An Analysis of Cisco Systems and how the use of Information Technology gave them a Competitive Advantage
Mira Vissell
ISM 158 Business Analysis Paper
March 4th, 2004
Table of Contents
Objective
Section I: Industry Summary: An Analysis of Network Equipment Industry
A. Industry Profile
B. Competitive Strategies within the Industry
C. Porter Model Evaluation of Industry Forces
D. Globalization of the Industry
E. Importance of Information Technology in the Industry
Section II: Company Perspective: An Analysis of Cisco Systems
A. Cisco Systems profile
B. Market and Financial Performance
C. Competitive Strategy Statement
D. Significance of Information and Information Systems
E. Strengths and Weaknesses of Cisco
Section III: Structured Analysis of Information System Use
A. Strategic Option Generator
B. Roles, Roles and Relationships
C. Redefine/define
D. Significance of Telecommunications
E. Success Factor Profile Section IV: A Final Analysis of the Success of Cisco Systems
A. The Success of Business Strategy and IT used to Date
B. The Effective Position of the Company for Future Performance Bibliography
Objective
The objective of this paper is to analyze how Cisco Systems gained competitive advantage in the networking industry through the use of information systems and key business strategies.
This paper has four sections that help in this analysis. The first section looks at the network equipment industry profile and examines the different competitive strategies within this industry. The porter model can be a way of examining the industry forces. It also looks at how companies in the industry are often forced to go global and how information systems have a huge impact of the competitive advantage of companies in the industry.
Section two deals with the company, Cisco, and takes a look at the profile of the company as well as key business leaders. The market and financial analysis shows how
Bibliography: Anderson, Philip; “Cisco Systems: Evolution to E-Business” 2002. http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/cgl/downloads/10001_Cisco_A.pdf Bunnell, David, “Making the Cisco Connection”, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000. Lasky, Diane. “Bridging Technology”. 2004. http://gcconline.georgian.edu/business_review/cisco.htm. Raider, Rhonda. “Putting It into productivity”. 2002. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/about/ac123/ac114/ac173/ac205/about_cisco_packet_netizen09186a00801014f7.html Ryan, Vincent “Companies Ranked by Revenue per Employee”. 2004. http://www.nwfusion.com/nw200/2003/revperemp.jsp?_tablename=nw2003 “Cisco Executive Management” “Hoover’s Inc”, Hoover’s Company Profile-Nortel Technologies. 2004. “Hoover’s Inc”, Hoover’s Company Profile-Lucent Technologies. 2004. “Hoover’s Inc”, Hoover’s Company Profile-Juniper Technologies. 2004. “Nortel Networks”. 1999. http://www.nortel.com. “Lucent Technologies: Bell labs innovations.” 2004 Bunnell, David, “Making the Cisco Connection”, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000.