Information Systems in Business - Coursework Example

Value of the business International war game hosting has several advantages, one of which is that it requires minimal investment and start up time. Since the website will be optimized with search engines, the business will be able to pay itself quickly because it will be providing customers with valuable services (Bächle 2010). The website is an efficient, fast and powerful communication and marketing medium and tool. The website is most an environmentally friendly way to run the war game hosting. The number of cars and mileage spent is reduced by telecommuting. The war game hosting business will be able to test offerings and sales strategies without wasting valuable paper. Putting catalogs, newsletters and invoices online will save numerous trees. The war game hosting business is an inexpensive way to reach and interact with new markets. Savings will be made on office and transportation costs. War game hosting will also offer unlimited possibilities for the business. The order and payment processes, inventory management and the customer support tasks will be fully automated (Reuvid 2005). The war game hosting is a sign of professionalism and the business will have a global presence 24/7. There are fewer competitors for international war game hosting and for some countries where it is illegal, people who are interested in war games can have an opportunity to play in other countries. The future of hosting war games online looks bright. Currently, both direct and indirect global sales attributed to the internet constitute nearly 5 percent of total sales (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Five years from now, these global sales are expected to rise to 35 percent (Blythe & Megicks 2010). According to the Integrated Management Resources Group (IMRG), online sales in Australia alone will stand at 10 billion pounds by 2011 (Blythe & Megicks 2010). In May 2007 global electronic commerce generated 750 million pounds and in May 2008 it generated 2.3 billion pounds (Blythe & Megicks 2010). During the last three years, internet traffic has doubled every 100 days (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Currently, 40 million Australian devices are connected to the internet (Blythe & Megicks 2010). By 2012, this figure is expected to rise to 65 million (Blythe & Megicks 2010). By 2012, it is likely that 1 billion devices will be linked to the Internet worldwide (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Given the low competition and these figures, the international war game hosting is likely to generate revenue and profits. Building cooperation with war game owners and air soft gun companies is one of the most important aspects of the war game hosting business. Joint venture is a name used for cooperation between businesses and it provides a win-win strategy for the businesses. The war game hosting business will work together with war game owners and air soft gun companies to reach goals of making profits and being successful. When cooperating, the war game hosting business, war game owners and air soft gun companies will all gain what they want (Dibb & Simkin 2008). Coupons are promotional materials that will induce customers into participating in the war games. Selling business coupons online with enticing product descriptions and an attractive banner will motivate customers to use the coupons. The huge demand for coupons is caused by the customers’ need to reduce their expenses. Coupons will also be made available on other websites so as to make the business to be located quite easily. These promotional websites display coupons according to the type of business and area to facilitate the use of coupons. Avid consumers will be able to easily transfer coupons to their friends and relatives living elsewhere through laptops, an internet enabled mobile phone or IPad (Dibb & Simkin 2008). These promotional websites will encourage customers to share stories on how they were able to make savings through these coupons. Since all the big companies are offering discount coupons, the war game hosting business will make its sales surge by introducing such voucher codes. Business analysis There are a number of weaknesses and threats associated with a war game hosting business. Air soft games are a fun activity enjoyed by many people but the dangers accompanying the games are numerous (Polman 2010). Furthermore, air soft games are expensive and consequently the capital required for this business is huge. A large venue is required for the air soft games but it may not be easy to acquire. Strict safety measures are needed to conduct the air soft business in a precise way to avoid huge compensation. Protective gears such as bearing vests, modular rigs, holsters and helmets are materials that should be purchased. A safe playing field needs to be prepared for the air soft games. Since the number of air soft businesses is quite limited, the competition that is faced is little. This is an advantage to the business because it can venture into markets where there are few war game providers. Seeing that the war game hosting business will be online, it is expected that weaknesses and threats associated with the internet will be faced. One such weakness is that computer expertise is required to run the business. To properly run this business some expertise in the computer medium is a requirement. As much as the business can hire professionals to manage the internet trade process, the business owner himself has to have the necessary skills in internet trade to properly run the business and truly analyze its performance. Confidentiality and security issues are also a weakness in an online war game hosting business. Even though computer security has increased in the recent years with encryption protocol design to safeguard internet trade and new programming, internet is still an open medium that imposes threat to online cash transactions (Polman 2010). The unwillingness of some businesses to run internet trade is because of the fear of leaking of confidential information during the internet trade and the reluctance to participate in heavy cash transaction on the internet. This leaking of secret information and confidentiality issue is a huge concern in initiating the war game hosting business. Copyright issues are a threat of internet trade. The internet law cannot enforce copyright rule as firmly as it is done by administrators in landmarked businesses. The main reason for this is that the internet is a vast medium that is distributed in several countries worldwide (Williams 2007). It is very difficult to keep copyright laws intact hence it is very quite for one business to completely copy the trade and business mechanism of another business on the internet. For this reason business owners are reluctant to commence internet trade because they fear that another internet business will copy their business ideas easily. These copyright issues even now have not been resolved and the chance of seeing any major achievement in this regard is little. Internet trade exploitation is another weakness that the business will face. Since the internet is an open medium, in some cases the business could advertise to those people that the company does not want to do business with (Dibb & Simkin 2008). Commencing the war game hosting business with the right target market is quite a difficult task and sometimes can be frustrating for the business especially if it is small and has limited finances to support the internet trade. Distraction is also a factor since online business usually means working from home. Therefore, distraction at home will be experienced through television, backyard, the microwave or the stovetop. Concentration is important in online business and in the end it is going to be what drives the business forward to success. On the other hand, the offline distractions merely represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to online businesses. Since a great deal of online business work is boring and tedious, distraction is easy. It is a known fact that people play online games while in the workplace because sometimes their job was boring. Partners/suppliers The international war game hosting business will be partners with several air soft companies. Most of the quality manufacturers are found on the internet, where they have specialty shops for their little or no street presence. Nonetheless, small street air soft suppliers can be found in quite a good number of places. Air soft guns are also common at swap meets that typically carry non-branded air soft guns that are made in China. Just like most companies whose products are made abroad, the air soft suppliers are relevant only if their reputation of quality precedes them (Books & LLC 2010). The air soft manufacturers are considered by consumers to be the company that brings the air soft guns to the market. Air soft companies pay factories to produce air soft guns for them to their specifications. Since air soft was first introduced as an import product, the manufacturing factories themselves obtained reputation for quality products. The rebranding advent usually allows the consumer a resource for after-sale service. One of the manufacturers that the international war game hosting business will be partners with is Hudson. This is because Hudson usually produces WWII replicas of gas-operated shell-ejecting air soft guns. Another manufacturer that will be a partner is Sheriff. Sheriff assembles full metal custom pistols that use Western Arms based components. Sheriff also builds Maruzen based bolt action rifles. Furthermore, Sheriff makes gas air soft rifles, although the Highlander Magnum was discontinued. Another partner will be Sunproject because of their renowned CO2 and M203s driven Gas Blow Back M-16s. The next partner will be Gamma because of their reputable remote control air soft claymore mine. Guay Guay Gunshop (G&G) will also be a partner because of their internal and external accessories and upgrades. G&G recently released higher end guns such as the M-14, UMG and RK103. These models are unpopular among mainstream air soft because they tend to cost much more than the similar Tokyo Marui and Classic Army models. Beginners at air soft gearboxes are discouraged by the very complex internals. I Chih Shivan (ICS) is the third biggest manufacturer of air soft guns after Tokyo Marui and Classic Army. The ICS guns are highly sought after by players and usually come with original trademarks and metal bodies. ICS manufactures an AK-74M replica, MP5s, M4s and Olympic Arms. Furthermore, ICS have a new split gearbox design whereby the upper gearbox that includes the spring and cylinder assembly disconnects from the lower gearbox for easier upgrades and repair. ICS have made recent updates to their entire product line that has led to a slightly upgraded FPS and increased reliability. Upcoming projects include additional versions of the popular Kalashnikov, L85, G36 and the SIG rifle series (Williams 2007). Tokyo Marui (TM) is another manufacturer that the international war game hosting business will partner with. TM is renowned as the pinnacle of air soft durability, reliability and technology. TM created the FAMAS F1, the first AEG (Automatic Electric Gun). TM is also the inventor of the HopUp System which has an adjustable rubber pad in the barrel that imparts a spin to the fired BB thereby greatly increasing range. TM has manufactured a wide selection of AEGs, smaller Automatic Electric Pistols (AEPs) and spring and gas powered weapons. TM have also made other great advancements in air soft but the Japanese law limits Marui to using ABS plastic receivers. This has put TM in tight competition with ICS and CA. These are companies that are under no such restriction and are therefore able to offer full metal guns that are seen by some as more aesthetically pleasing and of high quality. In terms of investment, TMs guns last much longer than those for competitors. Reliability has therefore made TM one of the best platforms for upgrading. TM is the largest air soft manufacturer worldwide to which aftermarket products are tailored (Grefen 2010). Conclusion The advantages of international war game hosting that include the minimal investment and start up time, the ability for the business to pay for itself quickly, the efficient, fast and powerful communication, the environmentally friendly nature of the business, the fact that the business offers automation of inventory and the little competition were discussed in this paper to support the value of the business. Since the business is online, the threats and weaknesses associated with the internet such as security have been discussed. Other weaknesses are that it is expensive to set up the business. References Bächle, M 2010, E-Business, Oldenbourg Wissensch. Blythe, J & Megicks, P 2010, Marketing planning: Strategy, environment and context‎, Pearson Education, New Jersey. Books & LLC 2010, Airsoft: Propane, legal issues in airsoft, tippmann, airsoft gun, list of airsoft manufacturers, classic airsoft, Tokyo marui, airsoft pellets, General Books. Dibb, S & Simkin, L 2008, Marketing planning: A workbook for marketing managers, South-Western Cengage Learning, Connecticut. Grefen, P 2010, Mastering the gaming business, Taylor & Francis. Polman, L 2010, War games: The story of aid and war in modern times, Penguin Books. Reuvid, J 2005, The secure online business handbook: e-commerce, IT functionality & business continuity, 3rd ed, Kogan Page Publishers. Williams, G 2007, Online business security systems, Taylor & Francis. Read More