Imagine you are the CIO of an online retail organization that has experienced above-average growth because of the surge in internet shopping. The company has put together a strategic plan for the next

Arctic Inc. Strategic Plan

Arctic Inc. is an online retail company that has adopted the model of other online businesses and built a following of customers by providing a cross section of merchandise that fits their mission statement: Something for Everyone.

Because of changing national and international economic issues, the last year has seen tremendous growth in retail sales in all areas of the company.

The board of directors has charged the management group with developing a five-year strategic plan that will direct the company in growing the company nationally by increasing the following:

• Expanded locations for warehousing inventory for faster delivery of customer orders

• Better inventory control to reduce out of stock situations

• More efficient operations to handle orders from order to ship

• More robust web presence, with the ability to prompt the customer for like items

• Implement control policies and procedures to satisfy government regulations

The board of directors also wants a plan for moving the company into the international market, accounting for compliance with all regulations and laws of each country that products are sold into. The company will need to consider the following in its international plan:

• Each country requires a different set of controls to satisfy the laws and regulations

• Warehousing locations in major areas of retail sales

• Expanded internet presence in major countries

The management group presented the board of directors with a finished plan that will provide for 10 new warehouse locations in the United States and five warehouse locations spread across Europe, Great Britain, Africa, and Mexico.

The company plans to purchase a new inventory management system that uses robotics for 60% of the inventory control (stocking and pulling) retail items for shipment to the customer. Investments will also be made in increased web technology with emphasis on the customer experience.

Control and governance will be needed to make sure the projects are running within scope and change management decisions will be made that will have a positive effect on the operations, regulatory controls, and auditors.

The current technology group was not involved in the creation of the strategic plan. All technology processing is currently being handled in a central location, housed in a data center next to the corporate office.