Case Study #2: Facebooks Dilemma

1. What concepts in this chapter are illustrated in this case?

The concepts that the case study entitled, “Facebooks Dilemma” highlights out of chapter 10 of Management information Systems: by Kenneth Laudon & Jane Laudon are based around what is identified as Electronic commerce. Electronic commerce is the use of the internet and the web to perform business transactions more specifically, to perform commercial transactions between organizations and individuals alike. Facebook is what is known as virtual community, it falls under a more specific kind of virtual community known as a social networking site. Online communities are used by individuals for expanding business or social contacts, and social shopping sites; in which users swap shopping ideas. The case study goes into a detailed analysis of how facebook has become an opportunity for electronic commerce to take place, however the process of allowing this electronic commerce to take place has been hampered due to legal issues concerning the users privacy in these interactions that private companies use to create their advertising. Currently face book is not generating the expected amounts of revenue that it is capable of based upon the beliefs of some, one of those select corporations that does believe it will someday soon be a Mecca of advertising commerce is Microsoft, who bought 1.6% of the facebook company for $246 million (Laudon pg 409). Surely if a corporation like Microsoft is willing to spend an immense amount of money to become a select share holder like that must believe that there is some truth in the predicted success of face book advertising opportunities.
2. What is the role of e-commerce and web 2.0 technologies in facebooks widespread popularity?
In terms of e-commerce facebook is such an important tool because it has so many members that share information through the site in turn making it easier or a primary social networking site for companies and corporations to identify and interact with potential customers on several different levels. Facebook is a tool from understanding that in terms of information density can and is exactly what companies would be interested in order to cultivate advertising to specific individuals. Facebook also has a global reach that spreads further and to more people than most other sites except for one, Myspace.com(Laudon pg.388). Because of its attractive simplicity and easy maneuverability to the user it is growing rapidly along with the e-commerce opportunities that it presents to businesses. Web 2.0 technologies is basically referring to applications that facilitate communication in terms of sharing information, however they are based upon user-centered design. Social networking sites such as Myspace.com and Facebook fall under that definition, and have become extremely popular to communities and individuals all across the world. In terms of business, businesses have exploited this free advertising by creating their own pages to allow the users of Facebook to explore information that they wish to share with a large amount of individuals. It is a platform for free advertising in that sense, however the case-study is more based around the creation of advertising that will produce a larger revenue stream.
3. Describe the weaknesses of Facebook’s privacy policies and features. What management, organization and technology factors have contributed to those weaknesses?

Businesses are interested in the information that is shared by the individuals through facebook in order to advertise effectively to an immense amount potential customers; however the users of facebook have a right to privacy that has in the past been violated by facebook in attempts to allow these businesses to advertise to their users. The example that the case study uses is the launch of a company’s advertising campaign called Beacon. The plan was for Beacon to inform other facebook users when their friends made some sort of economic transaction through the purchase of product and at the same time engaged in activity that was not restricted to facebook. The problem with this was that it was sharing information about users that was never agreed upon or intended to be shared. Another aspect of this service that was alarming in my mind was that it continued to fulfill the action of letting other users know what you were doing until you disabled it manually. It is what is known as an “opt-out” application. So unless you manually turned off the applications, it would continue to share personal information with whoever you were friends with while under the belief that Facebook had ensured the full consent of the users. Another privacy error that was incurred by facebook was the incorporation and handling of its news-feed feature. A quote from the Washington post solidifies the fact that the incorporation of certain applications is a cause for concern, “Facebook fanatics who have covered their profiles on the popular social networking site with silly games and quirky trivia quizzes may be unknowingly giving a host of strangers an intimate peek at their lives.(Kim Hart: Washington Post)” The news feed feature provided other users that you are friends with updates of actions that you performed while logged into facebook; who you befriended, whose wall you wrote on, what new applications you installed, updates on your page. When this feature was originally introduced on the social site it was met with a controlled outrage from its users, stating that it was an invasion of their personally privacy to broadcast information of the tasks that they performed while on the site. Other than these two major issues in terms of privacy, there have been isolated incidents where people have discovered glitches within the facebook site and have been able to view information from other user’s pages that had been blocked to them. Finally the last cause for concern in terms of privacy for any facebook user is that you can never really delete you facebook account or any of the information that is on your account. Facebook keeps a copy of your entire account even after you deactivate it and no long wish to have any affiliation with facebook whatsoever. Not only does facebook apparently have technological issues where sensitive information can be compromised but from a managerial standpoint they have also ignored the options of allowing their users to choose whether they wanted their information to be seen by people that they do not know or choose to see it.
4. Does Facebook have a viable business model? Explain your answer.

Facebook currently is spending as much to advertise and reach people as it earns from those very advertisements. In terms of generating revenue from advertising it’s basically hit or miss with many of its users. There are no fees that are to be paid to join facebook, or for its use; it all seems like they threw in a few advertisements and hoped that its exposure would bring in consumers. From what I see on the facebook website, it incorporates a weak Business to Consumer module (B2C) (Chapter 10 Study Guide). There are advertisements that’s main objective is to retail products and services to individual shoppers based upon the personal information that they display on their facebook pages. If facebook continues to wish to use the information that people post on their accounts a clear distinction must be made to the users about what they are using the information for and what information they will be using in order to reduce the legal risks and solidify the legality of their advertising. Once the facebook management can do this then a broader, more organized and more successful advertising campaigns can be launched.
5. If you were responsible for coordinating facebook’s advertising, how would you balance the desire to become increasingly profitable with the need to protect the privacy of your users?

If I were in a position to manage facebook advertising the first thing I would be to alert all the members of facebook with a detailed letter stating that for advertising purposes information that is submitted to your information pages will be used by facebook company. I would give the users the option to either accept or reject this offer in order to instill a legal standing that with the users of the site as well as protect the integrity of the company. Another option that I would try to explore is by offering applications that could be put on their pages in terms of interactive games and trivia, in return for allowing facebook to access their info pages for advertising purposes and advertising purposes alone. In order to protect the facebook users the information that they share should not be used by anyone other than specific groups that are pertinent to advertising and advertising alone. By stating these offers in writing and allowing the users to accept or disagree the site would be able to increase its advertising capability as well as ensure the users that the information that they give to facebook is not being used for anything other than business practices.

BARGAIN CITY

Karir Anda sedang menanjak lebih cepat dari yang Anda perkirakan.Anda berpikiran bahwa kesarjanaan SIM Anda memungkinkan Anda bekerja sebagai programer bagi Bargain city.Bargain City adalah suatu jaringan pengecer yang mengikuti Model Wal-Mart.tetapi,pengunduran diri tiga analis sistem mengubahnya .Para analis keluar untuk membentuk perusahaan konsultan mereka sendiri.
Karena bos Anda ,Alias Ernst tahu bahwa Anda menonjol dalam analisis sistem kuliah,maka ia memutuskan untuk mejadikan Anda analis sistem.Ia segera memberi Anda penugasan yang pertama.Alisa mengatur agar anda mengunjungi suatu tko untuk mengenal kegiatan di tingkat toko.Ia mengharapkan anda mempersiapkan suatu laporan tertulis yang dapat menjadi dasar proyek sistem dimasa yang akan datang.
Anda tiba di toko West Alameda pukul 9 pagi,an terkejut karena banyak orang yang sedang berbelanja.Tempat parkir penuh,dan anda harus menunggu 10 menit untuk mendapatkan tempat parkir.Di dalam kondisinya tiak lebih baik.Toko tersebut besar ,dengan lima belas tempat kasir.tapi hanya empat yang buka .Pada tiap tempat kasir,salah satunya adalah jalur ekspres,terdapat antrian pembeli yang panjang.Untung Anda tiak membeli apa pun.Karena Anda hanya mengadakan penelitian sitem,anda dapat segera keluar.
Anda mengamati kegiatanitu sebentar kemudian pergi ke gudang.Saat itu tiga orang petugas gudang sedang membuka kotak-kotak.Anda mendengar salah seorang berkata:,”Sudah kamu temukan?”karena ingin tahu,Anda memperkenalkan diri dan menanyakan apa yang sedang mereka cari.Salah seorang petugas itu memberitahu Anda bahwa toko ini memiliki kekhususan alat-alat masak,tetapi kehabisan cairan penyala arang.Truk yang seharusnya membawa persediaan rusak di Tuba City.Habisnya cairan penyala merupakan salah satu penyebab antrian yang panjang.Petugas kasir harus memberikan kupon yang menandakan pembeli telah memesan barang tersebut.Anda dapat mengerti mengapa para petugas gudang sangat kesulitan,gudangnya benar-benar berantakan.karton-karton ditumpuk dimana-mana,tanpa suatu aturan tertentu.
Anda menanyakan letak komputer toko tersebut,dan diantarkan kesuatu ruang kecil di pojok.Anda berpikir disinilah otomatisasi sedang berkerja .
Setelah melihat operasi dibelakang,anda kembali ke depan antrian panjang-orang-orang yang menunggu untuk menguangkan cek dan mengembalikan pembelian.Sebagian besar pengembalian tampaknya barang pecahn belah yang ternyata pecah saat pelanggan membuka kantong belanja mereka dirumah.Petugas pengantong tampaknya tidak mengemas dengan baik.
Saat Anda akhirnya mencapai kepala antrian ,Anda terkejut melihat bahwa kasirnya sebenarnya adalah manjer toko.Ia meminta Anda untuk kembali saat ia memiliki waktu.Ia menjelaskan bahwa ia terpaksa “memberhentikan banyak orang”untuk tetap dalam anggaran yang ditetapkan kantor pusat.Dari cara ia memberikan penjelasan Anda dapat melihat bahwa ia tidak senang dengan seluruh situasi tersebut.Anda memutuskan untuk tidak tetap tinggal .Anda pamit dan kembali ke kantor Anda untuk menjulis laporan selagi semuanya masih teringat jelas.
Tugas
Siapkan memo untuk Alisa .Dialah manajer dari para analis sistem.Pertama-tama,daftarkan masalah sistem fisik toko West Alameda.Untuk tiap masalah ,identifikasikan tindakan perbaikan yang mungkin.Kemudian lakukan hal yang sama untuk sistem konseptual .Buatlah dan gunakan termilogi sistem dari bab ini.Alisa juga mendapat pelajaran SIM di kuliah.


Jawaban:

Setelah melakukan pemeriksaan ke toko West Alameda, berikut adalah hasil dari analisa-analisa yang saya lakukan. Terdapat berbagai permasalahan-permasalahan yang mungkin dapat diperbaiki dengan rekomendasi solusi-solusi dari saya.
Kemarin antrian di toko West Alameda sangat penuh, hal ini dikarenakan habisnya cairan penyala karena truk yang mengantar persediaan tersebut rusak. Tapi faktor utama yang paling fatal yang menyebabkan antrian panjang tersebut adalah petugas gudang yang tidak mampu menemukan persediaan cairan penyala tersebut. Disamping itu, letak barang-barang tersebut sangat berantakan, tidak sesuai dengan aturan-aturan tertentu. Saya merekomendasikan sebaiknya, diadakan aturan-aturan tertentu dalam peletakkan barang-barang digudang seperti penggunaan kode-kode tertentu pada barang-barang, disamping itu kita juga bisa memberikan kode pada lokasi atau rak-rak barang tersebut berada. Misalnya A-1 sampai Z-10. Kode-kode tersebut akan dimasukkan dalam sistem stock sehingga mampermudah petugas gudang untuk menemukan letak-letak barang tersebut. Misalnya panci memiliki kode sebagai berikut (P01/ F5). Dalam hal ini, saya mengkategorikan panci sebagai barang yang penjualannya tidak terlalu signifikan sehingga saya memberikan kode P (yang jauh dari barang-barang prioritas dengan kode A) . 01 saya gunakan untuk merk / tipe panci tertentu misalnya 01 untuk buatan Wallstreet, 02 untuk buatan Hitachi dan lain-lain. F5 disini menandakan posisi barang di gudang. F untuk menandakan rak F (saya membuat kode tiap rak dari A – Z) dan urutan ke – 5 dari bawah. Selain itu, perlu disediakan rak khusus atau bisa kita namakan rak karantina untuk menyimpan barang-barang yang dikembalikan pembeli karena rusak. Pengkodean tersebut akan berhubungan dengan sistem persediaan barang. Akan dibuatkan 2 record (2 tabel) tentang sistem stock barang. Kita bisa memanfaatkan database untuk media penyimpanan data ini. Record pertama untuk menyimpan jumlah persediaan barang yang ada di gudang dan record kedua untuk menyimpan jumlah persediaan di toko. Sehingga karyawan yang berada di toko juga dapat mengetahui jumlah barang yang tersedia di gudang maupun di toko.
Langkah berikutnya adalah pembuatan sistem untuk bagian cashier. Kita dapat menggunakan bar code untuk memudahkan cashier memasukkan harga-harga barang dengan cepat. Selain itu jika terdapat banyak pengembalian barang oleh pembeli karena rusak, perlu diadakan chasier khusus yang menguangkan cek barang-barang yang dikembalikan. Sistem yang akan dibuat akan saling terhubungan antara yang satu dengan yang lain. Setelah cashier menginput barang yang dijual, sistem akan otomatis mengurangi jumlah persediaan barang yang ada di toko. Jika persediaan barang yang ditoko habis, sistem tersebut akan memberikan pemberitahuan kekomputer yang ada digudang sehingga petugas gudang akan mengetahuinya dan memindahkan stock yang ada di gudang ketoko.
Demikianlah laporan analisis sistem yang saya buat ini. Saya harap anda dapat mempertimbankan segala kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang terbaik.