The article, Peak experiences and strategic IT alignment at Vermont Teddy Bear, discusses the need for an investment and transition to a more modern system to replace the current legacy system in place. To help with a brief overview of the company, Vermont Teddy Bear Company (VTB), a privately owned company, was founded in 1981 by John Sortino. The company began with Mr. Sortino selling hand sewn teddy bears from a push cart. The company's main objective was to design and manufacture teddy bears made in the U.S. The company grew and expanded its products to offer three separately managed brands which are Vermont Teddy Bears (plush toys), PajamaGrams (apparel), and Calyx Flowers (gifts). All VTB gift orders are made via four different channels (retail store, mail, phone, web order), each channel supported by different software. The company derives its sales as a seasonal demand which peaks on Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Christmas (Gogan & Lewis). This paper will analyze the organizational and information technology (IT) challenges of the Vermont Teddy Bear company. VTB's operational capabilities is
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Stetzel embraced a socio-technical system approach. This approach was coined in the 1960s by Eric Trist and Fred Emery who were working as consultants at the Tavistock Institute in London. The socio-technical theory implies that any organizational work system consists of two interdependent subsystems – the social and the technical subsystems (Cherns, 1976). The premise of the socio-technical theory is that the social and technical systems are interdependent and must be jointly optimized in order to determine the best overall solution for the organization. The socio-technical perspective believes that computer-related technology is essentially neutral and that failure to recognize the social system associated with the design and use of technology is the reason why many computer-based information systems fail (Bostrom, Heinen,
Stetzel embraced a socio-technical system approach. This approach was coined in the 1960s by Eric Trist and Fred Emery who were working as consultants at the Tavistock Institute in London. The socio-technical theory implies that any organizational work system consists of two interdependent subsystems – the social and the technical subsystems (Cherns, 1976). The premise of the socio-technical theory is that the social and technical systems are interdependent and must be jointly optimized in order to determine the best overall solution for the organization. The socio-technical perspective believes that computer-related technology is essentially neutral and that failure to recognize the social system associated with the design and use of technology is the reason why many computer-based information systems fail (Bostrom, Heinen,