MIS Assign 2

Assignment 2 ‘MIS’Q1. Evaluate Zagat using the competitive forces and value chain models. Zagat published restaurant guide based on user generated survey contentOffers reviews without the hassle of biased user opinions and a lower chance of inaccuracyOnly offer information about restaurants, hotels, and night life.Focused on hub cities such as New York and Chicago but have recently branched out to other less populated areas. Started in 1979Collects information from surveys of customers of restaurants, hotels, and night life. From surveys they create an aggregate review of an establishment for subscribers to utilize.Problems came when it was time to transition to an online presence, an attempt to sell the company in 2008 failed yet the company continued doing business.
Q2. compare Zagat's and Yelp's e-commerce business models. How have those models affected each company's Web strategy1. Zagat used a membership type model when entering the e-commerce market creating an elite status market, and kept the model close to what they were comfortable with when writing books 2. Yelp used a social media type model going off of the wiki model where anyone in the world can add content. Q3. Why was Zagat's content well suited for the Web and for the mobile digital platform?- Zagat's is digital content is very well suited for the internet- Content is streamlined, with a minimal number of search boxes and links immediately available.- Organized by several major “hub” cities as well as popular lists of the top restaurants of a certain type. - Distilling reviews into one coherent whole. (e.g the site shows the percentage of users that “like” the restaurant, and several featured reviews. More reviews are available if the user wants to keep scrolling.)- Gives a clearer and more concise impression. (e.g Yelp relies more on individual reviewers that allow to post full and unaltered. Far longer than necessary, and may contain distortions or false claims designed to damage