In this section you begin to analyze the case company, Cisco, in detail. For readers to understand this multinational corporation, first of all, you should describe clearly the business model Cisco uses. A business model, a revenue model sometimes, merely describes the way in which a company makes money. A business model can be simple or very complex. For example, a manufacturer, a financial service provider, an e-tailer, a restaurant runner, each indicates a particular business model.
Then, how about Cisco’s business model? Please search Cisco’s website, search Wikipedia, you will soon find out that it is a networking equipment provider. Currently, Cisco not only provides products, but also networking services. For you to understand Cisco better, Cisco Company Profile by the end of 2011 is attached. Please read the relevant parts. In addition, you should be able to find their overall business goal. It sometimes takes the form of a mission statement, a long-term objective of a company. This part should be mentioned in your paper.
How about their major business strategies? First of all, you have to understand what a business strategy means. Strategy is the direction and scope of an organization over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. Chapter 3 of your textbook gives a few examples – e-commerce strategy, customer service, product differentiation, mass customization, price leadership - are all the good ones. One major strategy used by Cisco is obviously to use updated information systems to leverage its production and services. Please use one paragraph to discuss what an IS strategy is and how the IS strategy was used to support the business goal at Cisco in particular, since this is an MIS class. You may need to review "Information Systems Strategy" file in the relevant learning module.
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