Topic: Study on impact of information technology in supply chain

1.0 Introduction

In this chapter, an introduction to the research topic is provided. There will be an explanation
about the main context of the research and the background to this research will be provided
here. There will be a discussion of the research problem and the way this study is able to solve
these problems. There will be a description of the research objectives, research questions,
research significance, scope of the research and the chapter outline.

1.1 Research Background

The history of origin of national telecommunication operator is closely related with history of
establishing and development of telecommunication sector in Kazakhstan. It is possible to
call 1862 year as original point of Kazakhstani telecommunications, when telegraph line has
connected Vernyi and Pishpek cities. In that period, it was single effective instrument of quick
communication between towns either Kazakhstan, or all region wholly with outworld. During
the following years the communication on telegraph lines was established between Vernyi and
district towns of Semirechye Dzharkent, Lepsinsk , Sergiopol, Kapal , then the lines were
underlaid to west to Tashkent and to north to Semipalatinsk and Omsk .

Though the telephone communication was developing, and it was in that time affordable to
minority. The total quantity of telephone subscribers of Kazakhstan in pre-revolutionary period
amounted to less thousand units. The city telephone exchanges with own linear networks
existed in Vernyi, Kzyl Orda, Kustanai, Semipalatinsk, Uralsk, Pavlodar, Petropavlovsk. For
example, in Petropavlovsk the exchange was installed in 1909 by Ericsson company. On the
exchange the switch of the same company with system of local supply was used. As subscriber
line the steel aerial wires were used, and lines were single-wired and they were suspended on
poles along streets. In some other cities the equipment of Siemens company was used (Siemens
is one partners of JSC Kazakhtelecom to this day).

For development of communication and telecommunications in Kazakhstan the Soviet period

became especially fruitful. Upon final establishment of Soviet system, the question on
restoration of demolished telegraph and telephone economy came up, without which the normal
management over economic and political processes, occurring on large territory of Kazakhstan,
it would be impossible. At first, it was necessary to restore the normal telegraph
communication. In spite of necessitous economic circumstances of USSR wholly, telegraph
communication gradually was restoring, time-worn devices of Morze system gradually were
replacing by more modern letter-printing devices. The telegraph change achieved 1, 3 million
telegrams in year. The new type of emergency telegrams on day and night time appeared.

Gradually situation with telephony penetration changed for the better. The government went to
the expense of purchase of five handicraft made switches, organized the manufacture of metal
wares for linear economy, got a few packages of removed equipment from different towns of
country. The telephone exchanges were installing not only in towns, but also in rayon centres.

The very important events were held in 1934 year, when in Alma-Ata the construction of
Telecommunication Center was accomplished, in which there were general post office,
telegraph, long-distance and city telephone exchanges of Alma-Ata . On March, 1934 in the
structure of telegraph first long-distance exchange was organized, which soon became
independent enterprise. In 1939 first time through kazakhstani telegraph networks the
photography image portrait of great Kazakh thinker and poet Abai Kunanbayev was
transmitted.

On March 1943 the carrier telephony of Alma-Ata with Karaganda and Akmolinsk was
organized. Then this line was prolonged up to Moscow. On this superpower, on those times,
telephone backbone Alma-Ata Moscow totally it has been suspended more than 5 thousand
km of copper wires.

But really the development of sector was restored only in postwar years. In 1945-1946 years it
was suspended the telephone circuit of non-ferrous metal on auto track from Alma-Ata to
Semipalatinsk and then to Novosibirsk. In same period the multiplexing of acting circuit on
section Alma-Ata Tashkent was executed, that allowed to improve the quality of
conversations between Alma-Ata and Dzhambul, Chimkent, Tashkent and Moscow.

In sixties the introduction of facsimile communication network was begun, by means of which
the documental transmission of pictures, photos, drawing and newspapers through transmission
lines was executed. On April, 1970 from Moscow to Alma-Ata it was begun the transmission
of the first newspaper pages on telefacsimile. Of course, it was newspaper Pravda, the issues
of which Kazakhstanies began to receive to a day and even to an hour with moscovites.

On February, 1955 Ministry of communications of Kazakh SSR was created and by means of
it was succeeded to achieve the laying of backbone cable from Alma-Ata to Petropavlovsk
through Karaganda, Tselinograd, and Kokchetav. Totally in 15 years upon beginning of
bringing under cultivation in region 91 % village Soviets, 99,5% state owned farms , 99,8%
kolkhozes were deployed telephony . In 1970 the telephone penetration of all kolkhozes, state
owned farms and village Soviets was accomplished. It allowed beginning the program of
transfer of all network to total automatization. The long-distance communication was
transferred to automatical method of service. In the eighties the active construction of
underground backbones was begun. In 1990 in republic 1 million 250 thousand home
telephones or 28 telephones for 100 families worked.

The sector was onto new situation upon the USSR disintegration. With aim to salve its negative
consequences, Cabinet of Ministers of Kazakh SSR adopted a resolution from November 29,
1991 On measures on organization of manufacture of communication means in Kazakh SSR
for intensive development of television, radio and telephone communication . In spite of all
difficulties, it was succeeded to do much for saving of technical and personnel potential of
sector , attraction of investments , establishing of first contacts with foreign partners , for
introduction of unaccustomed for us technology novelties .

On the agenda the question came up and this question was about creation of national
telecommunication company, on the model of existing companies in most countries of world,
which should organize the work of sector on the level, meeting the modern market conditions
and last technology achievements.

Taken actions allowed partly retarding negative processes and establishing bases of future
work. And it was necessary to do much. The telecommunication sector not only had to stay
afloat , to decide urgent problems, to provide the Kazakhstani by accustomed
telecommunication services, but also move to basically new positions .

Kazakhstan began the integration in world economics. To the full extent to execute this task it
was possible only having at disposal of such effective tool as modern, capable flexibly to react
to needs of the market both internal and external, dynamically developing structure of
telecommunications, entered in the international context and satisfying not only today's, but
also tomorrow's inquiries. The next was the execution of projects, being of fundamental
importance for country, capable to approve Kazakhstan as important transit center, successfully
competitive with alternative centers of Russia and far abroad.

It was necessary to accumulate financial assets, personnel potential, technologic possibilities,

to work out the one national politics in telecommunications, knowingly to plan the strategy and
tactical tasks, stepwise and with maximal effectiveness and minimum of expenses to decide
them. Only by this way the sector could make own worthy contribution to realization of plans
of transformation of kazakhstani economics, offered by President of Kazakhstan Nursultan
Nazarbaev. In other words, the question on necessity of company creation national operator
in telecommunications came up.

It has occured on 1994. June 17, 1994 is birthday of company JSC Kazakhtelecom , with name
of which the destiny of telecommunication sector of our country is henceforth indissolubly
connected. It was first step to establishing of one of strategy important areas of our economics,
which allowed setting the country to the high places on many indicators in sector. And today
few thinks of a life of our society without company Kazakhtelecom and telecommunications
services, which it provides.

1.2 Problem Statement

This research is about analysing the supply chain of Kazakhtelecom JSC. It is the largest
telecommunication company in Kazakhstan. The researcher wants to investigate the role of
technology in enhancing the supply chain efficiency of this company. The main problem faced
by many companies in Kazakhstan these days is that they do not seem to have an effective IT
strategy which can allow them to acquire the sort of benefits that would help them achieve
better efficiency and performance. Companies like Kazakhtelecom play a very important role
in Kazakhstan and the economy, and therefore, its smooth and efficient performance is very
important. Like many other companies, Kazakhtelecom do not have proper IT strategy which
is effective enough to ensure better efficiency of its supply chain. Because of this, the company
is limiting its real potential. In this paper, the researcher wants to show that the implementation
of a proper IT strategy within Kazakhtelecom would result in better efficiency and
transparency, better communication, better collaboration and better procurement in the supply
chain of the Kazakh Telecom company.
1.3 Research Objectives

1. To investigate the role information technology in generating better efficiency and

transparency in the supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company
2. To investigate the role information technology in generating better communication in
the supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company
3. To investigate the role information technology in generating better collaboration in the
supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company
4. To investigate the role information technology in generating better procurement in the
supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company

1.4 Research Questions

1. What is the role of information technology in generating better efficiency and

transparency in the supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company?
2. What is the role information technology in generating better communication in the
supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company?
3. What is the role of information technology in generating better collaboration in the
supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company?
4. What is the role of information technology in generating better procurement in the
supply chain of the Kazakh Telecom company?

1.5 Benefit of Research

This research will be very beneficial to Kazakhtelecom, to other companies in the industry as
well as the academicians. The findings that will be made in this paper would help the
organizational leaders and marketing executives at Kazakhtelecoms to understand the
importance of IT in enhancing the efficiency of its supply chain. This is important in ensuring
that the company is able to achieve high performance levels and sustainable success in the
industry. The findings made in this article can help supplement past research in the field of
supply chain management and the use of IT to enhance supply chain efficiency.

1.6 Scope of Study

This study is about the benefits of using IT within the supply chain of Kazakhtelecoms. The
research is focused on the Kazakhtelecoms company, which is the main telecommunications
company in Kazakhstan. The researcher wants to show that the use of an effective IT strategy
would ensure that Kazakhtelecoms would be able to enhance its supply chain greatly. The
research is based in Kazakhstan and the respondents would comprise of the employees from
the companys management from all its branches across Kazakhstan.

1.8 Proposed Chapters

Chapter 1 Introduction

This chapter involves a discussion on many important preliminary matters of this study. These
include a discussion of the research background, the research problem, the research objectives,
the research questions, the benefit of the research and the research scope.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

This chapter provides a literature review which involves the presentation and comparison of
opinions and views from different academics on the topic of consumer purchase behaviour in
the tertiary education industry.

Chapter 3 Research Methodology

In this chapter, the researcher will discuss the research methodology. Among the main topics
addressed include the research design, the research procedure, population and sampling and
data analysis.

Chapter 4 Analysis of Findings

The aim of this chapter will be to make an analysis and presentation of the research findings.
The quantitative data will be analysed using SPSS and the implications of the results of these
tests would be discussed here.

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendations

In this part of the research, there will be a summary of the research and this involves
highlighting the main findings in the research. Recommendations of the research are provided
here. There will also be suggestions of future research provided in this chapter.