Intelligent Exploitation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Intelligent Exploitation - Case Study Example The major business challenge that Hazendal encounters is in the effective management of its complex wine production operations which includes scheduling the harvest of grapes, process management of wine production and marketing management of the final product. In spite of the huge volume of sales undertaken by Hazendal, the current data and information management systems in the organization is very primitive. It consisted of distributed databases of operations, non-inclusion of IT based management for variety of activities like grape allocation, sales data that includes the information on product, customer and region/country. At the same time, the sales invoice was issued separately using professional accounting software. Thus the fragmented style of information management led to high levels of operational inefficiency, extended delays in information transmission and inconsistency in sales and inventory reports. Besides, the company constantly conducts extensive outdoor customer retention and relationship building programs, which was very essential for the preparation of effective marketing plan. Thus to integrate its operation and to have increased efficiency and integrated operations across all departments, Hazendal Management decided t o implement a custom designed information management software. ... The essay presented here reviews two separate project phases in connection with the information management project at Hazendal. Phase I is related to the design and implementation of the vineyards management system for Hazendal and the Phase II draws the attention towards the barriers to its intelligent exploitation. Intelligent Exploitation Theory: Frameworks and Literature Review The term "Intelligent Exploitation" is coined to explain the inadequacies observed in extracting the full potential of information technology investments that have been made in the organizations (Holtham, 2008). It is observed that huge investments made by the organizations have not resulted in a significant improvement on their business or organizational management practices (Clemons et al, 1990). Also, all the earlier initiatives made across the world to improve and upgrade the technology didn't place the knowledge and information in the centre stage of all the activities (Brynjolfsson, 1991). Thus the advantages that the organizations could claim to possess towards the preparation of their growth strategies were also very insignificant. Implementations of IT tools have helped the organizations to create rich repositories of in-house data, which are not properly used for their own strategic advantage (Davern and Kauffman, 2000). In the present day circumstances the organizations n eed to be elevated to the status of creators of knowledge and thus transforming the organizations as a learning system (Dos Santos et al, 2000). But, contrary to the expectations IT investments were not able to justify the creation of specific strength within the organization to address the objectives of equipping the group to grow as

Ben and Jerrys Remarkable Success Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ben and Jerrys Remarkable Success - Essay Example We have a progressive, nonpartisan social mission that seeks to meet human needs and eliminate justices in or local, national and international communities by integrating these concerns into our day to day business activities. Our focus is on family and children, the environment and sustainable agriculture on family farms Employees enjoy working at Ben and Jerry's and the company maintains a low turnover. The company states that they have a deep respect for human beings inside and outside the plant. According to the Employee Job Satisfaction Model revised by Richard Scholl, job satisfaction is the employee response to the organization. The company ability to meet the expectations of employees determines job performance. The Affective component of the model reflects the way employees feel about being a part of that work force. Ben and Jerry's has succeeded in producing positive attitudes in many ways, including making working for them fun. In 1987 when increased demand put pressure on employees, Ben and Jerry's created a committee called The Joy Gang. The group plans events throughout the year for holidays, birthdays, parties and secret events to surprise employees. The supervisors participate too promoting a team feeling and avoiding the, us and them, mentality sometimes occurring in big business. The management structure has captured the attention of numerous business journals such as Ethics and Behavior, T&D and American Business Law Journal. Ben and Jerry's incorporates moral management, or as Jerry Cohen phrases it, "caring capitalism." Not only does the company donate 7.5% of annual profits to projects like the homeless, rain forests and social changes for peace, but keeps employees happy with free ice cream daily, free health club memberships and subsidized childcare. The top executive is also limited to earning seven times the amount made by the lowest paid worker (Sikula, 1996). Ben and Jerry's cooperates with the community and local farmers for raw materials. By supporting small farm operations the company honors its focus on family and socially aligning sourcing. Milk and cream is purchased from St. Albans Cooperative Creamery, which agrees not to inject the growth hormone, rBGH into dairy cows as required by Ben and Jerry's. While the hormone is approved by the FDA and increases milk production, it also causes serious health problems for the cows. The hormone is already banned in Canada and the European Union. Ben and Jerry's has also mingled passion and social responsibility into all aspects of the business including product development, human resources, plant operations and marketing. Company leaders keep the social impact of their decision making foremost in their plans, even if it means making a slim profit. The outcome of this philosophy has been incredible (Chang, 2001). In echoing the requirements of a satisfied employee as indicated by the Employee Satisfaction model, Chang stated, "People don't check their personalities at the office door and become automatons: Their performance is predicated on their feelings toward their work." Richard Chang, who is CEO of a performance improvement