Twitter searches for a business model

Twitter searches for a business model

 

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

 

1. Based on your reading in this chapter, how would you characterize Twitter’s business model?

Basically, Twitter doesn’t make money. However, if company sign up to blast messages to user, they could earn money. Their web mining skill is also effective because the object of web mining is real voice and timely. This is a new kind of SNS for users. That’s the one of the reason why Twitter is expanded.

 

2. If Twitter is to have a revenue model, which of the revenue models described in this chapter would work?

Their E-commerce model is new style of SNS because social network services don’t make money before. The database of tweets contains the comments, observations, and opinions of the audience and the search engine that mines those tweets for patterns. These are real-time and spontaneous observations.

 

3. What is the most important asset that Twitter has, and how could it monetize this asset?

There are so many “organic tweets” which differ from traditional search engine text ad.  This tweet stream is user’s real voice and reliable. Many companies want to sign up this to blast messages to subscribers in response to related queries.

This stream also let users know what is hot or trend. The company claims this is a true reflection of what a lot of people are talking about.

In addition, users can follow to receive special offers. For example, If you buy one ticket, you get another one free.

 

4. What impact will a high customer churn rate have on Twitter’s potential advertising revenue?

Twitter has a 60 percent churn rate. Obviously, many users lose interest in some boring tweets of friends. However, there are many celebrities such as Justin Bieber. His tweet is already so popular. If he said “This item is cool”, many people purchase the same one as Justin Bieber.

When antivirus software cripples your computers

When antivirus software cripples your computers

1. What management, organization, and technology factors were responsible for McAfee’s software problem?

According to the text windows XP Service Pack 3 combined with McAfee VirusScan version 8.7is incompatible. In fact McAfee’s virus scan was released on April 2, 2010. It caused Windows XP machines to crash and fails to reboot. This mistake created hardships for many customers. The management team should have made sure that users received a warning about a particular file being deleted. McAfee claimed the problem resulted from “inadequate coverage of product of product and operating systems used.”

2. What was the business impact of this software problem, both for McAfee and for its customers?

Many customers and companies lost their data and were unable to reboot their computers. They also lost countless opportunities which are supposed to be generated by the computer. Data, including personal information was lost.

3. If you were a McAfee enterprise customer, would you consider McAfee’s response to the problem be acceptable? Why or why not?

McAfee’s management team tried to hide their. This attitude made customers angry. However, in this case it could be assumed that to delay disclosing would be acceptable because if McAfee’s stock went down suddenly, other companies might be influenced and the stock market would be disrupted. McAfee has a lot of investors and they have to protect their stakeholders. McAfee might have created a situation where stakeholders would sell their stock. There were some factors that explain their evasive behavior.

4. What should McAfee do in the future to avoid similar problems?

Simply, they should conduct tests of operating systems and McAfee product versions with adequate coverage of product and operating systems in the test systems used.

 

The perils of texting

The perils of texting

Yoichi Horibe

1, which of the five moral dimensions of information systems identified in this text is involved in this case?

This case would involve in the dimension of accountability and control. If accident occurs, prosecutors have to prove that the driver knew about the risks of texting while driving before doing so. If the legislation is well explained to the drivers, Accidents might not occur. On the other hand, some drivers who are well-known about the legislation dare to refuse to admit that texting is dangerous when they themselves do it.

Above all, there is need not only for accountability but also for drivers to control themselves.

 

2, what are the ethical, social, and political issues raised by this case?

The ethical issues are on producers’ side. The producer’s provide high-tech devices and their objective is only making money. Each individual doesn’t accept his accountability because when we buy the device, there is no explanation how long we have to be in jail if we text while driving.

The social issue is about youthful demographic group. Teenagers tend to be anxious about being socially isolated. Distraction, failing grades, repetitive stress injuries and sleep deprivation are just some of the other teenager’s problems brought about by excessive use of mobile devices.

The political issue is legislators believe that it is not state or federal government’s role to prohibit poor decision making.

 

3, which of the ethical principles described in the text are useful for decision making about texting while driving?

Risk Aversion Principle is suitable for this case because this principle considers the potential cost of these accidents. Producers always only count their sales profits of the device, but profits don’t include the worth of a human’s life and the reliability of customers.

New To the Touch

New To the Touch

 

Yoichi Horibe

 

 

 

1, What problems does multitouch technology solve?

 

Cloud computing system is deeply related to multitouch technology by enriching it. Scalable cloud computing centers provide computing power, data storage, and high-speed Internet connections.

 

Multitouch technology helps disabled person like autistic students to speak, communicate with others for the first time in the 14 years of his life. Multitouch technology also helps elementary school students in the early grades who need an easy-to-use computer. In addition, multitouch technology provides a wall-mountable information kiosk-type device for parents and visitors.

 

In conclusion, multitouch and cloud computing interact inside of computers and provide efficiency and enjoyments for people.

 

2, What are the advantages and disadvantages of a multitouch interface? How useful is it? Explain.

 

A multitouch interface has many advantages than single touch interface enables to play so many kinds of applications. There are games, iPhones, flicking thorough photo albums application and so on.

 

The disadvantage is users might become addicted to the devices and get distracted when driving. This caused result in dangerous accidents.

 

 

 

3, Describe three business applications that would benefit from a multitouch interface.

 

Their multitouch device is so called “killer application” for customer.

 

ATMs would benefit from multitouch technology, customers would not need to watch both screen and button because the multitouch device button is on screen. The second aspect is attracting people by the use of new technology. It helps kids fascinate some electronic learning system by the technology. The third system is just for fun. There are so many games and it attracts people.

 

 

 

4, What management, organization, and technology issues must be addressed if you or your business was considering systems and computers with multitouch interfaces?

 

There is untapped potential for touch technology in the business marketplace however the technology is able to use existing resources that have outdated IT infrastructure.

 

This technology contains hidden potential that can make our life better.

Information system problems 2

Chapter #1

1)      What is the difference between information technology and information systems? Describe some of the functions of information systems.

 

Information technology is all of the hardware and software. This mechanism is really complex. For example, there are microprocessor, semiconductor, Windows or Linux operating system and mobile device. On the other hand, information system is kind of concept of management structure. This system is divided by organization, management, and technology.  This system supports decision making, coordination, analyzing problems, visualizing complex subjects and creating new products. The big difference is that an information system contains data about people, places, and things. This information system can be shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human beings.

Chapter #2

2)      Describe the role of IT governance within the firm. Explain.

 

These are quoted from Website concerning IT governance.

 

1. Establishes chains of responsibility, authority, and communication (decision rights)
2. Establishes measurement, policy, standards, and control mechanisms to enable people to carry out their roles and responsibilities

(http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/dec07/mueller_phillipson/index.html)

 

No.1 is static views of IT governance. Before management takes an action, it needs to visualize its concept.  Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed (RACI) is often treated as the standard.

No.2 is dynamic views of IT governance. Companies define their policy at first and then they will implement their task. In the process, they will revise and reinforce their policy and implement the task again. This routine work will be better as IT governance.

Above all, we can understand how these quotations are important.

Chapter #3

3)      Value chain analysis is useful at the business level to highlight specific activities in the business where information systems are most likely to have a strategic impact. Discuss this model, identify the activities, and describe how the model can be applied to the concept of information technology.

 

The most common two system applications are Supply chain management systems and Customer relationship management systems. Both of them consist of support activities and primary activities. Thanks to these systems, management can analyze more specifically. For example, as their main measure of strategic analysis, they use Benchmarking and Best practice.

Chapter #4

4)      What are the steps in conducting an ethical analysis? Explain.

 

There are five steps that should help for ethical issues.

 

1, Identify and describe clearly the facts

2, Define the conflict or dilemma and identify the higher-order values involved.

3, Identify the stakeholders

4, Identify the opinions that you can reasonably take.

5, Identify the potential consequences of your opinions.

 

Basically, these steps look like common concepts of managerial strategy. In many instances,

 

“You will be surprised at the errors in the initially reported facts, and often you will find that simply getting the facts straight helps define the solution. It also helps to get the opposing parties involved in an ethical dilemma to agree on the facts.”(Management information systems, Kenneth C. Laudon, P159)

 

This makes sense as ethical dilemma. However, No.3, concerning about stakeholder, has a lot of aspects. There are political issues, social issues, and ethical issues.  Stockholders will not only think about the matter of stock price but also the reputation of the company. The reputation of the company influences a stakeholder’s decision. The decision also will affect the stock price.

Chapter  #5

5)      Explain why standards are so important in information technology? What standards have been important for the growth of Internet technologies? Explain.

 

Standards enable us to cooperate with other companies and make compatibility of information technology systems between companies. This specification defines the rules of business and makes it clear for stakeholders.  This standard is similar to global standards of global business. Global business needs to follow the standard when they do world-wide business. The way of thinking is the same as the standard of information technology. Today, there are many issues of copyright and property.  China abuses these kinds of matters. This means the issue of information technology is already a global issue because of the internet. We need to think about both standards for our business.

“Success!” Starbucks’ Java style

What are the lessons learned of “success! Starbucks’ Java style helps to recruit, train, and retain local managers in Beijing”?

Basically, Chinese work is strictly defined and has no challenge for employees to maintain a relationship with their company. They won’t switch jobs for money alone.  They want to work for a company that gives them an opportunity to learn. Nowadays, young Beijingers tend to prefer Western culture. Starbucks’ strategy is to prompt their original motivation and turn their interests to Starbucks’ advantage.

For example, Starbucks brings them to Seattle, Washington, to give them a taste of the West Coast lifestyle. Their java-style culture is totally different from Western culture. However, there is a new taste for them and they could enjoy the casual atmosphere and respect.

The goodness and reputation of Starbucks gives them motivation. The key point of their success was to understand Chinese culture and people. We should be able to think more deeply of what globalization is and make it better.

Business Ethics-The collapse of Lehman brothers

Introduction

Many people believe the beginning of the end for Lehman Brothers was when Washington repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. This separate the interests of commercial and investment banks, preventing them from competing against each other and protecting their balance sheets by allowing each sector to focus on the business and transactions that it did best. This allowance will be Repo 105 incident. After some years, because of Richerd Fuld’s aggressive business model such as CMBS and subprime loans, Lehman Brothers faced pinch.  On Sept.13, 2008, the United States Treasury made it clear that Lehman Brothers would not be the recipient of bailout money. On Sept. 15, Fuld filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Common Ethical Problems Within Corporations

The problem of Repo 105(standard repurchase agreements) is revealed after the financial crisis because of subprime loans.  Right after the crisis, Lehman Brothers invested in IT capital to create a high-speed trading platform for equities called Baikal. However, it is likely to have a profound spillover effect to the IT industry and it is not only the information system, they got many IT software to control their complicated data. To make matters worse, the systems became an obstacle of finding out Repo 105’s problem. Their financial executives conceal their debt in Repo 105 but the complicated IT system database prevents Repo 105 from the investigation of attorneys.

The concealment is not only to remove their securities inventory from balance sheet but Lehman accounted for Repo 105 transaction as “sales” as opposed to financing transactions. They also raised cash by selling assets to a behind-the scenes phantom company called Hudson Castle.

Accounting for Ethical and Unethical Behavior

Richerd Fuld said, “I don’t know about that at all”, nevertheless, they found the evidence of E-mail which was attached about Repo 105 information by Valukas report. As a result, Lehman Brothers paid huge compensation. Fuld had a lot of problems involving this matter in IT industry, making worldwide financial crisis, concealment of Repo 105, entrenching in a highly aggressive and leveraged business model. He was obstinate and he didn’t admit his wrongdoings or take responsibility for anything that he did.

Lehman Brothers’ audit company, Ernst&Young which is only third party privy to the happenings at Lehman Brothers, failed to reveal their wrongdoing in spite of Audit Company because Lehman Brothers was sizeable and presumably lucrative client of the firm. This would be the worst case of negligence of any Audit Company in our history.

Ethical Dilemmas

The importance of leverage ratio

Richerd Fuld tried to make it better because Rating Agencies like S&P would grade companies based on leverage ratio. They wanted to keep their approval. If the ratio is high, the company’s reputation would be down grade. Before the crisis, Lehman Brother’s leverage ratio was skyrocketing to 39 to 1 in gross bases. Many people didn’t care about the ratio. After the crisis, when people were aware of the importance of the ratio and they became curious about ratio, Richerd Fuld tried to show the ratio more lower and implemented a concealment by Repo 105. Due to using Repo 105, it could amend its leverage ratio from 13.9 to a far more favorable 12.1 in net bases.

Why Behaving Ethically Is Important for Business

The Valukas Report was made after the incident. Valukas reviewed the available universe of Leman’s e-mail and other electronically stored documents which are estimated at three petabytes of date by web and text mining and so on. He also hired many attorneys and investigators. Because of large information system which is invested by Richerd Fuld, Valukas took an amount of time to investigate about the unethical behaviors. The report found that Leman painted a misleading picture of its financial conditions using a Repo 105 accounting strategy that auditors Ernst & Young knew about but didn’t question. This objective is not to repeat such a huge financial crisis.

More Info

Lehman Brothers’ Perfect Storm: Where Ethical Lapses Met Bad Judgment

http://theweekinethics.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/lehman-brothers%E2%80%99-perfect-storm-where-ethical-lapses-met-bad-judgment/

The Valukas Report on the Lehman Brothers collapse: the e-discovery aspects

http://www.theposselist.com/2010/03/20/the-valukas-report-on-the-lehman-brothers-collapse-and-e-discovery-stratify-and-caselogistix-win-the-day/

Lehman Brothers invested in IT despite credit crunch

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9114721/Lehman_Brothers_invested_in_IT_despite_credit_crunch

The Dearth of Ethics and the Death of Lehman Brothers

http://sevenpillarsinstitute.org/case-studies/the-dearth-of-ethics-and-the-death-of-lehman-brothers

The 2009 Chrysler-Fiat Strategic Alliance

The 2009 Chrysler-Fiat Strategic Alliance

1)      What are your views of the 2009 Chrysler-Fiat strategic alliance and its future prospects in the auto industry?

In the future, Fiat is expected to own 35 percent of Chrysler by 2013 and could acquire 51 percent of the company. If each company achieves their alliance objectives in the areas of cost cutting, technology sharing, global integration, product rationalizations, and R&D savings, the tie-up will definitely be rated as a major achievement.

2)      Analyze and evaluate Chrysler and Fiat’s strengths and weakness before and after their 2009 strategic alliance (see table II and III).

Fiat has been successful in Europe and Chrysler has a brand name in North America. However, Fiat lacks visibility in North America and Chrysler does not carry a strong dealer network in the European markets. They offset each weakness and use each advantage.

3)      Compare and contrast Chrysler and fiat with five other global auto manufactures (GM, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Daimler) in the areas of global operations and manufacturing issues (see table IV and Exhibit III).

Chrysler always trailed both GM and Ford in market share, technology, and consumer satisfaction. Chrysler was called the “Number Three”.  To make matters worse, the company was further downgraded in the auto industry with the arrival of Japanese companies. However, Chrysler-Fiat got big competitive advantage recently because of the merger and acquisition.

4)      Analyze Chrysler and Fiat’s brand portfolios in the world auto industry. How do you see both companies revamping and overhauling their brands in the short and long terms (see Exhibit I)?

Basically, both companies’ brand portfolios (passenger cars and commercial vehicles) are compatible for each company. However, this will be a daunting task in the short term.

5)      What did you learn from the Chrysler-Fiat Strategic Alliance regarding managing multinationals in the changing global business? What role did the U.S. government play in the formation of this alliance?

If Fiat helps Chrysler, government will give Chrysler additional loan. Moreover, in February 2009, the Obama administration initiated the auto bailout but they required that Chrysler file bankruptcy.

6)      What has happened to the company since this case was written as the alliance was being formed? Give an update as of the time of your reading this case?

In this text book ( International management Managing Across Borders and Cultures) said that Chrysler is expected to sell its shares to public in  2011. However, one update information of article said “Marchionne still isn’t saying when the automaker will go public, but he is saying staging an IPO will be relatively easy once the time comes. (http://www.thestreet.com, 03/07/12 – 10:47 AM EST)”

Marchionne said the preparing of IPO is already done but he didn’t make final decision of going public.

Google’s Country Experience: France, Germany, Japan

I foresee main search engine generation based on important facts related to cultural and foreign matters. Google is the largest search engine in the world today and their profits are mounting. However, they are struggling to expand their business to worldwide because there are some problems that have come about related to cultural differences and internet and technology laws that are imcomplete.

The search engines use of ranking systems enable us to find the most relevant websites easily. This is tremendously profitable for search engines. Web mining is tremendously profitable for search engines.  However, ranking systems should reflect a vision of history and culture. For example, with the surge of digitized textbooks, the French chief librarian said Europe should not only convert its books into digital files, but should also control the page rankings of responses to searches. The ranking is closely related to their country’s culture and reputation.

There are remarkable developments of mining technology. France will try to make “imagine mining” which will enable users to find out results with software that would recognize shapes and colors and then retrieve images and video clips similar to the query image. On the other hand, Germany is developing voice recognition. This technology will find audio files and automatically translate them into a number of European languages. France and Germany need to have their search engines, Quaero and Theseus because US Google has had filed so many suits for infringements of copyright filed against them.

There are some specific problems for each country in Asia.  Japanese electronic technology is remarkable but nowadays, Japanese tend to move away from hardware because the technology is too popular and has diminished in value. Japanese government wants a Japan-centric search engine. Yahoo Japan is very popular. I didn’t know that Yahoo Japan was a foreign based site because it understands Japanese culture. I said Japanese government may want a search engine for Japanese but I think it will be difficult because Yahoo Japan has already fulfilled its citizen’s needs. They need to bring in some killer applications for it. China must have so many domestic controversial issues than Japan and this makes it more difficult to bring in foreign web systems to China. For example, they are prohibited from using Facebook and Twitter. Baidu is their search engine.

In conclusion, every country has its own circumstances and culture. We need to prevent copyright infringements based on controversial domestic issues or cultural differences.

Nike’s CSR challenge

Nike’s CSR challenge

Yoichi Horibe

Many Japanese new graduates want to work for Nike. According to the case study in International Management Managing Across Borders and Cultures, recently Nike was reported to have abusive labor practices in Asia. As a result Nike has decided to make a new strategy to stop these abuses. Their thoughts must change to moral universalism from ethnocentrism and their leader has a concept of “leaders beyond borders”. In the apparel industry, Nike is a leader. Other companies follow their lead. This is why they feel responsible to correct their practices.

Nike has had many problems. It has been found that they use child labor, restrict access to toilets and drinking water during the workday and pay less than legal minimum wage in some part of South Asia. I wouldn’t expect this from Nike because this company is famous worldwide and reliable company. They have many branches and it can’t be helped if occasionally there are problems. However their misdeeds are on an extremely large scale. Their loss of creditability is much more than I expected.

They are trying to redeem their image. They no longer regard the company as a closed system and they have understood its future depends on the way customers, suppliers, investors, regulators and others relate to it.

Their leadership has changed as part of their new strategy. “Leaders beyond borders” means transcending their limited situation. The implication is globalization of company policy and practices. For globalizing their company, they have to consider the host country’s system and culture. In Japan and Europe, they tend to make moral judgments based on general rules. Their worker has to do ethical behavior in compliance with the law. Their corporate governance also must be based on compliance with the law. To transcend their borders, they have to make a sophisticated rule and system before starting up activities overseas.

To open their system, they must resolve their issues of trade flows, governance, media, financial markets and political impact. They need to specialize in finance to analyze financial markets and protect their company from a foreign buyout.  When they make such abusive labor decisions, many hedge funds will try to do a merger and acquisition. Nike needs to protect itself from these attempted buyout, and preserve its good name and history.