Industrial Eng

Power, D. J. Decision Support Systems Hyperbook. Cedar Falls, IA: DSSResources.COM, HTML version, 2000, accessed on (today 's date) at URL http://dssresources.com/subscriber/password/dssbookhypertext.

Chapter 2
Gaining Competitive Advantage with DSS

Introduction

In many organizations, managers and MIS professionals have worked together to create important transaction-oriented strategic information systems. These information systems have significantly improved the processing of business transactions. In some organizations, the search for other strategic technology opportunities remains focused on enhancing business transaction processing. This focus on operations is too narrow. Although business transactions can involve managerial decision-making, redesigning a transaction processing system creates advantages that are very different from those that can result from building an innovative Decision Support System. DSS meet a different need and serve a different purpose. Managers need to recognize that strategic decision support applications can provide substantial opportunities for targeting sales efforts and improving profits. Information technology is creating new DSS capabilities that can and should be used to build innovative, specific Decision Support Systems that yield competitive advantage for an organization.
You may be asking: Can a Decision Support System really provide a competitive advantage to a business? Yes, a DSS can be a strategic information system and a specific Decision Support System can create a competitive advantage. Managers need to know when, how and why DSS are and can be competitive weapons.
Evidence indicates managers can now use sophisticated Data-Driven and Document-Driven DSS to obtain information that was buried for many years in filing cabinets or archived on computer tapes. Model-Driven DSS can reduce waste in production operations and improve inventory management. Knowledge-Driven DSS can analyze cash register

References: Applegate, L., F. W. McFarlan and J. L. McKenney. Corporate Information Systems Management. Chicago, IL: Irwin, 1996. Applegate, L. and Pearlson, K. "Mrs. Fields, Inc., 1977-1987". Harvard Business School case 194-064, 1994. Applegate, L. "Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (1980-1986)". Harvard Business School case 194-107, 1994. Applegate, L. "Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition Abridged(1987-1991)". Harvard Business School case 195-238, 1995. Boyton, A. and R. Zmud, Management Information Systems: Readings and Cases, A Managerial Perspective. Chicago, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education, 1990. Callon, J., Competitive Advantage Through Information Technology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1996. Cerveny, R., Pegels, C., and Sanders G. Strategic Information Systems for Strategic, Manufacturing, Operations, Marketing, Sales, Financial and Human Resources Management. JAI Press Inc., Greenwich, Conn., 1993. Chiwah, J. "How Wal-Mart uses telecommunication technology to gain competitive advantage". URL http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~jchiwah/wal-mart.html, March, 1997. Evans, Philip B. and Thomas S. Wurster. "Strategy and the New Economics of Information." Harvard Business Review, September-October, 1997. Houdeshel, G. and Watson, H. "The Management Information And Decision Support (MIDS) System at Lockheed-Georgia". MIS Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 1, March 1987, (REV 1992). McFarlan, F. W., McKenney, J. L., and Pyburn, P. "The Information Archipelago – Plotting a Course," Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb. 1983. Neumann, S. Strategic Information Systems: Competition Through Information Technologies, New York, Macmillan, 1994. Porter, M. E. and V. E. Millar. "How Information Gives You Competitive Advantage," Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1985. Porter, M. E. "How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy," Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1979.