zara
...mes more fashion items than its competitors. A streamlined logistic chain supported by a sophisticated IT-system allows Zara to operate with almost no inventory (just in time approach). All these competitive advantages create value: Zara is faster, car-ries less capital inventories and depreciation costs and needs less advertising. 2 Advise to Salgado on how to proceed on the issue of upgrading the POS Terminal. What functionality should be added to a rewritten POS application? In our view the POS System is mission critical for Zara’s operations. It is the source of timely and very valuable information and therefore a key factor of the competitive advantage. Therefore it is crucial for Zara to ensure the proper operation of the POS-system but also to establish a roadmap to upgrade hard- and software for the foreseeable future.. In a first step we suggest to conduct a structured analysis of the current system and to analyze its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. The current POS-system which is still based on DOS clearly imposes an operational risk on Zara. Therefore the company should consider to buy a stock of the existing POS- hardware in order to replace defect devices and to equip new stores. However, we strongly believe that Zara should immediately start to plan a proper migration of its DOS based application to a new operating system. Since there is demand for additional features when implementing a new POS-system the following approach might be considered: 1) Buying a stock of POS Hardware (Quick win) 2) Define a long term strategy for the POS application 3) migrate the existing POS application and its features to a new platform and carefully test it 4) Roll out the new POS system in new shops and ran it parallel to the old system 5) Develop new functionalities like full networking capabilities, online inventory, order process handling 6) Introduce the new POS with the new function firm wide (migration of the remaining stores) Note: A migration of the POS-system and the introduction of new on-line features will most likely have a deep impact on current business process, information flow and the way of doing business) 3 Facing Similar Problems in decision problem analysis (Example: WIFAG Switzerland) WIFAG (headquartered in Bern, Switzerland) is the second largest producer of printing machines for the professional newspa-per market. Its products are a long term investment for the customers. Therefore customers expect WIFAG to provide technical support and supply of spare parts over the entire life cycle of a printing machine. In one specific case a supplier of WIFAG announced the termination of production and shipment of an important part used for the printing machine’s control circuits. This component is crucial since it controls the change of paper rolls on current models. WIFAG assessed the current situation by conducting a SWAT-analysis (strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and by evaluating alternative solutions. The analysis clearly showed that the component was needed for production and mainte-nance for another 15 years. WIFAG handled this critical situation in two steps: 1) Short term action: In order to cover its demand WIFAG bought the residual stock of the component from the producer and bought additional stock in the black market 2) Long-term action: It forced the company to speed up the development of a technically advanced component with the additional control features. 4 Benefits of Zara / Inditex from its IT Infrastructure. Competitive advantage of theses benefits. The current IT Infrastructure enables Zara to get timely information about orders, sales and customer demand and to analyse it on a daily base. Combined with a short time to market and a lean distribution Zara is able to react almost immediately to a change in customer preferences. The coordination of business activities through a sophisticated IT system allows tight ordering schedules and an efficient distribution of garnets to the different stores. Since the whole supply chain is integrated in one com-pany the IT-system delivers all substantial financial and market information to manage business and to make the right deci-sions. Zara has tailored its “home made” IT-infrastructure to its needs and it gives the firm a competitive advantage. Since competition cannot simply buy the same applications and software packages from the shelf to run a similar business IS / IT are key success factors. Since the systems is scaleable and very easy to implement (plug & play) technical support can be mini-mized. However, we would like to emphasize that IT is an integrated part of an efficient org...