Global Information Systems

Olayele Adelakun (Ph.D)

Assistant Professor CTI

 

Office: Room 735 CTI 7th Floor

Phone: 312-362-8231

Fax: 312-362-6116

Email : yele@cs.depaul.edu

Web: http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/yele

Global Information Systems

Example of Project Reports

http://www.american.edu/academic.depts/ksb/mogit/country.html

What Is Information?

Data Information Knowledge Global IS

Global IS ? Global IS management is complicated

by the wide diversity in: Cost Quality Maturity of national IT infrastructure Local products Scope and sophistication of IT applications Human resources for global operations Technology skills and expertise Labor and technology cost Culture

Information Technology Impact on Transnational Firms

International, Multinational, or Transnational Firms? The world’s top 10 branded goods, 19961 Mc Donald’s 6 Gillette2 Coca-cola 7 Mercedes-Benz3 Disney 8 Levi’s4 Kodak 9 Microsoft5 Sony 10 MarlboroSource: Interbrand and Kochon, Nick. (1997). The world’s greatest brands,

NY:New York University Press.

Globalization

A definition: As increased permeability of

traditional boundaries such as nations, time and space (Parker, 1998)

Information Technology Impact on Transnational Firms

Geographical Transfer of Work High-cost labor to high quality and

low cost (?) E.g. Citibank moves its credit card

operation from high-cost New York city to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

American Airlines moved a significant amount of its data entry work out of Dallas to Barbados.

IT Impact on Transnational Companies Global Networking and Expertise Sharing

IBM and PriceWaterhouseCooper have developed very sophisticated IT

(Email, groupware,teleconferencing, etc)

Global Service Level E.g. The truck transportation industry

Ability to determine when and what at ends. But not in between cities for emergency pickups. Satellite technology

Customer emergencies, nearest road services etc

Information Technology Impact on Transnational Firms

IT Impact on Transnational Companies Time-Based Competition

Required response time in the global community is dramatically shrinking.

CAD linked internationally “Ability to operate continuously around the globe”

Cost Reduction + much tighter information links between overseas

operations, customers, and suppliers allow a firm to eliminate significant slack from its manufacturing systems resulting in significant reductions in buffer inventories and staffing levels and general acceleration in asset utilization..

- is a huge increase in operational dependence on networks, central processors, and so on.

- high level of redundancy in networks

Information Technology Impact on Transnational Firms

National Characteristics & IT Support

Sociopolitical A country industrial maturity and forms of

government are particularly important factors when considering the use of IT.

E.g. Food vs. Medicare vs. Technology

Language A common spoken language facilitate technical

communication and sharing of relevant documentation.

When it is lacking, the potential for errors, mishaps, or worse is greatly increased.

Local Constraints Local cultural traditions Differing union agreements, holidays, tax

regulations, and customers procedures all force major modifications of software for applications like accounting and personnel.

The procedure in one country might be unacceptable / inappropriate in another country and might

Economics Serving the interests of different national

cultures in a transnational IT organization often means building country-specific solutions.

National Characteristics

Currency Issues Currency restrictions and exchange-rate

volatility also complicate the operation of international information service activities.

National Infrastructure The cost and availability of utilities

(Telecommunications, Stable Electricity, transportation system etc.) can place important constrains on feasible alternatives.

National Characteristics

National IT Environmental Issues

Availability of IT Professional Staff Inadequate availability of systems and programming

resources, a worldwide problem, is more severe in some settings than others

Brain drain syndrome Corporate experts vs. local champions?

Central Telecommunications The price, quality, and availability of

telecommunications supports vary widely from one country to another.

High tariffs in some countries (e.g. Some European countries

Varying standards Outstanding international gateways and terrible inside the

country, vice-versa. Communication quality, availability and cost differ widely

among countries A profitable home-country on-line application can become

cost-ineffective, inadequate, or unreliable in other countries.

National IT Environmental Issues

National IT Strategy In some countries e.g. France, Singapore, UK and

Germany, the development of national IT strategy is of key national priority

General Level of IT Sophistication The speed and ease with which companies can

implement or develop an IT activity are linked to the general level of IT activity in the country

A firm located in a country with substantial base of installed state-of-the-art electronic-based IS and well trained, mobile labor can develop its IT capabilities more rapidly and effectively than if this condition did not exist.

Size of Local Market The size of local market influences the number

of vendors who compete for service in it. In small markets, a company’s preferred

international supplier for particular hardware and for software may not have a presence, thereby complicating services.

Technology Awareness Awareness of technology globally poses problem for

effective applications development in less IT-sophisticated countries because it leads subsidiaries to promote technologies that they neither understand, need, nor are capable of managing.

National IT Environmental Issues

Nature of Firm’s Business Some firms’ businesses demand that key data

files be managed centrally so that they are accessible, immediately or on a short delayed-access basis, to all units around the world

E.g. Airline reservation files for international air carriers.

Strategic Impact of IT If IT is strategic to the company, tighter corporate

overview is needed to ensure that new technology (with its accompanying new ways of operating) is rapidly and efficiently introduced to outlying areas.

Corporate Factors Affecting IT Requirements

Categories of Strategic Relevance and Impact of IS

Factory

Support

Strategic

Turnaround

Strategic Impact of existing IT system

Low

Low

High

High

Developing an appropriate IT strategy.

Strategic Impact of IT applications under development

Totally depending on it. Essential for its ability to Compete.

Not absolutely depending on totally uninterrupted, fast response-time to achieveoperating objectives.

IT are important but theyare not fundamental to thefirms ability to compete.

Strategic Impact of ITon existing operations and future strategy is low.

Corporate Factors Affecting IT Requirements

Corporate Organization A full-blown level of international activity may

involve regional headquarters (in Europe, Far East, etc.) to coordinate the activities of the diverse countries

Vertical, horizontal, Cross-boarder relationships

Company Technical and Control Characteristics Companies with a strong tradition of central

control find it both appropriate and relatively easy to implement IT control worldwide

Transnational IT Policy

Architecture Implementation of appropriate telecommunication architecture,

operating systems, and database standards are of central importance.

(where data would be stored, storage form, update policy, etc.)

Central Hardware/Software Concurrence or Approval The objective of a central policy for acquiring hardware and

software are to ensure that cost-effective global networking is acquired, that obvious mistakes in vendor viability are avoided, and that purchasing decisions achieved economies of scale.

Central control of software standards can ensure that software is written or sourced in a maintainable, secured.

Implementing such standard can be expensive and time consuming in relation to the potential benefits.

Large strategic investments, should be subject to central review in transnational organizations

Transnational IT Policy

Centralized vs. Decentralized Software Development

IT Communications Frequent IT directors meetings

(Technical briefings, application briefings, company directives)

Corporate-subsidiary exchange visits Newsletters

To communicate staffing shifts, new technical insights, major project completions, experience with packages and vendors, etc.

Education Joint education programs e.g. CD distribution

Summary

Global IT Coordination and Management Extraordinarily complex Corporate responsibility but limited local

authority Awareness of new technology is important Good understanding of corporate and national

cultures Appropriate reporting structures Global IT strategy in some cases Long term perspectives

Influenced by local conditions e.g infrastructure and service availability