Global Information Systems

A global information system (GIS) is an information system that works across national borders.
They facilitate communication between headquarters and subsidiaries in other countries, and incorporates all the technologies and applications found in a typical information system to gather, store, manipulate, and transmit data across cultural and geographic boundaries. In other words, a GIS is an information system for managing global operations, supporting an international company’s decision-making processes, and dealing with complex variables in global operations and decision making.

With a GIS in place, an international company can increase its control over its subsidiaries and better coordinate their activities, thereby gaining access to new global markets. Strategic planning is also a core function of a GIS. By being able to efficiently share information among subsidiaries, international companies can track performance, production schedules, shipping alternatives, and accounting items.

A GIS can be defined along two dimensions: control and coordination. Control consists of using managerial power to ensure adherence to the organization’s goals. Coordination is the process of managing the interaction among activities in different, specialized parts of an organization. Using information systems on a global scale is more challenging than doing so on a local scale. The challenges involve such factors as infrastructure, languages, time zones, and cultures.

To design a successful GIS, management must first determine the kind of information that global companies need to share. In addition, management cannot assume the company’s products or services will continue selling the same way because of possible changes in customers’ needs and preferences and global competition. Considering the entire organization’s operational efficiency is critical in coordinating international business activities, so global companies need to change their production and marketing strategies in an effort to respond to the global market.