HI5019 | Information | A Case Study on the First National Real Estate

Introduction

Strategic information system is supportive in attaining the competitive advantages over the organization competitors in terms of its aims. Information system is considered as the tool to give number of services to various management services. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the importance of the strategic information system to the First National Real Estate. The report is classified into two parts in which the first part will emphasize the external analysis by taking consideration of the business background, general environmental analysis, industry environment, competitive environment and opportunities and threats. The second part of this assignment will encompass the internal analysis which will include the capabilities, core competencies, suitable information system. At last, the recommendations will be drawn for the purpose to make further improvement in the business regarding strategic information system so that the possible growth of the company can be done with effective strategy.

Part 1: External Analysis

Business Background

First National Real Estate is an Australasian group of independent real estate agents with expert capabilities in housing sales and property organization, commercial and rural property. The company has more than 400 offices all over Australia, Papua New Guinea,and New Zealand. As many latest success stories, the beginning of the First National Real Estate network outlines its origins which were quite humble. This company was introduced in 1981 in which a tiny group of independent Victorian rural real estate agents met for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of their business in order to amplify the competition in the same industry (First National Real Estate, 2018). as a consequence, the committee was formed and the task has been given to them for improving the competition in the market. Now, it can be seen that First National Real Estate has become a successful organization and the trademark ‘Swash’ has become famous all over the country.

Industry

First National Real Estate is related to the Real Estate industry that provides the facilities of the residential real estate, commercial real estate, industrial real estate and lands. It is the industry that helps businesses, investors,and homeowners and sells all kinds of properties. This industry is in the mature stage of its lifecycle. Industry value added is a measurement of the contribution of the industry to the broader economy. It has been forecasted that industry value added (IVA)  will grow by 2.5% over the 10 years by 2022-2023.

General environmental analysis

Political/legal

Political and legal factors play a noteworthy role in deciding the aspects that can influence the Real Estate industry’s long-term profitability in a specific market (HABC, 2018). First National Company is operating its business in a number of places all over the country and it can be possible with the support of the political condition of the country. The attain growth like dynamic Real Estate industry across a number of countries is to expand the systematic risks of the political environment.

In the context of the legal factor, the legal frameworks are not vigorous enough to prevent the academic rights of the property of a company. It is required for the First National Company to evaluate the factors such as discrimination law, employment law, health,and safety law, consumer protection and anti-trust law.

Economic

It is the major factor that can impact the entire business such as bank loans & interest rates influence over real estate. There are macro environment factors like saving rates, economic cycle, foreign exchange and saving rates that decide the cumulative demand in an economy (Krockenberger, 2015). On the other hand,microenvironment factors like competition norms can influence the competitive advantages of First National Company.

Socio-cultural

It wasapparent that the impact of the culture of the society can have on the company in an environment. It shall be noted that the shared attitudes and beliefs of the people have a significant role in the way of understanding the growth of the First National Company to make efficient services in order to satisfy the customers. Culture, leisure interest, entrepreneurial spirit and broader nature of the society have a significant impact on the social factors (Elmas, 2018).

Global

Every market has different norms and environmental standards which should be followed by the company in an effective manner. Evenwithin a country different companies and industry have different laws and standards. For instance, Texas and Florida in the US have diverse legal responsibility clauses in term of the environmental disaster. Similarly, various countries of Australia provide healthy tax breaks to a number of companies in real estate industry (Minifie, 2017).

Technological

Technology is rapid unruly different industries across the board. It is required for the business tohave a better understanding about the latest technology at the time of dealing various operationsin the real estate industry. It has been found that the real estate industry of Australia impacts in product offering as well as on the cost structure of the industry.

Demographic  and physical factors

Demographic is the factor that elaborates on the composition of the population like race, income, migration patterns and gender. These statistics are emphasized but the noteworthy aspect that influences how the industry is priced and what kind of properties in demand. The demographics terms of a nation have a huge impact on the real estate trends (Valles, Wylie, Burwell, McNaught and Horlock, 2017). The structure of the company is quiet good as it can attract number of customer towards the company. The company is more focused towards CSR activities that help to maintain balance in the environment.

Industry environment

Supplier power

The bargaining power of supplier of this industry is higher along with that one of the major issue in creating profit in this market which is taking a longer period to attain the required supplies.

Buyer power

The bargaining power of buyer can fluctuate but right now it seems at a high level as it can be seen that the demand is increased of high-end luxury condominiums than buyers (Do, Delaporte and Schultz, 2017).

Potential entrants

The threat of new entrants in this field is low or at best medium because it is not easy for the competitor to come in this field in an easy manner. They would require a high investment to get stability in this industry. A new player would face a number of challenges just moving into this industry (Wong, 2017).

Substitute products

The threat of substitute is low because it is hard to bring the substitute product in the real estate industry. The substitute can be done in the term of renting instead of buying (Vargas, Torres-Samuel, Luna, Viloria and Fernández, 2018).

Rivalry among competitors

It is the aspect which is quite high because there isa number of competitors of First National Company in Australia that can give the challenge to stay in the competitive advantages (Attorney, 2018).

Competitive environment

Strategic group

First National Company is able to provide a high quality of services to the customers so that they connect with the company for a long period. A strategic group is considered as the group of firms within a real estate industry that are facing similar environmental forces. However, First National Company has a strategic group already which encompasses the buy real estate, sell real estate, rent real estate, property management and commercial (Poon and Brownlow, 2015).

Rivalry

There isa number of competitors of First National Company like Cedar Woods Properties Ltd, Sunland Group Ltd, Finbar Group Ltd, McGrath Ltd and Aveo Group. These competitors of the company are having same strategic groups that can be the cause of threat for the First National Company.

Capabilities

It is required for the relevant firms to have capabilities within the company to attract a large number of employees towards the industry. There should be the capability to expand their business globally in which the company can use knowledge, expertise,and experience.

Strategies

The strategy of the company is different from other company as it provides property to the customer ananaverage rate and they have various options for the customers by which they can afford property as per their budget.

Threats

As it is mentioned above that the company has many competitors that can be the threat for the company. Along with that, they represent the threat of increased competition in the industry.

Opportunities and threats

Part 2: Internal analysis and proposal

Resources of firm

The role of the resources in the firm is great as it helps in the growth of the business. There are two kinds of resources i.e. tangible resource and intangible resource. Tangible resources encompass the fixed assets such as buildings, land and current assets. Tangible resources of First National Company are mentioned below:

Human resource:However, First National Company does not have a separate department for human resources. The company has a number of incentive plan which varies as per the nature of the property. The company has a different employee for the different department as the residential property has different group of employee and property management has a different group of employee. This kind of efforts shows that the company keeps value for the employees. The company provides training and development program to the employee so that they can perform in a well efficient manner (Cerutti, Dagher and Dell'Ariccia, 2017).

Financial resources: it is another resource of the company which is strong of First National Company. It elaborates the good reputation of the company in the view of outsiders. The company is providing services in various strategic groups such as buy real estate, sell real estate, rent real estate, property management,and commercial. It shows that the company has invested a big amount in the property for getting a good reputation in the real estate industry.

Technology: the role of the technology is significant in the real estate industry. First National Company provides facilities to the customer of the latest technology that enables people to search homes and stays without having to go around physically. All sites information of the company is uploaded to their page that is helpful to the customer to find what they want.

Intangible resources

Intangible resources of the company are valuable as it encompasses the brand image, goodwill and reputation of the company. The goodwill of the company in the market of real estate in Australia is great. The company is able to attain the growth in the industry due to a good reputation in the market. Along with goodwill and reputation, the brand image of the company keepsa noteworthy role in the competitive market because the brand image of the business is considered as the most important resources for the company. The customer base of First National Company is huge because it’s an effective brand image in the market.

Capabilities identification

The financial resources of First National Company are strong as the company does not liable on any other assets. The sale of the company is huge as it has more than 400 offices all over Australia. The company is providing a number of services to the customers in which the customers are free to search what they want for future perspectives. Rent real estate has so many options such as search rental properties, open for inspection, online rental application form, VIP rental property alters, online maintenance and tenant information & forms. Moreover, the inventory system of the First National Company is effective as the company has a different team to handle the system of inventory.

Core competency analysis

The core competency of the company shows the importance of the process in the view of the stakeholders of the company. It has been analyzed that the competition is increased day by day due to involvement of number of companies in same industry. The value of the customer is keeping huge importance because in today’s world the customer wants good quality in the services and products. The core competencies of the company arehigh-quality services and the right guidance to the customers about purchasing the land (Chau, Chan, Lu and Webster, 2017). The major core competency of First National Company is its services which fulfill the desire of the company. The company has adopted a cost leadership strategy by which it sells the property at a reasonable price in comparison to other competitors.

Suitable information system

The role of the information system is huge in the real estate industry. First National Real Estate Company uses Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as a database development tool. It has been found that this information system of the company makes sure the security of real estate management and effective operation of information systems in order to acclimatize to the information of the real estate management needs. It is necessary for the company to propose data sheet system in which the data sheets systems are gathered by the support of data sheet. It entails three system functions such as register function, monitoring function and historical function. This information system is helpful for the supplier, customers and the internal employees of the company as it helps to manage the entire operation of the company in an efficient manner.

Recommendations

It has been recommended to the company to use the latest information system so that the company can compete with their competitors. It is required for the company to focus on the research & development so that the company can get to know what is really required for the company to stay in the competitive market. New proposed information system would be helpful in attaining the competitive advantages of the company. Along with this, First National Company can use support system for decision-making process and analyzing the data that would be helpful to generate data and statistics. This will be helpful in developing the quality of the manager to make decisions.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that First national Company is a well-known company in Australia that provides a lot of services to the customer regarding the real estate industry. The company has adopted effective strategies to be in the competitive market. This report has elaborated on the internal analysis and external analysis of the company in which various frameworks are discussed. The company has enough tangible and intangible resources that help the company to lead in the growth position. The company is using an information system for the purpose to increase the revenues of the company.

References

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