Imagine you manage a bookstore. The store sells both fiction and nonfiction titles, but because your store is located in a beachside town, it has a very large selection of beach and
sea-themed books. For instance, it carries a number of nonfiction books on fishing, surfing, and
sailing and a number of fiction books where the setting takes place at the beach or at sea.
Back when the store first opened in 1980, the owners set everything up to be tracked and
managed by pen and paper. But now, you've just set up a new system that will track everything
electronically. Employees will no longer have to write out receipts by hand, nor will you have to
track inventory or finances with paper. Furthermore, you now have a business website and hope
to start selling e-readers in the near future.
a) How does specialization play a role at the bookstore?
b) How will the new system of tracking sales and inventory electronically likely increase the
bookstore's competitiveness and productivity?
c) In what ways could you use technology to increase the number of customers who visit your
store?