The use of IT in operation management

Information Technology (IT) refers to techniques used in business for transmitting, storing, manipulating and retrieving all kinds of data, including speech, text, movie, graphics and reports of events such as equipment malfunction, intrusion etc. Typically, Information Technology relates to the hardware and software that businesses use to manage and operate a range of business processes. Most businesses network their computers so that information can be shared.

Examples of the use of IT in business include:

Chain of production in market

The chain of production consists of the various stages involved in the production of a particular product.

The chain of production for furniture may include the following steps:




The chain of production involves a series of stages, which add value to the end product. The trees in the forest will only have a limited value, but when the value is enhanced by sawing, seasoning, and construction they will be worth several times more.

As well as the various stages in the chain of production, we also need to consider a chain of distribution involving transport and communication, as the goods make their way to the end retailer.

Enterprise culture of market

Being enterprising involves being prepared to take risks and to 'think out of the box' in developing solutions to problems. The term culture refers to the typical way of behaving within an organisation or in society as a whole. An organisation therefore with an enterprise culture is one where people are imaginative and creative, rather than being reluctant to take risks. Most successful businesses in this country in recent years typify the 'enterprise culture'. This applies to a range of small and large enterprises. In big companies there is sometimes a danger that the organisation develops a structure that discourages enterprise. However, one way of getting round this has been to organise people into teams where they are encouraged to make decisions for themselves providing they keep in line with the overall objectives and targets of the organisation as a whole.

How businesses are affected by competition

Some markets are highly competitive, while others are a lot less so.

A good example of a competitive market in which there are many buyers and sellers is that of Internet booksellers. Because there are so many firms selling identical products then the price of these books will be highly similar. This competition helps to drive down the profit that such firms can make.

Competition occurs when two or more organisations act independently to supply their products to the same group of consumers.

Calculating the break-even point in market

To avoid making a loss every business must at least break-even by achieving a level of sales that covers its total costs. But what level of sales is necessary to break-even?
To explore the concept of break-even, we need to define some basic terms:

• Fixed costs: Costs that do not vary with output or sales e.g. managers salaries, rent and rates on business premises.
• Variable costs: Costs that vary with the quantity produced or sold e.g. costs of materials and wages
• Total cost: Fixed costs plus variable costs for any possible level of output.
• Sales revenue: The price of the product multiplied by total sales
• Profit: The difference between total revenue and total cost (where revenues are higher than costs
• Loss: The difference between total revenue and total cost (where costs are higher than revenues)

Primary, secondary and tertiary activity in market

Business activity can be conveniently divided up into:

1. Extractive (primary)

2. Manufacturing (secondary)

3. Services (tertiary).

Extractive industries like farming take out things which are already provided by nature, for example:

• farmers grow crops

• miners take out fuel, minerals, etc.

Marketing techniques

A marketing strategy is an overall marketing plan designed to meet the needs and requirements of customers. The plan should be based on clear objectives. A number of techniques will then be employed to make sure that the marketing plan is effectively delivered. Marketing techniques are the tools used by the marketing department. The marketing department will set out to identify the most appropriate techniques to employ in order to make profits. These marketing techniques include public relations, trade and consumer promotions, point-of-sale materials, editorial, publicity and sales literature.
Marketing techniques are employed at three stages of marketing:

Marketing mix (Price, Place, Promotion, Product)

To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet the following conditions:

• The product has to have the right features - for example, it must look good and work well.

• The price must be right. Consumer will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy profit.

• The goods must be in the right place at the right time. Making sure that the goods arrive when and where they are wanted is an important operation.

• The target group needs to be made aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion. Successful promotion helps a firm to spread costs over a larger output.

Find Your Passion, Name Your Poison

If you find yourself saying, "This isn't what it was cracked up to be," sit back and analyze. Is the core of the work something you love? Can you rearrange the downside in any way?

No job or career field will be doing what you love to do 100% of the time, but are you getting to do it most of the time? And are the odd things that come with it tolerable enough? If not, could you make a few tweaks? Change to a smaller or larger office? Hire or fire someone? Find something closer to home or in another state? Refuse to do something, or request to do something?

If you're very lucky, you'll find something so natural and enjoyable to you, you'll talk like Satchel Paige, who said, "I ain't ever had a job, I just always played baseball."

If you're working at something you're passionate about, all of it becomes seamless - the good and the bad. It becomes what you are, as much as what you do, and it is not what others call "work." It's well worth finding and I encourage you to.

11 Questions To Kickstart Your Dream

What's most important for you to experience, explore or embrace this time around? Until you answer this question, your life goals will be off purpose. Unaligned with your inner passion, your intentions will lack the power to attract the people and situations necessary to become a reality.          

Get clued into your true joy. What activities turned you on as a child? What are your hobbies now? When your goals are aligned with your soul purpose, synchronicity kicks in to guide you to your target. When you intuit and own your unique essence and calling, assistance will flow to you from every earthly and heavenly source.
Are your goals your own choice, or what others think you should strive for? Do you want to look back in your old age and wish you had followed your passion? Will you regret having "played it safe?"

Is it selfish to go after your own dream? What joy can you give to others if you haven't given it to yourself first?

You have a divine right to listen to your heart. You have a social obligation to follow your dream. Only then can you fulfill your destiny and make the earthly contribution you were born to make.Are you resigned to accepting less than your full share of love, health and success this lifetime? Have you compromised and sacrificed your dream to death?

Anything short of living your true passions will never make you happy. Do you want to arrive at the Pearly Gates with the regret of not marrying that one captivating person, starting that fun business, or seeing that exotic part of the world you always wanted to visit?

Difference between Marketing and Sales

"Marketing" is not "Sales". It's critical to know the difference.

 

Broadly, Marketing creates the atmosphere to make it easy for sales to happen. Marketing consists things like:

• Marketing Strategy: your product must be aimed at consumers in one only of the Mass Market, Mid-Market or High End (only one product in the entire history of marketing has ever succeeded in all three of those consumer areas). Aiming your product at all three in a shotgun approach confuses consumers resulting in your business going broke.
• Target Market: strategy includes identifying a specific group of consumers (age bracket, etc) within your one Mass, Mid or High End market area. The better we identify our target group, the easier it is to make sales.
• Research your competitors - "know your enemy".

Marketing and Business Planning

In doing business on the internet we must rely on much more than our normal trusty "sixth sense". Some say anything less than "extreme care" is a certain way to lose money when dealing with a potential supplier (or buyer) over the internet.

The internet is plagued with resourceful criminals who will spend months building a relationship under cover of professional looking websites complete with sending high quality samples they do not actually sell. They even steal the passwords of genuine suppliers' websites. So, at times, you don't know who you are really talking with on the other end. And, these criminals have been known to set up temporary real offices to give you the comfort of a real street address and phone number when you cross-check. Or, they copy the name and address of a real registered company onto a fake website, and so on. Variations in the criminal mind are endless in sophisticated schemes to steal your money.