Kenneth C. Laudon,Jane P. Laudon Management Information System 12th Edition pdf

mass customization

.

Table 3-3 lists a number of companies that have developed IT-based products

and services that other firms have found difficult to copy, or at least a long time

to copy. 

Fo c u s   o n   M a r k e t   N i c h e

Use information systems to enable a specific market focus, and serve this

narrow target market better than competitors. Information systems support

this strategy by producing and analyzing data for finely tuned sales and

marketing techniques. Information systems enable companies to analyze

customer buying patterns, tastes, and preferences closely so that they

efficiently pitch advertising and marketing campaigns to smaller and smaller

target markets. 

The data come from a range of sources—credit card transactions, demo-

graphic data, purchase data from checkout counter scanners at supermarkets

and retail stores, and data collected when people access and interact with Web

sites. Sophisticated software tools find patterns in these large pools of data and

infer rules from them to guide decision making. Analysis of such data drives 

one-to-one marketing that creates personal messages based on individualized

preferences. For example, Hilton Hotels’ OnQ system analyzes detailed data

collected on active guests in all of its properties to determine the preferences of

each guest and each guest’s profitability. Hilton uses this information to give its

most profitable customers additional privileges, such as late check-outs.

Contemporary customer relationship management (CRM) systems feature ana-

lytical capabilities for this type of intensive data analysis (see Chapters 2 and 9).

TABLE 3-3

IT-ENABLED NEW PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDING

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Amazon: One-click shopping

Amazon holds a patent on one-click shopping that it licenses to other

online retailers.

Online music: Apple iPod 

The iPod is an integrated handheld player backed up with an online 

and iTunes

library of over 13 million songs

Golf club customization: Ping

Customers can select from more than 1 million different golf club

options; a build-to-order system ships their customized clubs within

48 hours.

Online bill payment:

Fifty-two million households pay bills online in 2010.

CheckFree.com

Online person-to-person 

PayPal enables the transfer of money between individual bank 

payment: PayPal.com

accounts and between bank accounts and credit card accounts.

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Chapter 3

Information Systems, Organizations, and Strategy

99

The Interactive Session on Organizations describes how skillfully credit card

companies are able to use this strategy to predict their most profitable

cardholders. The companies gather vast quantities of data about consumer

purchases and other behaviors and mine these data to construct detailed

profiles that identify cardholders who might be good or bad credit risks. These

practices have enhanced credit card companies’ profitability, but are they in

consumers’ best interests?

S t r e n g t h e n   C u s t o m e r   a n d   S u p p l i e r   I n t i m a c y

Use information systems to tighten linkages with suppliers and develop

intimacy with customers. Chrysler Corporation uses information systems to

facilitate direct access by suppliers to production schedules, and even permits

suppliers to decide how and when to ship supplies to Chrysler factories. This

allows suppliers more lead time in producing goods. On the customer side,

Amazon.com keeps track of user preferences for book and CD purchases, and

can recommend titles purchased by others to its customers. Strong linkages to

customers and suppliers increase