Embracing Sustainability Information Technology free essay sample

Embracing Sustainability Information Technology and the Strategic leveraging of operations in third party logistics (â€Å"Operations-as-Marketing†) Review of the Article The aim of this article was to establish a strong foundation for the use of information technology and strategic leveraging of operations in business, with a focus on third party logistics. A great deal of background research on key concepts was provided showing that there is a strong correlation between the success of corporate sustainability and information technology. The article starts off by introducing the latest concept for competitiveness which is sustainability. Business exists because of the demand by consumers for their products or services which is why competitive resources are needed. Previously the consumer has been over looked with a focus being on cost reductions in the value chain. However it has now been realised that increased firm performance can be linked to the consumer and sustainability processes. The paper puts forward the concept of â€Å"Operations-as-Marketing† and constructs to mediate strategic IT investments. We will write a custom essay sample on Embracing Sustainability Information Technology or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Firms will gain a greater competitive advantage by internalising an in depth knowledge of its consumers. The paper takes a perspective from Third Party Logistics (3PL) as it is already a very consumer focused industry and strategic outsourcing is a result of increased use of IT systems. In this era 3PL offer clients with competitive advantage beyond the normal transportation and warehouse services to; freight forwarding, information-based (supply chain management) support such as network management and enterprise resource planning interface, and financial based services such as freight billing and auditing. The paper than goes onto discuss the theoretical background behind; corporate sustainability and lean production, The â€Å"Operations-as-Marketing† concept, and the role of IT resources. The first of the three sections about corporate sustainability and lean production discuss the change from previous business models that failed to recognise the importance of the earth’s feebleness and the finiteness of resources. This can be attributed to increased awareness and great concern for global warming, political conflict, pollution, and the looming scarcities of vital resources. This has lead businesses to developing a strong positive relationship between sustainability and financial performance that previously was nonexistent. They now co-exists in modern businesses and for some even yield new sources of prosperity. It then talks about ‘Lean Production’ as the key principle for sustainability throughout the supply chain. The two key factors outlined in the research suggest that ‘Lean production’ is successful if; One- the end consumer determines value of product as manifest in the market-determined price paid and two- every activity along the supply chain ensure that goods and services delivered are closets possible match to consumer signalled needs. This is where an information intense environment comes into play to ensure tightly coordinated logistics support. This leads on to the next main point which is that markets are now defined by customer activity rather than products and services. Businesses no longer aim to achieve standardized products amp; services of high quality, as the consumers now wants uniqueness and functionality. Business there for are now pushed to provide the consumer with solutions instead of products and services. This has created a customer-centric model in business strategy with a greater outward orientation toward the consumer. The paper suggest that for this reason businesses need to eliminate internal distinctions among the functional processes comprising the firm’s value chain, bringing to bear the strength of all its primary activities in particular, operations and marketing. Porter suggests that competitive advantage can be attained by combining the strengths of operations and marketing. It’s all comes down to customer focus strategy and ensuring highest levels of customer satisfaction. There has been a major shift away from internal cost efficiencies to total consumer satisfaction. Through the use of â€Å"market-sensing and customer linking† capabilities firms are able to competitively focus all functional processes toward anticipating and quickly responding to market changes and what the consumer wants. It is believed that this will have a mutual benefit for both consumers and business. Customers get enjoyment from maximum value of the product or service, whilst ensuring their patronage, providing long term (finical) performance and viability of the business. The third and final section has conducted extensive research into the role of IT resources concluded that there are two categories of relevant IT resources. The first is hardware and software components of a generic information system. Secondly, managerial capabilities believed to play an important moderating role in leveraging open IT resources. The author then goes on to identify that â€Å"IT resources† refers to IT assets and capabilities that are useful in detecting and responding to market opportunities and threats. This means that they can be categorised into tangible and intangible assets that assist the firm in effectively deploying business processes for producing and distributing its products. Research presented in the article shows that shared knowledge has been linked to increase levels of IT use, improved alignment and increased operational and service performance of the IS group, increased IT assimilation in value-chain activities and business strategies, and improved process performance. The author links this to being an essential asset in determining the performance and success of IT investments and a useful proxy for assessing the tacit IT managerial capabilities of the firm. The author then puts forward a number of hypothesis in relation to; IT hardware and software association with OP among 3PL firms, the degree of shared knowledge as a proxy for IT managerial capabilities and the association with market oriented and 3PL, relationships between marketing oriented, firm performance and operation performance. The methodology used was based on 3PL firms for a couple of reasons. One being that by nature they are very IT-intensive and secondly clients view 3PL firms as providing a means of extending their logistics functions beyond the boundaries of the firm, providing an ability to create value for them as a strategic asset. The 3PL firms view long-term relationships as a key corporate asset and a fundamental aspect to economic well being. Meaning that the retention of valued customer is not only cost efficient, but it provides a boost to overall profits. The final point made about criticality of IT is that it provides personnel with information need to build relationships with their client while also supporting the operations of the firms. Critique on the Article This journal article has very little research and findings to support the hypothesis and conclusion. Although the sample size researched was small the theories presented in the article are significant relevance to the current business trends. The idea that economic growth can be created through businesses using IT systems to create corporate sustainability throughout the value chain, would be great for future research projects expanding into different sectors. Although the article has limited research and is in relation to third party logistics it contains a lot of valuable information that could be used for future projects or as a resource for theories. Future research should endeavour to engross a much larger more uniformed sample size across a broader range of industries to find out if information systems can be used in operations a competitive advantage. The overall flow of the article was good with strong relationships formed between the key concepts. The article covers some of the most pressing current issues and theories in business today. The article covers corporate sustainability, lean production, ‘operations-as-marketing’, role of IT resources and logistics. In each of these elements the author always related back to information technology and the importance of it for success throughout the whole supply chain. The paragraphs are ordered so that one idea is presented and then it is built on with a new paragraph. It gives the reader almost like a flow chart affect. The biggest shortcoming of this article is the size of the sample population used to draw conclusions about the effectiveness and competitive advantage of IT systems. Based on this fact it is hard to draw a general conclusion and prove the hypothesis put forward. Although the outcome of the results were in line with the proposed hypothesis and background research the fact still remains the results are inconclusive due to the sample size. Further research should be conducted into the competitive advantage gained by implementing IT systems within firms. The flow of the whole article although smooth, requires extensive background knowledge of business concepts. The article is very wordy with a lot of business jargon that would make it very difficult for people outside of the business environment to understand the concepts put forward. There were a couple of spelling mistakes and some of the sentence structures were hard to read and didn’t flow. The author has definitely put forward a very interesting and highly relevant topic as many leading businesses now see economic sustainability as a pressing responsibility. The idea that it can also create competitive advantage and increased economic growth calls for further investigations into the validity of this. Relevance to Operations Management In a modern era where access to technology and internet is everywhere books have become out-dated. With daily updates and access to the latest journal articles it more viable to makes use of these alternate resources alongside text books to gain a broader perspective with which to draw conclusions. Operations management is about dealing with inbound amp; outbound logistics or as defined by Collier amp; Evans (2013) â€Å"Science and art of ensuring that goods and services are created and delivered successfully to customers. † This entails a extensive range of topics including; value chains, operations strategy, technology, goods and service design, supply chains, forecasting demand, managing inventories and resources, quality management and control, lean operating systems and many more. However these are the main topics covered in operations management that can relate to the journal article reviewed. The question was put forward as to what relevance this article has in Operations management (OM)? One of the key topics discussed in OM is sustainability and a question put forward about this is ‘what are the reasons for the growth of sustainable supply chains? ’ The article that was reviewed discuss the shift from traditional strategies including; cost efficacies, just-in-time delivery and faster transportation times to using supply chain sustainability as measure of profitable logistics management. This has been driven by the increasing environmental cost and the growing awareness and concern from consumers. One of the most important influences on the growth and development of OM is technology. Collier amp; Evans (2013) believe that â€Å"as technology continues to evolve, OM needs to find ways to leverage and exploit it. † This journal article makes information technologies the basis for its study. The author sets out to show that IT investment strategies can result in corporate sustainability. As a student in OM this journal article gives great insight into the most effective ways that IT systems can be exploited. The other major topic discussed in the article is the growing change towards a customer centric strategy. Consumers now want uniqueness and functionality and they want it now. Their expectations continue to rise and they want the latest newest high quality goods at their finger tips almost immediately after purchase. Consumers also now expect top service and support from their provider. This again has been driven by technology and globalisation, the ‘borderless market place’. This relates to OM as they face the challenges of meeting the very demanding consumer needs with 100% customer satisfaction. Conclusion This journal article ties in very nicely with the topics covered in operations management. It has been made clear that there is a very strong relationship between the business, technology, sustainability and the consumer. Any changes made to one of these elements will either have a major positive or negative impact on the other three variables.  The one thing to take away from this review is that sustainability, technology and consumers are the way of the future for any successful business.