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“Well, as a company, who are we? We’ve always been known as a company
that provides security monitoring, and we’ve got some big contracts. I get that.
But . . . there’s a lot of money we could be making in agricultural survey, industrial
inspection, real estate videos, and wedding videos. I think we’re really missing out.”
“Have you talked with Mateo about this?”
“Yes, he agreed that these are all good ideas, but he wants to stay focused on
big security contracts. He’s even talking about contracting with law enforcement
agencies, search and rescue, and the federal government.”
“And . . . what’s the downside?” Alexis asks. “It sounds like if I could close a few big
sales, we’d be sittin’ pretty. From the sales side, I’d be doing less work for more money.”
“Yeah, but that’s a big ‘if.’ What if we can’t sign them? What if the funding dries
up? What if the public doesn’t like the idea of the U.S. federal government using
drones to video its citizens?”
“I don’t know. If the money’s as good as Mateo thinks it is, it might be worth a
shot.”
“Yes, but we could be spending our time and money developing
accounts that we already know are profitable and will be for a long time.
People are always getting married. It just seems like a no-brainer to think
of Falcon Security as more than just a ‘security’ company. There’s so much
money on the table.” Cam is clearly frustrated and shakes her head.
“Cam, I completely agree. The side projects we’ve done have been profitable.
There’s no arguing that.”
“We can’t be “Well?”
“Well, it comes down to focus. We can’t be everything to everybody. Providing
everything to long-term security monitoring for a chemical company is very different from doing a
everybody.” weekend wedding photo shoot.”
Image source: rommma/Fotolia “But what about all the money we could be making right now? If we don’t earn it,
somebody else will.”
Alexis starts to smile and says, “Hey, let’s grab Joni on the way out to lunch. She’s
the one who really needs to hear this. You two can talk strategy while I get some of
those tasty fish tacos!”

STUdy QUeSTIonS

Q3-1 How does organizational strategy determine information
systems structure?
Q3-2 What five forces determine industry structure?

Q3-3 How does analysis of industry structure determine
competitive strategy?
Q3-4 How does competitive strategy determine value chain
structure?
Q3-5 How do business processes generate value?
Q3-6 How does competitive strategy determine business
processes and the structure of information systems?
Q3-7 How do information systems provide competitive
advantages?
Q3-8 2026?
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