Business strategy is the means through which a business plans to achieve its desired objectives. A business strategy may be comprise long-term or short-term planning. An example of business strategy may be lowering the price on goods and concentrating on selling volumes. Organizational strategy is a clear-cut definition of the changes required within an organization for proper delivery of the required outcomes. This involves a review of the choices needed for the changes to happen. An example is specialization. A company dealing in a wide range of products or services may need to specialize in one or two which are the most profitable.
An Information Systems strategy comprises the use of IS to support the business strategy. It is the shared view of the role of IS in an organization. An example is the use of computer systems to keep patient records.
The three strategies named above, business strategy, Organizational strategy, and Information Systems (IS) strategy, are related. The business strategy and the information systems strategy may be part of the organizational strategy. The intention of all these strategies is to improve competitive advantage. The information systems strategy may be crucial to the implementation of the business strategy or the organizational strategy. For example, using information systems to collect information from customers or communicate with them is an IS strategy as well as a business strategy.
Technological determinism is a theory that states that media technology impacts how individuals in society feel, act, think and operate from one age to another. In terms of the strategies named above, technological determinism is involved in decision-making. Most business and organizational strategies are centered on technology.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is a theory on information systems that provide a modeled flow of how users embrace and use a particular technology. This theory is vital in Information Systems strategies. For example, if electronic records are to be implemented, the organization should know the readiness of its employees to embrace the new technology. The Socio-Technical Approach is the method of harnessing technical and people aspects of the organizational structure to obtain optimization and excellence in the technical performance and quality. This applies in IS, business and organizational strategy.
According to Pearlson and Saunders (2003), it is important for business strategy to drive IS and organizational strategy because this minimizes the risks of project failure. This is done through strategic alignment, which ensures that the IS is appropriate for the business strategy. Failure to let business strategy drive IS and organizational strategy may result in great risks. For example, business opportunities may be missed, and there may be a breakdown in customer servicing. This may hurt the sales and reduce profits. IS may not be able to support the goals of the business.
I think that the FCC should not reclassify broadband internet services. This is because the reclassification will be tantamount to micromanagement of the internet. This would hurt the digital economy as well as its consumers, who would have to pay more for the same services that are affordable today. Enforcement of net neutrality rules is likely to stifle innovation and increase consumer costs. Some studies show that the net neutrality would lead to the loss if 500,000 American jobs and close to $62 billion in half a decade. Another significant impact of net neutrality rules is that increased control of the internet would be given to the government. They influence of the FCC would be incremental if these rules are implemented.
Knowledge management comprises four main processes. These are the generation, capture, the codification process and the knowledge transfer. The knowledge generation process comprises the activities involved in the discovery of “new” knowledge, and whether this knowledge is new to the individual, firm or the whole discipline. The knowledge capture process involves scanning, organizing as well as packaging knowledge once it has been generated. Knowledge codification, on the other hand, comprises representation of knowledge in a way that it can be accessed and transferred (Pearson and Saunders, 2003). The knowledge transfer process involves the movement of knowledge from a person to another or one group to another.
There are different challenges faced by the management in the implementation of knowledge management systems. The first problem is insufficient resources for the structuring and updating of content in repositories. Repositories are locations for storage of knowledge, which are important for knowledge management. Structuring and updating repositories is capital intensive and requires advanced technical know-how. Lack of these capabilities poses a challenge to knowledge management. This challenge may be overcome by creating knowledge taxonomies which are crucial in organizing knowledge. Firms can also change their employee compensation strategies to reward the sharing of knowledge. The second challenge is poor quality and frequent fluctuation of content quality as a result of insufficient knowledge validation mechanisms. This may be taken care of through proper planning and rollout, and choosing the right audience for particular information. The third challenge is the lack of contexts in the content of repositories. This makes it difficult to understand some of the documents stored therein. By developing the knowledge management in stages and tailoring the information for the right audience, it becomes easy to understand some of the content. The fourth challenge is that individual employees do not get rewarded for the contribution of content. Others also fear sharing knowledge with other employees. This challenge may be overcome by developing favorable compensation systems which reward employees for sharing knowledge. The fifth challenge is that the search queries give too much information. This may be corrected through refined searches and properly structured knowledge taxonomies.
With the current continuous increase in the number of seminars, meetings and workshops, there needs to be a system which manages all the information/ knowledge that is exchanged during these occasions. An organization may benefit from a system that organizes all the ideas, information and data that changes hands within the organization and makes it available to all the relevant people easily. There are several benefits which may be obtained as a result of such a system. These include informed decision-making; ease in retrieving information; ease in understanding different situations and ease in governance.
Data, information and knowledge are different in definition and meaning. Data comprises the objective and discrete facts about certain events. This is the raw material used in the creation of information. However, data may not be used in decision-making because it has no meaning and has not been interpreted. Information is data to which information has been accorded. It is data which has been interpreted. Knowledge comprises the facts (data), information as well as skills obtained through education or experience. Knowledge consists of judgment, which is the ability to make decisions. Knowledge may be divided into two kinds of knowledge. These are tacit and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is knowledge which is formal and systematic. Explicit knowledge may be communicated and shared easily. Tacit knowledge is not expressed easily. It is highly personalized and difficult to formalize.
In my opinion, knowledge may be converted between these two types. One way this may be done is the making of decisions and undertaking work in projects. Tacit knowledge exists in the form of skills and ideas. By documenting their decisions and procedures in projects, individuals can convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge which can then be transferred. Once other people follow these procedures and decision-making processes, they convert the explicit knowledge back into tacit knowledge. An example of this is the process of repairing a mechanical pump. Recording the process enables conversion of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.
A knowledge value chain is the sequence of intellectual duties through which knowledge workers develop the unique advantage of their employer. This happens through knowledge-based processes such as business strategy, corporate intelligence, market research and special libraries. Competitive advantage is part of the value chain of managing knowledge. For example, knowledge on customer expectations may be used to add competitive advantage to a business.
An organization may become competitive using business analytics by analyzing customer data. This could be part of the IT strategy. For example, a business may collect opinions and views of customers through social media sites, mobile apps or websites. Analysis of this information may contribute to knowledge which may be used to inform the business strategy (Viaene & Bunder, 2011). An example of this is a restaurant which collects information on how customers react to its services. This knowledge may be used in laying out the business strategy such as expansion decisions.
References
Pearlson, K., & Saunders, C. S. (2003). Managing and using information systems: a strategic approach. New York: Wiley Global Education. (Original work published 2001)
Viaene, S., & Bunder, A. V. (2011). The secrets to managing business analytics projects. MIT Sloan Business Review, 3(2), 1-5.
