Information technology (IT) strategy is long term overall plan of the company to achieve the set goal against constantly changing IT requirements (Rouse, 2012). Information strategy should align with overall company’s business strategy for the success. It strategy covers all the factors for IT infrastructure management which includes cost of software and hardware, IT resource management, vendor management and other aspects associated to IT environment. IT strategy plan should be flexible enough to accommodate the business strategy changes, new technology or technology changes, customer requirement changes and budget constraints,. Many companies opt for formalizing the IT strategy plan in a written document long with milestones and critical success factors. IT strategy is a comprehensive plan that information technology management professionals use to guide their organizations (Rouse, 2012).
Walgreens founded in 1901, is one of the largest pharmacy chain in America (Walgreens 2014). Walgreens has more than 8000 stores which serve 6 million customers every day. Walgreens goal is to become first choice for the customers for health and daily leaving. Walgreens has achieved many first in the pharmacy industry. In 1950, Walgreens started self-service instead of traditional clerk service stores and soon became the largest self-service pharmacy in the nation (Walgreens 2014). Walgreens also was also the first to put prescription in child resistant bottles way ahead of government law (Walgreens 2014). Company understood the power and effectiveness of information technology and adapted to it very early. In1981, Company installed one the first intercom computers in Des Moines, Iowa pharmacies which was first leap towards connecting all its s...
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Rouse, M. (2012, August). IT strategy (information technology strategy). Retrieved from http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/IT-strategy-information-technology-strategy
Walgreens (2014). Walgreens Historical Highlights. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.walgreens.com/topic/about/press/facts.jsp. [Last Accessed 17 March 2014].
Walgreens Newsroom (2014). Company Overview. [ONLINE] Available at: http://news.walgreens.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1046. [Last Accessed 17 March 2014].
Walgreens’ strategic transformation - EY - Global. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ey.com/GL/en/Industries/Life-Sciences/Walgreens-strategic-transformation
Versel, N. (2013, May 30). Walgreens finds mobile customers to be better customers | mobihealthnews. Retrieved March 17, 2014, from http://mobihealthnews.com/22686/walgreens-finds-mobile-customers-to-be-better-customers/
Earlier on this paper, the industry five forces analysis has been discussed generally. In this part, the paper analyzes Walgreens ' actions based on industry five forces model and suggests the next actions that Walgreens would rather do to maintain and improve its power in each five areas. This section will go into each force of five forces model in the order of priority, including bargaining power of buyers, the threat of substitutes, the degree of rivalry within the industry, the threat of new entrants, and bargaining power of suppliers.
Walgreens was founded in 1901 measuring 50 feet by 20 feet by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.. Mr. Walgreen was born near Galesburg, Illinois and his family later relocated to Dixon, Illinois at town about 60 miles north of his birthplace. Mr. Walgreens’ father was a farmer who turned into a businessperson and saw a great potential of the Rock River Valley (Walgreen, n.d., p.1). At age 16, Charles Walgreen had his first experience working in a drug store. He didn’t always have pleasurable experiences but it was a job with pay. He had an accident at a shoe factory that cut off his left middle finger from the top joint. This injury also stops him from playing any sports at school. After a year and a half with the drug store, Mr. Walgreen left to pursue something bigger in the big city-Chicago.
Since 1901, Walgreens has had a strong passion for customer service. The founder, Charles Walgreens, goal was to create a drugstore that was like no other. He said that for as many drugstores as he had worked at, he had never worked for one that had a focus for good customer service and low prices. Walgreens has grown by leaps and bounds since 1901 and is now recognized as the leader in the market with over 7000 stores. Charles Walgreen had an eye for good managers. He said he was able to pick people that he knew were smarter than him so to promote them and make them the heads of his drugstores. As a store manager, not only is it your job to run a store which includes ordering, customer care, and inventory control, but also it is your job to manage the staff. As a part of managing staff, it is their responsibility to hire, train and develop, and terminate if need be. While there are many jobs to choose from when it comes to HR and employee staffing, I choose this one because it is by far to me the most intense.
The following represents an analysis of the Walgreen Co.’s financial performance during the periods of 2012 through 2014. In preparing the analysis, historical financial statements were reviewed and financial ratios calculated based on those, which are included in Exhibits to this analysis. The calculations are utilized to provide additional insight regarding the ability of Walgreen Co.’s leadership to effectively operate the business. Leadership’s strategic plan for the company, along with comparative information of competitors within the industry, are important elements to consider in addition to the information provided herein.
Walgreens ensures to have high quality products and solutions by making it convenient for clients to get in and out with what they actual need, enhancing its beauty products and stimulate the convergence of health care by putting everything together. In addition, by utilizing over-the counter health service and providing wellness products, the company helps its customer to find more seamless solutions. Employees are trained to make friends and build relationship internally with their customer. Beyond accelerating the products in the physical store, delivering well experiences to customers also need highly engaged employees offer superior customer care in every community. In addition to provide outstanding customer service in retail stores, the company started a piloting program where people are able to order their prescriptions through phone and takes advantage of convenient curbside pick up. In essence, this action partly shifts Walgreens from a retailer to a service based organization. As a result, through the functional strategy in the company, customers can undergo the differential shopping experiences compared to other drugstore in the industry, and the company can improve its positive reputation and customer
We strive to be the number one provider in the United States by investing not only in our company and technological advancements, but also in the communities in which we serve. Whether our customers are new to this world or our veterans, we know that our company can provide them with the newest and most effective products and services, while promoting the healthy communities in which they live. Through our valued employees, CVS is able to provide quality services and quality products. Retail Pharmacy Growth Strategy: CVS has managed to grow considerably in the past few years with the help of acquisition of beneficial companies and integrated the operations of these companies by creating synergy to drive higher margin and greater economies of scope. CVS is building more and more pharmacy stores in convenient locations.
Two organizations that show the importance of aligning a company’s business strategy with their IT strategy are Cirque du Soleil and Major League Baseball. Both of these organizations rely on digital technology to make it easier to provide to their customers better entertainment through collaboration.
Increase online presence: Wallgreens also tries to increase sales from their web/mobile channels. Today, more than 60% of Walgreens' online traffic is done on a smartphone.
Information Technology (IT) is a foundation for conducting business today. It plays a critical role in increasing productivity of firms and entire nation. It is proven that firms who invested in IT have experienced continued growth in productivity and efficiency. Many companies' survival and even existence without use of IT is unimaginable. IT has become the largest component of capital investment for companies in the United States and many other countries.
• Strategic management involves both strategy formation, called it content) and also strategy implementation, called it process.
Walmart is a retail giant that just about everyone in America has purchased something from them. It is a one stop shop for anything that a person could ever need. Walmart stores can be found anywhere in fact most people are less than an hour drive away from a Walmart store. Walmart’s success has put many companies out of business. The chains success is primarily from low prices and using an information technology system to meet customer demands giving them a competitive advantage. Walmart’s first major use of information technology came in 1975 when the company leased an IBM computer system to track inventory in warehouses and distribution centers. Computers have come a very long way since this time and are used almost everywhere. But in 1975 this was cutting edge technology and gave Walmart the competitive advantage over other retailers. Another thing that Walmart used to be revolutionary in their supply chain was the use of scanning barcodes in 1983. Before barcodes objects had to be read by a skilled cashier. With barcodes all that was needed was a quick scan and the computer would do all the work. This greatly sped up checkout time and made tracking inventory and data collection much faster and easier for both customers and the employees. Since this time it has become an industry standard for products.
Henderson and Venkatraman proposed a model for business – IT alignment; it was intended to support the integration of information technology (IT) into business strategy by advocating alignment between and within four domains (see figure 1). The inter-domain alignment is pursued along two dimensions: strategic fit (between the external and internal domain) and functional integration (between the business domain and the IT domain). The objective of this model was to provide a way to align information technology with business objectives in order to realise value from IT investments. The authors argued that the potential strategic impact of information technology requires both an understanding of the critical components of IT strategy and its role in supporting and shaping business strategy decisions and a process of continuous adaptation and change. Hence, they presented a model that defines the range of strategic choices facing managers.
10 IT business Principles describe how effectively you align your business strategies and how much benefits you got from IT-Business alignments basically IT organize resources of an organization according to its needs. It provides basic and operational services to business individually or collaboratively if business need it. IT innovate company structure services, operations and management with technology day by day. IT enables an organization to utilize its resources effectively and efficiently. IT integrated with Business objectives to achieve goals, so create understanding to all stockholders of business with Compliance of IT applications, rules and policies. IT helps in designing and reviewing business process to make them effective and
Based on the company’s principles, they are devoted to honestly, trust, and integrity with its consumers, shareholders, suppliers, and the communities it serve. The quality of every product and service is consistent and premium in every touch point and channel. Additionally, the company is “caring, compassionate and driven to delivering a great customer and patient experience through outstanding service and a desire for healthy outcomes” (Walgreens, 2016). Thus, the 2016 goals and objectives is to champion everyone’s right to be happy and
Strategy formulation is the process of establishing the firm's mission, goals, and choosing among alternative strategies or plans; it involves and implies that preparing the best approach to respond to the circumstances of a firm's environment, whether or not its conditions are known in advance; being strategic and tactical, then, means being clear about the management's aims; being aware of the company's resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment (SM, 2010). As nearly all businesses have limited resources, top leaders and management must determine which alternative plans or strategies will do well to the organization most; strategic management requires attention to the big picture and the motivation to adapt to circumstances, and consists of the following aspects: