co.\r\n7. ComScore, 2011. Statistic Brain. [Online]\r\nAvailable at: http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/ [Accessed 16 April 2013].\r\n8. Kristin Purcell, J. B. L. R., 2012. PewIntern et. [Online] Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Search-Engine-Use-2012/Summary-of-findings.aspx [Accessed 16 April 2013].\r\n9. Krogh, v. (2006). allow Revealing and the Private Collective Model for renewing Incentives. R&D Management , 36 (3), 295-306.\r\n10. Ledeke-Freund, F. (2013). Business Models for Sustainable Innovation: State-of-the-art and step Towards a Research Agenda. Journal of Cleaner action , April Edition, 9-19.\r\n11. Milburn, P. (2004). Customer Communications: Keeping Pace in an Ever-Changing Environment. Keeping Good Companies , 56 (8), 458-459.\r\n12. Pathak, B. (2009). C2C Business Models: Beyond Online Marketplaces. Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Publishing.\r\n13. Pring, C., 2012. The Social Skinny. [Online]\r\nAvailable at: http://thesocialskinny.com/99-new-social-media-stats-for-2012/ [Accessed 16 April 2013].\r\n14. Spradlin, D. (2012). Are you Solving the Right riddle?. Harvard Business Review\r\n15. Torre-Diez, I. d. (2013). Developme nt and Performance evaluation of a New RSS Tool for a Web-Based System. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, Volume 7.\r\n16. X Ning, H. J. (2008). RSS: A Framwork Enabling Ranked Research on the semantic Web. Information Processing and Management .\r\nOverview of the Report\r\nThe main purpose of the assignment is to illustrate how our client should commence their own business initiative into a operable business venture with our passport as a team of Information System consultants. Basically,\r\nwe had to design a ideal and optimized business model for our client with sensitive explanation and how Information System will quicken their business initiative.\r\nDuring our preparation for the group project for INFS1602, we started from reviewing the chew up notes and prescribed text edition book individually for the brainstorm stage. This was suggested by Justin as we did not fully pick up all concepts and theories that the lecturer explained during the week 1 to 5 lect ures. This idea was an absolutely good starter for our group work and we were able to find the right instruction and it gave us a clear way of complete the work\r\nAfter the brainstorming stage, we had to discuss more details regarding of the assignment as none of us had the identical idea such as which target market we should decide as well as how we can recommend which business model Ruth and Luke should adopt. Throughout the brainstorming process, we came up with a variety of different ideas for potential target markets and ostiarius’s competitive forces model described in the text book was used in order to rationalise why we chose the target markets for the client’s business. This casebook resources were quiet useful, however, we needed to do further researches since it illustrated mainly generalized ideas and we wanted to see how actual Porter’s competitive forces model is adopted in practice.\r\nTherefore, we found some samples of the Porter’s model and this gave us very clear ideas about the first part of the assignment. When we were doing the second part of the assignment which is describing how our client should use information systems and technology to create value and how mainstream and emerging Web 2.0 technologies and applications could be used to enable the strategy and operation of the business, we referred to our school text mainly from chapter 3 to chapter 4. Some case studies from the text book were importantly helpful to understand how actual information system is working for existing companies. Particularly, in terms of tell how the business initiative can generate revenue, the case study in chapter4 was a time-saver as we discussed these issues during shop and various different opinions and perspectives from classmates stimulated when we were doing the brainstorming.\r\nIn conclusion, while we were doing the group assignment, we encountered some conflicts as they had different capitulum of view for the s ame issues and we effectively solved those issues cooperatively. Workshops, textbook and the lecture notes were the main resources that we used and a small-arm of supportive online researches were conducted in order to verify our recommendation for the client. Also we all agreed that information system is a combination of all different business knowledge and can maximise a business strategy if we can apply properly.\r\n'