Abstract

In the global business environment, it is important for an organization to be capable of managing complex networks of branches, networks, supplies. To support this complexity, the organization must implement and integrate strong information systems to provide supply chain information to managers and supply partners to coordinate the network through facilitating fast communication between managers and managers and supply partners to achieve the needed flexibility for the global operations. Riordan manufacturing’s attending to expand the supply chain to operate in other countries such as Indonesia, Japan, and Italy moving to the globalization. This paper is to identify and evaluate the issues that the organization has to face in order to expand globally stressing on the six required sigma. Riordan’s supply chain management software is used to support some supply chain segments such as transportation, manufacturing, and inventory control. The analysis will involve the risk management taking into consideration factors such as, privacy, multinational polities, system infrastructure, languages, cultures, and virtual teaming.

IS Governance

To implement the needed Information System that capable of supporting the global organizational network, many factors have to be taken into consideration such as diversity of software components, social issues, lack of managerial support, technical issues, the sufficient or insufficient workers involvement in project process and planning which considered a immense challenge to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that supports global organization network (Biehl, 2007).

Information Technologies in Global Business

            Organizations developed within the environment of information and knowledge to achieve cost saving with quality standard by using the available resources to gain competitive advantage. Knowledge transfer is vital or organization to develop and information technologies are solution that provide and support and to speed that transfer within multicultural environment.

Information Technology Approaches        

            The information technology approaches were categorized in two different approaches (a) structured data management and (b) unstructured data management and both approaches are developing Business Intelligence (BI) and Knowledge Management (KM).  The Business Intelligence is based on the data that extracted for the business structured databases and focused on the business information regarding the process of operations to market trends using the information technologies such as data mining. The Knowledge Management however is providing the organization with global domain knowledge and expertise interpreting the organization cases (Albescu, Pugna & Paraschiv, 2009).

Knowledge Management in Global Business

            Information and knowledge have a great affect on global business environment through focusing on the interaction and communication of informal level of knowledge such as human experiences and formalized knowledge such as data warehouse and databases in order to use the facilities of information technology. Knowledge management is including material, technical, social, and human components to expand across diverse network to understand structure, collect, exchange, formulate, and spread the knowledge across the network to other components either human or material. To implement the knowledge management across an organization, many models were developed. Two models are considered the most comprehensive knowledge management framework and influential; (a) the knowledge to create an organization model and (b) working knowledge organization model to analyze dynamics that focus on organizational process design to enable generation and transfer of knowledge (Albescu, Pugna & Paraschiv, 2009).

Global Supply Chain Issues

            Riordan manufacturing as most of other organization must operate supply chains across many different regions and countries to expand globally. Global supply chains participate from different countries with differences in geographic distances and time than domestic supply chain (Siau & Tian, 2004).  Nowadays, organizations from all over the world use the internet as sources of tools to coordinate communication, financing, outsourcing, compliance with customer regulations, and transportation. The internal business functionality has completely changed to become internet application of supply chain management. These systems facilitate the efficiency of customer response and reduced the cost through driving the business by customer’s demand compare to the old  systems that were driven by push based where the production schedule were based on forecasts pr guesses for products (Siau & Tian, 2004).

            In the new model, the supply chains will be triggered by the actual customer purchases or orders and the system has become available with the flow of the triggered information by web tools where transactions were replaced through customer order to produce and deliver what ordered only which develop the chain from retailers to manufacturers and ultimately to suppliers. The actual order information only is used by Riordan manufacturing to propel eth schedules of production and components or raw material purchase (University of Phoenix, 2011).  

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Management Systems’ Business Value

            Through supply chain management systems, organization become able to modernize their external and internal process with accurate information regarding what needed to be produced, store, and move. Integrating and networking supply chain systems provided the organization with the needed tools to speed eth time for the products to arrive to the market, synchronize supply and demand, use assets more effectively, and enhance the service delivery. Supply chain management produces higher growth within an average organization (D’Avanzo et al., 2003).

            Effective supply chain management systems have enhanced the performance of many areas such as (a) improving the customer service and responsiveness by producing the right product at the right time which consequently improved the sales because the system provide the customer and the market with the exact needs at the needed time (Handfield, 1999). (b) Reducing the cost through saving the costs of moving products through the supply chain which save eth cost of inventory carrying, transportation, planning costs, and material acquisition (Handfield, 1999). (c) Cash utilization through the efficiency of the supply chain which provide the supply chain with fast cash in hand faster than  other companies that do not deliver the products to the market fast.

Virtual Teaming and System Infrastructure

            Virtual teaming is defined as group dispersed workers sharing common goal and highly capable of using the information systems to accomplish an effective way of communication. Virtual teams usually assembled by using information and communication technologies to accomplish certain organizational task (Kuruppuarachchi, 2009). The advancement in web technologies have developed a new face of organization in the cyber space that called virtual organization providing eth organization with high capability of collaboration and presenting the organization in a new level of global outreach. The information, communication, and collaboration technologies changed the organizational structure and improve customer service and organizational productivity, hasten eth growth cycle of the products, and reduce costs (Kuruppuarachchi, 2009).

Within multinational organizations, the communication tools that needed to assemble virtual teams have been provided through the information systems and technologies which have evolved new face of team management that needed to manage high diverse team members in a virtual environment workplace. The information systems support the virtual team performance by structuring technology portfolio such as messaging, webinars, virtual private networks (Seilheimer, Ishman & Seilheimer, 2006).

Infrastructure Technologies

The internet infrastructure is the core functionality of virtual teams such as remote connectivity, World Wide Web, bandwidth, intranets, virtual private networks (VPNs), and extranets. The wireless technology has replace the wired one and consequently the bandwidth has become demanding and the global network became relying on Transfer Protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) rules that allow organizations and individuals utilize eth global network (Seilheimer, Ishman & Seilheimer, 2006).

Intranets

            The intranet is a close network that uses web browser as universal application that accessible only for individual workers in one particular organization to accomplish an organizational task through providing them with the needed tools of communication that allow them to work from any location (Seilheimer, Ishman & Seilheimer, 2006). Computerized databases have changed the organizational structure grammatically through managing the information within distributed system, open platform programs to assemble an intranet as virtual workplace, and decentralizing the decision-making (McNaughton, Quickenden, Matear & Gray, 1999).

Instant Communication Technologies

Electronic Mail (E-mail)

E-Mail is the older communication tool and most usable technology on the internet by organization’s individual and teams. The E-Mail is tool of communication simple contents and information between individuals. With the advances in technologies the E-Mail functionality has evolved in a way that increases the communication between more than on person to another. Through using function as “Reply All” an individuals can send one email from one team member to all other team members instantly (Seilheimer, Ishman & Seilheimer, 2006).

Instant Messaging (IM)

            Instant Messaging (IM) is a chat technology that allows team members to communicate through phone voice or PC-to-PC. This technology is considered the evolution of the web chat software that can be used within a controlled environment such as a website Seilheimer, Ishman & Seilheimer, 2006).

Collaboration Technologies

            The collaboration technologies facilitate the communication and create the needed interaction environment for virtual teams to collaborate with each other or with other organizational branch. The characteristics of collaboration technologies are defined by the capability of synchronizing the project data in a real time between virtual team members ad allow them to communicate in a live discussion orally and visually (Chinowsky & Rojas, 2003). Collaboration technologies provide a bridge between distant team members virtually to accomplish organizational project Seilheimer, Ishman & Seilheimer, 2006).

Potential Business Opportunities and Considerations

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that the outsourcing and off-shoring with Mexico indicated that project information (such as deliveries) was tracked through spreadsheets instead of using more advanced data management tool which lead to data overload when the data exceed the system processing capacity (Becker, 2009).  Organization should be sure that their managers are technologically experienced and provide them with the appropriate training using advanced communication and data management tools and understand the impact of the technology on managers (Bell, 2000). The outsourcing in the IT industry is defined as turning over communication and information technology support such as It related functions and networking management (McNurlin & Sprague, 2006).  The outsourcing term could be short term or long term outsourcing contracts within the same country or off-shoring from different country (Lan, 2005).

Conclusions

Global supply chains face several challenges from different degrees of integration and coordination within the organization. The basic level of Information integration is needed in which partners must agree on the information type to share and to use. As Riordan Manufacturing attends to expand globally and establish a new branched in Indonesia, and other parts of the world, many aspects have to be considered and evaluated. To implement the needed Information System that capable of supporting the global organizational network, many factors have to be taken into consideration such as diversity of software components, social issues, lack of managerial support, technical issues, the sufficient or insufficient workers involvement in project process and planning which considered a immense challenge to implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that supports global organization network. Organizations developed within the environment of information and knowledge to achieve cost saving with quality standard by using the available resources to gain competitive advantage. Knowledge transfer is vital or organization to develop and information technologies are solution that provide and support and to speed that transfer within multicultural environment.

 References

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