Internet Technologies and Business

1246 Words3 Pages

Research Project

The application of Internet technologies has been a growing trend in the business world for nearly a decade. More and more companies are realizing the benefits of using the web. Web use has morphed from information exchange only to enhancements for collaboration, customer service and customization. These applications now lead to increasing profits; cutting costs, minimizing production, and customer satisfaction in all areas of the manufacturing process. Companies such as Mattel, BMW, and TaylorMade have adopted ways of fine-tuning their strategies to keep up with this growing trend. This was accomplished by focusing on several key aspects in each of their respective markets.

ƒÓMattel has adapted its production process by involving a newly developed system named Platypus. Platypus is a unique combination of many different programs. It is, therefore, a perfect name for the system used by Mattel to involve people from all aspects of the toy and game production process. ƒÓNow by implementing Platypus, they have cut that process by nearly 20%. Before Mattel adopted this new hybrid way of thinking, it took approximately eighteen months for the creation of new toys and products.

Having the ability to produce new products faster was only part of the process. Mattel accomplished a faster approval by placing their licensing program online. Before Platypus, the company was shipping products to and from their licensees repetitively. įBy digitizing and automating the approval process, Mattel has reduced shipping to licensees from fourteen weeks to nearly five.

BMW is no newcomer to the business of making and selling cars. They have been on the forefront of the automobile world since the company began focusing on production shortly after World War II. BMW established a place in the market by carefully crafting a reputation for manufacturing quality luxury automobiles. Innovative companies like BMW have begun to move away from mass production assembly lines of the Henry Ford day. Internet technology has been merged with production to allow BMW consumers to customize their vehicles by choosing among options available to them via the World Wide Web, Customizing the manufacturing process of automobiles is the wave of the future and BMW is riding the long board all the way in.

World Wide Web customization has major advantages over mass production ...

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...e in every business when changing the everyday practices is the only option for continued expansion in their market. Mattel, BMW and TaylorMade have set the standards high and present a challenge to every one of their competitors.

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Bibliography

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