Management Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management Information Systems - Essay Example Cost leadership and Differentiation focus strategy will be discussed with examples in the following section. Wal-Mart stores have successfully expanded its operations across many countries with cost leadership strategy by gaining competitive advantage through under-pricing products while maintaining decent profit margin; thanks to savings from lower costs that allows Wal-Mart to transfer savings to customers. Starbucks Corporation currently employs the differential focus strategy and caters to a specific target consumer segment with unique and distinguished products. Selling unique line of coffee and tea products to high-end customers at a high cost gives it a competitive advantage. It doesn’t aggressively market itself but the attention to detail, product quality, impeccable customer service, and ethical practices have helped position the organization as â€Å"one of the most valuable global brands†. Wal-Mart currently has a management information system that helps sto ring and sharing information from and for its world wide operations. It uses point-of-sale system to record all the sales information and telecommunication to connect with its stores worldwide to maintain stocks. Starbucks has an advanced information system in place to collaborate worldwide operations, especially focusing on direct coordination among finance, purchase, sales and marketing, and human resource department. However, both the firms need to extensively focus on information security and customer profiles in order to avoid potential security breaches and information misuse to ensure sustained success and growth. References Trevino, D. (2009, May). Starbucks Details Strategy For Profitable Growth. Starbucks Newsroom. Retrieved from http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=184 Ireland, D. R., Hitt, M. A., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2011). Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases. Cengage Learning. Retrieved from