The purpose of this assignment is to for students to analyse the expansion capability of an existing Australian company, WOOLWORTHS business and/or e-commerce, and to communicate these key issues through a written report and an in-class presentation.
Written report
The point of the exercise is to produce a report that is well supported with references from respected sources. You should include academic journals, books, theses, trade magazines and well-respected sources of related Internet material as you find is relevant. Wikipedia, due to the inability to substantiate the information provided within, is NOT considered a reliable academic research source. Remember that "cutting and pasting" from sources, including web sites, even if the source is references, is a serious offense. Please use the format below to write your report. The main heading for each section should be used as headings in your report as well.
1) Introduction
a) An introductory paragraph, restating in your team's own words your understanding of the goals of the project
b) A description of your assigned country, including a variety of relevant statistics such as population, percent of Internet usage within the country, Internet infrastructure, political issues that may impact the project, and the possible increase in Internet presence in the past five years. Student teams should build a profile of the country of a type that could be used to present this country to the organisation in a meeting of a board of directors. This should include graphics (maps) and other visuals showing the information above.
c) A description of WOOLWORTHS including a brief history, goals and mission, and relevant industry information.
2) Analysis of suitability of e-business venture in this country for your assigned organisation
a) Conduct the analysis using the information on the organisation as well as the country you have been assigned. This analysis should be performed using the following technique:
i) Competitive Environment Analysis
You are expected to research this technique as part of this assignment, and write this section up in a format in keeping with this sort of analysis.
b) Provide the name of another organisation of this type that is currently operating within your country using e-Commerce or e-Business. This organisation can be either local or global.
Provide some details about this organisation, such as how long they have been in the country, if they are successful, etc.
3) Analysis of suitability of e-commerce implementation in your assigned country for your assigned organisation
a) Using the information gathered for part 2, as well as other sources, consider as many factors as you can that would impact on the ability or inability of WOOLWORTHS to implement e-Commerce within this country. Factors will include items such as social, legal and ethical constraints within the country, and micro-environmental factors within WOOLWORTHS.
b) Identify some of the barriers and constraints to e-Business & e-Commerce that must be considered in the match between your country and this company.
c) Outline the business challenges of introducing e-business and e-commerce within the assigned country with WOOLWORTHS.
4) e-Supply Chain Management & e-Procurement
a) Provide a brief overview of how e-Supply chain management and e-Procurement are most likely to work within WOOLWORTHS based upon what you know from your research and from lectures.
b) Include a discussion of potential electronic supply chain management issues related to the implementation of e-Business and e-Commerce for WOOLWORTHS in your assigned country. Be specific and provide solutions if possible.
c) Include a discussion of electronic procurement issues related to the implementation of e-Business and e-Commerce for your organisation in your assigned country.
5) e-Marketing & e-Customer Relationship Management
a) Outline a plan for the marketing of WOOLWORTHS within your country. Be sure to include a discussion of the preferred advertising medium in that country and the reach that this preferred medium has within the country. This will require you to research the country enough to discover the preferred advertising medium.
b) Discuss e-CRM issues and opportunities with regard to your organisation and e-Business within this country.
6) Localisation Issues & Change Management
a) Do you plan to use any consultants from the country that you are expanding into during your implementation? If so, what will their role be?. Will they be IT experts, Organisation Development experts, or other types of consultants?
b) Discuss localisation issues within the country and environment that you are entering.
c) Discuss the need for change management for WOOLWORTHS with regard to the existing company. Provide a plan for communication and management of the changes most likely to occur within the company that will affect staff. Suggest strategies for effective management of this change.
7) Conclusion
a) Summarise and evaluate your analyses, the feasibility of success of an e-Business or e-Commerce initiative in this country for your organisation, your projections about the success of this project, the potential costs and benefits to the company. Discuss what is different about your country for implementation purposes, and why you think the initiative would be a success or failure.
b) Close the paper with a sentence or two summing up your report.