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Master in Business Studies
Dublin Business School

Module leader: xxxxxxxx
Module code: xxxxxxxx
Student name: Guillaume Bodiguel
Student number: xxxxxxxxx

Assignement 1: Case study report

Subject: How Apple inc. manages information to gain a competitive advantage?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.

2. Apple History and use of the IS (Information System).

3. Business analysis and development.

a. Business context and Porter’s 5 forces analysis. b. Theory and application to Apple Inc. online store. c. Recommendations / discussion

4. Conclusion.

5. References.

6. Appendice. 1. Introduction

The objective of this report is to present how the implementation and the management of information system permit companies to gain competitive advantage.

In a context of everyday, companies are more than ever outward forcing managers to seek the balance between external factors and internal content of the strategy itself. As such, information is the sinews of war and the development of networks like the Internet and Intranet is the most obvious manifestation. Firms are subject to a double bind: they must find the information meaningful, in their environments; they must also radiate information that could influence these environments.
The need to collect, process and disseminate information, the need for increased coordination of activities within and between firms are the new sources of competitive advantage. This information system to support these needs through new information technologies that can accelerate information flow, remove non-value added tasks, increase reliability and quality processes. However, new information technology does not always guarantee the efficiency of modern information systems requiring new keys to success.

First of all, it is perhaps useful to define what “information system” is. In a very broad sense, the term information system is