MIS ROLE & IMPORTANCE, CORPORATE PLANNING OF

MIS

INTRODUCTION

Executive managers are expected to be able to depict the advantages of IT as a key

factor enabling organizations to achieve their goals. The objective of this study is to introduce
executive managers to the significant role played by IT in organizations achievement of their
plans. IT is considered an essential new strategy for organizations to gain competitive
advantage over rivals in the same line of business. Organizations resulting from the
application of IT can ensure organizations accomplishment and the improvement of
customer services. Therefore, both organizations and their customers will definitely enjoy the
benefits of IT.

This study will allow executive managers to apply IT to connect organizations with
their suppliers and customers. This brings about electronic business, which increases
organizations revenue and operational efficiency. This study investigates whether executive
managers are satisfied by the acceptance of IT and information as a tool used to assess firm
performance.

So, the researcher collects data from managers who work as executive managers in
firms. This study was designed to study IT, management information systems, business
strategy and firm performance. The objective of this study is to display to executive managers
the role of IT, and management information systems in business, as part of a viable new
strategy for organizations to achieve success and performance. The primary learning
objectives in this study, which will aid executive managers in gaining a better insight into the
role of management information systems and IT to business strategy and firm performance,
are to study:

The role of IT to management information systems

The relationship or the role of IT to the success of business strategy

The role of management information systems as a tool to measure firm

performance

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 The relationship between IT and firm performance

The impact of management information systems and IT to firm performance.

ELEMENT OF THEORY AND RESEARCHES RELATED

Information technology in business

Information technologies are a vital component of successful businesses and

organizations. Information technologies, including Internet-based IS, are playing a vital and
expanding role in business. IT can help all kinds of businesses improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of their business processes, managerial decision making, and workgroup
collaboration, thus strengthening their competitive positions in a rapidly changing
marketplace. This is true whether IT is use to support product development teams, customer
support processes, electronic commerce transactions, or any other business activity. Internet
based information technologies and systems have become a necessary ingredients for
business success in todays dynamic global environment (OBrien & Marakas 2006, 4). Thus,
IT can create business change as well as operational efficiency and business value for the
organization.

Strategies and strategic positions

There are two basic business strategies that company can follow (Michael E. Porter.
What is strategy ? Harward Business Review (November-December 1996), pp. 61-78):

A product differentiation strategy

A low-cost strategy.

IT developments can affect strategy. The growth of the Internet is a classic

illustration. It has profoundly affected the way many value chain activities are performed. For
example, the Internet enables organizations to significantly streamline their inbound and
outbound logistics activities for products that can be digitized. The Internet dramatically cut
costs, thereby helping companies to implement a low-cost strategy.

Moreover, because every company can use the Internet to streamline its value chain
activities, it is unlikely that any particular company will be able to use the Internet to gain a

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sustainable long-term competitive advantage over the competitors. Therefore, once the
majority of companies in an industry begin to fully integrate the Internet into their value
chains, the effect way to encourage companies to shift from following primary a low-cost
strategy toward adopting some form of product differentiate strategy.

Information from the Information Systems

The role of the IS in the value chain and how an IS adds value to an organization and
how IS can provide information for decision making. An IS is a system that collects, records,
stores, and process data to produce information for decision makers (Romney & Steinbart
2006, 4-5). The objective of most organizations is to provide value to their customers
(Michael E. Porter and Victor E. Millar How Information Gives You Competitive
Advantage. (July-August 1985). pp 149-160). This requires performing a number of
different activities. Those activities can be conceptualized as forming a value chain.

An organizations value chain consists of five primary activities that directly provide
value to its customers. Support activities allow the five primary activities to be performed
efficiency and effectively. They are grouped into four categories (Romney & Steinbart 2006,
10). MIS provides information to help in making decisions about organizations. This
information is like a map of an organization. Information helps decision makers determine
where they are, they have been, and where they are going (Ingram, Albright, and Baldwin
2004,

Research Model/ Proposed Model

Model represents the proposed research model of this study. It shows the relationship
among information technology, management information systems, and firm performance,
while the relationship between information technology and business strategy and firm

Strategic Planning Working as a Team

Strategic planning is a team effort, one that draws on the particular skills and expertise
of employees in the organization. Early on in the planning process, the organization should
start identifying several key players who will help create the plan. These players should
include professionals with experience in the field or region that the institution will find itself
in, and who can speak to the particular needs of that area. Incorporating players from all

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levels of the organization helps determine if the program is appropriate to the social and
economic context of the clients and the realities of the informal sector that the program will
serve. Research has shown that individuals in an organization work harder at achieving a goal
when they help in setting the goal.

CORPORATE PLANNING OF MIS

If we accept the correlation between MIS and computer based systems then the
corporate planner has to consider the impact on his own company of a major new function. In
so far as computers and the associated highly paid staff are concerned, the planner is certainly
threatened with a major cost growth area that develops a momentum of its own. He may need
all his energy to contain this growth in highly expensive resources to a scale that matches the
company's overall operations. On the other hand an emphasis on management information
and redesigned systems may lead to radical redesign and improvement in profitability of a
company's operations. These two aspects are different sides of the same coin and in the future
the corporate planner will play a dominant part in determining whether a company enjoys the
benefits as well as incurs the costs of a sophisticated MIS.

We see corporate planning as a process consisting of the following components:

Setting strategic objectives that define the desirable corporate aims to be achieved.

Selecting the optimal tactical mechanisms through which the strategic objectives
are to be met.

Developing operational plans that ensure the best use of the organizational
resources within the desired time frame.

Structuring the management process that provides for the most effective decision
making and execution.

Developing the communications systems, including the formalized management

information that provide necessary support to the management process.

Defining the operational tasks and associated staffing requirements.

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 The nature of the corporate planning process is dynamic, governed by continuing
changes in the environment within which the corporate entity operates. An important support
to corporate planning therefore is monitoring the corporate environment. Such monitoring
facilitates the continuous updating of corporate plans in response to changes in the
environment.

CONCLUSION

The organizational character of a corporate entity affects its capability to implement

corporate plans. This capability is governed by three broad factors: the manner in which
organizational functions are structured, the motivational climate within the organization and
the quality of the organization's leadership. The firm views organization development as a
process involving the following series of generalized activities:

Determining the corporate style that best reflects the value systems of the social
environment within which an organization operates.

Structuring the organizational tasks in terms of corporate functions in tune with

the corporate style.

Developing the managerial process that best suits the corporate style and structure.

Developing human resources, both managerial and non-managerial, through

education and on-the-job training.

Monitoring the relationship between organizational value systems and the social
environment.

Adjusting the organization development process to adapt to changing value

systems and corporate objectives.

REFERENCES

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 Albright, T. L., Baldwin, B. A., & Ingram, R. W. (2004). Financial Accounting
Information for Decision. Ohio, OH: Thomson, Inc.

American Accounting Association (AAA). (2006). Accounting Horizons.

Sarasota, FL : American Accounting Association.

American Accounting Association (AAA). (2006). Issues in Accounting

Education. Sarasota, FL : American Accounting Association.

American Accounting Association (AAA). (2006). Journal of Information

Systems. Sarasota, FL : American Accounting Association.

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