it for Warehousing and Marketing

Operations Management Having effective IT systems to underpin warehouse management is important for Acme entering the Mexican market. IT systems provide the support needed to maintain inventory levels, to track sales, and to ensure that the stores are able to compete effectively, all of which are critical to organizational success (Melville, Kraemer & Gurbaxani, 2004). The IT system that runs the Mexican operation will be a mirror of the American system. This will help the company to maintain the same systems throughout, as it expands into both Mexico and Canada.

The IT manager will work in English in order to maintain this systemic simplicity. The IT system will help with ordering, as there will need to be longer lead times for the warehouse function in the Mexico operation, as it takes longer to get goods across the border and down to Mexico City, where the warehouse will be headquartered. The company will have even longer lead times if it sets up a second warehouse somewhere on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Initial expansion to Guadalajara would be served from Mexico City until enough stores have been built. The IT system will track inventory in the warehouse as it enters and exits. Best practices in the industry also involve the use of robotics in warehouse management. This should be explored as a means of ensuring high quality of work, while having relatively low costs.

Fewer workers are required, and goods can be moved twenty-four hours per day, something that is essential given how bad traffic is in Mexico City during the day -- moving goods at night can save time. The final point on warehouse management is that the company will need to open the system to its Mexican joint venture partners. This means that there might be some more sensitive aspects to the system at the warehousing level that need to be protected.

Security for the IT system should be augmented at the Mexican operation to ensure that the local partner only has access to the parts of the system that pertain to the Mexican operation. This is why the system will need to be a duplicate of the U.S. system, but the U.S. system itself will only be accessible through an interface. Marketing Management There are some significant differences in marketing between Mexico and the U.S., and not just language.

The product mix will be different, but so will the marketing message. The local partner will be called up to contribute most of the marketing expertise, given that they have experience in the local market, and Acme does not. There are some cultural differences that should be taken into account on the marketing side. Looking at the marketing mix, customer service is an important means by which stores of this type differentiate themselves.

Understanding what Mexican customers expect in terms of customer service will be important to the overall success of the operation (Herbig & Genestre, 1996). It is possible that the approach to service in Mexico will be quite different from the U.S., but it should also be done in the context of the overall brand -- a customer coming from the U.S. should recognize Acme service.

The information technology should be used to help create a modern marketing strategy that leverages social media, especially to promote the launch of the new stores, and to promote sales. The company can in this way engage with the customers even before it has opened. This should be the.