Chapter 7 Running Case Assignment: Achieving Operational Excellence: Using
Internet Tools to Increase Efficiency and Productivity
Software skills: Web browser software and presentation software
Business skills: Employee productivity analysis
Dirt Bikes’s management is concerned about how much money is being spent
communicating with people inside and outside the company and on obtaining information
about developments in the motorcycle industry and the global economy. You have been
asked to investigate how Internet tools and technology could be used to help Dirt Bikes
employees communicate and obtain information more efficiently. Dirt Bikes provides
Internet access to all its employees who use desktop computers.
• How could the various Internet tools help employees at Dirt Bikes? Create a
matrix showing what types of employees and business functions would benefit
from using each type of tool and why.
• How could Dirt Bikes benefit from intranets for its sales and marketing, human
resources, and manufacturing and production departments? Select one of these
departments and describe the kind of information that could be provided by an
intranet for that department. How could this intranet increase efficiency and
productivity for that department?