1. U. S. Pharma Corporation is headquartered in New Jersey but has research sites in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Australia. Research and development of new pharmaceuticals is key to ongoing profits, and U. S. Pharma researches and tests thousands of possible drugs. The company’s researchers need to share information with others within and outside the company, including the U. S. Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations. Also critical is access to health information sites, such as the U. S. National Library of Medicine and to industry conferences and professional journals. Design a knowledge portal for U. S. Pharma’s researchers. Include in your design specifications relevant internal systems and databases, external sources of information, and internal and external communication and collaboration tools. Design a home page for your portal.
2. Canadian Tire is one of Canada’s largest companies, with 57,000 employees and 1,200 stores and gas bars ( gas stations) across Canada selling sports, leisure, home products, apparel; and financial services as well as automotive and petroleum products. The retail outlets are independently owned and operated. Canadian Tire was using daily mailings and thick product catalogs to inform its dealers about new products, merchandise setups, best practices, product ordering, and problem resolution and it is looking for a better way to provide employees with human resources and administrative documents. Describe the problems created by this way of doing business and how knowledge management systems might help.