Acquiring New Information Systems

Essay by 2008srk April 2010

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MBA: 501 Managing the Networked Enterprise

Spring 2010

Professor: Barbara Thomas

Business Case Analysis

"Aritzia: Acquiring a New Information System"

Submitted by:

Nirav Patel

Rohit Kale

Supreet Dhillon

Wentao Yang

Yu Xi

Faculty of Management

Vancouver Island University

Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Date: February 17, 2010

Executive Summary:

Aritzia is a Canadian female clothing company which is expanding in North America with over 40 stores. It is one of the top retail chains in North America targeting 15−30 year old women who have a liking for style and disposable income to buy it. The Aritzia management has decided to supplement its brick-and-mortar stores by opening an online store. The management is at critical juncture to decide on the acquisition process of information systems for its online store. The management team faces two critical decisions:

Building or buying the information systems

Open Source or Proprietary Software

After analysing the alternatives the management team recommends Aritzia to build its own information system by outsourcing it through a partner.

In the choice of using open source software or proprietary, the management team recommends to use open source software. �

Table of Contents

31.0 Introduction: �

32.0 Business Context: �

43.0 Acquisition Alternatives: �

43.1 Build (Bespoke Development): �

43.1.1 Develop In-house: �

53.1.2 Outsource: �

63.2 Buy: Commercial Off-The-Shelf Software (COTS) �

74.0 Comparison: Build / Buy? �

75.0 Recommendation: Why Build through Outsourcing? �

6.0 Open Source Software v/s Proprietary Software………………………………………...9

96.1 Open Source Software: �

96.2 Proprietary Software: �

97.0 Recommendation: Why Open Source? �

108.0 Conclusion: �

11References: �

13Appendix: �

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List of Tables:

5Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantages of Developing In-house Information System �

6Table 2: Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing IS...