Competitive Use of Technology - Essay Example

?Contents Introduction: 2 Competitive use of technology and its effects on businesses: 3 Affects on services: 4 Affects on Projects with reference to Teams: 5 Affects on supply chain businesses: 5 Affects on business mobility: 5 Affects on switching costs: 6 Resources: 6 Advantages of competitive use of technology: 6 Competitive use of technology can result in increasing market shares (revenues): 7 Competitive use of technology can help increasing productivity and reducing operation costs: 8 Competitive use of technology can help secure the privacy of employees and customers: 9 Competitive use of technology in Apple Company (case study): 9 The different strategies of competitive use of technology: 11 Competitive use of technology (IT) and corporate strategy: 11 Competitive use of technology (IT) and internal strategy: 13 Conclusion 14 COMPETITIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY Introduction: Nowadays businesses around the world are seeking expansions and are devising strategies in order to gain competitive advantage over other rival businesses. For attaining these purpose organizations across the globe are bringing innovations by effectively using new technology and enhancing the role of information system (IS) and information technology (IT) (Stair, and Reynolds, 2009). Furthermore these information system and information technologies are being used as a weapon to gain competitive advantage over the rivals (Avlonitis, and Karayanni, 2000). Conventionally businesses used to practice and use IT and IS systems specifically for data processing but things got change as various innovations came forward. With the advent and rapid growth of internet and global economy, the role of IT and IS showed ameliorations, as the concept of economic growth and expansion of businesses around the globe is very much related to effective use of technology with reference to successfully implanting and using IT and IS systems intelligently (Ward, & Peppard, 2002). At present businesses that are effectively using information technology and other competitive technologies are amongst the global leaders in their respective domains. As these businesses have garnered understanding that competitive use of technology is going to create win-win situation for them, on the other hand they have clear understanding that muzzling or confining the effective use of technology in this era will leave businesses lost in translation (Lawlor , 2007). There are many definitions of competitive use of technology but these definitions are not very much precise and accurate or they are not succinct in many ways. However one possible way to garner more understanding of the definition is studying or analyzing it into parts (breaking it). For instance competitiveness can be defined as the ability of the firm, organization, country or business (with reference to performances) in order to produce or launch their products and services in the markets for selling, in relation to the abilities and performances of other businesses in the same domain and in the same market. Or in general competitive advantage is considered to be having advantages or abilities that can very much differentiate businesses amongst each other and gives an edge over rival business (Koutroumanis, 2011). Moreover technology on the other hand is the availability and application of information or knowledge in order to complete the desire task that can bring change in the human environment by doing practical and complex human works with ease, comfort and with timeliness. Or in simple words technology is the use of knowledge, materials, equipments, tools, sources of power and techniques in order to come up with enhancement in productivity while giving luxury to humans to carry daily operations (complex and simple) with ease and accuracy. So upon combining both, competitive use of technology can be defined as the effective use of technology by the businesses in order to gain competitive advantage over other businesses and to create win-win situation for them. This win-win situation can be achieved with ease provided that effective information technology systems and tools are made available for the organizations. Competitive use of technology and its effects on businesses: At present many large and small organizations in almost all industry sectors are one way or other dependent upon the use of information technology. Nowadays economies are under manipulation, or are dependent upon information system (revolution). Not even a single organization can escape from its aura (effects). Business around the world are getting large number of benefits through implementing competitive use of technology, for instance the value added by competitive use of technology enabled cost reduction in manufacturing, processing, transporting and in communicating as well. Moreover the use of technology has resulted in transforming businesses, as it is almost mandatory for organization to adopt at least some part of the information technology in order to stay and match the speed of the world (global market) and to stay competitive (Porter, 2001). However ICT (information and communication technology) has great tendencies to affect the businesses with respect to competitive advantage (use of technology) in number of different ways. For instance through gathering information or by providing information to the workers on mass scale, it enhances the organization’s tendency to manage and communicate with its worker more effectively and quickly in order to bring various innovations or successfully implanting strategies or business opportunities. Moreover because of this communication various teams are interconnected which further garner evidence of reaching towards goals collectively and effectively. Likewise competitive information technology also ameliorates efficiencies in supply chain of businesses by providing speedy and effective communication system throughout the whole business chain (Laudon, and Laudon, 2006). Given below are some of the main sectors that information communication technology can provide benefits in, these are: Affects on Customer services: ICT is providing various numbers of benefits for the customer services businesses, as the ability of storing data and easy access to this data provide customer services business great advantages. For instance customer service provider can easily access to the information which shows customers history. As a result he can further plan the deal with that customer accordingly by succinctly mentioning the product offers related to its needs. Moreover competitive use of technology in call centers is very much good example in this regard that further testifies the importance of ICT in businesses (customer services businesses). In addition to this, technological advancement has helped economy by introducing new businesses particularly online businesses (Turban, King, Lee, and Viehland, 2006) Affects on Projects with reference to Teams: Different organization forms different teams in order to complete some specific task, or to work or research in terms of developing a product or service that can give company benefits. For instance the first and core benefit information technology or ICT provides business is to effectively manage and save time and money. ICT helps in saving time by providing options of virtual meetings through videos and audios over internet. As a result enabling organization to save hefty amount of money and time which on other way would be spend on traveling. Affects on supply chain businesses: Competitive use of technology in supply chain business enables these businesses to effectively communicate to their employees and customers. Moreover due to this communication businesses can now effectively share the status of the delivery. Moreover they can devise new strategies and attract more consumers through affective use of competitive technology. Affects on business mobility: Just because of competitive use of technology a worker in the remote area can easily connect with the company and can use or share same data resources that his colleagues are using while sitting in the office. Mobile communication technology enabled businesses to mange their resources more effectively and conveniently, for instance a worker can now satisfy queries of customers or clients regardless where he is roaming at the moment. Consequences businesses get competitive advantage. Affects on switching costs: There are myriad benefits that use of technology provides businesses in order to gain competitive advantage over rival business or businesses. For instance technology can give organizations an edge over other organization and in many ways can also contribute towards creating an entry barrier for other businesses working on the same domain. Furthermore consider a scenario in which an organization has given its major client an extra option for making a purchase over internet, in this way rival business also needs to develop same kind of system in order to gain competitive advantage or at least to remain competent in the market. This kind of advantage is also termed as switching cost as highlighted in the IESE Business School paper. Moreover the study further revealed that switching costs is garnering more importance in the business settings these days because of the increase use of ICTs. Resources: The availability of high tech equipments and technology does not necessarily guarantees organization’s success provided other resources of the organizations are well aligned with the system. As information technology requires human interfaces in order to complete its operations therefore effective and competent workers in this regard are also important in order to gain competitive technology advantage over other businesses (Ward, & Peppard, 2002). Advantages of competitive use of technology: Competitive use of technology can give myriad advantages for businesses especially in terms of enhancing and increasing business efficiencies; with it this technology also enables expansion of controls with reference to business operations carried out in several distant places (Porter, 1980). However given below are some of the main advantages that businesses are enjoying because of competitive use of technology. These are: Competitive use of technology can result in increasing market shares (revenues): Use of technology in order to carry out business practices can also result in enhancing revenues. An organization large or small can now target masses because of information technology and internet. Various different businesses at present have their websites online in order to further create relations with the customers and try to engage new customers. These websites works as their online stores which have detailed knowledge about the products and services that businesses are offering. Therefore just because of competitive use of technology business now can spread their product information or in simple words market their products online in order to reach the masses globally. Consequence leads towards more revenue generations. Similarly another ease that internet and competitive use of technology provides business is the ability to sale their products and services online. Transfer of money can be done instantly. As a result growing number of businesses are coming up with the idea of selling their products online by accepting variety of different credits transfer options. Moreover various social media websites are used by businesses in order to not only target new customers but also to retain and maintain old customers as well. This shows that how business can align competitive use of technology in order to ameliorate their sales and revenues through attracting and retaining customers and providing product information using technology. Likewise another important way that competitive use of technology helps generating revenues for businesses is providing assistance in customer relationship management. As various different technologies are aligned with customer relationship management software that enables easy access to data and helps tracking the records of customer’s buying patterns. In this way giving detail knowledge about the customer’s buying ability, which later can help organizations in order to target customer by judging their buying habits. As a result one can easily state that competitive use of technology can very much increase revenue for business. Competitive use of technology can help increasing productivity and reducing operation costs: Competitive use of technology in organizations and businesses help increasing productivity and also in many ways reduce operational costs of the businesses. Many businesses around the world are effectively working by making a network through the help of information technology. As a result various operations that conventionally took ages or days for their completions are now completed instantly. The effective use of technology in businesses not only saves time and increase productivity but it also helps doing complex work with ease. For instance if an organization is making annual report, businesses that are not using information technology tends to take more time for making this report because of the manual procedures and data collection and compiling methods, moreover these businesses will further take days in order to share their data. However if businesses are practicing competitive use of technology then these businesses can easily collect and share data on daily basis with ease. Through a document file that can be easily shared over internet. Or if a company has developed its own network this task can very easily be performed. In this way businesses by using Information Technology can very much gain competitive advantage over other businesses. As a result it does not only increase productivity but also reduces operational costs. Competitive use of technology can help secure the privacy of employees and customers: If an organization is very much performing well and has its business record online over its official website, this record also consist of sales records, customers information and other form of data that is very much vital for the organization. Possibilities of hacking this website might result in creating catastrophic situation for the businesses therefore competitive use of technology (IT) is very much need of those businesses in order to confine or restrict hackers from obtaining this confidential data. Besides these there are myriad advantages that businesses can take by applying competitive use of technology in their business environment. Competitive use of technology in Apple Company (case study): Macintosh computers: Apple Company in terms of using technology in order to gain competitive advantage over its rivals has garnered great amount of success in the past and conditions are still ameliorating at present as well. Conventionally Apple had variety of different competitive advantages which resulted in making this organization a profitable business. With unique designing and easy to operate functions Apple Macintosh (personal computers) PCs hit the markets and were soon amongst the priority list of the PC users. Though initially compatibility of the Macintosh PC was a big hurdle in its success but this issue was resolved and Macintosh PCs showed enhancements in terms of markets shares. As more than 50% of the education sector with reference to desktop publishing, preferred Macintosh computers. Furthermore Apple was not only able to succinctly muzzle Macintosh PCs in accordance with hardware and software development but was also able to create competitive advantage by developing and using plug and play option (system) in the PCs. The concept of plug and play system was very unique and its practical application in the technology has resulted in creating competitive advantage over its rival organizations. The plug and play system is still very much in practice as it gives user convenience and work on the basis of making everything ready for use. With respect to this, various other innovations were also drafted by Apple in Macintosh computers. For instance I-tunes and iPod Halo effects are the other two innovations that resulted in giving Macintosh computers edge over its rivals which not only increased sales of the computers but also resulted in creating aura. Moreover alignment of marketing strategies with respect to creating competitive use of technology is another important reason that contributed in Apple’s success. As Apple advertisement endorses that not all people are cool enough to be Mac persons. Market leader in terms of bringing innovations in technology: Apple Company is considered amongst pioneers that always bring innovations in the use of technology. This can be testified from various numbers of examples. For instance iPod a digital music player launched by Apple in 2001 is still leading the market because of its designing, functions and easy user interface. Masses around the world are using iPod as a personal music player as this music player has managed to garner its place amongst young people especially. Moreover connecting this with iTunes is another main reason that has resulted in giving Apple competitive advantage over its rivals. Likewise launch of Apple iPhone (2007) is another example that reflects Apple use of technology (enhancements or innovations) in order to gain competitive advantage over its rivals. As this phone very much enhanced the concept of smart phones by providing consumers with large display and touch screen. One interesting innovation in this phone was its ability to respond to finger touches and the exclusion of keyboard or keypads that were very much common at that time. Though iPhone first generation phones were not compatible in terms of installing third party applications, but this was fixed later as the company announced that iPhone will support third party applications. Soon a new system by the name jailbreaking was launched which ensured successful installation of third party applications (Mickalowski, Mickelson, and Keltgen, 2009). In the next year (July, 2008) iphone further brought innovations in the smart phone by launching second generation iPhones which also supported 3G technology. Prices of these phones were muzzled with it an online store was set up in order to provide assistance in terms of installing third party applications (paid and free). Furthermore Apple Company did not stop in terms of bringing innovations, as many innovations are still made in the latest phones in order to gain competitive advantage over its rivals (Kao, Chang, Huang, & Lin, 2012). The above mentioned case study very much testifies that how competitive use of technology can result in ameliorating businesses provided innovations are considered to be an integral part. The different strategies of competitive use of technology: Competitive use of technology (IT) and corporate strategy: Different organizations opt for different kind of strategies, however the basic ingredients for coming up with the strategy remains the same. As successful businesses always try to come up with ways or devising strategies that are enlightened with the ability to create opportunities of future competitive growth faster than rival businesses, or before any other business has perceived. Therefore competitive use of technology or use of IT has its own importance in business settings with reference to drafting strategies and gaining advantage over competitors. Conventionally a common practice that was carried out by organizations were lack of co operate relationships. These relations were not only confined till competitors but firms use to carry the same stance for clients and suppliers as well (Porter, 1980). On the other hand nowadays organizations are keener in terms of working on a specific domain or performing specific activity (with reference to be a part of networks) in order to enhance working and production efficiency, moreover bringing innovations in decision making and working under the banner of decision support systems (DSS) are some other practices or basis that organization by adopting can take or create competitive advantage over competitors. Meanwhile organization’s potential of profit is dependent upon managing resources or applying its resources in order to create flourishing competitive advantage (Daneshvar, and Ramesh, 2010). Therefore corporate strategies should be devised considering sources of competitive advantage (with reference to sustainable development) (Barney, 1991; Grant, 1991; Peteraf, 1993). As a result it is very important for the organizations to create competences in order to extract benefits from the Information Technology. Furthermore Williamson, (1985) in Transactions cost economies highlighted the importance of information technology with reference to its role in creating competitive advantages in organizations. He highlighted that vertical integration of organizations is dependent upon postulations of behaviors (opportunistic) and lack of equality of information which one way or other are main causes of transaction costs. Moreover opportunities that results because of IT can further create competitive advantage in three different types as highlighted by Rockart and Scott Morton (1984) these opportunities are, 1).enhancements in value added services, 2). Enhancements in linkages with customers and suppliers, with reference to increasing cost of switching, 3). Creating new business through different products and services. Competitive use of technology (IT) and internal strategy: Generally internal strategy of an organization is concerned with enhancements and improvements in structures of organization(s). moreover it also deals with enhancements in processes in order to accomplish the core objectives or goals that organizations set. Usually information technology (IT) and corporate strategies of the organizations are interlinked, for instance upon considering the internal strategy of the firm, a firm nowadays can very easily use technology in order to effectively manage and deal its distribution business online or offline. Moreover that particular firm also has this luxury of placing or using online purchasing department with reference to allocating terminals for customers or consumers. As efficiency of the firm can very much be enhanced by adopting this system, which in many ways are core essences of the internal strategy. Furthermore vital information regarding customers can also be maintained (retained) through terminal, with it because of express orders consumers will be having luxury of reductions in expenses or costs (REF). IT has tradition of bringing innovations in efficiencies and effectiveness of organizations, moreover Rockart and Scott Morton (1984) highlighted that Information Technology (IT) can very much play important role in terms of creating competitive advantage for the firms, they came up with the view that these systems can very influence or impact management systems (processes), organizational and personal structures. Conclusion Information technology (IT) in an organization is considered to be an integral tool that has very personified effects on competitive advantages with respect to either effecting differentiations or cost. Moreover effective use of technology can result in affecting (value) activities or in simple words it gives or creates chances for organizations in order to gain competitive advantage by implementing, operating alterations in competitive scope. Moreover Porter (1966) came up with the view that information technology (IT) is affecting competition in three different styles, these are: IT very much alters or bring changes in overall industry structure, and for achieving this it also at time alters or bring changes in the rules of the game. Because of Information Technology (IT) organizations can outperform other rival organizations by creating competitive advantage. IT can very much give birth to new businesses, usually from organization’s operations that are currently undergoing. List of references Avlonitis, G., and Karayanni, D. (2000). ‘The Impact of Internet Use on Business-toBusiness Marketing Examples from American and European Companies’. 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