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Chapter 2 Global E-business and Collaboration 73

2.1 BUSINESS PROCESSES AND INFORMATION
SYSTEMS

I n order to operate, businesses must deal with many different pieces
of information about suppliers, customers, employees, invoices, and
payments, and of course their products and services. They must organize
work activities that use this information to operate efficiently and enhance
the overall performance of the firm. Information systems make it possible for
firms to manage all their information, make better decisions, and improve the
execution of their business processes.

BUSINESS PROCESSES
Business processes, which we introduced in Chapter 1, refer to the manner
in which work is organized, coordinated, and focused to produce a valuable
product or service. Business processes are the collection of activities required
to produce a product or service. These activities are supported by flows of
material, information, and knowledge among the participants in business
processes. Business processes also refer to the unique ways in which organi-
zations coordinate work, information, and knowledge, and the ways in which
management chooses to coordinate work.
To a large extent, the performance of a business firm depends on how well its
business processes are designed and coordinated. A company’s business processes
can be a source of competitive strength if they enable the company to innovate
or to execute better than its rivals. Business processes can also be liabilities if they
are based on outdated ways of working that impede organizational responsiveness
and efficiency. The chapter-opening case describing TELUS's improvements in
employee learning processes clearly illustrates these points, as do many of the
other cases in this text.
Every business can be seen as a collection of business processes, some
of which are part of larger encompassing processes. For instance, uses
of mentoring, wikis, blogs, and videos are all part of the overall knowledge
management process. Many business processes are tied to a specific functional
area. For example, the sales and marketing function is responsible for
identifying customers, and the human resources function is responsible for
hiring employees. Table 2.1 describes some typical business processes for each
of the functional areas of business.

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