A student wrote Answer.  Level: Strategic Management in Retail Strategic managers are key players in a retail company’s survival and advantage in a highly competitive market. They are in charge of the development of mission and vision statements, objective setting, planning and implementation of strategies, and evaluation and measurement of performance. Strategic planning often occurs annually in order to prepare for the year ahead, which needs to be formalized and authored in writing (Vanderburg, 2004).  Essentially, strategic managers execute the tasks mentioned above by creating specific action plans and steps to reach a specific organizational goal. Strategic planning is an interactive process that allows various departments involved to cross check how each output affects its earlier stages. Moreover, the strategy formation is guided by various stages of strategic thinking. The result of these processes provides information on the environmental diagnosis, competitiveness, guiding policies on organizational goals, and a well-researched action plan to achieve the guiding policies (Lumen Learning, n.d.). Decision Type: Evaluating and Measuring Performance For the purpose of this discussion, the focus will be on evaluating and measuring performance of Target. Nine years ago, Target faced a data theft that resulted in the loss of customer trust. Target CEO Brian Cornell wanted to focus on being “cool” again by knowing and understanding current trends, as well as meeting and anticipating consumer needs. Cornell admits that they have fallen short on data security when 40 million credit and debit card information were stolen from Target customers. The profit margin for the company decreased by 62% due to the data breach. In a conference with 14,000 Target employees, Cornell emphasized that they were going to start becoming a growth company. They also launched an internal technology company with the goal of application development and website improvement (CBS Mornings, 2014). Strategic managers ascertain whether or not the action plans set in place for the mission are effective and in compliance with the strategic vision. When performance does not meet organizational expectations, strategic managers must devise a plan for improvement. Some of the performances that can be measured in retail are financial data, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. Moreover, other measurements may be considered when analyzing the steps to achieve overall organizational success. How IT Assists in the Decision-Making Process The IT department provides information to strategic managers to help them evaluate the said measures. To measure financial data, strategic managers may receive information from the IT department, which can be sourced from an accounting information system (AIS). The purpose of AIS is to collect, store, and process accounting information used by the decision makers of organizations. For strategic management purposes, the decision makers may be interested in the financial reporting modules developed by the AIS. This allows strategic managers to evaluate the financial position of Target and develop a working strategy based on the information provided (Lumen Learning, n.d.). To measure customer satisfaction, the IT department may utilize a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that gathers data about current and potential customers. The goal of this data is to determine customer retention and build relationships. Some of the information that CRM software gathers include contact details (name, email, how customer learned of the company), personal profile (family information, memberships, associations), sales history (purchases made, response to advertisements, payment type), customer communication (interaction with a retail representative), and customer feedback (if surveys were filled out) (Lumen Learning, n.d.). Furthermore, strategic managers must evaluate and measure employee satisfaction. Employees play an integral role in executing the strategies that ensures organizational success. Hence, it is imperative to request feedback from employees about their compensation, working environment, tools and resources, workload, attitudes, work-life balance, staff relationships, and company cultures (Custom Insight, n.d.). The IT department may oversee the process of conducting surveys about these topics and the results may be interpreted and evaluated by strategic managers in order to check for any areas of improvement. Question  1. did the student select one of the levels of decision making and identified one decision that a manager at that level might make.explain  2. does the decision relate to the retail business and what it does?. explain  3. does it explain what information a manager at that level might get from the IT systems, such as inventory management or customer information system, to aid in making that decision?.explain