You will act as a consultant hired by an organization that is similar to Gap, Inc. (large retail chain) or Netflix (online e-commerce business). The CEO of your selected organization explains that they would like to know if information technology can help the company to increase its competitiveness in their industry, as well as how their competitors leverage big data analytics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence for strategic advantage and to drive business value.
As a first step, you will need to select an organization to research and use as your own case study. The organization must be a real organization that is publicly traded. Review the following options to make your selection:
Large retail chain (e.g., Gap Inc.)
Online e-commerce business (e.g., Netflix)
As a part of Porter’s Five Forces analysis, you will also need to research other companies in the industry of the organization you select to get some insights on how they use IT/IS as part of their business strategy.
You may not survey or systematically interview employees at a company. If at some point you wish to pursue interviews or surveys, you will need to follow the standard university procedures to obtain prior approval from the Walden University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Collecting data from human subjects without IRB approval can result in dismissal from the program.
You will need to produce your recommendations based on analysis of documents and information that are publicly available.
You will need to be careful that no proprietary, sensitive, or confidential information is disclosed, should you have access to it.
If you are unable to find the information you need about your selected organization, you should research similar publicly traded organizations to fill in the gaps. Finding relevant information will enable you to make appropriate inferences and reasonable assumptions about your selected organization, which will enable you to proceed with your research.
Submit Part 1 of your presentation, with accompanying script and references. Be sure you are fully addressing the following in 4–7 slides (excluding references and title slides):
Part 1: The Role of Information Systems in the Organization’s Strategy
Describe the background and industry for your selected organization. (1 slide)
Analyze the role of IS and IT in your selected organization’s strategy. As part of your analysis: (1–2 slides)
Identify what systems and technologies are already in place for this organization (being sure to mention any uses of big data analytics, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence).
Use the Five Forces analysis framework to analyze the competitive environment for your selected organization (i.e., the large retail chain or the online e-commerce business). (1–2 slides)
Based on your analysis, assess the strengths and weaknesses of your selected organization’s IT strategy. (1–2 slides)
