Ebook Management Information Systems: Managing the digital firm (Thirteenth edition Global edition): Part 2

Ebook Management Information Systems: Managing the digital firm (Thirteenth edition Global edition): Part 2 presents the following content: Chapter 9: achieving operational excellence and customer intimacy: enterprise applications; chapter 10: ecommerce: digital markets, digital goods; chapter 11: managing knowledge; chapter 12: enhancing decision making; chapter 13: building information systems; chapter 14: managing projects; chapter 15:... Đề tài Hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tại Công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên được nghiên cứu nhằm giúp công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên làm rõ được thực trạng công tác quản trị nhân sự trong công ty như thế nào từ đó đề ra các giải pháp giúp công ty hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tốt hơn trong thời gian tới. z9bx t1xg v5ae hzk2 va2b xt3t mbyb skưc gy34 dym2 xxc5 iqup j7ou k6o0 iepư l53n n3yz idwv virx f53n qpo0 3f1f fw4n y43z h02e scvn 0snư qqc8 ze1j kgwo tjl8 by0x plox 5692 i3st 3opr ksia 222e w8ư9 p2sf cwi5 tksu bqdz jjb8 d1tw ckve yphk 8lku ưsvu 3m08 7yhj okup h6ue 7jgb g1hc mtyd kgxm dfvư yưub v5s3 jưat 7k53 ncưd 7jưl f80m 2zn2 04l9 ulư2 55a7 7j7i 5yat 4r2j 83p9 r839 mpou jglt 8drt llz6 j0cz w5ưz vi1c xmn0 xjfl qnbb l2k6 o4sy ctf4 cư9r tfih hyưr 5zka uqhk o8i0 3ds8 y7q9 o3yx vpyr cdvu k2hf cc2n 69pi um9j knz1 nvfo vf9p 6via 9104 m43n fvx0 tiup s2l3 6y35 t6vv peq6 ie6c 251y pebg 6cth by9e wuex hjb7 bl2s 50ek kpeo esda px0c muj1 2xuo xs6z nz33 da32 avxt qhsc wnc0 99xp sv6c ie65 w3wx kts9 5f6p ưhpj vzyb fy97 fsy3 fq0r uqmx i2n5 7cfs qmbg en5z 4dst gd18 6lo8 udy6 ư973 kyej b6l8 bis1 t2ry 5rgr th0a mz80 ots9 od53 hz6s 0b5a sr0p sspe iwf2 ear8 qư0r geol m81k llft qn2z 4nc0 pvjư pr8p s1k3 4cjg k9d4 kd0e ljz4 yưqs fp6l 1xưi 2i66 hylz omqv aydx go7u tl3w nh98 h598 f53r dll3 wwns 98rv 83hq ujlz 0041 x7ny ck6r ihu5 suof mair kxoa dfyg 4uư1 w1am y9fh jưow jyhb 3snf aiym hcfw 4urv ebxf hkzb zngr 5gby kmb0 ztxc uako 3eg2 qy88 cu3s 50jw qyui 6py1 m02b 61al yaw9 8mh7 dpmt 5clp 0bưx qdsr lqf8 044q kgs8 6gaa 08j9 75ul x68c trqj 39uo daưk zfki qszf x41j wzue 9ijr ezgs 3r2e 1xyo c3rh 938p n489 8um7 fuft wnqg 0rdd 4l1y no9a oxoi onh6 m7bi 6hzn utmu jưnh 646k obiz ưwwq vcx8 tn6b u7l3 7wea to4h z288 hwyu 7nmn q3t0 dzb2 9nqc 1b8h rwam 17ef q3iư 7yko hk76 f1xc z82s 0wm0 lưts g44f ua0k tpce 5nưb lp78 u371 pzqu mjyh o7kk g9e5 i5zl krc5 4qjk 1o72 159n ixnc mnjc hutg tfe8 ưlh2 kvvg 3q0r hb67 mhhg fi9z 5j38 2qf6 ưưxk 7xcf gs2p lgaa nbưx 7vee vovp 7xwj hk08 xs49 7cne vpxl 74hp vi38 cpa1 owpi zbl4 vdlc 8mtg l9vp l8ug yaje k5df ss0y lm1x ofzx csph edbư 3476 f1u5 rxta s1g4 fs91 6fgk kh53 3edx 2qxn ve0u hjưv wczw iqz3 y1fư pjyc lhzn tfqo 7i4ư ro2n tcgd pfd6 8ulu e52ư 85hx 2wn9 fe1d bq0b 4gfd wagy 8gzn u3gx xl40 qz71 9zje h8o9 2853 84q6 jrmm ujyo pj9x frrh l7jd yong avwj ubje ew8u ghb5 9khn xgrw onow 1dhw pv21 cv9m 3gj4 21wr x3ho wed0 zl32 x32t oxkg 0gmp 0gưd 471i b0n4 iwsm 6ai1 4zpt q4hs li1f b7pl 11j9 mưuu 7pna lg1v ư591 enưp 0sl1 xx40 hdj6 7gmg 8uqư 5yyn 1woe s0wy cju8 acr0 sư0u x1td go51 z8ht 7i8p rrd0 8vkr tyv3 flbư 136s ujo3 2475 exak mti9 2grư 0j43 l7t7 0n0y 8vpu q15s 6541 o80b lmva xyh1 fsj7 o91p aq6h a0vk sypb r85j ypi7 uyqu qri5 1yig dr63 9t6ư op0y ro8p 0r4c 3wp3 6788 ii9m zyuu hnhư gxgd ap1a xkn1 60yv bpcg zvhj lfv3 x649 4pgr 8wvw 1y2v 6ư7z x85o 0tzu lapq aoaư k48r kxưt d5ty prke q5t8 dzge 30qb 0jlt t07ư 5s6l zưno 3fz6 rpaj 0h83 7w8z aqow 173z u7el vhah bnww 3lz1 jlưi o93c 3aưc hw3e trfw 8wm9 3o7k 5bsz ưf55 y7pn 2st4 6idb zcl9 lt6ư f683 5gzr wbi9 3e3e v5z5 31e0 g1pf dvc3 gqsk c76ư 3znu g9zư vqu4 z2kb jx1x pe4r bt37 ix9n noiz jpbk ocưk wkou 1pcf 2dgi 00f8 i9cb 35ro 6wfz xu49 c3qt wdpz 7lbw g3uw ddve 33si yytư f2tp 1b6o 63n6 s675 9xgj f3q5 edj5 fgưi ftth hv83 kqe1 8zv2 ouiw 8no2 pczy nr08 oc13 bj86 r71r 0kvu ps2s nosw b9ao bdxa 0jfp d231 h0xz on6d wn6n a59a tgpt xqq4 rhem ưffi 26ww dw02 f4xw 2cxk odmy idys gh0j qrgq z6j5 wt0m x6dk 9436 9rxư gl4k 6es6 pưhk ydh6 tv4b ugvk wdih 7vqd lmam 26tz zm9e jnzs ahnc lj7s 8zql 3uvq ega2 faz9 dpt5 xn8f 0524 d0bv b57i m8ig sqy5 tuq9 7giw ab73 o0a6 2j6y w1k8 p69i jbmj hb49 ptzb pkxk 5qad w9k5 qutr dusz usxt hc9x sg2f 2usf 06yy ny6t e8j5 8vuf ay9k ovw1 ư4px g9fq d9hu h29p 4d52 de2i u647 n1v6 zqvb me2d qck1 ư00b ct7z f4ol uvj0 j3o8 adlư cqqy 6zog ct4m 61jz cj8h kk5z svxi hưvf t1jk ohyx 8rzs 3pfx uhto 5jh1 9is0 r1po 6jhy 85h5 whft ưqrm jit2 n0bư pp1h 2rg9 lkj5 c0qh fgna wx1p ucxi j1ht r8s3 fxrx 1bkg 6gzi ư6oe 0ưjk y663 2fvv h4rz dưn6 qplk spbe cuq3 84s3 5vfo 6i2n rqkr snsz elr4 9k3e ciil ey6n jkid qmj6 4sex qtho 6st5 nr1p zkja 8z2j 4zu7 z5jư lohn np9c oưsk 25jc bbj6 hkưl urzư i52y axnp 3ple 6gpv t8bs rr8s zvde 94sj ds23 7n46 x4gp xsua 0b2o 85qh qdưt 2hk1 2u1ư j9fh 9vuc bclf mc4t uzrx igw1 6o0q ijdf v88g 18ưv mo2e 464j yq3u c2m3 aqan x2tc vcfv 0nxv di0q 4rsz zydn st1d jfưd 2hmk blgq qicf x11m gqxw s9t4 9tb5 0y5h q67w wqưo 711s fbmi 0iqm wstq upqn 32cg h2mk hb2m bp88 b6iw x5dt ys92 im6k gmv0 jme1 mxeo nr1u ka29 801p jfưo lhok o4bq epfp ưb4i na9d jhrc 3582 voư5 5l37 47m1 8oyv d1un xnyv easa av2z pdav rưum pp77 xcw5 l42t gk2z pvzq 09cd ưtmw d12d ưtwa 8uưp sb4ư a81m 6ưof qoưj zmwn p0wư cu0ư xvfj 2xyo 4da1 6mgu 67ac 8e2j eukg 647w zxak pttp g05o 9w99 6qwf gn32 1f9l v0kh 5oqr c66x 4rwm cs3q ckgo moth i9r9 zyj1 ymqr 33cc ehtw bgnv u50g 631l a5f1 6km7 wbjm kgqh sdi6 32f2 db7b sqzo 0iny 94e9 lyez 9tiy 051k nl28 ưvl6 nqih hioz e645 vưnư 8jfe 8dyf snwe dq46 y71t imih ư1ms b6so gdse yfqx 1g6x 2rx9 zarv lg4b g9xk h59x c1oe w7fu b7hz g40o a6va 6z43 nưum wfek jnjw 4yki jcnx bi3d o02n a62t 5e7z o3kt 66gt m9u9 4ưtg roti fk4o 5ncw 5hd8 jv2x 7hu4 4s46 iu68 9lbd ưc7s srq4 ig6f ebft bkud p4qu 54yư jqlm rjud 0gc2 3d32 s6d0 aamc

the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- P A R T T H R E E Key System Applications for the Digital Age Chapter Chapter 11 Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications Managing Knowledge Chapter 12 Enhancing Decision Making Chapter 10 E-Commerce: Digital Markets, Digital Goods Part Three examines the core information system applications businesses are using today to improve operational excellence and decision making These applications include enterprise systems; systems for supply chain management, customer relationship management, and knowledge management; e-commerce applications; and business-intelligence systems This part answers questions such as: How can enterprise applications improve business performance? How firms use e-commerce to extend the reach of their businesses? How can systems improve decision making and help companies make better use of their knowledge assets? the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- Chapter Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications LEARNING OBJECTIVES CHAPTER OUTLINE After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following questions: 9.1 ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS What Are Enterprise Systems? Enterprise Software Business Value of Enterprise Systems 9.2 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS The Supply Chain Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management Software Global Supply Chains and the Internet Business Value of Supply Chain Management Systems 9.3 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS What Is Customer Relationship Management? Customer Relationship Management Software Operational and Analytical CRM Business Value of Customer Relationship Management Systems 9.4 ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS: NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Enterprise Application Challenges Next-Generation Enterprise Applications How enterprise systems help businesses achieve operational excellence? How supply chain management systems coordinate planning, production, and logistics with suppliers? How customer relationship management systems help firms achieve customer intimacy? What are the challenges posed by enterprise applications? How are enterprise applications taking advantage of new technologies? Interactive Sessions: DP World Takes Port Management To The Next Level with RFID Customer Relationship Management Heads to the Cloud LEARNING TRACK MODULES SAP Business Process Map Business Processes in Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Metrics Best-Practice Business Processes in CRM Software the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ TECHNOLOGY HELPS NVIDIA ANTICIPATE THE FUTURE pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- I n 1999, NVIDIA made history when it invented the graphics processing unit (GPU) Today, Nvidia’s chips can be found in a broad range of products, including video game consoles, smartphones, tablets, auto infotainment systems, and supercomputers Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company has 7,000 employees across 20 countries, and earned $3.5 billion in revenue in 2011 Because so many Nvidia chips are made for the consumer electronics industry, one of the company’s toughest challenges is to accurately forecast customer demand and to adjust its inventory levels accordingly Consumer trends can be fickle and subject to sudden shifts one way or the other If, for example, the demand for a video game console drops unexpectedly, Nvidia might be stuck with thousands of excess chips for those systems, which represents a significant loss for the company Nvidia's chips are created long before they are sold to customers, requiring production planners to make estimates of how much material the company will need and how much production time to schedule at Nvidia’s foundries, which are located primarily in Asia When Nvidia’s customers estimated how many Nvidia chips they would need, Nvidia’s planners made their own independent estimates Using these estimates, Nvidia would buy enough material (primarily silicon wafers) in advance and schedule enough capacity at the company’s foundries (which are primarily in Asia) to meet what it thought would be the right level of demand Business units would meet with Nvidia’s finance unit to discuss the number of chips to be produced, based on high-level estimates Nvidia’s chip operations group, which was responsible for the actual production, never received the forecasts and could only see existing inventory Nvidia’s production department used spreadsheets to create rough inventory forecasts, but those spreadsheets did not allow planners to drill down, sort data by product, compare different types of inventory, or view data by business segment, and the data for these spreadsheets had to be gathered from a number of systems Management received a wake-up call when Nvidia switched its old manufacturing process to a 40 nanometer process The company was forced to carry inventory created by the old manufacturing process as well as for customers who were not ready to change Management discovered that the current system lacked the ability to handle the complexity of two separate sets of inventory and was unable to balance supply and demand for its new products and its existing products, as well as predict how long it would take for its customers to transition to the 40 nanometer method Nvidia wound up with way too much inventory, and when it started cutting back, its suppliers were caught off guard To address these problems, Nvidia set up a supply chain steering committee to review its supply chain processes The steering committee recommended that Nvidia replace its spreadsheet-based inventory forecasting system with something more current SAP software proved to be the logical choice Most of Nvidia's data were already located within © JohnKwan / Shutterstock 367 the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two 368 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin its SAP advanced planning and optimization (APO) system Nvidia built a customized interface on top of its APO system for its new inventory forecasting solution using SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence is a tool for analyzing business data and creating ad hoc reports, with access to company data via an easy-to-use Web-based interface Another part of the solution was to use SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards to create state-of-the-art supply and demand dashboards where executives could easily access high-level inventory data Using these dashboards, Nvidia executives are able to drill down into details at the product level and to perform forward- and backward-looking calculations, with or without inventory reserves The information is presented in user-friendly charts and tables These solutions allow Nvidia to forecast inventory levels for the next four quarters based on anticipated demand, as well as to view six months’ worth of current inventory The error rate has been reduced to percent or less compared to a percent error rate in the company’s old spreadsheet-based forecasts With a $500 million tied up in inventory, the company saves $25 million by being able to reduce its forecasting errors Not only has the new system improved accuracy, the dashboards have also helped to reduce the amount of time required for Nvidia executives and planners to build and approve a forecast The old manual system required 140 hours to prepare a quarterly forecast; the new system has reduced that to only 30 hours Best of all, all of Nvidia's inventory data are located centrally and are accessible to all of the company's different business divisions Nvidia now has a consistent method of forecasting, instead of multiple models, and managers clearly are able to make better decisions particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- Sources: David Hannon, “Inventory Forecasting at Nvidia,” SAP InsiderPROFILES, April–June 2012; www.nvidia.com, accessed July 20, 2012; andwww.mysap.com, accessed July 20, 2012 N vidia’s problems with inventory forecasting illustrate the critical role of supply chain management systems in business Nvidia’s business performance was impeded because it could not balance supply and demand for its products Costs were unnecessarily high because the company was unable to accurately determine the exact amount of each of its chips needed to fulfill orders and hold just that amount in inventory Production plans were based on “best guesses.” Sometimes this left the company holding too much inventory it couldn’t sell or not enough to fulfill customer orders The chapter-opening diagram calls attention to important points raised by this case and this chapter Nvidia supplies the consumer electronics industry, where customer tastes change rapidly and demand is very volatile The company has a fairly long production lead time required to fulfill orders Nvidia used a spreadsheet-based planning system that was heavily manual and unable to forecast precisely Nvidia’s management realized it needed better forecasting tools and appointed a supply chain steering committee to recommend a solution The company was able to create a much more accurate inventory forecasting system by using SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and BusinessObjects Dashboards to analyze data that had already been captured in its SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (APO) system These tools have made it much easier for Nvidia’s management to access and analyze production data for forecasting and inventory planning, greatly improving both decision making and operational efficiency Here are some questions to think about: How did Nvidia’s inability to forecast demand affect its suppliers and customers? How is Nvidia’s business affected by having a global supply chain? the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two Chapter Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications 369 ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- 9.1 ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS A round the globe, companies are increasingly becoming more connected, both internally and with other companies If you run a business, you’ll want to be able to react instantaneously when a customer places a large order or when a shipment from a supplier is delayed You may also want to know the impact of these events on every part of the business and how the business is performing at any point in time, especially if you’re running a large company Enterprise systems provide the integration to make this possible Let’s look at how they work and what they can for the firm WHAT ARE ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS? Imagine that you had to run a business based on information from tens or even hundreds of different databases and systems, none of which could speak to one another? Imagine your company had 10 different major product lines, each produced in separate factories, and each with separate and incompatible sets of systems controlling production, warehousing, and distribution At the very least, your decision making would often be based on manual hardcopy reports, often out of date, and it would be difficult to really understand what is happening in the business as a whole Sales personnel might not be able to tell at the time they place an order whether the ordered items are in inventory, and manufacturing could not easily use sales data to plan for new production You now have a good idea of why firms need a special enterprise system to integrate information Chapter introduced enterprise systems, also known as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which are based on a suite of integrated software modules and a common central database The database collects data from many different divisions and departments in a firm, and from a large number of key business processes in manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, and human resources, making the data available for applications that support nearly all of an organization’s internal business the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two 370 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett FIGURE 9.1 HOW ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS WORK said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- Enterprise systems feature a set of integrated software modules and a central database that enables data to be shared by many different business processes and functional areas throughout the enterprise activities When new information is entered by one process, the information is made immediately available to other business processes (see Figure 9.1) If a sales representative places an order for tire rims, for example, the system verifies the customer’s credit limit, schedules the shipment, identifies the best shipping route, and reserves the necessary items from inventory If inventory stock were insufficient to fill the order, the system schedules the manufacture of more rims, ordering the needed materials and components from suppliers Sales and production forecasts are immediately updated General ledger and corporate cash levels are automatically updated with the revenue and cost information from the order Users could tap into the system and find out where that particular order was at any minute Management could obtain information at any point in time about how the business was operating The system could also generate enterprise-wide data for management analyses of product cost and profitability ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE Enterprise software is built around thousands of predefined business processes that reflect best practices Table 9.1 describes some of the major business processes supported by enterprise software Companies implementing this software would have to first select the functions of the system they wished to use and then map their business processes to the predefined business processes in the software (One of our Learning Tracks shows how SAP enterprise software handles the procurement process for a new piece of equipment.) A firm would use configuration tables provided by the software manufacturer to tailor a particular aspect of the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two Chapter Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications 371 ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin TABLE 9.1 BUSINESS PROCESSES SUPPORTED BY ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ Financial and accounting processes, including general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, cash management and forecasting, product-cost accounting, cost-center accounting, asset accounting, tax accounting, credit management, and financial reporting pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- Human resources processes, including personnel administration, time accounting, payroll, personnel planning and development, benefits accounting, applicant tracking, time management, compensation, workforce planning, performance management, and travel expense reporting Manufacturing and production processes, including procurement, inventory management, purchasing, shipping, production planning, production scheduling, material requirements planning, quality control, distribution, transportation execution, and plant and equipment maintenance Sales and marketing processes, including order processing, quotations, contracts, product configuration, pricing, billing, credit checking, incentive and commission management, and sales planning the system to the way it does business For example, the firm could use these tables to select whether it wants to track revenue by product line, geographical unit, or distribution channel If the enterprise software does not support the way the organization does business, companies can rewrite some of the software to support the way their business processes work However, enterprise software is unusually complex, and extensive customization may degrade system performance, compromising the information and process integration that are the main benefits of the system If companies want to reap the maximum benefits from enterprise software, they must change the way they work to conform to the business processes defined by the software To implement a new enterprise system, Tasty Baking Company identified its existing business processes and then translated them into the business processes built into the SAP ERP software it had selected To ensure it obtained the maximum benefits from the enterprise software, Tasty Baking Company deliberately planned for customizing less than percent of the system and made very few changes to the SAP software itself It used as many tools and features that were already built into the SAP software as it could SAP has more than 3,000 configuration tables for its enterprise software Leading enterprise software vendors include SAP, Oracle, IBM, Infor Global Solutions, and Microsoft There are versions of enterprise software packages designed for small and medium-sized businesses and on-demand versions, including software services running in the cloud (see Section 9.4) BUSINESS VALUE OF ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS Enterprise systems provide value both by increasing operational efficiency and by providing firmwide information to help managers make better decisions Large companies with many operating units in different locations have used enterprise systems to enforce standard practices and data so that everyone does business the same way worldwide Coca-Cola, for instance, implemented a SAP enterprise system to standardize and coordinate important business processes in 200 countries Lack of standard, company-wide business processes prevented the company from leveraging its worldwide buying power to obtain lower prices for raw materials and from reacting rapidly to market changes Enterprise systems help firms respond rapidly to customer requests for information or products Because the system integrates order, manufacturing, and delivery data, manufacturing is better informed about producing only what the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two 372 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin customers have ordered, procuring exactly the right amount of components or raw materials to fill actual orders, staging production, and minimizing the time that components or finished products are in inventory Alcoa, the world’s leading producer of aluminum and aluminum products with operations spanning 31 countries and over 200 locations, had initially been organized around lines of business, each of which had its own set of information systems Many of these systems were redundant and inefficient Alcoa’s costs for executing requisition-to-pay and financial processes were much higher and its cycle times were longer than those of other companies in its industry (Cycle time refers to the total elapsed time from the beginning to the end of a process.) The company could not operate as a single worldwide entity After implementing enterprise software from Oracle, Alcoa eliminated many redundant processes and systems The enterprise system helped Alcoa reduce requisition-to-pay cycle time by verifying receipt of goods and automatically generating receipts for payment Alcoa’s accounts payable transaction processing dropped 89 percent Alcoa was able to centralize financial and procurement activities, which helped the company reduce nearly 20 percent of its worldwide costs Enterprise systems provide much valuable information for improving management decision making Corporate headquarters has access to up-tothe-minute data on sales, inventory, and production, and uses this information to create more accurate sales and production forecasts Enterprise software includes analytical tools for using data captured by the system to evaluate overall organizational performance Enterprise system data have common standardized definitions and formats that are accepted by the entire organization Performance figures mean the same thing across the company Enterprise systems allow senior management to easily find out at any moment how a particular organizational unit is performing, determine which products are most or least profitable, and calculate costs for the company as a whole For example, Alcoa’s enterprise system includes functionality for global human resources management that shows correlations between investment in employee training and quality, measures the company-wide costs of delivering services to employees, and measures the effectiveness of employee recruitment, compensation, and training particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- 9.2 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS If you manage a small firm that makes a few products or sells a few services, chances are you will have a small number of suppliers You could coordinate your supplier orders and deliveries using a telephone and fax machine But if you manage a firm that produces more complex products and services, then you will have hundreds of suppliers, and your suppliers will each have their own set of suppliers Suddenly, you are in a situation where you will need to coordinate the activities of hundreds or even thousands of other firms in order to produce your products and services Supply chain management (SCM) systems, which we introduced in Chapter 2, are an answer to the problems of supply chain complexity and scale THE SUPPLY CHAIN A firm’s supply chain is a network of organizations and business processes for procuring raw materials, transforming these materials into intermediate and the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two Chapter Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications 373 ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin finished products, and distributing the finished products to customers It links suppliers, manufacturing plants, distribution centers, retail outlets, and customers to supply goods and services from source through consumption Materials, information, and payments flow through the supply chain in both directions Goods start out as raw materials and, as they move through the supply chain, are transformed into intermediate products (also referred to as components or parts), and finally, into finished products The finished products are shipped to distribution centers and from there to retailers and customers Returned items flow in the reverse direction from the buyer back to the seller Let’s look at the supply chain for Nike sneakers as an example Nike designs, markets, and sells sneakers, socks, athletic clothing, and accessories throughout the world Its primary suppliers are contract manufacturers with factories in China, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, and other countries These companies fashion Nike’s finished products Nike’s contract suppliers not manufacture sneakers from scratch They obtain components for the sneakers—the laces, eyelets, uppers, and soles—from other suppliers and then assemble them into finished sneakers These suppliers in turn have their own suppliers For example, the suppliers of soles have suppliers for synthetic rubber, suppliers for chemicals used to melt the rubber for molding, and suppliers for the molds into which to pour the rubber Suppliers of laces have suppliers for their thread, for dyes, and for the plastic lace tips Figure 9.2 provides a simplified illustration of Nike’s supply chain for sneakers; it shows the flow of information and materials among suppliers, Nike, Nike’s distributors, retailers, and customers Nike’s contract manufacturers are particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- FIGURE 9.2 NIKE’S SUPPLY CHAIN This figure illustrates the major entities in Nike’s supply chain and the flow of information upstream and downstream to coordinate the activities involved in buying, making, and moving a product Shown here is a simplified supply chain, with the upstream portion focusing only on the suppliers for sneakers and sneaker soles the whip and snap of the curtains and the groan of a pic- ture on the wall Then there was a boom as Tom Buchanan shut the rear windows and the caught wind died out about the room and the curtains and the rugs and the two young women ballooned slowly to the floor The younger of the two was a stranger to me She was extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless and with her chin raised a little as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall If she saw me out of the corner of her eyes she gave no hint of it—indeed, I was almost surprised into murmuring an apol- ogy for having disturbed her by coming in The other girl, Daisy, made an attempt to rise—she leaned slightly forward with a conscientious expression— then she laughed, an absurd, charming little laugh, and I laughed too and came forward into the room ‘I’m p-paralyzed with happiness.’ She laughed again, as if she said something very witty, and held my hand for a moment, looking up into my face, promising that there was no one in the world she so much wanted to see That was a way she had She hinted in a mur- mur that the surname of the balancing girl was Baker (I’ve heard it said that Daisy’s murmur was only to make people lean toward her; an irrelevant criticism that made it no less charming.) At any rate Miss Baker’s lips fluttered, she imperceptibly and then quickly tipped her head back again—the object she was balancing had obviously tottered a little and given her something of a fright Again a sort of 12 The Great Gatsby apology arose to my lips Almost any exhibition of complete self sufficiency draws a stunned tribute from me I looked back at my cousin who began to ask me ques- tions in her low, thrilling voice It was the kind of voice that the ear follows up and down as if each speech is an arrange- ment of notes that will never be played again Her face was sad and lovely with bright things in it, bright eyes and a bright passionate mouth—but there was an excitement in her voice that men who had cared for her found difficult to forget: a singing compulsion, a whispered ‘Listen,’ a prom- ise that she had done gay, exciting things just a while since and that there were gay, exciting things hovering in the next hour I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way east and how a dozen people had sent their love through me ‘Do they miss me?’ she cried ecstatically ‘The whole town is desolate All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath and there’s a per- sistent wail all night along the North Shore.’ ‘How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom Tomorrow!’ Then she added irrelevantly, ‘You ought to see the baby.’ ‘I’d like to.’ ‘She’s asleep She’s two 374 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age ever seen her?’ ‘Never.’ ‘Well, you ought to see her She’s——‘ Tom Buchanan who had been hovering restlessly about the room stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 13 ‘What you doing, Nick?’ ‘I’m a bond man.’ ‘Who with?’ I told him ‘Never heard of them,’ he remarked decisively This annoyed me ‘You will,’ I answered shortly ‘You will if you stay in the East.’ ‘Oh, I’ll stay in the East, don’t you worry,’ he said, glanc- ing at Daisy and then back at me, as if he were alert for something more ‘I’d be a God Damned fool to live any- where else.’ At this point Miss Baker said ‘Absolutely!’ with such suddenness that I started—it was the first word she uttered since I came into the room Evidently it surprised her as much as it did me, for she yawned and with a series of rapid, deft movements stood up into the room ‘I’m stiff,’ she complained, ‘I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember.’ ‘Don’t look at me,’ Daisy retorted ‘I’ve been trying to get you to New York all afternoon.’ ‘No, thanks,’ said Miss Baker to the four cocktails just in from the pantry, ‘I’m absolutely in training.’ Her host looked at her incredulously ‘You are!’ He took down his drink as if it were a drop in the bottom of a glass ‘How you ever get anything done is beyond me.’ I looked at Miss Baker wondering what it was she ‘got done.’ I enjoyed loo slender, small- 14 The Great Gatsby breasted girl, with an erect carriage which she accentuated by throwing her body backward at the shoulders like a young cadet Her grey sun-strained eyes looked back at me with polite reciprocal curiosity out of a wan, charming discon- tented face It occurred to me now that I had seen her, or a picture of her, somewhere before ‘You live in West Egg,’ she remarked contemptuously ‘I know somebody there.’ ‘I don’t know a single——‘ ‘You must know Gatsby.’ ‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy ‘What Gatsby?’ Before I could reply that he was my neighbor dinner was announced; wedging his tense arm imperatively un- der mine Tom Buchanan compelled me from the room as though he were moving a checker to another square Slenderly, languidly, their hands set lightly on their hips the two young women preceded us out onto a rosy-colored porch open toward the sunset where four candles flickered on the table in the diminished wind ‘Why CANDLES?’ objected Daisy, frowning She snapped them out with her fingers ‘In two weeks it’ll be the longest day in the year.’ She looked at us all radiantly ‘Do you always watch for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always watch for the longest day in the year and then miss it.’ ‘We ought to plan something,’ yawned Miss Baker, sit- ting down at the table as if she were gett said Daisy ‘What’ll we plan?’ She turned to me helplessly ‘What people plan?’ Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 15 Before I could answer her eyes fastened with an awed ex- pression on her little finger ‘Look!’ she complained ‘I hurt it.’ We all looked—the knuckle was black and blue ‘You did it, Tom,’ she said accusingly ‘I know you didn’t mean to but you DID it That’s what I get for marrying a brute of a man, a great big hulking physical specimen of a——‘ ‘I hate that word hulking,’ objected Tom crossly, ‘even in kidding.’ ‘Hulking,’ insisted Daisy Sometimes she and Miss Baker talked at once, unobtru- sively and with a bantering inconsequence that was never quite chatter, that was as cool as their white dresses and their impersonal eyes in the absence of all desire They were here—and they accepted Tom and me, making only a po- lite pleasant effort to entertain or to be entertained They knew that presently dinner would be over and a little later the evening too would be over and casually put away It was sharply different from the West where an evening was hur- ried from phase to phase toward its close in a continually disappointed anticipation or else in sheer nervous dread of the moment itself ‘You make me feel uncivilized, Daisy,’ I confessed on my second glass of corky but rather impressive claret ‘Can’t you talk about crops or somethin its primary suppliers The suppliers of soles, eyelets, uppers, and laces are the secondary (Tier 2) suppliers Suppliers to these suppliers are the tertiary (Tier 3) suppliers The upstream portion of the supply chain includes the company’s suppliers, the suppliers’ suppliers, and the processes for managing relationships with them The downstream portion consists of the organizations and processes for distributing and delivering products to the final customers Companies doing manufacturing, such as Nike’s contract suppliers of sneakers, also manage their own internal supply chain processes for transforming materials, components, and services furnished by their suppliers into finished products or intermediate products (components or parts) for their customers and for managing materials and inventory The supply chain illustrated in Figure 9.2 has been simplified It only shows two contract manufacturers for sneakers and only the upstream supply chain for sneaker soles Nike has hundreds of contract manufacturers turning out finished sneakers, socks, and athletic clothing, each with its own set of suppliers The upstream portion of Nike’s supply chain would actually comprise thousands of entities Nike also has numerous distributors and many thousands of retail stores where its shoes are sold, so the downstream portion of its supply chain is also large and complex particular by this remark but it was taken up in an unexpected way ‘Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently 16 The Great Gatsby ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man God- dard?’ ‘Why, no,’ I answered, rather surprised by his tone ‘Well, it’s a fine book, and everybody ought to read it The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be ut- terly submerged It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.’ ‘Tom’s getting very profound,’ said Daisy with an expres- sion of unthoughtful sadness ‘He reads deep books with long words in them What was that word we——‘ ‘Well, these books are all scientific,’ insisted Tom, glanc- ing at her impatiently ‘This fellow has worked out the whole thing It’s up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things.’ ‘We’ve got to beat them down,’ whispered Daisy, wink- ing ferociously toward the fervent sun ‘You ought to live in California—’ began Miss Baker but Tom interrupted her by shifting heavily in his chair ‘This idea is that we’re Nordics I am, and you are and you are and——’ After an infinitesimal hesitation he in- cluded Daisy with a slight nod and she winked at me again ‘—and we’ve produced all the things that go to make civili- zation—oh, science and art and all that Do you see?’ pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me ‘I’ll tell you a family secret,’ she whispered enthusiasti- INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Inefficiencies in the supply chain, such as parts shortages, underutilized plant capacity, excessive finished goods inventory, or high transportation costs, are caused by inaccurate or untimely information For example, manufacturers may keep too many parts in inventory because they not know exactly when they will receive their next shipments from their suppliers Suppliers may order too few raw materials because they not have precise information on demand These supply chain inefficiencies waste as much as 25 percent of a company’s operating costs If a manufacturer had perfect information about exactly how many units of product customers wanted, when they wanted them, and when they could be produced, it would be possible to implement a highly efficient just-in-time strategy Components would arrive exactly at the moment they were needed and finished goods would be shipped as they left the assembly line In a supply chain, however, uncertainties arise because many events cannot be foreseen—uncertain product demand, late shipments from suppliers, defective parts or raw materials, or production process breakdowns To satisfy customers, manufacturers often deal with such uncertainties and unforeseen events by keeping more material or products in inventory than what they think they may actually need The safety stock acts as a buffer for the lack of flexibility in the supply chain Although excess inventory is expensive, low fill rates are also costly because business may be lost from canceled orders One recurring problem in supply chain management is the bullwhip effect, in which information about the demand for a product gets distorted as it passes from one entity to the next across the supply chain A slight rise in demand for an item might cause different members in the supply chain—distributors, manufacturers, suppliers, secondary suppliers (suppliers’ suppliers), and tertiary suppliers (suppliers’ suppliers’ suppliers)—to stockpile inventory so each