1.

Analyze the challenges faced by KL Worldwide Enterprises in the early 2005, what in your opinion was an antidote to these challenges. Answer The challenges faced by the KL business were due to tightening margins and Internet KL lookalike sites. The business challenges facing KL are:

How to streamline the integration of acquired organizations How to shorten the design / product delivery cycle How to cut operating costs to invest in product innovation How to leverage the internet

All of these challenges share a common theme - that of access to, and sharing of, data (what is in the pipeline, where is it headed, who needs what when). There are two major software systems deployed which are not currently delivering the full value that they could:

SAP Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Oracle eBusiness Suite

KLs CIO, Kelly Barnes, is also faced with the reality that the ITS group does not have a great reputation with either the COO (Jens McCreary) or the CFO (Juliet Allen).

They are both looking for the Information Technology Services organization (ITS) to deliver more capabilities with less dollars and to justify those dollars spent with an ROI analysis. The best choice for KL worldwide would be to standardize the system across the whole enterprise. Standardizing the system across the whole enterprise would ensure that the KL worldwide uses the

same technology across the globe, from its server OS across to the point of sale system in each individual store. This would upgrade the IT infrastructure across the whole company. It will also optimize its supply chain as the companys production is vertically integrated and the clothes needed for most of KLs product lines are manufactured at the Indian plant, the information across the entire enterprise can flow freely as it becomes more visible. Using Supply chain management (SCM) involves the management of information flows between and among stages in a supply chain to maximize total supply chain effectiveness and profitability. This alternative has the highest initial costs due to the high investment in IT, but will lower costs in the long run as the firm becomes more efficient at forecasting its sales(demand planning systems), reducing inventory levels (supply chain planning systems), and reducing obsolete designs. Customers will also be satisfied as the firm will be able to produce more of its new designs faster as the information flows freely between the whole enterprises. And if there are any customer complaints, it can also be resolved quickly as management can pinpoint the exact point of error quickly. The free flow of information across the whole enterprise also allows it to gain a competitive advantage. This alternative is also the best for solving the problems faced by KL worldwide. This solution ensures that the managements concerns regarding KL Worldwide Enterprises current state of manufacturing and distribution components in the supply chain are addressed.

2. Discuses the business strategies of KL Worldwide Enterprises. How different would be you approach if you were in Charge? Answer A business strategy describes how a particular business intends to succeed in its chosen market place against its competitors. It therefore represents the best attempt that the management can make at defining and securing the future of that business. A business strategy should provide clear answers to the questions: What is the scope of the business (or offering) to which this strategy applies? What are the current and future needs of customers and potential customers of this business? What are the distinctive capabilities or unique competence that will give us competitive advantage in meeting these needs now and in the future? What in broad terms needs to be done to secure the future of our business? KLs aim was to expand rapidly and globally within their niche to become the very best provider of high quality yet eminently affordable sportswear and equipment. To this, KLs strategy was to acquire other quality providers of sporting goods both at home and abroad, teach them the KLs ways of doing business and integrate them into a thriving global enterprise. Again, KL acquired, improved and grew a host of smaller sports product providers and merged them into KL. KL was moved globally through the extension of its manufacturing and distribution of arms in India, Brazil and Singapore.

Other strategy was to retain its brand name, maintain a commitment to high quality and reasonable prices and leverage its worldwide manufacturing, design and distribution capabilities in order to remain competitive. Effective and efficient use of IT was essential in carrying out their strategy and for this reason; it improved eCommerce capabilities by operating a highly successful eCommerce arm through its web site, KLBrand.com and the very best, global supply chain management that money could buy. Like their competitors, KL offered KL sports stores and KLBrand.com to those who wanted the cache of the KL brand and their latest and products innovations and who were willing to pay a premium, and for those who did not care to use the web and do not live in an urban center that offers access to a KL boutique, KL ensured their consumers can get products from an array of middle-tier to up-scale sports retailers. Their plan was also to provide low-cost, customized goods for retailers who promoted their own branding looking at the highly competitive market and given their competitive edge in manufacturing and logistics.
The technology organization needs to evaluate how it currently delivers its services, how to improve production capabilities and capacity, along with their supporting processes to meet the business challenges of integration of anticipated acquisitions, and how to add more sizzle to the KL experience

As much as 10% of KLs overall operating budget is devoted to IT related costs, including hardware, software, services and personnel. I would have effectively utilized this budget to deliver and distribute the core applications (SAP/Oracle) effectively across the enterprise. I would also find ways to shrink the base budget to free up dollars for investment in other technology that will enhance the ability to gather and deliver timely information.
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Again, I would employ the following:

Review / update projects related to providing updated WEB pages, internet portals and cost effective communications channels such as VPN

Develop a plan to outsource the deployment and upgrade of the SAP/Oracle systems into the key manufacturing, marketing, and distribution locations to leverage the future cost savings associated with these applications and free up the local ITS talent to maintain daily operations

Implement a business case approach to new IT projects/services that support the integration and upgrading based on the SAP and Oracle systems selected to support the companys core functions

Work with the business to lay out the business justification for each new technology initiative and develop a proper ROI for it. Accountability also needs to be taken by the business for results

Use Microsoft SharePoint to create collaborative spaces to share data and to track its use Implement the decision support system add on for Oracle eBusiness Suite and ensure that it is web-based

3. The cross-regional operations of KL Worldwide Enterprises posed a variety of challenges that needed urgent attention. Explain these challenges in details and provide the way forward. Answer The massive operations in the various cross regions posed a variety of logistical challenges for KL. The U.S operation was the oldest within KL and the most capital intensive yet they were running on the most outmoded supply - chain management (SCM) system. KL has difficulty moving to SAP. It was also almost impossible to get information about the status of work in their Brazil and Singapore facilities that required additional finish work once the product reached the States. Also, the operation in India was complicated by the number of outsourced services that KL employed to supplement and complement their in-house capabilities. They legacy systems used by KL were also a barrier to managing their supply chain and logistics activities efficiently. Also the move to SAP was slowed down by the products inability to address the unique compliance requirements imposed by the Indian government as well as by the different business and manufacture processes already in place at India. Again, everything in Brazil took time to accomplish. KL could not get what they needed from corporate in terms of production line and delivery requirements. The designs that emerged from their colleagues in U.S did not work well with the factory configurations and production capacity in KLs Brazilian facilities.

Coordination between India and Singapore production facilities was a challenge. Their systems were not compatible with one another and were therefore difficult to get timely data on where they stand with orders for raw materials and semi-finished goods. Communication and collaboration tools were not in place that did them any good. In order to overcome these challenges, KL needs to redesign their website for a new look and feel. Information should be made readily available for users. Also there is the need to clearly differentiate their high- end product lines sold through KL stores, their websites and certain, third party retail chains versus the less expensive mix of products sold through the large national chains and through their private label relationships. Again, the right product must be delivered to the right customers on a just-in-time basis. Accounts shelves should be stocked in a timely manner to cut down on warehousing and wastage, and to make the most of their advertising and promotion to optimize the effectiveness of the in charge. 4. Assess the IT and corporate network compatibility systems of KL Worldwide. KL had a well-architected and integrated IT infrastructure. However the systems had some huge deficiencies that were of fundamental concerns. First the KL systems deployment efforts focused on the roll-out of transactional capabilities for finance and HR and not on planning and forecasting. However planning and forecasting are key to the success of very organisation in the business world. This has become even more important because all organisations today are looking forward at gaining competitive advantage. Secondly, there was no decision support services for IT, for example there was no support for corporate-wide data warehousing and business unit data marts were not in place. Third KL had a

solid plan and a uniform architecture; however its IT investments were not thoroughly leveraged. This reason presents a very difficult and efficient IT operational system for IT Furthermore KL had a high band with internet connectivity that could support KLs Oracle, SAP, Web and other heavy through-put applications. However the communication net work became increasing uneconomical and was prone to intermittent internet failures. These pose a great deal of challenge to KL. The other issues also had to do with the fact that more of KLs application became Web-based, which in real terms is a more acceptable in terms of assess and efficiency, yet they did not have a technical networking platform that could secure intrusion and information theft or tampering. In conclusion the information technology services and net work integrated systems of KL Worldwide had lots of deficiency that needed urgent attention if the company were to succeed.