Global Information Systems

This week we investigate the reasons why organizations increasingly need to consider using global information systems. We also explore some of the problems associated with trying to have one system function across many political and cultural boundaries. The outline presented here is intended to help point out important topics and terms and is not intended to replace the lecture (or the text).

Objectives

• explain the need for global information systems in today's business environment
• describe some of the cultural, legal, and other challenges to implementing global information systems
• discuss some of the basic steps that can be taken to make web site more accessible to an international audience

Reasons for going global

• global information systems: information systems that serve individuals and organizations in many countries
• allows organization to operate efficiently and effectively in countries beyond where they started or are primarily located
• allows organization to take advantage of cheaper labor where it is available
• allows organization to take advantage of skilled labor where it is available
• some countries may require a presence in the form of facilities and/or workers to allow operation within their borders
• allows integration of organizations from different countries (as happens with mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, etc.)
• free trade agreements make globalization of business more and more likely
• the Internet and the Web make global interaction much easier
• potential growth on the Internet is enormous; less than 15% of the world's population regularly used the Internet as of 2005
• the Web and Internet also offer the opportunity for large cost reductions over more traditional ways of doing business

Challenges of Global Information Systems

• web sites and other applications which are used multi-nationally must take into account other cultures and legal requirements, but if they become too generic they could lose functionality and appeal; the trick is to balance thinking globally and acting locally; can you create a system general enough to function well globally, but customizable so localization can be accommodated
• one example of thinking globally and acting locally is producing a product that can be used worldwide, but is advertised and packaged differently for local markets around the world, sometimes even with slightly different product features
• some localities and countries do not have an adequate information technology infrastructure
• differences in language are problematic
• simple things such as keeping track of addresses and phone numbers can present challenges
• regulations on what can be imported and exported cause complexity
• safety and quality regulations on what can be sold vary greatly from country to country; this has been used by Japan to restrict imports; notice that having to overcome an artificial hurdle disguised as a safety concern is covered by one of the eight ways of gaining competitive advantage (raising barriers to enter the market)
• tariffs, taxes, levies, fees, etc. can be a daunting barrier; often used by countries to restrict trade even when free trade agreements exist; notice that this is covered by one of the eight ways of gaining competitive advantage (effectively lowering domestic producers cost of goods relative to foreign competitors)
• payment differences can present problems; most countries are not as willing as we are to use credit cards online and people may prefer to pick up their parcels at a store
• cultural differences can cause major problems; examples given in the text include the use of certain colors, particular body language and hand gestures, and even the fear that many cultures have of being "contaminated" by exposure to other cultures
• barriers may be erected by governments due to economic interests: many countries have done this to protect their farmers and keep prices for certain crops artificially high; this is a main reason why you have corn syrup instead of sugar in soft drinks in the U.S.
• barriers may be erected by governments due to scientific interests: scientific advances often lead to commercial products, often meaning large value for the country producing those products
• barriers may be erected by governments due to security interests: examples from the United States includes bans on the export of weapons, weapon designs, supercomputers, and strong encryption programs
• barriers may be erected by governments to prevent entrance of Internet activities they deem improper: pornography, online betting, hate speech, any speech critical of the government's current viewpoints
• barriers may be erected by governments to prevent export of news or other information via the Internet
• differences in laws can present really huge problems on the Internet:
  • the French don't allow sales of Nazi memorabilia via the Internet
  • many countries have no concept of free speech
  • who is in charge of protecting the consumer across national boundaries
  • copyright, trademark, and patent laws differ
  • some countries don't want to allow anonymous postings on the Internet
  • privacy laws differ greatly around the world; Europe has much tougher privacy laws than the U.S.
  • whose law applies: the country where the consumer/client is, the country where the owner of the business/organization is located, the country where the hardware is located?
• dealing with different time zones alone can be a big problem, especially when employees are dispersed around the world and try to hold online meetings; India and Australia have offset their time zones by half an hour; one time zone in Australia is even offset another fifteen minutes; China, which is about as wide as the U.S. has only one time zone
• changes in daylight savings time and differing holidays are also very confusing

International Web/Global IS design issues

• glocalization: designing a global website to adjust to local preferences
• some countries have limited bandwidth, but pictures, audio, and video take up a lot of bandwidth, so consider alternatives that are primarily text based (so they are at least available)
• character sets for languages vary widely, but Unicode can accommodate all of them if a site (or application) is designed using it from the ground up
• automatic translators for languages still aren't very good; using babelfish.altavista.com (which has moved and no longer works well) to translate "How are you doing today?" into Japanese and back into English gives us the phrase "How today it has done?"
• One more translation example: "What do you think you are doing?" becomes "What it has done, you think?"
• One more translation example: "He is a jack of all trades." becomes "He is the house with anything."
• alternate versions of websites are perhaps the best way to deal with multiple languages, but that takes a lot more work
• images (icons) may make a website more accessible without having to use as much specific language
• some cultures are used to reading right-to-left, but most information on the web is designed to be viewed from left-to-right