Question
Don's Lumber Company on Hudson River is one of the oldest retail lumber yards in New York State. It features a large selection of materials for flooring, decks, moldings, windows, siding, and roofing. The prices of lumber and other building materials are constantly changing. While a customer inquires about price on pre-finished wood flooring, sales representatives consult a manual price sheet and then call the supplier for most recent price. The supplier in turn consults a manual price sheet, which has been updated each day. Frequently supplier must call back Don's sales reps because the company does not have the newest pricing information immediately on hand. Consider the business impact of this situation, explain how this process could be enhanced with information technology, and identify the decisions that would have to be made to implement a solution. Who would be creation those decisions?