Appendix A: ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Programme Bcom Law

Module Name Information systems
Surname Naidoo
First Name/S Calista Danisa
Student Number 12134061
Date Submitted
092Postal Address 51 Coriander Close Crossmoor
Chatsworth
4092

E-MAIL 12134061@myregent.ac.za
myregent email address …………………………................................................@myregent.ac.za

E-Mail naidoo.calista@gmail.com
(Alternate email address)

Contact Numbers Cell :0768790694

Home:
Work:
Alternate contact:
Name:
Relationship:
Contact number:

I Calista Danisa Naidoo ID/Passport No.0304120206087 hereby confirm that the assignment submitted herein is
my own original work.

Date: _30 August 2022

Content Page
1.1……………………………………………………………………………………….2,3
1.2…………………………………………………………………………………………….4,5,6,7
1.3………………………………………………………………………………………….7,8,9

Question two……………………………………………………………………………….10,11,12,13,14

Question three…………………………………………………………………………………….15,16,17

References ………………………………………………………………………………….18,19,20

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Question One

1.1 Strategic management is most significant for the long-term success of any organization in a
competitive and ambitious business environment. During the covid-19 crisis, the organization has
shifted its focus to meeting the demand from customers who have turn to online shopping due to the
restrictions brought about by the government to curb the movement of people. The CEO mentioned
that the increase in business was a challenge itself to be met by the organization. This means the
strategic actions shifted from growing the e-commerce business to meeting the demands of
consumers. The case study has mentioned that the type of goods that were bought online changed in
stages from the beginning of the crisis. This change in consumer spending trends also required the
company to change the composition of its offerings as well as how the delivery is done. This shows
that the strategic plans of the company were changed during the crisis in order to meet the changing
needs of the market and try to push sales.

The case study has mentioned that before the crisis, there was an adoption of online pick-up and
delivery by customers. This means the company was strategically focusing on meeting the needs of
the customer before the crisis based on the increase in pick-up and delivery services. This strategy
was strengthened during the crisis as the customers increased their needs for online shopping due to
the social distancing brought about by the covid-19 pandemic. This was in response to the increase in
the number of customers in this category by 4x since mid-March as mentioned in the case study. In
response to the increase in demand, the organization expanded slot capacity as well as general
merchandise items available to choose from. This was a strategic trend that was introduced during the
covid-19 pandemic in response to increase in demand for pick-up and delivery services from the
customers. This was also supported by the need to increase delivery efficiency and get the goods to
the customers quickly. In this regard the company is also increasing its number of stores with Express
Delivery options in order to deliver goods in two hours. This is part of its strategy during the pandemic
and is also supported by its ship-from-store program and has been a success. During the crisis, the
organization strategically made use of its technological capabilities and introduced more than 70 new
or accelerated capabilities in response to the virus. This allowed the organization to keep moving
forward without losing focus on its core products. In addition to this, the organization has also
shuttered Jet.com and phased out the brand as part of evolving its e-commerce strategy. This strategic
decision aimed to refocus the Walmart brand and focus on growing its existing products. This Jet.com
brand acquisition is part of the pre-crisis online strategy aimed at broadening its online offerings.

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TABLE ILLUSTRATION OF UNDERLYING TRENDS BEFORE AND DURING COVID
BEFORE THE COVID-19 CRISIS DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS
1)The customers did shop at brick-and mortar The customers purchased shopping online due to
retailers, and preferred shopping there as online lockdown during covid. Due to this, online sales
shopping was not popular increased rapidly
Customers started panic buying toiletries, hygiene
2) Panic buying of toiletries, hygiene products and all products and essential groceries. This then shifted
essential groceries did not happen before the into relief spending where the customers used US
pandemic. government stimulus money to buy none essential
items.
3) Ship-from store was not much before the covid-19 Ship from store program ramped up to 2,500 stores
crisis it was less as to during covid there was a spike
that ramped up to 2,500 stores.

4)Slots capacity was not increased and general Slot capacity had increased due to demand and the
merchandise range was not increased number of general merchandise stock to give
customers a number of choices

5) there was no express delivery option An option called express delivery was introduced for
quicker delivery during covid-19

6) digital investments were not paying off Digital investments started paying off

7) there were 1,000 associates before the covid-19 An increase of 4,000 associates during the covid 19
crisis crisis occurred

8) before covid-19 they were already seeing During covid, customers embraced using pick-up
expansion of online pick-up and delivery and delivery even more as pick-up and delivery
increased 4x

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1.2 Walmart E Commerce Strategy
Below is the assessment of Walmart ecommerce strategy, examining whether Walmart studied their
customers, products, and services to develop their e-commerce website. We will look at the below
strategies as according to (Stair & Reymonds, 2010) are keys to a successful e-commerce strategy.
• Demonstrating a strong desire to build an ongoing relationship with customers by giving first-
time price incentives, offering loyalty programs, or eliciting and sharing customer feedback.
• Demonstrate that the company has been in business for a long time.
• Make it clear that considerable investment has been made in the Web site.
• Provide brand endorsements from well-known experts or well-respected individuals.
• Demonstrate participation in appropriate regulatory programs or industry associations.
• Display Web site accreditation by the Better Business Bureau Online or Trustee programs.

Strategic management requires on-going review and updating in order to forecast the changes in the
business environment. This means the ecommerce strategy for Wal-Mart stays relevant in line with
market changes. This essay would evaluate the effectiveness of the organization`s ecommerce
strategy. One of the things Walmart has done exceptionally well is that, it has focused on its own
assets and how to best leverage them take, for example, its retail stores. Analysts have been arguing
for years that storefronts are dead, but if Walmart hadn't started trying grocery pickup in 2013, its
online pickup services would not have fared as well during the pandemic. This is in relation to its store
network which second to none and the case study mentioned that 90% of US citizens are in a close
proximity to their nearest outlet. This supports the ecommerce strategy for the organization and makes
it a success. For many years analysts were saying that stores are dead but if Walmart did not start
testing grocery pickup back in 2013 its online pickup services would not have performed so well when
put to the test during the pandemic. Walmart’s strength in eCommerce can be seen in its results.
Walmart’s eCommerce sales were up 79% in 2020 and were up 1% in 2021 on the back of strong
growth in the prior year. Walmart is now the second largest eCommerce retailer in the United States
with eCommerce making up around 13% of its sales. While Walmart trails Amazon by a wide margin in
online sales Walmart is gaining ground. The case study mentioned that the online sales for Wal-Mart
increased by 74% for the 3 months to April in 2020 and this shows that the ecommerce efforts for the
organization are paying back well. This means the ecommerce strategy of the organization is proving
to be a success (McKinnon,2022)

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Consumers are looking for one stop shopping. It is not a coincidence that many of the retailers
performing well during the COVID-19 pandemic offer one stop shopping. From Walmart to Target to
Costco customers are seeking refuge in retailers where they can get what they are looking for in one
trip. One could attribute this to the pandemic since consumers are reducing their exposure to COVID-
19 by consolidating their shopping trips but that does not explain why consumers are choosing these
retailers for online purchases when they can easily and safely make purchases from other retailers
from the comfort of their homes. The merchandise of Wal-Mart has been broadened as mentioned in
the case study. This was done to cater for the increased needs of the customers for different products
and this has contributed to the success of the organization`s ecommerce strategy.

The success of the ecommerce strategy for Wal-Mart is also driven by a wide range of delivery
channels. Having a wide range of fulfilment options, including delivery to home, collection from store
and by using stores for fulfilment allowed Walmart to ramp up capacity in a way that many other
players struggled to do. We also believe that by using stores effectively, Walmart mitigated some of the
higher costs associated with the online channel. The delivery strategies for the organization include
Express Delivery and ship from-store and these have helped the organization in fulfilling orders faster
and more reliable than other retailers.

Consumers are looking for value. Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world for a reason it
capitalizes on the consumer’s desire for value. While everyone focuses on same and next day delivery
at the end of the day no matter how fast a retailer delivers merchandise no one is going to buy it if it is
not what the customer wants. Today’s consumer is strapped for cash. They were struggling financially
before the pandemic and then the pandemic hit making it even more difficult for consumers to keep up
with cost of living. This means the organization is able to deliver value for its customers and this has
contributed to customer loyalty for online shopping. Thus, the organization`s success on ecommerce is
driven by a number of factors such as the stores network which allowed delivery of value to the
customers. Big investments are often required to succeed in eCommerce. The eCommerce is not
cheap. Customers love it but it’s costly for retailers. After Walmart suffered its first decline in sales in
2015 since 1970, it realized it had to be more aggressive. To increase its eCommerce growth Walmart
purchased a host of eCommerce businesses including Jet.com for $3 billion (in 2016), Bonobos for
$310 million (in 2017), Eloquii for $100 million (in 2018) and ModCloth for between $50 million to $75
million (in 2017). Without this multi-billion dollar investment it is hard to say where Walmart’s
eCommerce business would be today. Some of those businesses have since been sold or deprioritized

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but in the process, Walmart gained know-how, processes and talent. Those investments do not even
include all of the money Walmart has invested in pickup services, fast shipping and its mobile app.
When all of these services and accompanying technology works seamlessly with very little downtime it
is easy to forget the enormous number of resources it takes to offer best in class eCommerce. These
investments allowed the organization to have a strong ecommerce establishment capable of serving
the needs of customers effectively and efficiently and this contributed to its success.

Walmart has the largest supply chain and greatest income revenue in the retail sector. These have all
been used to enhance the e-commerce platform. For instance, when shopping online, clients have the
option of picking the item from a brick-and-mortar store. Since there are Walmart stores in 20 mile-radii
from every citizen in the country, then online sales can be revamped in this way. The organization also
uses its strong revenue base to hire top IT talent for its e-commerce portfolio. Revamping an online
shopping experience takes a lot of monetary resources, of which the company has plenty. Walmart
sells a range of household items that cut across a large spectrum of individuals. This implies that its
customer size is as large as the online shopping market. Current statistics indicate that internet
advertising cost about $72.18 billion in 2012. Therefore, the firm has a large market to reach through
the internet. It works on converting prospects to buyers through an effective presentation on its
website. Clients could either be first-time visitors or current ones. These individuals can all find the
right information easily on their website. Additionally, the firm refrains from placing too much clutter on
its website. Given the large customer size, having a direct option for completion of transactions is
essential in the success of its e-commerce venture. Therefore, Walmart makes it easy for non-
members to buy items without having an account. Account users also navigate the company’s website
easily through a streamlined process (Walmart, 2013). Online placement is one of the areas that can
either make or break an e-commerce venture. It makes no sense to have a fantastic website that users
cannot find. In order to ensure proper placement, Walmart has hired technology gurus Rajaraman and
Harinarayan who were former Amazon employees. The duo sharpened Walmart’s search engine
optimization. They introduced a new search engine for the company that would translate customer’s
queries into tangible results. Before their employment in the company, a customer who typed ‘cotton
socks’ would get results like cotton candy or cotton shirts and no socks (Manjoo, 2013). Therefore,
streamlining internal processes to ensure fast response to customers’ searches was critical. Placement
of Walmart on Google searches has also been streamlined as the first six search results on Walmart
USA are links to the company’s website. Walmart has also worked on a series of social media
applications that analyses consumers’ profiles and helps them get gifts for their friends. This
contributed to the success of the case study organization`s ecommerce strategy. When selecting a

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payment system, one must consider what one sells. Walmart sells multiple items, so a shopping cart
was ideal for such an arrangement. It considers shipping costs and includes those charges in the final
payment (Walmart, 2013). One must also consider the popularity of online payment methods as it is
pointless to have methods that no one will use. Walmart uses credit and debit cards, Bill-me-later and
PayPal as its key methods. It selected such platforms because they are popular and relatively
inexpensive (Laudon and Traver, 2007)

In conclusion, the ecommerce strategy for Wal-Mart proved to be a success before and during the
pandemic. The organization managed to take advantage of its strengths and entered the market with
strategies aimed to meet the needs of customers. There is need, as mentioned in the case study, to
turn the online business arm into long term profits. This means there is need to manage costs and
increase high margin products in the merchandise.

1.3 According to (McAfee, 2021) Amazon is the leading and dominant retailer in the ecommerce
sphere, Amazon online Sales increased 3% to $49.9 billion, a significant deceleration from the 37
percent increase a year ago and much below the entire market's growth of 8%. figures are compared
to those from the pre-vaccine era when people were still scared of shopping in brick and mortar stores.
Amazon is still the largest e-commerce company in the world, with a market share of over 40% in the
US and 13% globally. According to (Peter Chaljawski, 2021) Amazon’s market share in Europe was
just 9.8 percent as of September 2020. Porters five forces model Wal-marts effectiveness in competing
with Amazon in the e-commerce space. The framework allows a business to identify and analyse the
important forces that determine the profitability of an industry. Through his model, Porter classifies five
main competitive forces that affect any market and all industries. It is these forces that determine how
much competition will exist in a market and consequently the profitability and attractiveness of this
market for a company. The components of the model are discussed below in relation to evaluating the
effectiveness of Wal-Mart in competing with Amazon in the ecommerce space.

1) Threat of new entrants: The competitive threat to a company’s business may not only be from
existing players in the market but also from potential new entrants into the market place. If an industry
is profitable, or attractive in a long-term strategic manner, then it will be attractive to new companies
(Arens and Weigold, 2013). Unless there are barriers to entry in place, new firms may easily enter the

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market and change the dynamics of the industry. The particular dynamics of an industry that restrict
entry into it are called barriers to entry. The most attractive scenario for a new company is when a
potential market has low barriers to exit but high barriers to entry. The economics of any industry will
determine the level of difficulty faced when trying to enter this market. In this regard, the organization
would need to come with some barriers to entry in order to prevent the entry of new players in the
industry (Kotler and Keller, 2012). The organization may make use of economies of scale in order to
minimize the entry of new competitors in the industry as this would make it difficult for them to enter
and establish. The other forms of barriers to entry include differentiation, capital requirements of entry,
political or legislative and expected retaliation. In relation to Wal-Mart and Amazon, the threat of new
entrants is there as there are start-up companies such as jet.com, ModCloth and Jetblack as
mentioned in the case study. These pose minimal threat to these two giants in ecommerce business.
In this regard barriers to entry would also make it possible for these giants to sustain the competition
among themselves.
2) Competitive rivalry One important force that Porter (2011) describes is the degree of rivalry
between existing companies in the market. If there are more companies competing with each other,
the resulting competitive pressure will mean that prices, profits and strategy will be driven by it. One
company may end up having little or no power in its own industry if there is a variety of quality products
that are offered in the market in direct competition with it (Bradley, 1999). Customers have the option
of simply moving on to a different company easily. Conversely, in the absence of this rivalry, the
company may be able to freely set prices and profit margins without being dictated by what the
customer finds attractive. Thus, the organization would need to understand whether the competition is
high or low in the industry. This would help in differentiating products based on performance and
quality features so that customers can identify the products without challenges. The organization would
also need to conduct research and determine if the market is growing or declining. This would also
help in crafting the organization`s strategic growth plan for the long-term future. In relation to the case
study, Wal-Mart has the ability to compete with Amazon. This is driven by its vast network of stores
across the country which allows it to serve customers efficiently than what Amazon can do. The Wal-
Mart group also has the 10 financial strength that allows it to invest into the ecommerce business line
and offer a wide variety of merchandise at the level Amazon is doing. These strengths make it possible
for Wal-Mart to compete with Amazon in the ecommerce business. Threat of substitutes Within the
framework defined by Porter (2011), substitute products are those that exist in another industry but
may be used to fulfil the same need. Thus, the more the substitutes that exist for a product the larger
the company’s competitive environment and the lower the potential for making high profits. An example
of this is that for a boxed juice producer, fresh juice, water and soft drinks are all substitutes though
they exist in separate categories. A high threat of substitutes will impact a company’s ability to set

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prices that it wants (Blackwell, Miniard and Engel, 2000). If a substitute is priced lower or fulfils a
need better than it may end up attracting consumers towards it and reduce sales for existing
companies. Thus, the organization would need to understand the nature of the substitutes in the
market and use this information in its pricing decisions and product differentiation plans as this would
help in attracting customers to buy its products and remain loyal.
3) The threat of substitutes: also exists in the ecommerce business and there is a threat that
customers can switch from one brand to the other. The Wal-Mart company possesses strengths that
allow it to outperform Amazon in serving customers better and make deliveries on the same day after
two hours from order. This would make more customers to switch from Amazon and opt for Wal-Mart
due to high quality and efficient services. This would make Wal-Mart stand tall and compete with
Amazon.
4) Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers provide the raw material needed to provide a good or
service. This means that there is usually a need to maintain strong steady relationships with suppliers
(Bradley, 1999). Depending on the industry dynamics, suppliers may be in the position to dictate
terms, set prices and determine availability timelines. Powerful suppliers may be able to increase costs
without affecting their own sales volume or reduce quantities that they sell. Supplier may enjoy more
power if there are less of them. Costs of switching to an alternate are high, or there are no alternates.
A supplier may also be the only provider of a certain raw material. This may be the case in instances
where a supplier holds a patent or have proprietary knowledge. Because of a lack of alternates, they
may be able to withhold quantities or increase prices without losing sales (Kotler and Keller, 2012).
Thus, the organization would need to understand the influence of suppliers in the market and this
would help in development of mutual relationships beneficial to both parties and help the organization
remain competitive over others.
5) Bargaining power of buyers: When buyers have the power to affect prices in an industry, it
becomes an important factor to consider for a company (Bradley, 1999). Buyers tend to have power
over an industry if they are important to the company, this may be if the industry is such that buyers
either buy in bulk, or can easily switch to another supplier. A limited number of strong buyers may be
able to exert significant control over a seller (Arens and Weigold, 2013). In addition, if a product is
similar to its competitor with little or no differentiation, then there are chances that the company may
need to let the supplier dictate terms in order to avoid losing the customer. Thus, the organization
would need to consider the power of the buyers in the market and establish mutually beneficial
relationships with them in order to remain competitive in the market as losing them would give more
power to its competitors. In conclusion, it would take some years for Wal-Mart to fully compete with
Amazon. This is due to the size of market that Amazon serves which spreads from the US and goes
abroad. The other thing that still negatively affects Wal-Mart is failure to turn the ecommerce business

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unit into profitability. There is need to strategies and operate a profitable business venture that would
strengthen its market position in the face of competition.

Question 2

An expert system is an advanced computer application that is implemented for the purpose of
providing solutions to complex problems, or to clarify uncertainties through the use of non-algorithmic
programs where normally human expertise will be needed. Expert systems are most common in
complex problem domain and are considered as widely used alternatives in searching for solutions that
requires the existence of specific human expertise. The expert system is also able to justify its
provided solutions based on the knowledge and data from past users. Normally expert systems are
used in making business marketing strategic decisions, analysing the performance of real time
systems, configuring computers and perform many other functions which normally would require the
existence of human expertise.

The difference between an expert system with a normal problem-solving system is that the latter is a
system where both programs and data structures are encoded, while for expert system only the data
structures are hard-coded and no problem-specific information is encoded in the program structure.
Instead, the knowledge of a human expertise is captured and codified in a process known as
knowledge engineering. Hence, whenever a particular problem requires the assistance of a certain
human expertise to provide a solution, the human expertise which has been codified will be used and
processed in order to provide a rational and logical solution. This knowledge based expert system
enables the system to be frequently added with new knowledge and adapt accordingly to meet new
requirements from the ever-changing and unpredictable environment.

Components of expert system

An expert system has many core system components to function and interfaces with individuals of
various roles. The following diagram displaying expert system components and human interfaces

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The major components of expert system are:
• Knowledge base – a set of rules as representation of the expertise, mostly in IF THEN statements.
• Working storage – the data which is specific to a problem being solved.
• Inference engine – the code at the core of the system which derives recommendations from the
knowledge base and problem-specific data in working storage.
• User interface – the code that controls the dialog between the user and the system.

There are certain major roles of individuals who interact with the expert system to fully exploit its
functionality and capability. They are the:

• Domain expert – the individual or individuals whose expertise’s are solving the problems the system
is intended to solve;

• Knowledge engineer – the individual who encodes the expert’s knowledge in a form that can be
used by the expert system;

• User – the individual who will be consulting with the system to get advice which would have been
provided by the expert.

Majority of the expert systems are built with expert system shells which contains an inference engine
and user interface. The shell will be used by a knowledge engineer to build a system catered for
specific problem domain. Sometimes expert systems are also built with custom developed shells for
certain applications. In this scenario, there will be another additional individual called a system
engineer. This is the individual who builds the user interface, designs the declarative format of the

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knowledge base, and implements the inference engine. Depending on the size of the project, the
knowledge engineer and the system engineer might be the same person. For a custom-built system,
the design of the format of the knowledge base and the coding of the domain knowledge are closely
related. The format has a significant effect on the coding of the knowledge. One of the major hurdles to
overcome in building expert systems is the knowledge engineering process. The process of the
codifying the expertise into a required rule format can be a challenging and tedious task. One major
advantage of a customized shell is that the format of the knowledge base can be designed to facilitate
the knowledge engineering process. Since the major challenge in expert system development is the
building of the knowledge base, it is encouraged that gap and difference between the expert’s
representation of the knowledge and the representation in the knowledge base should be minimized.
With a customized system, the system engineer can implement a knowledge base whose structures
are as close as possible to those used by the domain expert.

Knowledge-based Expert Systems

Not all expert systems have learning components to adapt in new environments or to meet new
requirements. But a common element each expert system possesses is that once the system is fully
developed it will be tested and be proven by being placed in the same real-world problem-solving
situation, typically as an aid to human workers or a supplement to some information system. Although
reference books are able to provide a tremendous amount of knowledge, users have to read,
comprehend and interpret the knowledge for it to be used. Conventional computer programs are built
to perform functions using conventional decision-making logic, having only little knowledge along with
the basic algorithm for performing the specific functions and fulfill the necessary boundary conditions.
The so-called “knowledgebase” was created in purpose of utilizing some knowledge representation
formalism to capture and store the Subject Matter Expert’s (SME) knowledge. The process includes
gathering that knowledge from the SME and codifying it according to a standardized format.
Knowledge-based expert systems collect the small segments of human knowledge and combined into
a set of knowledgebases which is used to aid in solving a complex problem. Any other problem that is
within the range and domain of the knowledge-base can also be solved using the same program
without reprogramming. Knowledge-based expert systems solve problems which normally require
human intelligence. These said expert systems represent the expertise knowledge as data or rules
within a system. These rules and data can be used and called upon for reference when needed to
solve complex problems. When compared to conventional programming, the system has the ability to
reason the process with explanations by back-traces and calculate the levels of confidence and deal

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with uncertainty. The knowledge has to be codified into programming code, hence as the knowledge
changes, the program has to be changed accordingly as well and then rebuilt.

Expert System Features

There are a number of features which are commonly used in expert systems. These features allow the
users to fully utilize the expert system’s capability conveniently in providing the most logical and
reasonable decision in a problematic situation. These features include the following:
• Backward chaining – an inference technique which continuously break a goal into smaller sub-
goals which are easier to prove via IF THEN rules.
• Dealing with uncertainties – the system has the capability to handle and reason with conditions
that are uncertain and data which are not precisely known
• Forward chaining – an inference technique which deduce a problem solution from initial data via IF
THEN rules
• Data representation – the method where the specific problem data is stored and accessed in the
system
• User interface – that portion of the code which creates an easy-to-use system;
• Explanations – the ability of the system to explain the reasoning process that it used to reach a
recommendation.
The Advantages of Using Expert System
Expert system has been reliably used in the business world to gain tactical advantages and forecast
the market’s condition. In this globalization era where every decision made in the business world is
critical for success, the assistance provided from an expert system is undoubtedly essential and highly
reliable for an organization to succeed. Examples given below will be the advantages for the
implementation of an expert system in business:
Providing consistent solutions – It can provide consistent answers for repetitive decisions,
processes and tasks. As long as the rule base in the system remains the same, regardless of how
many times similar problems are being tested, the final conclusions drawn will remain the same.
Provides reasonable explanations – It has the ability to clarify the reasons why the conclusion was
drawn and be why it is considered as the most logical choice among other alternatives. If there are any
doubts in concluding a certain problem, it will prompt some questions for users to answer in order to
process the logical conclusion.
Overcome human limitations – It does not have human limitations and can work around the clock
continuously. Users will be able to frequently use it in seeking solutions. The knowledge of experts is

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an invaluable asset for the company. It can store the knowledge and use it as long as the organization
needs.
Easy to adapt to new conditions – Unlike humans who often have troubles in adapting in new
environments, an expert system has high adaptability and can meet new requirements in a short
period of time. It also can capture new knowledge from an expert and use it as inference rules to solve
new problems.

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QUESTION 3

The processor is defined as a logic circuit or simple chip which reacts to fundamental instructions and
input processes to operate the computer. The important purposes of a processor are getting, decoding,
processing, executing and writing back as feedback to the instructions of the chip. The processor is
termed as the brain of any electronic systems that incorporate into a laptop, computers, smartphones,
and embedded systems. The control unit and arithmetic logic unit are the two significant components
of the processors.

The logic functions can be addition, multiplication, subtraction and division whereas the control unit
manages the traffic flow which follows the operation or command according to the input instruction.
This processor interacts with the neighboring component which can be their output, input, storage and
memory components.

Different types of processors

The different types of processors are microprocessor, microcontroller, embedded processor, digital
signal processor and the processors can be varied according to the devices. The important elements
of the CPU are labelled as heart elements of the processor and system. The control unit activates,
fetches and execute the input instructions. The processor can be embedded in a microprocessor and
comprise of unit IC chip. But some devices are based on multi-core processors. It comprises one or
more CPU. It is a typical tiny component with pins embedded on the motherboard. It can also be linked
to motherboard with fan and heat sink to disperse the produced heat.

1. Microprocessor

The fundamental process of the system is denoted by a microprocessor incorporated in the

embedded systems. There are various types of microprocessors in the market implemented by
different enterprises. The microprocessor is a standard processor which comprises of ALU, control
unit and club of registers known as control registers, status registers, and scratchpad registers.

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 It can be on-chip memory and few interfaces can be interacting to the outer world via interrupting
lines, and the other can be ports and memory registers to interact with the external world. These ports
are often termed as programmable and make them act as output or input. These programs can be fed
and modified according to the behavior of the devices.

A one or two microprocessor can be merged together to form a multiprocessor. The input and output
operations and memory are shared by the processors. The access time in the memory register is
similar for every processor and every processor are associated by bus. The working and access and
their input and output functions are mutually shared by the processor to perform the same function.

2. Microcontroller
The microcontroller is standard which is available in different size and packages. The input reading
and reacting to its corresponding output is the fundamental function of the basic microcontroller and so
it is called as general-purpose input and output processors (GPIO). Few of the microcontrollers are
Microchip P1C16F877A, Microchip Atmega328, Microchip P1C18F45K22, Microchip P1C16F671, and
Microchip P1C16F1503.

3. Embedded Processor
The embedded processor is structured to control the electrical and mechanical functions. It comprises
of numerous blocks like timer, program memory, data memory, reset, power supply, data memory,
interrupt controller, clock oscillator systems, interfacing circuits, specific circuits and system
application ports and circuits.

4. Digital Signal Processor The digital signal processor is used for filtering, measuring, compressing
analogue and digital signals. The processing of signal means that manipulation and analysis of
digital signals. This process can be made using application specified integration circuits, digital
signal processor, field-programmable gate array or it can be a computer to achieve a distinct
signal. The processors in DSP are used for barcode scanners, oscilloscope, printers, mobile
phones. These processors are used for rapid and implied for real-time applications.

Components of Processor
• The fundamental parts of the processor are control units, arithmetic logic unit, registers, floating
points, L1 and L2 cache memory.
• The arithmetic logic unit is comprised of logical and arithmetic functions on the operands in
instructions.

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• The unit of floating-point is called as numeric coprocessor or math coprocessor. It is a specialized
operator which manipulates the numbers in rapid when compared to the operation of basic
microprocessor circuits.
• The registers are used to save the instructions and other data to feed the operands to ALU and store
the operation result. The L2 and L1 cache memory saves the time of CPU to fetch the data from RAM.
• The primary functions are fetching, decode, write back and execute. The fetch is the function which
gets the instruction from memory and feeds to RAM.
• The decode is a process where the instructions can be edited to understand from the other elements
of CPU is required to persist in the operation which is done by the instruction decoder. In the execute
process, the CPU is required to trigger and carry out the functions.
• Many processors in the market are multi-cored which comprises of multiple IC to enhance the
performance of the processor, power consumption is limited, and gives a simultaneous process to
perform parallel processing or multiple tasks.
• The installation of multiple cores has separate processors as they are plugged into the one socket
and gives a common established connection to make it faster.
• In some computers, it has two or more cores and can be increased to twelve cores. If the CPU can
process only with a set of finite commands at one time, and it is called a single-core processor. If the
CPU obeys the two instructions at a time, then it is called a dual-core processor.
• If it obeys four sets of commands then it’s called as quad-core processors. If there are more cores,
the computer can obey multiple commands simultaneously. (O`Brien &Marakas)

Conclusion

Few processors are multi-threading that uses the core of the virtualized processor. These processors
are also called as vCPUs. It is not powerful like physical core and is implied to increase the
performance in virtual machines. It can add the unnecessary vCPU to affect the consolidate ratio which
can be built from four-six built-in one physical core

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