Description

Overview of Business Environment Analysis for Kelly'sSalon

Kelly's Salon has been in business since 1995 and has seen an increase in competition from

a variety of competitors, as described in the Case Study. With the news that a Hair Cuttery

is likely to open only five miles away, Kelly, the owner of Kelly's Salon, is concerned and has

begun analyzing her situation and what could be done to remain competitive in this

changing environment. She has recognized that scheduling her employees and her

customers are causing her problems, and she thinks she should focus on that first,

as it is fundamental to her business. Kelly also believes that there must be a

technology solution that could help her run her salon, but she has no idea where to start.

You are a Systems Analyst, and Kelly has asked you to help her with determining how she

can improve her business. Kelly has requested, specifically, that you verify and provide

added support to her own analysis that has resulted in the identification of a Strategy for

Competitive Advantage and a Business Process for Improvement. This will be the basis for

defining business and systems requirements for an IT solution. This Strategy and IT

The solution will help to bring Kelly's Salon into the 21 st century and take advantage of current

technology. You will analyze her business environment using Porter's Five Forces Analysis.

Then, you will use the results of that analysis to explain how it supports Kelly’s Strategy for

Competitive Advantage, and the business process that she selected for improvement

through the use of technology.

It is important to note that a business owner has many areas where improvements can be

made, such as staff, building facility, supplier agreements, advertising, etc. There are also

many possible solutions that could improve the business strategy and processes. Since

time and costs are involved, the owner should address basic problems first in choosing the

strategy and which processes to improve. (Consider a lemonade stand; while it would be

nice to have a chair to sit behind a table to serve the lemonade to customers, that is not

crucial; however, having lemonade and cups are crucial to the business.)

A second important concept for this class is that, among all the ways that competitive

advantage and processes can be improved, the focus is on information technology solutions.

In your role as a Systems Analyst, you will be supporting Kelly's selected strategy and

process for improvement and proposing an appropriate IT solution. This work begins with

an analysis of Kelly's Salon using the Five Forces Model.

Purpose of this Assignment

This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the concepts of the Porter Five Forces model to a specific

business, explain and support an identified a strategy for competitive advantage for Kelly's Salon, and analyze

the identified business process that could be improved with the use of technology. This assignment specifically

addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to:

•  analyze business strategy to recognize how technology solutions enable strategic outcomes
  
•  analyze internal and external business processes to identify information systems requirements
  
•  analyze business strategy to recognize how technology solutions enable strategic outcomes
  
•  analyze internal and external business processes to identify information systems requirements
  

11/1/2015 Rev 2 ISFM-300 Case Study, Stage 1: Business Environment Analysis

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Five Forces Analysis:

You know that Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model is a useful tool for analyzing a business.

The Model is used to help understand the importance of the five competitive forces and

determine a strategy to develop and maintain a competitive advantage. The Five Forces are

described and discussed in Chapter 7 of the e-textbook. They are:

• Buyer Power
  
•  Supplier power
  
•   a threat of substitute products or services
  
•   a threat of new entrants
  
•  Rivalry among existing competitors