Business Intelligence in Retail Company: A case study in developing economy

摘要

The goal of this Master thesis is to show how Business Intelligence concept is important for companies and organizations from a business aspect. The idea is to compare the informational state of a company prior to using BI in decision making process and after implementation of BI modules. This will be done through theoretical consideration of BI with special review of Microsoft BI tools and technologies. The main reason to review Microsoft BI is because of its wide presence, quality and position in Gartner's Magic Quadrant (Gartner, 2014).;The Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence Platform is complete overview of Gartner's evaluation of all software solutions available and positioned in a way that they should be and are recognized as high quality software for developing and using business intelligence (BI) in organizations. Buyers are advised to define company's specific needs and financial possibilities and seek for best fit for their needs and not to assume that only the largest companies are able to implement successful BI solutions. In addition to Gartner analysts' assessments, the scores and commentary in this document are based on three sources: customer commentaries on each vendor's strengths dares derived from BI-related inquiries with Gartner, an online survey of vendor customers conducted in late 2008 yielding 480 responses, and a vendor-completed questionnaire about their BI strategy and operations(Richardson, Schlegel, Sallam, & Hostmann, 2009).;Additionally, there will be investigated and formulated factors of successful implementation of this concept into business systems. The academic contribution will be expressed through an overview of existing BI technologies and tools implemented in 40 retail companies. The goal of this overview is to show best practices in order to set exact goals of a BI implementation. This paper aims to explore the effect of implementing contemporary tools of BI in the aspect of making timely and quality business decisions, managing the company and improving company's market position and reaching business excellence. In more details, this thesis focuses on the importance and benefits that BI solution offers to retail companies and whether BI solution can help companies that, even in underdeveloped markets that are characterized by poor business climate, are seeking for an opportunity for making good business performances and achieving business excellence.;By setting BI implementation in an undeveloped market, different business rules apply and global best practices aren't a recipe for success. This setting gives this paper special dimension and contribution, since there aren't any papers considering BI implementation in a developing economy.;A case study that is part of the thesis aims to provide stronger insights into business problems of concrete company provide exact picture of business processes and identify right BI solution. The exclusivity of this case study is the fact that it is based on two retail companies; one company is the largest in Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of number of stores and revenue, Tropic retail, and the second company is made after merging one of the oldest retail chains in Bosnia with the youngest and fastest growing retail chain, Moj Market LLC. The fact that observed companies operate in one of the most imperfect markets -- Bosnian market, makes them perfect example of BI implementation in a developing economy.