Chapter 15 Article: Companies Willing to Take Risks in a Recession

I chose an article from BusinessWeek. The article talks about companies that are taking risks in this recession. The article was pretty long and talked about many different companies all using the recession as a tool to either buy out companies with cash hoards or expand globally. I turned my focus on one particular section about a company called Inditex based in Spain. This company chose to continue to go global even in this recession. Inditex is one of the worlds leading textile distribution groups. They are the owner of clothing retailer Zara which has annual sales of $14 billion across 4,264 outlets. The company has been praised for its outstanding supply china management organization that allows it to adapt to changing economies.

Inditex is now expanding aggressively adding as many as 450 stores this year! This has to do with chapter 15 because they are not only expanding throughout Spain but also into the U.S. They already have 42 stores in the U.S. and will be adding to that number by opening stores in Chicago, the Midwest and Florida. The company is fortunate enough to take advantage of this economical climate especially in the United States. Right now in the U.S. there are so many retail stores going out of business. This has left prime real estate open and available to be bought up very inexpensively by Inditex and other companies wanting to get a chunk of the U.S. market.

This article shows that with the proper planning and knowledge of your global market you can be successful in any sort of economy. Initex has been lucky to have such a strong supply chain management system. This has given them the base to go global and continue going global keeping all operations in order. With further research I found that Inditex has also recently moved to a centralized web based shipping platform to improve shipping visibility. The message I took away from this article was that even if a company has already gone global there is still always room for expansion. With expansion may come further improvements that a company must be willing to roll with in order to be a success.

Works Cited

Weber, Joseph. (June 11, 2009). Companies Willing to Take Risks in a Recession. Retrieved June, 15, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_25/b4136036137349.htm

Nestlé Tries for an All-for-One Global Strategy

Nestlé Tries for an All-for-One Global Strategy Case Study Questions

2. The type of global business strategy that Nestlé originally had in place was decentralized. The company was operating on 80 different information technology units in many different countries. They realized that this system was not working and turned to centralizing their company’s operations. I think that this strategy was very appropriate for Nestlé because they were not able to take advantage of negotiating deals with suppliers, keeping all data organized and having one source of information that was accessible around the globe.

3. When it came time to implement the centralized data strategy named Global Business Excellence (GLOBE) Nestlé ran into a lot of challenges. Management around the globe at their different offices resisted the idea of centralization. They believed that they would lose decision making power if things became uniform throughout the company. They also did not know how this would work with their sectors since many of the countries were very different and had to abide by certain laws and regulations. There were organization challenges as well. It was difficult to organize this huge project when there were some budget restrictions coupled with strict deadlines. Things had to be reworked until processes were able to be completed one at a time within reasonable timelines. Chris Johnson who was the lead on this project had to make sure that not only was he meeting deadlines but that he was able to keep within a budget which proved challenging. Technology played an enormous role in this operation. Everything needed to be changed to a new system that would centralize data. Challenges arose because there was not a lot of time to train employees on this new SAP program but it still needed to be rolled out.

4. Nestlé’s management used a couple of strategies to deal with challenges. They were able to have meetings with managers and listen to concerns as well as voice solutions. They also had to use a little bit of a more forceful tactic when things were not going smoothly. Chris Johnson just laid it on the line, if the management was not going to fall in line with this new implementation then he would be fired and one of them would have to take over. Using this tactic made managers realize that this was going to get done with or without them so they just had to get used to the idea. When organizational challenges came about meetings were held and changes were made to timelines and budgets accordingly so that the project did not get pushed off track. The technology eventually fell into place with little complaint or problems from the global sectors. Overall I think that this implementation was necessary and will benefit Nestlé greatly in the future. By having all information centralized companies tend to run smoothly. Nestlé was also unique in that it kept strict guidelines however was accommodating to global sectors that needed a little wiggle room.

Chapter 13 Article: Healing Health Care

I found an article titled “Healing Health Care” and thought it was a perfect fit to go along with chapter 13 because it talks about reengineering the health care market. I also did the Medicaid system case study questions so this article fit right in with both of those readings. The article starts out stating, “One of the greatest inefficiencies the U.S. faces is the $250 billion a year that it spends on health care administration, trying to resolve the information flow between providers, patients and insurers. Archaic systems and processes cause disputes, paper pushing, numerous phone calls and injustice.” This number is staggering and could be drastically cut if reengineering combined with the proper technology were implemented.

The article goes into a couple of companies that have been trying to revamp the health care industry such as Athena Health. This company offers a software-based subscription service to doctors' offices that helps them collect reimbursements from insurance companies. Athena Health does about a billion claims per quarter and is so efficient that doctor’s offices have seen a decrease in the amount of days it takes to receive reimbursements from 75 to 45. The company does not charge upfront costs for their services but do take a percentage of the claims per year. In 2007 they managed $2 billion in claims and made a profit of $100 million. In the next few years they are expected to continue to grow at a rate of about 30% per year.

The article also gave a great example of three MIT engineers who really took advantage of this market. Each of these three founders had a personal experience with Lou Gehrig's disease. They decided to start an internet community called PatientsLikeMe. It is designed to cater to patients, doctors and organizations for various diseases. The more people who joined this group the more information and personal contact could be gained between parties. Doctors or researchers could now have direct access to specific patients for studies. Patients could have a direct line to other like them and also to doctors that could potentially help. It was a very ingenious idea. The article talks about communication and connection being the future of health care and this is a great start.

In closing the author states, “Overall, the health care industry is a significant problem area that encapsulates many dormant opportunities for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. And yes, health care needs to create a bubble comparable to the dot-com, telecom, Web 2.0 and Green Tech bubbles we've experienced in the last decade. Those bubbles drew attention, energy and investment, and they created companies, jobs and wealth. So let's blow it up!” I think this last paragraph in her article is very motivational. We all know that there is a huge problem out there and a lot of money to be made. All you need to do is have the motivation to solve it and you’ll potentially be set for life. I guess we should all start getting to work!

Works Cited
Mitra, Sramana. (Novemeber 21, 2008). Healing Health Care. Retrieved June, 05, 2009, from http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/20/mitra-healthcare-innovation-tech-enter-cx_sm_1121mitra.html

What went wrong with Maine’s New Medicaid System? Chapter 14

What went wrong with Maine’s New Medicaid System? Case Study Questions

1. Information systems for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services are extremely important. Without a functioning system in place the entire Medicaid system went completely haywire. There was a great negative impact felt by all involved when the newly chosen information system company, CNSI failed to deliver. Thousands of doctors were either underpaid or overpaid causing huge debt for the practice and state respectively. Claims were also so backed up in the system that some physicians had to close their doors to the patients causing them to suffer by not receiving treatment. Without an effective and accurate information system put in place Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services came completely undone.

4. In order to control the risk in the IT modernization project I would have first looked around at other states that had already begun to implement changes. I would have observed and researched what they were doing right and what needed improvements so that I was prepared for the task ahead. I also would have done some trial runs with the potential new system and tried to foresee any large scale problems. With this information I then would have been able to make a more reasonable Request for Proposal and possibly had more companies bidding on my job. This would have allowed for more options of companies with potentially more experience in turn leading to lesser risk.

5. If I were in charge of managing this project I would have done a lot more research to begin with. I would have gone to experts in the field of developing information systems and probably paid a higher price for the work to be done if it was going to be done right. I think it was a bad call to bring in a “no name” company to take on such a large scale overhaul. I also would have considered updating the system with something that was compatible with the old system instead of started from scratch. I don’t think the managers in charge of this thought through all of the people who would have to be trained in order to use these new standards. The system completely shutting claims out for data entry errors was a big problem. If employees would have been properly trained in the new system this could have been prevented. As the manger I would have never had a system that was so incompatible in the first place. Something more updated but still in the same realm of the old system would have made the transition much easier and a lot more straight forward.

Chapter 11 Article: Knowledge Management: 5 Big Companies That Got It Right

The article I chose was written in 2007 and talks about five U.S. companies that were able to get knowledge management right. The article starts off by saying that in 2007 U.S. companies had spent $73 billion on knowledge management software. This number is said to only increase further as the years go on. Being able to successfully implement these knowledge management systems is often a big challenge for companies. The five companies who did it best in 2007 were; World Bank, Southern Company, Down Jones, Shuffle Master and Pratt &Whitney.

World Bank completely transformed their information technology system going from a hierarchical source of low-interest loans to a decentralized organization that relied on knowledge management technologies in order to help fight poverty and disease in developing nations.

Southern Company prepared for Hurricane Katrina before the storm struck. They prepared for worst case scenarios and built enterprise content management platforms to endure engineers could get immediate access if they had to design plans of electrical substations and other power equipment. As a result of this early planning and knowledge management power was restored to victims of the hurricane homes in 12 days which was two weeks earlier than was expected.

Dow Jones realized that more people were going to the internet instead of newspapers for their information on the market. These movements prompted the company to gear up and use this knowledge to manage the content that was needed by their investors online.

Shuffler Master is a company that manufactures card shuffling machines and chip counting products. The company had issues with sales and order processing infrastructures that were fragmented making actual sales numbers outdated when looking at meeting a certain quota. The solution that they came up with was to build a portal that can pull data on demand form more than 60 databases. This action allowed real time information to be shared.

Pratt& Whitney manufacture airline engines and have to constantly transmit information about the status of their parts. They use a web portal to integrate all of their data and track all parts so they know where everything is at what time. They also know who needs what exactly when they order it taking the guessing work out of the ordering and delivering.

These companies were able to put the data and information they had gathered in their certain sector to good use. Chapter 11 talks a lot about being able to use the data you have and organize it in such a way that it will be useful. There is no point in collecting data if it is not going to be analyzed and turned into valuable knowledge that will be able to help a company further succeed and reach its goals.

Works Cited

McCormick, John. (October 4, 2007). Knowledge Management: 5 Big Companies That
Got It Right. Retrieved May 29, 2009, from http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/IT-Management/Knowledge-Management-5-Big-Companies-That-Got-It-Right/

Can Information Systems Make Your Doctor Better Chapter 12

Can Information Systems Make Your Doctor Better?
Case Study Questions

1. Hospitals and physicians are encountering problems with diagnosing diseases and prescribing medication due to a few different factors. They are having a difficult time diagnosing patients because of lack of an information data center. They can only rely on their own skill set as of now, if they choose to not use new technology. When only relying on themselves and colleagues there is a greater chance for error in making a diagnosis or giving a delayed diagnosis. The problem physicians run into when prescribing medication is that it is not always known what other medications the patient is on and how they will interact with new medications introduce into the system. This is also caused by lack of information. Physicians need to know all medications the patient is on in order to prescribe new medications. If management installed a database system this could help physicians with figuring out what they can and cannot give to the patient it could potentially prevent sometimes fatal combinations.

2. I think that computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and diagnostic decision-support (DDS) systems are the appropriate solutions to the above problems. In the case study it was said that these technologies are not without error, however I think that with more use and testing errors can be found and fixed. The use of these technologies will enable hospitals and physician’s offices to become much more streamline and comprehensive. CPOE can help with human errors that occur such as illegible handwriting. Little things like this go a long way when dealing with someone’s health. The DDS has proven to be successful in a study mentioned in the case for correctly diagnosing 69% of misdiagnosed or late diagnosed patients. I think that this percent shows the technology is effective. The case also stresses that this is just a tool for physicians to use and they will still ultimately have the final say in the diagnosis. It is to be used as another resource that can help a physician make a diagnosis. It even comes complete with medical journal articles and symptom matching technology.


3. The main obstacle that I see according to this case that would prevent computer systems from improving the medical industry is the resistance from physicians and medical facilities. I think that by educating physicians and continuing to test the technology with proven positive results they will warm up to the idea. Physicians have textbook training but it was also stated in the article that what they do is an art. I think they are worried they will have that aspect of their career taken from them by replacing it with computers. There is also a large cost that goes along with implementing this technology however the return on investment is said to break even within a couple of years.

Chapter 9 Article: GXS/Verizon Business Tackle Supply Chain Automation

This week I chose an article that has to do with supply chain management going green with the help of GXS and Verizon Business. I did my summary on chapter 9 which talked about the importance of supply chain management and also the key role that technology plays in having a successful business. GXS is an award-winning Managed Services Company, which provides Business-to-Business e-Commerce services around the world. Verizon Business is a sector of the Verizon Communications, Inc. which was developed in 2006 to provide services specifically catered to business. They focus on IP communications and information technology products.

These two companies have joined forces in order to help companies become green in their supply chain management. The way they are doing this is by “ enabling businesses to securely and seamlessly convert manual, paper-based processes into automated electronic transactions among vendors, partners and customers, reducing the use of paper and making business transactions more efficient.” The cost of manual annual processes such as invoicing for a whole company can be cut by up to 60% when automated processes are implemented.

These days it is important for all companies to cut costs when able. Investing in the services from GXS and Verizon Business can save money as well as decrease a company’s carbon footprint. Customers may be more apt to do business with a company that is thinking green. Throughout the article facts are given about how much money and resources can be saved. Throughout the article there are lists of benefits that will occur when after switching to GXS and Verizon Business processes. These facts are valid assuming that one transaction represents two sheets of paper. Below are the savings that are generated by companies currently using GXS’ services;

-- 223 million pounds of CO2, the equivalent of taking 22,820 cars off the road for a year or reducing gasoline consumption by 42 million gallons each year;

-- 132 thousand tons of wood, saving the equivalent of 912,000 trees;

-- 1.5 trillion BTUs of total energy consumption, the equivalent of that consumed by 16,496 homes per year; and

--745 million gallons of water, the equivalent of filling 1129 swimming pools(1).

Without technology progress could not be made in any aspects of a business. With technology, creation and innovation can be achieved. The world is in dyer need of environmental solutions. The services provided by GXS and Verizon Business takes companies one-step closer to making the world a less polluted and more resourceful place.

Works Cited
RBCO Update. (October 1, 2008). GXS/Verizon Business Tackle Supply Chain Automation. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from http://www.accessmylibrary.com

eBay Chapter 10

eBay Case Study Questions

2. eBay is currently facing a couple of problems having to do with competition, slowing growth, new acquisitions and customer satisfaction. Both Google and Yahoo have now set up shopping applications on their sites which are in direct competition with eBay. Growth is slowing for eBay in the U.S. market about 20%-30% annually. In 2005 eBay acquired two businesses; Shopping.com that cost $620 million and Skype which cost eBay a whopping $2.6 billion. eBay’s core is all about the customer and what they do to practically run eBay. They need to constantly be considered and taken care of in order for the site to continue to be as successful as it has been in the past.

3. eBay is taking steps in order to solve these problems however some of the steps I do not believe will help them in the long run. They are dealing with incoming competition from Google and Yahoo however eBay just made deals with each of the companies to let them advertise on their site. International competition is also a growing concern to which eBay is trying to tap into the markets quickly and become known before others will be recognized. By doing this hopefully they will be able to continue their growth. I believe part of the reason that eBay’s growth is slowing in the U.S. has to do with options that buyers and sellers have. I would never pay fees to post something online because I am able to buy and sell whatever I want locally for free on Craigslist. Craigslist may not have a worldwide connection available to me but I don’t need it for the items I am looking to buy or sell. I do not think that Shopping.com will help eBay too much in its endeavors in becoming or maintaining success, since people who are already buying and selling online already know how to shop for the best deals and may not need a specified site to help them. I do think that the acquisition of Skype, though pricey was a great idea since eBay is trying to move towards selling higher end items that need more buyer and seller communication. They can also use this Skype technology to possibly have live reviews for smaller items, which may improve customer’s sense of security in their purchases. I do think though, that eBay will have to set up some type of monitoring system in order to prevent transactions via Skype with buyers and sellers avoiding eBay fees. Since customer service and satisfaction are such a large part of eBay functioning I think they need to cut back on the buying and selling fees. If they charge less in fees it is possible that more people may start to use the service. They also need to take more responsibility for fraud that is being committed on the site and set up a company guarantee that ensures you will be getting what you paid for. This means that they may have to hire employees that strictly watch for fraud and investigate but it will be worth it to gain full customer trust.

5. I believe that eBay will be successful in the long run but may not see the type of success it had when it first started. There is a lot more competition out there and people have access to do things on their own now for cheap. I think eBay may want to eventually scale down and possibly concentrate on the collectables aspect of their business. There is a large niche of people who are passionate about their collections. The fact that eBay is worldwide helps people find the rare items they are looking for. This may be the best way for eBay to move in the next maybe 10-20 years. It will be much smaller scale but I believe they can still be a successful business with this model in place.

Chapter 8 Article: Fake security software scammers jump on Conficker

The article I chose warns consumers about the risk involved with downloading software even if it is supposed to be helping you get rid of malware on your computer. This article specifically talks about a worm called Conficker that has recently infected 3 to 10 million PCs worldwide. “Those controlling Conficker have yet to use it for malicious purposes, but the vast number of machines that are infected means the botnet could be capable of devastating denial-of-service attacks, spam campaigns or widespread data theft.” (Kirk, 2009)

Since the worm has gotten into so many users computers and is potentially very dangerous all who know they are infected are looking to get rid of the worm which brings up the main issue in the article; hackers trying to make a quick buck or infect more PCs through fake security software. Hackers have been getting into Google’s search engine and creating websites full of search terms that lead these unsuspecting and Conficker infected PC users to software they think will eliminate the worm from their machine but realize once they pay for the downloadable software that it does not get rid of the problem and now not only are their computers infected but they are out around $40. The article goes on to say that the fake software will ask the user to download software to scan for the worm. When the scan occurs and the fake software discovers a worm is not present on the user’s computer it prompts the user to actually download the worm. The user will do this willingly because on their side the software has told them that they are infected.

This article ties in perfectly with chapter 8 and its emphasis on computer user’s vulnerability. The chapter warns about the dangers and capabilities hackers posses and teaches ways to avoid being so susceptible to malware. In this case Conficker got into computers by taking advantage of flaws in Microsoft Windows server services or by brute force through weak passwords. After reading the chapter and knowing the dangers of these threats we can set stronger passwords and also not be so quick to download from an unreliable source.

The more I learn in this class the more weary I become of using technologies and having my personal information available to people through these portals however if we take the right precautions as chapter 8 directs us to we may be a bit better off. The only way to completely protect ourselves from these types of attacks is to take out the technologies in our lives altogether, however it is in no way realistic. I barely even talk on the phone at my office. Everything is done via e-mail and I love it because it is so convenient and efficient. We do though need to be aware of risks and take proper steps to prevent them in our future.

Kirk, Jeremy. (March 31, 2009). Fake security software scammers jump on Conficker.
Retrieved April 24, 2009, from http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/fake-

security-software-scammers-jump-conficker-469?page=0,1

Google Chapter 7

Google Case Study Questions

2. Google’s main source of competitive advantage is its unique IT infrastructure that allows it to evaluate a pages importance based on the external links to it and also scan websites and record a summary of their content very quickly and inexpensively. The way that this IT infrastructure has been put together and kept secret has allowed users to find exactly what they are looking for in an instant which keeps them coming back to the site and has grown the site to the enormous superpower that it is today holding nearly 50% of all Web searches. Since they are so big another advantage that Google has is gaining advertisers who pay to be on their site. The advertisers know how many hits Google gets each day and that their product will be seen which keeps making Google the majority of its revenues.

3. Google does face some challenges that are brought up in this case. After introducing cost-per-click (CPC) advertising pricing in 2002 Google had problems with hackers who were committing click fraud in order to raise the price of a companies marketing. The CPC technology charges a company for every time its ad is clicked. Management is mostly responsible for this problem because they are refusing to take full responsibility for business’ under this sort of attack however they are taking technological steps in order to track the click fraud and stop it before it gets out of control. Another challenge that Google faces is the looming threat of Microsoft. Microsoft may be able to jump ahead Google with ability to facilitate context-aware searches and “deep Web” searches. I think the solution to this problem is for Google to continue to expand their applications to do more things that Microsoft now offers. The only way to gain this context-aware search advantage is to get on everyone’s computer as their main processor. This will be up to the technology department as well as marketing to get people to switch over some of their processes to Google instead of traditionally Microsoft by providing newer and more user friendly applications.

5. In the future I think Google will still be very successful and hold about the same
Amount of Web searches it does now, if no changes are made. If changes are made and new applications come out then I think it is safe to say that they will continue to gain users and increase in size and searches. Google has the very crucial competitive advantage called brand recognition. Google has become part of our culture and is even used as a verb, “I Googled her”. With that kind of recognition in our culture I think it will be hard to Google to be easily forgotten or pushed out of the market it started.

Chapter 6 Article: Powerful database will help companies shop for new sites

The article I chose this week is about a community of real estate businesses in Michigan that are setting up a much needed database to enable customers to search properties online. They used to have a website available that was state supported and now that it has been cancelled the businesses are taking things into their own hands.

“The whole concept is to make it as easy as possible for someone seeking property, whether it's commercial, retail or industrial," said Greg LaMarr, marketing coordinator for Saginaw Future Inc. The article really touches on how important it is to have accessible databases that are user friendly. The software that is used for this database is from GIS Planning, Inc. GIS is a designer of web-based geographic information which his perfect for operating this particular real estate system. The software allows customers to set up certain criteria in the form of filters and then quickly search all of the potential matches they have pre-selected. Reports can also be run and e-mailed to potential buyers from this new database. In the article it was stated that this type of process would have taken days to complete looking at houses and sending out reports, now it can be a quick as minutes.

In chapter 6 we learned about how the organization of a databases and their relevance to customers needs can really effect how successful an organization can be. Most of the chapter talked in larger scale about companies with hundreds of thousands of pieces of data that all had to be organized into one central program. I liked this article because it shows that even if you are a smaller company or group of companies, databases are still a very important part of making the operation run smoothly. This article shows the smaller scaled size of database setup and management.

I am moving in two weeks and since I am a college student with no extra money to spend on a real estate agent I had to look for places to live on my own. Without databases set up on the internet this task would have been incredibly daunting. I was lucky to have found many sites that were set up in the Ventura County area. I was able to put in my price point, number of bedrooms and baths and area I was interested in. The computer did all the work for me. The databases even had pictures of the places so that I could prescreen before I even had to drive out and take a look. No matter how big or small the organization if they are user friendly and have accurate data they will be much more successful than a company that does not have a well thought out and put together database.

Works cited

English, Eric. (April 16, 2009). Powerful database will help companies shop for new
sites. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2009/04/powerful_database_will_help_co.html

Merrill Lynch Chapter 5

Merrill Lynch Case Study Questions

1. Merrill Lynch needed to update its IT infrastructure in order to continuing being competitive in the market. Merrill Lynch was operating on an IBM mainframe that ran about 23,000 programs in order to process 80 million daily online transactions. They were not wed based so their actual clients did not easy have access to their portfolios or tools to work with them. In order to stay competitive Merrill Lynch had to figure out how to make the most out of its mainframe but at the same time incorporate internet access to client profiles.

3. Jim Crew who is the head of database infrastructure at Merrill Lynch approached web services development in an unconventional way. At first he thought about purchasing a service-oriented architecture (SOA) which on the surface seemed much easily than building their own since they could rely on the vendor’s knowledge of the system. However Crew soon realized that the system was not compatible with the programmers at Merrill Lynch and he did not want them to have to learn new tools since it could potentially take a year and cost the company about $80 million to complete the transition. Crew then decided to copy the mainframe into Oracle, Sybase or SQL Server database which were compatible with server-based application but caused errors having to do with space issues. Crew finally decided to use XML tags which are used to describe data. XML worked and was able to effectively connect the mainframe to the internet. The programming team was challenged to cut costs more by adhering to criteria that would not allow the new mainframe/internet system to become complex. The programmers used Assembly Language which was used in the 1950’ and rarely used today to reduce errors in translation. I think this new system gave Merrill Lynch the advantage of cutting costs where they would have otherwise been spent, creating a whole new system that was more user friendly to the Merrill Lynch programming team and creating a competitive advantage and something to be desired by other companies in the same market. The disadvantages were that there were a couple of trials and errors that could have been avoided if they would have just bought an SOA to begin with. Overall I feel that the decision that was made was the correct one because it worked best with the company and had the least clashing qualities in comparison to the other options that were available.

4. I think it was both a good and bad idea for Merrill Lynch to sell off its successful technology initiatives. It was good because they were able to make a profit from the sale of the technology. On the other hand it was a bad decision because it may have hindered their competitive edge. The technology also may be selling for much more money then Merrill Lynch originally sold for in which case they should have held onto the technology, done more research on how much it was really worth, and then bargained for a larger selling cost.

Chapter 4 Article: Putting Patient Privacy in Peril?

The topic I chose is from an article written on April 6^th, 2009 in Business Week titled Putting Patient Privacy in Peril. This article talks about medical history in electronic form and patient privacy. Since 2003 hospital staff at UCLA medical facilities have inappropriately viewed over 1,000 people’s medical records. Most of the people whose records are being viewed and in some cases even sold to the press for large amounts of monetary compensation are celebrities. By 2014 with a new stimulus bill in place to financially encourage the medical sector it is hoped that all medical records in America will be digitalized which may lead to a further breach in privacy. "Our recovery plan will invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives," President Barack Obama told members of Congress on Feb. 24.

Right now certain sectors of government such as the Food and Drug Administration are already legally able to view any U.S. citizens medical records. The main goal of digitalizing medical information is to allow doctors to share health information among each other easily in order to better treat patients. The main worry that U.S. citizens have is that if insurance companies are able to get their hands on this information they may be able to discriminate against someone for their medical history or even discriminate against someone’s child who may have the genetics to inherit a certain condition. Under the new law customers would be able to ask that their medical information not be shared however this would only be a valid request if they pay for their treatment out of pocket in full which the majority of Americans are not able to do

In chapter four we read about information technology and privacy issues pertaining to information being so readily available in technological form. This article reminded me of chapter four because if all medical records were electronic there would be a higher risk of people hacking into the system and viewing records as well as hospitals and other medical facilities selling the sensitive information to make profit without the regard for patients and their privacy. Though there are benefits to this new plan, which will allow doctors to easily and quickly view many medical records with a click of the mouse it may cause more harm then help if information is being compromised and gets into the wrong hands.

Works Cited

King, Rachael. (April 6, 2009). Putting Patient Privacy in Perill. Retrieved April 12, 2009, fromhttp://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc2009046_128156.htm

Blockbuster vs. Netflix Chapter 3

Blockbuster vs. Netflix Case Study Questions

1. Blockbuster’s original business model was to be a traditional brick and mortar video rental store; however with the new entry of Netflix in 1998, an online movie rental establishment Blockbuster soon realized their business model needed some revamping. Between 2003 and 2004 Netflix’s market share went from 2% to 7%. Blockbuster took note of this rapidly growing competition and decided to make some major changes to their business model.

Millions of dollars were dedicated towards the information technology department in order for Blockbuster to establish their own online subscription service. They came in with competitive pricing compared to Netflix and also kept all of their brick and mortar stores in tact which they thought would give them an advantage in regards to having many stores nationwide allowing cheaper shipping of movies to and from different nationwide locations.

After a year of this online subscription service reviews of Blockbuster’s changes still could not stand up to the success that Netflix was experiencing. Carl Icahn soon took advantage of Blockbuster’s low stock price and bought 9% of the stocks allowing him a seat on the board of directors. He thought that the new initiatives were took expensive, including the “no more late fees” that brought Blockbuster’s previous $250 to $300 million annual late fee revenue to a screeching halt. Blockbuster’s CEO, John Antico still believes that the only way for Blockbuster to expand its market share is to maintain and improve their online rental system.

3. Blockbuster is trying to regain their ground in a market that is changing rapidly. I think that they have made the right move by investing millions of dollars into their information technology department because now they are able to compete at the online subscription level just as Netflix does. They still do need some improvements in their system and also need to consider what the future holds for their market.

Blockbuster is essentially playing catch up with Netflix and with that comes problems for the company. They were forced to get rid of their late fee policy quickly to retain customers that may have otherwise turned to Netflix however I do not think they accounted for the loss of $250 to $300 million in late fee revenue per year. They also have a user interface that is not well recognized by customers which is causing them less growth. Going into these changes I think Blockbuster should have considered taking more time and investing more money into the information technology side of the new business model which would have helped them achieve sustainability for the long run. They should have also taken into consideration the new wave of technology hitting the market which is video on demand. They should research this new technology and attempt to develop faster video downloads as well as converting software that can easily burn computer downloaded videos to DVD allowing the customer greater viewing variety. In order to gain some of the funds that would allow them to conduct this research I think they should sell off a percentage of their brick and mortar stores. It is not going to be necessary to have thousands of stores nationwide when the market is rapidly moving towards online rentals.

4. Netflix is a very successful online video rental establishment. When entering the market it catered to customers desire for convenience by doing away with late fees, letting a customer keep a video as long as they desire and mailing videos right to the customer doing away with traveling to a crowded video rental store. They also used information technology to keep track of video rentals, ship and track videos without ever needed an actually store front. The plan was very well thought out and worked; Netflix gained a large market share quickly forcing Blockbuster and other competing traditional video stores to scramble for new and innovative ideas that would retain customers. According to Kagan Research LLC, revenue from online video rentals reached $522 million in 2004 and is projected to reach $3 billion by 2009. Netflix was able to look at the market, hear what the customers wanted and deliver.