MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Management Information System



Management Information System

Introduction

Every aspect of management in the modern age relies heavily on information to thrive. Nothing moves without information and it is generally believed that information is power and that he who has it has power. It is an important resource needed to develop other resources. Changing circumstances and environments have necessitated the need for the proper dissemination of information at various levels of management. The development and use of information management systems (MIS) is a modern phenomenon concerned with the use of appropriate information that will lead to better planning, better decision making and better results.

Management Information System: A Case of Fedex

Federal W.Smith had a vision of overnight air express venture. He and his business partners commissioned two independent market research which suggested a market niche for a reliable, time-definite overnight delivery service. Then they executed the vision in 1973, establishing Federal Express.

Today, approximately 90,000 Federal Express employees, at more than 1,650 sites process 1.5 million shipments daily, all of which must be tracked in a central information system, sorted in a short time at facilities in Memphis, Indianapolis, Newark, Oakland, Los Angeles, Anchorage, and Brussels, and delivered by a highly decentralised distribution network. The firm's air cargo fleet is now the world's largest. Federal Express revenues totalled $7 billion in fiscal year 1990. In 1990, Federal Express became the first winner of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the service company category.

Let us go behind the scene to find out more about the company's way of operations and the possible reasons behind the success. The company's mission is 'to provide our customers with totally reliable, competitively superior global air/ground transportation of high priority goods and documents that require rapid, time-certain delivery.' CEO Fred Smith believes in his heart that customer satisfaction is everything. He feels that 'quality' means nothing if the product they make of the service they give is not exactly what the customer wants. He makes it that the company's goal is to achieve 100 per cent completely satisfied customer, service to his standards and not the company's. This is why he comes up with the corporate philosophy of 'people, service, profit' which means putting people first in every actions, every planning process and every business decision. This attitude applies to both internal and external customers. It is only when internal customers are satisfied, then there is the higher possibility of satisfying the external customers. Behind all these need the support of the FedEx's continuously improving service strategies and matching systems which will be elaborated in the coming sections of this report. There is a growing trend of companies conducting business on the Internet, which is by far, the world's biggest and most powerful network. FedEx is one of the early-adopters of Internet-enabled business transactions, since then, it has always been recognised as a leader in deploying useful and interactive Web applications for business users.

FedEx has placed the company's core competencies - express transportation and information systems - on ...