Case analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 8

Case analysis - Essay Example Since the company used to deal with more than one currency, then the exchange rate proved to be a challenge. Foreign currency rates are never constant; they fluctuate on a daily basis due to the interaction of a variety of elements that are beyond the scope of this case analysis. Delays in ordering and payment together with exchange rate fluctuations pose a significant risk for a company like Alliance that deals with more than one currency. Although it is uncertain, it could be argued that with exchange rate could fluctuate in either direction thus providing some room for profitability. The other problem that Alliance faced was the fact that they have been in operation for only three years. Some of the company is administrative and supply chain processes, such as those for equipment procurement and generation of price quotations require improvement and formalization. This can be attributed to the fact that they have only been in operation for quite a short period (Aleshaiway, 2005). The customer can participate by modifying the price quotation process in a bid to mitigate the foreign exchange risk. This policy can be implemented through a number of various ways including, changing the acceptance period (30 days) and changing the required amount of deposits to be made. A stipulation is saying that the final charges would be based on the exchange rate at the time of project completion should be included in the original contract. To add to the above strategy, a review of the internal processes related to cash management (including collection from customers and payment of suppliers), price quotations, and equipment procurement. Although there are aspects of the overall process that are dependent on schedules and operations of others such us completion of projects, there are small issues within that process that could bring about risk mitigation of exchange rates. The company

Global Decision Support Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Decision Support - Essay Example That DSS tools are effective in managerial decision making processes implies managers must improve the tools’ capacities to work efficiently to yield the right information structure (Antunes et al., 2007). Thus the generation, design, implementation, interpretation and implementation of DSS tools should be done efficiently and competently to solve decision-making problems. A DSS system should thus serve as a competitive advantage that helps an organization to tackle decision-making problems based on consistent information and information structure and win markets. Background Generally, a Decision Support System (DSS) is a compilation of amalgamated software and hardware applications (tools, techniques, and models) used by an organization as the benchmark of decision making process. Since decision making requires the analysis of data, a DSS should be data-driven. The concepts of Business Intelligence (BI), Organizational Intelligence (OI), and Competitive Intelligence (CI), whi ch encompass the processes, methodologies, and reporting tools central to decision support systems to report, monitor, and analyze data are also important in DSS and decision making (Antunes et al., 2007). This paper reviews literatures on the benefits and buy-in of global DSS, the processes of implementing global DSS, the ethical issues related to global DSS, and the possible ways by which global DSS may increase global partners. A global Decision Support System (GDSS) is a computer-based interactive system used by teams from different organizations, countries or regions to make decisions, solve problems, and make choices. Specifically, global DSS aims to support groups in the analysis of problem situations and in the performance of collective decision-making tasks. From its name global DSS is quite descriptive and is a mixture of systems that uses intricate communications infrastructures and quantitative models to support decision-making processes. Literature Review As a consequen ce of increased globalization and heightened competition in the business world, entrepreneurs have resorted to using the latest technologies to make vital business decisions (Lynch, 1994). Similarly, a lot of literary work has focused on decision making and its various techniques and tools such as DSS. According to most authors, there are numerous aspects of DSS that organizations and managers should consider when venturing into global DSS. Global DSS benefits, implementation, and ethical issues are among the most extensively covered aspects of DSS in literatures. Businesses enjoy numerous benefits by implementing global DSS. For instance, for quite a long time, organizations have struggled to find an electronic commercial application that would allow them to jointly decode and interpret information to allow them to make use of these decision making tools in the accompaniment of other organizations or business partners (Lynch, 1994). The first among the many benefits of global DSS i s that it allows organizations to orient their resources towards providing managers with all the required information for strategic decision making. Global DSS offers organizations several other capabilities, including support for decision-making processes in ill-structured situations that lack full computerization and requires computer-based assistance for voluminous data accessibility and processing (Lynch, 1994). Global DSS also helps in the rapid acquisition of quantity and quality results for reaching decision by supporting the various stages of