James Cash Jr, a professor at Harvard Business School, and others once pointed out: "Now almost any organization has the ability to buy any IT, but it cannot contribute any advantages to the enterprise itself. It is only a necessary condition for enterprise operation. The key is how to combine the application of IT with the strategy, organization, process and management system of the enterprise. " This actually points out that information construction needs to be planned and designed from a strategic perspective.
Whether informatization decision-making and informatization planning rise to the strategic level directly determines the strategic positioning of enterprises, the proportion of IT investment, and the determination and implementation of processes, organizational changes and cultural training involved in project implementation (related to the success or failure of IT projects). For enterprises in China, it is an inevitable choice to formulate a good informatization strategy and guide the development of enterprise informatization in an efficient and effective direction.
Content of information strategy
Enterprises should first formulate clear information strategies to support business strategies, that is, goals, tasks and plans related to enterprise information functions, which is a strategic system including information technology, information resources, information organization and information culture.
Figure 1: information strategy system
The informatization strategy shown in figure 1 emphasizes the comprehensive study of information technology, information resources, information organization and e-commerce, and considers many management elements within a system, but it does not mean that we should go hand in hand in the process of enterprise informatization, but shows that enterprise informatization is a strategic plan. Enterprise network construction, department software development and information system application. It will be gradually implemented in the strategic framework of enterprise information integration management. When implementing a step, you can clearly know the next goal, the position of the current step in the overall plan, and the system situation implemented by other departments at the same time.
In the process of implementing informatization strategy, we also need to pay special attention to enterprise information system planning, that is, information technology and information system strategy planning. In the practice of enterprise informatization in China, the "design" function of "information system planning" has not been paid due attention. IT strategy and information system architecture are mostly lack of unified and overall planning, which is usually "what the business wants". However, due to the lack of planning and optimization of "business" itself, the information construction is blindly invested and the ideal effect cannot be achieved.
Problems in the implementation of informatization strategy [1]
Figure 2: Problems in the implementation of information strategy
1, managers' awareness of informatization strategy is weak.
Informatization is not only a change in technology, but also a change in management. Its ultimate goal is to realize enterprise strategy. At present, most enterprises in China have no clear strategy. Even if there is, it exists vaguely in the minds of top managers. If information planners want to use enterprise strategy to guide information construction. Undoubtedly, there are some difficulties.
However, in any enterprise management activities, knowledge is the first. Without the improvement of knowledge, it is impossible to produce enthusiasm for action and expected good results. Managers and employees of many enterprises are not aware of the effective function of enterprise information system, and do not agree with its huge management function and information processing function. Enterprise managers can't correctly understand enterprise informatization, and some enterprises with better benefits are content with the status quo. I believe that enterprises can operate well without perfect information construction. Therefore, insufficient attention has been paid to the informatization construction of enterprises. In the initial stage of enterprise informatization, the top leaders of some enterprises have high expectations of information technology, hoping to obtain higher benefits through enterprise informatization. Once you see that the investment cost has increased, but the benefits have not improved significantly in the short term, you lose confidence in the informatization construction of enterprises. The lack of long-term vision of enterprise leaders on enterprise informatization has seriously hindered the formulation and implementation of enterprise informatization strategy.
2. Information management technology and means need to be strengthened.
According to the data of China entrepreneur survey system published by National Research Network, nearly 70% of enterprises have realized computerized accounting, about 1, and three enterprises have adopted office automation (OOA), intranet (INTERNET) and management information system (MIS). 14. 1% of enterprises have applied enterprise resource planning (ERP), of which 18.7% is real estate. The construction and manufacturing industries are 15.3% and 14.6% respectively. The proportion of other industries is relatively low. In the manufacturing industry, 1 1.8% and 5.9% enterprises respectively adopted manufacturing resource planning (MRP) and computer integrated manufacturing system (CIMS), among which 24.5% and 14.8% were in the transportation equipment manufacturing industry. 47.6% of enterprises have established their own web pages, and 24% have established websites. 22% of enterprises have established local area networks. 2 1.5% of enterprises are planning online transactions, and 15% of enterprises are preparing to invest in online projects. It can be seen that although the management techniques and means of many enterprises in China have entered the process of modernization, it also shows that the modernization of management techniques and means of many enterprises in China is still lagging behind, and modern information technology has not yet entered management.
3. There are many problems in the implementation of informatization.
There are many complex problems in the application of information strategy, such as numerous systems, information islands, high maintenance costs and high risks, which make enterprises face risks in information transformation and management. For example, enterprise informatization has changed the working platform of business personnel such as design, manufacturing and management. Business personnel use information systems for design and management. The original paper files in the storage medium are converted into electronic documents under informatization, and sometimes the system has to be upgraded, otherwise it is difficult to enjoy the information. However, in the process of the transformation of these two systems, it is easy to cause the loss of resources and seriously affect the normal operation of enterprises. At the same time, in the process of information construction, enterprises may not have the forecasting technology and industry development, and the function and efficiency of the information management system adopted cannot meet the needs of enterprises, which makes enterprises face a dilemma: if they switch to other systems, the conversion cost will be great; If you still use the original, it will cause greater losses to the enterprise.
Analysis of strategic countermeasures of informatization [1]
1, change enterprise management thinking
The implementation of enterprise informatization strategy will inevitably lead to the introduction of modern information technology based on computers into the production and management fields of enterprises. As a result, a large number of new management ideas such as "virtual enterprise", "learning enterprise" and "business process reengineering" have emerged. Therefore, in order to conform to the trend of enterprise informatization, the management ideas of enterprises should undergo the following changes: from functional management to process management, from profit management to profit management, from product management to customer management, from transaction management to relationship management, from inventory management to information management. Of course, the most fundamental change is the change of information strategy consciousness, and enterprise managers should fully and accurately realize that the method of enterprise management has changed from institutionalization and stylization to modularity. Simple, accurate and fast modular electronic management program makes traditional function planning and information processing extremely simple. Informatization plays an important role in enterprise production and management. Therefore, we should strive to create a good corporate atmosphere and effectively implement the enterprise information strategy.
2. Strengthen the application of enterprise information technology.
Following the principle of "informatization in China" should conform to the strategic goal of building an innovative country. In the process of implementing information strategy, enterprises should adopt domestic technology and equipment as much as possible to reduce their dependence on foreign technology. Doing so will greatly reduce the cost of informatization, thus realizing low-cost informatization and enabling most enterprises to have the ability.
Realize enterprise informatization; At the same time, it will also greatly promote the development of China's information industry, realize the goal of "informatization drives industry", and strengthen ideological guidance.
After several years of development, most of the domestic software and hardware have been put into practical use, and even if there are some problems, they can be solved by application. Therefore, the assessment indicators established at this stage, such as informatization, the benefits of enterprises adopting foreign technology are far greater than domestic technology, so enterprises will have to bear expensive expenses and bring great business pressure to enterprises. Therefore, we should formulate corresponding assessment indicators based on low-cost domestic technology to encourage enterprises to improve efficiency and benefit through information management and implement enterprise information strategy.
3. Strengthen the guidance of strategic management.
Due to the over-emphasis on information technology itself, so far, there are not many enterprises that have really made great achievements. Information technology is just a tool, and it cannot solve the problems existing in enterprise management itself. The key to enterprise informatization is not to implement information technology, but to establish an organizational model that meets the requirements of modern management. Such an organizational model will take enterprise informatization as an important business strategy and work focus, because enterprise informatization is a complex system engineering, involving most departments and business processes of enterprises, with large investment. If enterprise informatization is not regarded as the business strategy and work focus of the enterprise, it will be difficult to get the support and participation of the whole enterprise, and it will be difficult to succeed. Therefore, enterprises should implement the information strategy, and carry out practical transformation and arrangement from the aspects of enterprise strategy, management mechanism, business process and performance appraisal, staff quality, corporate culture and so on.
In the specific information resource management. In order to reduce the loss of resources, the previous product information resources are classified according to their importance, and the original information is transformed in a planned way to realize the enjoyment of enterprise information resources. In addition, it is necessary to improve the evaluation system of informatization projects, and use effective indicators to evaluate the benefits and benefits brought by informatization from the perspectives of finance, customers and companies, so as to improve the investment benefits and effects and help to discover the existing or potential risks in informatization implementation. At the same time, it is necessary to manage the strategic investment of informatization in a broad sense. By implementing various changes, managing and optimizing business processes, the value potential of information strategy can be brought into play, and the operational efficiency and effectiveness can be improved. Enterprise informatization is essentially a process of transforming enterprise management mode by using modern management technology. In the era of information economy, informatization strategy provides enterprises with new competitive strategy choice space, and may create competitive advantages for enterprises. By turning the new competitive strategy into reality, the new strategy will exert great power and help enterprises gain competitive advantages in the era of globalization and informatization.
The necessity and countermeasures for multinational enterprises to implement information strategy [2]
Entering the 2 1 century, mankind is entering the era of knowledge economy with information technology as the core. Informatization has gradually become a key factor for the survival, development and success of enterprises. As an omnipotent multinational enterprise in the international market, its informatization level is high, which has laid a solid foundation for improving its core competitiveness.
First, the connotation of the implementation of information strategy by multinational enterprises
The idea of multinational enterprise management is to make use of local market, resources and ability to realize high efficiency and low cost management and provide the best service for the whole organization. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to coordinate the functions of product design, marketing and production through a modern information system and software system. Therefore, the meaning of enterprise informatization should be understood from both hardware and software: from the hardware aspect, it means that enterprises widely adopt information processing technology, and the information transmission inside and outside enterprises is basically computerized and networked; From the aspect of software, enterprises integrate existing information resources, manage them effectively by using information technology, and realize centralized control of all resources within enterprises, thus producing higher production efficiency and showing stronger competitiveness.
The informatization of multinational enterprises is mainly reflected in the following aspects: (1) the network informatization of enterprise workflow, including basic workflow such as information collection, document transmission and information interaction of technology research and development; (2) manufacturing informatization, such as computer-aided design, manufacturing and data management of products and raw materials; (3) the informationization of business processes, that is, the informationization of enterprise trading business, including business processes such as procurement, sales, inventory and inventory; (4) The informationization of enterprise operation management makes the whole enterprise become a complete and smooth management control system.
Second, the significance of multinational enterprises to implement information strategy
For multinational enterprises, the significance of implementing information strategy is reflected in the following aspects:
1. Promote the rapid development of the national economy
Due to the large-scale investment in information technology in the late 1980s, the United States achieved a rapid economic growth of 10 in the 1990s, which was called the "new economy". The proportion of information technology industry in American economy rose from 5.8% in 1990 to 8.3% in 2000. In the late 1990s, about13 of the economic growth in the United States was driven by information technology, surpassing any other industry.
2. Reform the traditional business model
Ford Motor Company reduced the purchasing cost of auto parts by 30% through online purchasing, and General Electric Company saved about $654.38+0.6 billion through supply chain management in 2000. Philip Moliis Company of the United States established the personal files of 260 million smokers by applying the customer relationship management system. Then it entered the era of enterprise informatization with Internet application as the main content. In the late 1990s, the network function of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) was enhanced, and nearly 80% of the world's top 500 enterprises adopted ERP management software.
3. Promote organizational structure optimization
The application of information technology improves and strengthens the way of information collection, processing and utilization, unifies the logistics, business flow, capital flow and information flow of enterprises, and promotes the reorganization of business processes and even organizational structure. The rapid transmission and processing of information will flatten the organizational structure, and the information system will replace a large number of functions of the middle-level supervision and control departments, making the communication between the decision-making layer and the executive layer more direct and effective, thus reducing the management level and reducing the organizational scale.
4. Improve the control ability of subordinate companies.
Subsidiaries of multinational enterprises are often geographically dispersed, so it is difficult for corporate headquarters to obtain financial data and business data of subsidiaries in time and effectively, which is easy to cause management out of control. After enterprise informatization, enterprise headquarters can monitor the operating conditions of subordinate companies in real time through information system, thus greatly improving the control ability of headquarters to subordinate companies.
5. Improve comprehensive competitiveness
Strengthening enterprise informatization construction can improve the comprehensive competitiveness of enterprises. For example, Wal-Mart rented IBM360 in 1969 for goods distribution management, and in the early 1980s, it spent $24 million to launch an enterprise's own artificial satellite for enterprise information system management. Wal-Mart's electronic information communication system is the largest civil system in the United States, and its scale even exceeds that of telecom giant AT & amp； T company's huge investment in information technology has brought it greater returns, making Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world.
6. Improve the decision-making efficiency of managers.
Multinational enterprises have many management links, a large amount of information and a long time to upload and publish. Managers spend much more time collecting information than making decisions, which is inefficient and often delays fighters. Information system can greatly accelerate the speed of information transmission. At the same time, through decision support system and expert system, a large amount of information can be analyzed and sorted out to help decision makers make decisions, thus greatly improving the decision-making efficiency of managers.
Third, the implementation strategy of multinational enterprise informatization
The informatization strategy of an enterprise should serve the business model of the enterprise, and the informatization strategy of multinational enterprises with different business models should be different.
(A) the main business model of multinational enterprises
The main business models of multinational enterprises are transnational model, global model, international model and transnational model.
1. Transnational model-highly decentralized model
Its business focus is on rapid response to the local market. In this mode, most subsidiaries under the corporate headquarters operate independently or loosely, and subsidiaries in different countries and regions tend to be localized, but each subsidiary needs to send its operation report to the headquarters. Therefore, on the one hand, subsidiaries can quickly respond to different local needs and opportunities and make many decisions; On the other hand, subsidiaries need to submit a large number of statements to the headquarters for the supervision and control of the headquarters.
2. Global model-highly centralized model
Its business model emphasizes efficiency, and the corporate headquarters controls the operations of subsidiaries distributed abroad in a highly centralized way, and the operating resources of each subsidiary depend entirely on the headquarters. This model has good economy, and its economy comes from standard product design and global production. For a highly centralized global business model, an extensive communication and control system is essential.
3. International model-partial decentralization model
This business model is similar to the business model of multinational companies in form, and their only difference lies in the different degree of decentralization of corporate headquarters to subsidiaries. Partial decentralization mode means that subsidiaries in various countries and regions must rely on headquarters when creating new processes and launching new products, but have the right to make independent decisions in other aspects.
4. Transnational Mode-All-round Mode
This business model requires the cooperation between corporate headquarters and foreign subsidiaries to integrate global business activities. On the one hand, we must ensure high centralization and high efficiency, on the other hand, we must also ensure rapid response to the local market. The difficulty lies in achieving global integration, efficiency and innovation, while achieving the flexibility to quickly respond to local needs.
(B) the information strategy of multinational enterprises
According to four different business models, the information strategy of multinational enterprises can also be divided into four types:
1. highly decentralized management information strategy of multinational enterprises
The information strategy of highly decentralized multinational enterprises is independent operation, which means that subsidiaries abroad have considerable autonomy, and they directly obtain the required hardware and software from local suppliers. The application of subsidiary information systems in different countries may vary greatly. The company headquarters only sets standards for subsidiaries in accounting and financial reporting, and supervises and controls them. Therefore, it is difficult for subsidiaries to enjoy information.
2. The information strategy of highly centralized multinational enterprises.
The information strategy of highly centralized multinational enterprises is headquarters-driven, that is, headquarters coordinates the development and application of information systems of global subsidiaries to reduce the development and operation costs of the system and emphasize the effectiveness of information technology operation.
3. Information Strategy of Partially Decentralized Multinational Enterprises
The information strategy of some decentralized multinational enterprises is rational cooperation, which requires the head office to hand over control to local subsidiaries, and the head office only tries to guide the choice of subsidiaries through influence. Subsidiaries should seek the opinions of the headquarters, and the headquarters should try to coordinate all subsidiaries, reduce repeated development and encourage the enjoyment of resources.
4. Information strategy of all-round multinational enterprises
The information strategy of all-round multinational enterprises is to integrate global information technology, because this model requires all subsidiaries to enjoy each other's information and other resources, and enterprises need to provide unified customer service standards for the whole world. The system design under this strategy needs to consider the data input of local subsidiaries. Each subsidiary needs to standardize its own data and keep consistent with the data center, and the headquarters should clearly define public systems such as order processing.
Under the situation of global economic integration, multinational enterprises will become an important economic force. In the information age, the information strategy of multinational enterprises plays a key role in the operation of enterprises. Multinational enterprises should choose corresponding information strategies according to their business models to enhance their competitiveness.