Name Ben Fischer Mountain NetID Bmou632 Group Number: 62 Website Link: http://infosys1102014fcgroup62.blogspot.co.nz/p/bmou632- d2.html Tutorial Details Tutor: Day: Time: Claris Monday 1pm Time Spent on Assignment: 25 hours Word Count: 1570
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2 INVENTOR-ME INTRODUCTION Poverty has historically been a major issue globally, which continues to affect people all around the world. Nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, or one in eight, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012 (World Hunger, 2013). Poverty is also a huge problem in New Zealand that can lead to malnutrition, sickness and even death. The major cause in New Zealand is that there is a severe lack of food donations and distribution. The social and economic consequences of poverty are long term and very serious. In New Zealand each year there is at least $6 billion in additional health and education costs associated with child poverty, as well as reduced productivity (The University of Auckland Faculty of Education, 2013). Our solution is a system that can be built into the supermarket infrastructure to monitor all inventory inflows and outflows, which can be utilised during daily and weekly stocktakes. This system will identify all soon to be expiring foods as well as products that are not selling well and have been on shelves for too long. These items can then be collected and donated to non-profit organisations such as the Salvation Army or the Food Bank to be distributed. 3. BUSINESS SECTION 3.1 Vision To develop and maintain a quality inventory management system that will allow all supermarkets to better manage their stock and in doing so increase the amount of food donated to charity instead of wasted by supermarkets in New Zealand. 3.2 Industry Analysis: Supermarket Infrastructure Industry Industry: Supermarket Infrastructure Industry. This industry encompasses all firms developing supermarket infrastructure systems such as stock-take and inventory management systems. Force: High/Low: Justification: Buyer power: Low Buyer power in this industry is low due to the lack
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3 of firms competing in the industry. Currently there are very few, if any, companys developing this type of supermarket infrastructure therefore buyers have very few options to buy from. Supplier power: High There are very few firms capable of supplying materials to firms in this industry such as analysis software and technological hardware. Therefore supplier power is high as firms have very few options, in terms of suppliers. Threat of new entrants: Low The threat of new entrants to this market is low due to the large knowledge and start up capital involved with developing an inventory management system for New Zealand supermarkets. Threat of substitutes: Low The threat of substitutes in this market is low as there are almost no substitutes for an inventory management system in supermarkets. Rivalry among existing competitors: Low There is currently very few, possibly even zero, companys competing in this market and therefore rivalry is low. Overall attractiveness of the industry: Overall, this industry is a very attractive one to enter. Buyer power and rivalry are low, due to the lack of firms currently existing in this market. Meanwhile the threat of new entrants and substitutes are also both low. Unfortunately, supplier power is high. However, overall this makes for an attractive industry. 3.3 Customers and Thei r Needs
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4 The targeted customers of this product are major supermarket chains in New Zealand. These supermarkets are in strong need of a high quality inventory management system that will allow them to better manage their inventory and stock levels. According to a 2014 3news report, Thousands of tonnes of food are thrown into landfills by supermarkets every year at a financial and environmental cost (3News, 2014). It is therefore very clear that New Zealand supermarkets are in great need of a better inventory management system to reduce this food wastage. 3.4 The Product and Service Our product is an inventory management system that will monitor the entire supermarkets inventory including stock inflows and outflows. This system can be primarily used for daily or weekly stocktakes and product ordering and stocking decisions. This system will however also identify soon to expire goods and products that have been on the shelf for too long and are not selling well. This information can then be used by supermarket staff to collect and donated said products to non-profit organisations to be distributed to those in poverty who are in need of food. 3.5 Suppliers and Partners Suppliers for our business will include a software development company such as Catalyst IT and an IT system development company such as Datacom, in order to develop and create our inventory management system. Partners for our business will include non-profit organisations such as local food banks and the Salvation Army, and the Ministry of Health, who are doing heavy research on this issue and trying to solve it. A Ministry of Health survey concluded, 22 per cent of households with children sometimes or often ran out of food because of lack of money (Ministry of Health, 2003). 3.6 Strategy: Focused High Cost Our product is focused at a narrow market, that being large supermarket chains in New Zealand. It is very likely that this product will be costly to develop and implement into each supermarket due to its complexity and therefore the price will be quite high. This means we will need to adopt a high cost, narrow market strategy. The overall strategy is therefore Focused High Cost.
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5 3.7 Value Chain Activity: Technology Development (and R&D) The most important value chain activity for this business is Technology Development (and R&D). Technology Development is an essential value chain activity for our business. This will allow us to further develop our product and increase its usefulness and efficiency. Through this, supermarkets will be able to better manage their inventory and in turn increase the amount of food donated by supermarkets in New Zealand instead of being wasted. 3.8 Business Processes 3.8.1. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The product development process is possibly the most important business process undertaken. This process helps the business to further develop the product, improving its efficiency and usefulness to its targeted customers. Through this, the business is able to create and maintain a competitive advantage in the supermarket infrastructure industry.
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7 3.8.2. CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROCESS This business process is very important to our business, as it is essential to communicate with our customers and ensure they are happy with our product. Customer support also helps in the product development process previously mentioned as it allows us to determine exactly what our customers need and want from our product and address any issues they may be having. This will increase customer satisfaction overall.
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9 3.9 Functionalities 3.9.1. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Product Analysis. Research. 3.9.2. CUSTOMER SUPPORT PROCESS Communication with customers. Record of customer feedback. 3.10 Systems
3.10. 1. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM This system supports the capturing and storage of our businesss research and product information. Information about research and development is stored in this system and can be accessed by employees throughout the company in all different departments. This system therefore helps the development of our product thus adding value to our customers and in turn society. 3.10. 2. CUSTOMER TRACKING SYSTEM This system records the details of each customer upon making a purchase. These customer records are stored in a database and can be accessed by customer support and other departments when information about customers is needed. This is specifically useful for contacting customers for feedback on the product during the customer support process. Through this, value can be added to our customers and society as a whole. 3.10. 3. CUSTOMER SERVI CE SYSTEM This system takes and records customers feedback, storing it in a database. Staff, managers and specifically the product development department can then access these details and information in order to make decisions about the future of the product. Thus, this system helps in improving the quality of our product therefore adding value to our customers and society.
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10 3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems Value Chain Activity Processes Functionalities Specific Information System(s) Broad Information System(s)
Technology Development (And R&D) 1. Product Development Process 1. Product Analysis.
2. Research. Knowledge Management System
Knowledge Management System Collaboration System
Collaboration System 2. Customer Support Process 1. Communication with customers.
2. Record of customer feedback. Customer Tracking System
Customer Service System Transaction Processing System
Customer Relationship Management
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11 CONCLUSION Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined (World Food Programme, 2014). It is therefore essential that we find a way to increase the amount of food donated to those in need to ensure hunger and malnutrition rates decrease. Our product attempts to solve this problem by providing New Zealand supermarkets with a better way of managing their inventory using our specialised IT system. Through this, we hope to increase the amount of food donated to those in need, rather than being thrown away and wasted. Thus we can add value to society by reducing poverty and famine in New Zealand. REFERENCES
1. World Hunger. (2013). 2013 World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.ht m
2. The University of Auckland Faculty of Education. (2013). Investing In Our Nations Kids. Retrieved from http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/schools-departments/crstie/crstie- research/crstie-research-units/child-poverty.html
3. 3News. (2014). Supermarkets cut down on food waste. Retrieved from http://www.3news.co.nz/Supermarkets-cut-down-on-food- waste/tabid/1160/articleID/327363/Default.aspx
4. Ministry of Health. (2003). Our Hungry Kids: The Facts. Retrieved from http://www.theawarenessparty.com/get-active/poverty-in-new-zealand/
5. World Food Programme. (2014). World Hunger. Retrieved from http://www.wfp.org/hunger