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Surveying information systems of foodindustry companies in Hungary’s Southern Great Plain Region
György Hampel
University of Szeged
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Contents
Introduction
Planning and decision making
Computer aided decision making
The Southern Great Plain Region
Conclusion
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Introduction
University of Szeged College Faculty of Food Engineering
Development of an information system with decision support capabilities and a data base related
For food industry education and contributing companies
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Introduction
Essential to know the opinion of food industry companies
Questionnaire to obtain information
information systems
corporate activities
subjects of decisions
data and data sources
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Planning and decision making
Proper decision requires planning
Planning – active forming of future, inevitable tool of competitiveness
Autonomy of market mechanisms may be misleading
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Planning and decision making
Intensifying requirements of planning (Wild, 1974):
growing dynamics of the environment
growing innovative pressure
growing complexity of problems
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Planning and decision making
Key to successful planning (Meinberg, 1966):
defining a clear objective
reliable planning data
taking facility connections into account
flexible planning
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Planning and decision making
Planning criteria (Häusler 1969, Siemens 1974):
aim at forming and enhancing future
problems are with a less known structure
problem solving require a complex decision process
sufficient and timely information
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Planning and decision making
Advantages:
thorough decision preparation, thus different fields coordinated
activity freedom, the earlier they plan, the more options
reduced response time, adopt faster
enhanced efficiency of decision making activities
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Planning and decision making
Disadvantages:
burdened by uncertainties
considerable investment
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Planning and decision making
"The main objective of the planning system
is: to make it real that the company can work
successfully in the future, achieve its
objectives on a high level and manage its
business effectively." Hanyecz (1995)
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Planning and decision making
Methods of planning:
target designation
situation analysis
elaborating plan versions
forecasting
evaluation
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Planning and decision making
Decision making is a process of selection,
with a scope of different action (or non-
action) possibilities
Decision making is deciding about an option
to act
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Planning and decision making
The gist of decision making is "to define if it
is necessary to act, and if it is, what should
be done, when, and in what order".
Hanyecz (1994)
Decision is objective and subjective
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Computer aided decision making
Three stages of computer aided information systems: Electronic Data Processing (EDP) efficiency and automation of information management
Management Information System (MIS) enhancing executive information supply
Strategic Information System (SIS) improvement of competitiveness and activity development
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Computer aided decision making
Groups of computer aided information systems (1):
office automation systems
production scheduling systems
enterprise asset management systems
enterprise management information systems
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Computer aided decision making
Groups of computer aided information systems (2):
executive information systems
workflow systems
process simulation systems
expert systems
business intelligence systems
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Computer aided decision making
Decision Support System (DSS) covers various systems and technologies:
On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)
knowledge based decision support systems
optimization and simulation
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Computer aided decision making
DSS means multiple information systems, which are capable of supporting decision making (1)
help executives to access, summarize and analyse data necessary for decisions
based on data and models
cover the entire enterprise
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Computer aided decision making
DSS means multiple information systems, which are capable of supporting decision making (2)
serving many executives via the network and connecting to an appropriate data warehouse in a client–server architecture
single user system running on a desktop computer
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Computer aided decision making
Seven categories of DSS based on the operation performed (Alter, 1980):
data oriented file drawer systems
data analyzing systems
analysis information systems
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Computer aided decision making
Seven categories of DSS systems based on the operation performed (Alter, 1980):
model orientedaccounting and financial models
representational models
optimization models
intelligence controlledsuggestion models
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Computer aided decision making
Power’s (2000) classification:
dominant technology, guiding principledata-driven
model-driven
document-driven
knowledge-driven
communication-driven
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Computer aided decision making
Power’s (2000) classification:
secondary dimensionsaccess (intra-organizational, inter-
organizational)
objectives (general, task/industry specific)
operational environment (mainframe, client-server, web based)
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Increasing pressure
Stiffening of the competition on the market
Liberalization of certain market sectors
Need to establish a new price structure
Strict conditions set by authorities, owners or investors
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The Southern Great Plain Region
South-eastern gate to the European Union
Among the less developed regions
GDP per capita hardly exceeds 70% of the national average, barely 40% of the average GDP of the EU members
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Proportion of agricultural production within the gross domestic product is the highest
Second largest research and development centre
One-fifth of territory
13.5% of population
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The Southern Great Plain Region
More than 700 food manufacturing companies
Stiff competition after EU accession
Prompt decision-making by the management is crucial
It is essential to have accurate and reliable data and information
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Companies can be more competitive,
managerial decision-making can be
improved by a decision support system
having the right database, analytic and
forecasting methods
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Distribution of food industry companies in the region
Csongrád20%
Bács-Kiskun60%
Békés20%
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Corporate forms
3,3% 1,6%
21,1%
69,5%
4,5%limited liabilitycompany
limited partnership
joint-stock company
cooperation
general partnership
21.1%
4.5%3.3% 1.6%
69.5%
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Field of activity %
Wine production 23
Bread and other bakery products 16
Other fruit and vegetable procession 8
Meat procession and conservation 8
Soft drink production 6
Production of animal fodder 5
Products of the milling industry 4
Production of sweets 4
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Field of activity %
Production of distillated alcoholic drinks 4
Poultry procession and conservation 3
Production of pastries 3
Dairy products 2
Production of meat and poultry preparations 2
Production of crude oil 2
Other 10
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Survey data obtained by questionnaire
size of the company
the computer aided information system of the company
data necessary for decision making
source of data
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The Southern Great Plain Region
250 companies via postal mail
limited number of answers returned
Visit executives personally
more effective
more wearisome, slow
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Equal numbers of small, medium and large enterprises
57% several local competitors
76% exclusively owned by Hungarians
Milling industry
14%
Bakery industry
14%
Other14%
Agricultural products
19%
Meat industry
25%
W inemaking14%
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The Southern Great Plain Region
Information systems in the enterprises %
integrated enterprise management system 52
single system for the entire company 29
one or more subsystem of various integrated systems 10
multiple systems without any links between them 10
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Use of computers for enterprise tasks %
office tasks 48
accounting 57
invoicing 57
warehouse stock control 48
supplier and client data management 57
resolving logistical tasks 14
resource planning 0
other tasks 5
The Southern Great Plain Region
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Standard and custom built systems %
standard system tuned to enterprise needs 47
custom built system 21
self-developed system 6
mixture of standard and own built system 26
Current situation and forecasting %
Support current situation on basis of data available 90
Forecast enabled 24
The Southern Great Plain Region
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The Southern Great Plain Region
The good thing:
all companies use computer system
The bad thing:
90% of the addressed executives disregarded the questionnaire
most of them failed to visit the website containing information and literature related to the research
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Conclusion
Need for computer aided decision support is more moderate than expected
Possible reasons:
executives do not consider computer systems as appropriate tools to tackle problems arising in a quickly changing environment
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Conclusion
Need for computer aided decision support is more moderate than expected
Possible reasons:
the lack of information technology awareness can be a problem
lack of confidence in the food industry higher education institution of the region
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Conclusion
In the future we should make efforts to
familiarize more and more company managers
with the advantages of the information systems
and decision support systems in order to make
them capable to use these systems efficiently.