A DSS (Decision Support System) is a program application of a
computer that analyzes data for a given business and then delivers it in such a
way that the users of the information can use it in making decisions for
business in an easier manner (Power, 2000).
For the project given in the scenario, a decision support
system is appropriate because the organization needs to start producing reports
for their transactions. There is also the need for the use of existing trends
to make a projection of the future sales for the organization, hence making a
Decision Support System is the best option (Pradhan, 2007). The DSS also makes
use of Microsoft Excel, making the summarization of the data and information
easily. The existing system has no knowledge system, making inappropriate in
decision-making support. Therefore, making a DSS the best available option for
the business organization.
A markup is a difference between a product’s (or, service’s)
cost and the price, at which the same product (or, service) is sold. Since the
organization sells a good number of its products in wholesale, the best markup
to be used is retail markup (Diasio, & Agell, 2009). The markup will be
calculated by subtracting the wholesale price from the retail price, and it is
calculated as a wholesale percentage. The formula for calculating the markup
will be incorporated in the Microsoft Excel sheets that will be used in the
DSS, hence easier to do analysis (Farris et al., 2010).
The choice made on the type of markup by the organization
will have different effects on the organization. The effect will be on the
number of items that the customers will purchase at any given time. The reason
for that is because if there are discounts on wholesale retail, the customers
will prefer to buy goods in wholesale because of the markup but the organization
may lose customers who prefer to purchase.
In the short run, the business may not make enough profits if
there is the implementation of the program of providing discounts to large
orders. However, in the long-run, the business will make large profits. The
reason for this is that in the short run, the organization will not have
created a stable customer base for the wholesale products, hence fewer profits.
However, after creating enough customers, the organization will create more
profits as more customers will buy goods in bulk from the organization.
As the company plans to expand its operations, the most
appropriate Freight Type is Partial Truck Load as the organization is becoming
a medium organization in the market (Matsatsinis & Siskos, 2002). The
type is an economical method of moving loads that are medium-sized. Mostly, it
is booked by running truck fleet or by volume. It entails same track pickup as
well as delivery, making it appropriate for the business organization.
The organization is more likely to lose much profit at the
beginning of implementing free freight delivery for the customers and
transferring the costs to the business instead of the customers. However, as
time goes by, the organization will attract more customers, and its profitability
will start increasing (Diasio, & Agell, 2009). The reason for that is
because, at the start, the organization is not able to create enough profits
because of fewer customers and bearing the freight costs. However, as the
number of customer increases, the business will pick up and start making enough
profit even after bearing the freight delivery costs.
References
Diasio, S. & Agell, N. (2009). The
evolution of expertise in decision support technologies: A challenge for
organizations. 13th International Conference on Computer Supported pp.
692–697.
Farris P.W., Bendle N.T., Pfeifer P.E.
& Reibstein D.J. (2010). Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to
Measuring Marketing Performance. 1st Ed. Boston: Pearson
Education.
Matsatsinis, N.F. & Y. Siskos (2002).
Intelligent support systems for marketing decisions. 1st Ed.
New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Power, D. J. (2000). Web-based and
model-driven decision support systems: concepts and issues in proceedings of
the Americas Conference on Information Systems. 1st Ed. Long
Beach, California: Prentice-Hall.
Pradhan,
S (2007). Retailing Management. 2nd Ed. Tata McGraw-Hill.
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