2.  Demonstrate the strategic use of enterprise applications and analyze its impact on business productivity.

The intense competition in today’s business environment means that tourism and hospitality businesses have to work hard to maintain and develop their competitiveness. The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology [IT] to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, better customer experience, improve service quality and most importantly to build and sustain their competitive advantage(s) through the deployment of information systems across their value chain.

In this assignment, you are required to research the apparel tourism and hospitality business and produce a report addressing the following:

·         A brief history of competitive advantage among tourism and hospitality.

·         Factors driving the deployment of information systems for competitive advantage, by the leading tourism and hospitality business.

·         Deployment of information systems in the front-end of the value chain and the resultant competitive advantages.

·         Deployment of information systems in the back-end of the value chain and the resultant competitive advantages.

·         Pursuit of competitive advantage by the tourism and hospitality business through the deployment of emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual / Augmented Reality etc.

Assessment structure

1.      Title page

2.      Table of content

3.      Introduction to the assignment (What are you going to discuss in your assignment – why is it important – definitions)

4.      Literature review (history of competitive advantage among tourism and hospitality- Factors driving the deployment of information systems by the leading tourism and hospitality business)

5.      Discussion about deployment of information systems in the front-end of the value chain (examples of companies deploying information systems in the front-end and advantages and benefits- challenges)

6.      Discussion about deployment of information systems in the backend of the value chain (examples of companies deploying information systems in the back-end and advantages and benefits-challenges)

7.      Discussion about the use of emerging technologies in tourism and hospitality industry. (Emerging technologies and their impact on the business in tourism and hospitality industry)

8.      Conclusion

9.      References- Harvard referencing style

Note: Mere descriptive discussions would not fetch higher grades.

The following criteria will be used to evaluate the task:

1.      Research rigour and conceptual clarity

2.      Analysis of the tasks and usage of relevant examples

3.      Application of theoretical/conceptual framework to address the task.

4.      Structure, Vocabulary and Cohesiveness of the written report.

Assignment Instructions:

1. This is a group assessment. Normally, a Group should consist of 3 students.
2. This assessment has 2 Components – a Group Written Report (20%) & a Group Discussion (30%) and carries an overall weighting of 50 % towards the final module grade.
3. The Group Report must be submitted on-line (through MOVE) before 6pm on july.24, 2021.
4. Your submission shall reflect the depth and breadth of your original analyses in a clear and coherent manner.
5. Use of the relevant academic literature to support ideas and issues discussed. The range of academic sources such as texts and journals to support your arguments and comments.
6. Your submission must be original and creative. An analytical piece of work is required. The use of ‘cut and paste’ approach will be penalised. It must be presented in a structured manner, with appropriate cover page, content page, introduction, body (with appropriate heading / sub-headings), conclusion, references, page numbered and any required appendices.
7. Your report should be word processed and professionally presented. The length of your report should be 2000 words (+/- 10%) – excluding bibliography, presented in text of font size 12 with 1.5-line spacing. Please state the exact word count at the end of the assignment.
8. The cover page should be attached with the assignment and uploaded through MOVE (on-line). Name of the student, the programme, module name, assignment no., title and number of words must be presented on the cover sheet.
9. All assignments must strictly adhere to the given deadlines. Failure to submit the assignment before the deadline for any reason or a late submission without prior approval and a valid written extension from the module tutor will not be marked and will be awarded a grade G (0) irrespective of the quality of the work. See Student Handbook, section 4.3, page 17. Available on MOVE
10.  Unacknowledged use of work of others (plagiarism) is regarded as a dishonest practice and will be penalized. See Student Handbook, section 5.7, pages 30-31. Available on MOVE
11. Any reference to authors and other writers shall be quoted with due acknowledgement in your assignment report using the Harvard Referencing System. For details of Harvard referencing style refer the Student Handbook section 7.2, pages 40-41. Available on MOVE.

Assignment 1b. Group Discussion (30%):

1.      The Group Discussion is based on the report (A1a) submitted by the Group, where the same groups formed in Assessment 1a will discuss their written report.

2.      No powerpoint / prezi presentation is required as a part of the Group Discussion,

3.      The Group Discussion will be of 15 mins. duration.

4.      The Group Discussion will be moderated and evaluated by the Module Lecturers.

5.      Each student in the group will be assessed individually. Refer to the rubrics to guide your preparation.

6.      The Lecturers will be looking for evidence of logical arguments, strong communication skills, teamwork, confidence, strength of character, awareness of challenges surrounding IS and purposeful questioning of the information systems used.

• The Assignment Submission link on MOVE will be open, a week ahead of the submission date.
• You can submit your assignment multiple times, till the submission deadline. Note that Turnitin could take up to 24 hours to produce similarity reports for submissions.
• The last submission, within the deadline, will be considered as your final submission.
• Assignments should be submitted by 6pm on the day of the deadline. There is a grace period until midnight to allow for any technical difficulties, but any assignments submitted after this will be counted as late. Technical problems will not be accepted as an excuse for submitting after the day of the deadline.
• You are required to tick to confirm the statement: “I confirm that this assignment is my own and all sources have been    acknowledged. I understand that the use of other people’s work or ideas without acknowledgement is plagiarism and could result in failing the assignment”. You will not be able to submit the assignment without ticking this box.
• In a case of group work, it is recommended that the group should identify a leader who can be responsible for uploading the assignment on Turnitin and to share the feedback received from lecturers with the group members.
• The similarity percentage of your final submission will be one of the factors considered, for assessing the originality of your assignment. However, the decision to report an assignment for plagiarism is taken by the Lecturers, who mark your assignment.
• The Lecturers will consider a number of factors such as Assignment type, Part of the assignment where similarity occurs, Nature of similarity etc., along with the similarity percentage of your assignment, to assess the originality of your assignment. Therefore, similarity percentage will not be accepted as a basis for disputing academic judgments regarding plagiarism.
• Note that the similarity percentage of your submission can change till the submission deadline, if the submissions of other students have similarity to your assignment. Therefore, the similarity percentages are not final, till the assignment submission is closed.

·      Appreciate the role of MIS and related technologies in building and sustaining competitive advantage.

·      Interpret the concepts and principles of practice from the area of Information Systems and their application to the organisations.

·      Apply contemporary MIS and related technologies to improve business operations and help managers in the process of making strategic decisions.

·      Your report should exhibit excellent synthesis skills and should be characterised by a balanced and cohesive discussion.

The scheduled sessions introduce you to Management Information Systems and the relevant concepts that are related to your assignment. The sessions will help you gain conceptual understanding, develop analytical and application skills, which can be leveraged towards the completion of the assignment tasks.