bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Web Presence and Evolution through Web Log Analysis
Authors: Li Xueping
Published: October 2011

The Internet has become a popular medium to disseminate information and a new platform to conduct electronic business (e-business) and electronic commerce (e-commerce). With the rapid growth of the WWW and the intensified competition among the businesses, effective web presence is critical to attract potential customers and retain current customer thus the success of the business. This poses a significant challenge because the web is inherently dynamic and web data is more sophisticated, diverse, and dynamic than traditional well-structured data. Web mining is one method to gain insights into how to evolve the web presence and to ultimately produce a predictive model such that the evolution of a given web site can be categorized under its particular context for strategic planning. In particular, web logs contain potentially useful information and the analysis of web log data have opened new avenues to assist the web administrators and designers to establish adaptive web presence and evolution to fit user requirements.
Assessing the Impact of Mobile Technologies on Work-Life Balance
Authors: Cox Sharon
Published: October 2011

Mobile technologies such as laptops and mobile phones enable work to be conducted remotely, away from the normal working environment. Removing the geographical boundaries between work life and home life poses new challenges within the context of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. This article proposes a multidimensional model for assessing the impact of mobile technologies on work-life balance considering social, organizational, legal, technological, and ethical issues to inform the development of human resource strategies.
Policy Technologies for Security Management in Coalition Networks
Authors: Calo Seraphin B. , Karat Clare-Marie , Karat John , Lobo Jorge , Craven Robert , Lupu Emil , Ma Jiefei , Russo Alessandra , Sloman Morris , Bandara Arosha
Published: October 2011

The goal of policy-based security management is to enable military personnel to specify security requirements in terms of simple, intuitive goals. These goals are translated into the concrete system settings in a way that the system behaves in a consistent and desirable way. This technology minimizes the technical expertise required by military personnel and automates security management while allowing a high level control by the human in the loop. This chapter describes a framework for managing security policies, and an overview of two prototypes that simplify different aspects of policy management in the context of coalition operations.
Ontologically Enhanced RosettaNet B2B Integration
Authors: Kotinurmi Paavo , Haller Armin , Oren Eyal
Published: October 2011

RosettaNet is an industry-driven e-business process standard that defines common inter-company public processes and their associated business documents. RosettaNet is based on the Service-oriented architecture (SOA) paradigm and all business documents are expressed in DTD or XML Schema. Our “ontologically-enhanced RosettaNet” effort translates RosettaNet business documents into a Web ontology language, allowing business reasoning based on RosettaNet message exchanges. This chapter describes our extension to RosettaNet and shows how it can be used in business integrations for better interoperability. The usage of a Web ontology language in RosettaNet collaborations can help accommodate partner heterogeneity in the setup phase and can ease the back-end integration, enabling for example more competition in the purchasing processes. It provides also a building block to adopt a semantic SOA with richer discovery, selection and composition capabilities.
Learning Organizations or Organizations for Learning? How Small Firms can Learn from Planned and Random Technical Problem-Solving
Authors: Storto Corrado lo
Published: October 2011

This chapter reports the findings of an empirical study whose purpose is to identify the attributes of the organization infrastructure that support organizational learning in small manufacturing firms through the creation of procedural knowledge. The study is based on the following assumptions: a) organizations are cognitive systems that process information and knowledge; b) knowledge is a by-product of technical problem solving; c) innovation occurs as a stream of random or planned problem solving; d) many attributes of the organization infrastructure that foster innovation also foster knowledge generation during technical problem solving. Findings show that three dimensions of the organization infrastructure have an influence on learning: openness, innovativeness, and leadership. These attributes identify two typologies of organization infrastructures that differently affect the generation of procedural knowledge and learning. In particular, it was found that the organization infrastructure has a moderating effect on the relationship between some context factors (environment diversity, problem complexity, context ambiguity, and uncertainty) and the amount of procedural knowledge generated during technical problem solving. Implications for technical education are also discussed.
A Case Study of a Data Warehouse in the Finnish Police
Authors: Juntunen Arla
Published: October 2011

The high level objectives of public authorities are to create value at minimal cost, and achieve ongoing support and commitment from its funding authority. Similar to the private sector, today’s government agencies face a rapidly changing operating environment and many challenges. Where public organizations differ is that they need to manage this environment while answering to demands for increased service, reduced costs, fewer resources and at the same time increased efficiency and accountability. Public organization must cope with changing expectations of multiple contact groups, emerging regulation, changes in politics, decentralization of organization, and centralization of certain functions providing similar services, and growing demand for better accountability. The aim of public management is to create public value. Public sector managers create value through their organization’s performance and demonstrated accomplishments. The public value is difficult to define: it is something that exists within each community. It is created and affected by the citizens, businesses and organizations of that community (cf. also Moore, 1995). This increased interest to questions of value is partly due to the adoption of values and value-related concepts taken from business, like value creation and added value. It is argued that the public sector adopts business-like techniques to increase efficiency (Khademian, 1995; cf. Turban et al. 2007; Chen et al. 2005). In addition, there is a growing concern to the non-tangible, political, and ethical aspects of the public sector governance and actions (See Berg, 2001) Decision making that turns the resources in to public value is a daily challenge in the government (Khademian, 1999; Flynn, 2007) and not only because of the social or political factors. Most of decision problems are no longer well-structured problems that are easy to be solved by experience. Even problems that used to be fairly simple to define and solve are now much more complex because of the globalization of the economy, and rapid pace of changes in the technology and political and social environment. Therefore, modern decision makers often need to integrate quickly and reliably knowledge from different areas of data sources to use it in their decision making process. Moreover, the tools and applications developed for knowledge representations in key application areas are extremely diversified, therefore knowledge and data modeling and integration is important (See also the decision support systems (DSS) modeling methods and paradigms: Ruan et al., 2001; Carlsson & Fuller, 2002; Fink, 2002; Makowski & Wierzbicki, 2003). The application s of real-world problems and the abundance of different software tools allow to integrate several methods, specifications and analysis and to apply them to new, arising, complex problems.
Simulating E-business Innovation Process Improvement with Virtual Teams Across Europe and Asia
Authors: Strang Kenneth D. , Chan Cliff E.L.
Published: October 2011

In this article, E-business new product development innovation processes were studied at four enterprises across Europe and Asia. E-entrepreneurship innovation was improved using a quality of idea priority model. The conventional quality function deployment phase 1 matrix was revised to increase the voice of customers and engineer quality of idea decision-making. The proposed model was simulated with geographically dispersed virtual teams (based on production data). Statistical analyses were applied to test the hypothesis that an improved innovation process could better discriminate between new product return on investment pass or fail probability.
Internet Adoption from Omani Organizations’ Perspective
Authors: Al-Gharbi Khamis , AlBulushi Ahlam Abdullah
Published: October 2011

In this paper, to the authors determine the motivations and reservations for Internet/E-business adoption within the organizations in Oman. For this purpose, questionnaires were used to collect the data from the organizations that have adopted Internet and the organizations that have not adopted Internet applications. The results and analysis of the data show that the main reasons for adopting Internet applications in Oman are to simplify process, improve communication with staff, keep up with competitors, and reduce the use of paper. The lack of skill and security problems is the main reservation for not adopting the Internet.
E-Business and Nigerian Financial Firms Development
Authors: Eze Uchenna Cyril
Published: October 2011

This research discusses Nigerian financial firms’ perspectives on key determinants of e-business deployment. It explores possible differences that exist among financial firms using in-house e-business capabilities and those that outsource their e-business capabilities. This chapter contributes to the few pieces of literature on e-business experiences among firms operating in Africa, particularly Nigeria. The Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) model underpins the conceptual framework for this chapter. The independent variables are the firm, technological and environmental factors while e-business use constitutes the dependent variable. The findings reveal that all the factors were significant, but that environmental factors were key determinants of e-business use among the firms. In addition, this study reveals practitioners’ interests in Nigerian government agencies to maintain and enhance the existing e-business legal, regulatory and security frameworks in the country. By extension, this could enable greater e-business use in firms, which could improve the overall economy.
An Analysis of the Latin American Wireless Telecommunications Market Portfolios of Telefonica and America Movil
Authors: Powell Steven R.
Published: October 2011

In response to slowing growth, intensifying competition in their traditional wireless voice, text markets with an eye toward increasing revenues from offering a bundle of mobile and fixed-line voice, data, text, and video services to subscribers, management at Telefonica and America Movil have restructured their companies and reconsidered their internationalization strategies. This paper focuses on the two companies’ Latin American wireless market portfolios, providing background on why these reorganizational and strategic actions were taken. In particular, the paper compares the portfolios with respect to their market attractiveness and competitive positions in 2008 relative to 2002 on both an overall average and degree of variance basis across the markets in the portfolios. The portfolio analysis technique employed in the paper may have wider applicability for formulating corporate strategy.
Hybrid Value Creation in the Sports Industry
Authors: Leimeister Jan Marco , Knebel Uta , Krcmar Helmut
Published: October 2011

Integrated product-service packages (hybrid products) can open new markets and target groups to companies. However, existing approaches to service or product development do not sufficiently address simultaneous development and domain-specific issues. A very promising new field for such bundles is the health and fitness industry. In this research, we designed and built an IT-supported training system for running, the Mobile Sports Companion (MSC), which closely interlocks a product and corresponding services using an iterative development process. We tested the pilot system with 14 recreational athletes. The results of the field test show that the MSC proved to be a promising tool to offer athletes an effective individual, flexible, and mobile training. However, the system, as it is, did not sufficiently represent the human trainer behind it, thus lowering its acceptance and the credibility of its recommendations. Our next step is to integrate features that could strengthen the athlete-trainer relationship. The MSC could turn out to be a promising field for future e-business applications in the sports service industry.
Exploring the Link between Flexible Work and Organizational Performance
Authors: Rimbau-Gilabert Eva
Published: October 2011

The expansion of flexible work experienced since the 1980s in developed economies is consistent with a more generic trend towards organizational flexibility, which many authors see as essential in order to compete in the dynamic global environment (Volberda, 1998). From this point of view, the changing demands of the environment have forced organizations to seek the ability to adapt rapidly and effectively as a means to be successful or even to survive. In the quest for flexibility, every area of the organization has been scrutinized in order to render it as “agile” as possible. In the human resources arena, this analysis has led to the definition of diverse “flexible working practices” (FWP) that describe a wide range of employment practices, which differ from the traditional full-time job with a fixed salary and a permanent contract. These practices have been described using other terms, such as “alternative” (Polivka, 1996; Powell & Mainiero, 1999), “non-standard” (Kalleberg, 2000), or “atypical” (De Grip, Hoevenberg, &m Willems, 1997), which coincide in denoting their divergence from the most traditional forms of employment. This article will show that quite different practices have been embraced by the common term “flexible working practices.” Subsequently, the results of empirical research regarding the implications for organizational performance of a number of flexible practices will be commented on.
Collaborative Learning Experiences in Teaching of e-Business Management
Authors: Assaf Wael , Elia Gianluca , Fayyoumi Ayham , Taurino Cesare
Published: October 2011

In the context of the e-Business Management Section (eBMS) of the Scuola Superiore ISUFI at University of Salento (Italy), the case of the International Master in e-Business Management (IMeBM) is discussed here which is aimed to contribute pragmatically to create e-Business Capabilities in Mediterranean Countries. This chapter presents the results obtained in the Laboratory Phase of the first two years of Master’s editions, i.e. 2006 and 2007 editions. This phase has been designed on blended (on-line and off-line) learning experience. Specifically, it has been structured by mixing the delivery of some Web learning courseware with face-to-face meetings with mentors and e-Business experts. The technological platform designed, developed and adopted for the Web learning activities is called the “Virtual eBMS” that represents the collaborative learning environment of the Mediterranean School. The pedagogical approach adopted by the School, named (“Learning-in-Action”) together with some considerations on the effectiveness and the implications of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) strategy are also deliberated upon. It also presents how the whole case of the International Master in e-Business Management generated intellectual capital assets, described in terms of Human Capital (competences developed in the e-Business context), Social Capital (networks and cooperation with local institutions and companies) and Structural Capital (research projects).
Examining Tensions in Telework Policies
Authors: Gibbs Jennifer L. , Scott Craig R. , Kim Young Hoon , Lee Sun Kyong
Published: October 2011

This chapter examines workplace policies related to virtual work, with a specific focus on telework policies. Such policies are important to successful telework in communicating rules and expectations and providing a basis for negotiation between individual teleworkers and their employers. A content analysis of 35 state government telework policies revealed that such policies are characterized by two major tensions between autonomy and control and between flexibility and rigidity. The first tension relates to issues such as individual versus organizational responsibility for monitoring performance, providing equipment, and ensuring physical and data security, while the second tension relates to the standardization of working hours and eligibility criteria, whether rules are clear or left ambiguous, and the degree of work/family balance. Although explicit contradictions between stated benefits and realities of telework implementation may be problematic, most of the policies used tension productively by providing enough ambiguity to allow for competing individual and organizational interests to co-exist. Practical implications for teleworkers and their managers are suggested.
Recruiting, Selecting and Motivating Human Resources-
Authors: Zapounidis Konstantinos C. , Kalfakakou Glykeria
Published: October 2011

This paper’s aim is to analyse practices adapted by different enterprises regarding personnel motivation and human resources approaches to increase their productivity and profitability while examining the methodology of human resources recruitment and selection used by different kinds of enterprises, which cannot exist without human manpower. The objective of this paper is to analyse methods and tools used by several enterprises in motivation and in human resources recruitment and selection. Regarding motivation, the basic aim of the process adapted was to define whether each enterprise was closer to the participating or to directive management model. Especially in the recruiting and selecting process where IT could add important value; especially since adapted IT processes could lead to quicker, more successful transparent results. IT professionals could organise these processes for every enterprise in order to become standard, formulated, and even more accredited procedures which would lead to successful recruiting and selecting results.
Knowledge Management in SMEs Clusters
Authors: Capó-Vicedo Josep
Published: October 2011

This chapter highlights the necessity of establishing relationships with other companies and external agents in order to empower the creation and diffusion of knowledge, through factors such as innovation. Likewise, the influence of geographical and territorial factors will be studied in the context of this economy. SMES normally work and are immersed in particular geographical regions so this chapter will analyze the particular case of knowledge generation and sharing in SMES clusters as an essential source of competitive advantage. A new organizational form will be suggested in order to make possible the creation, transfer and sharing of knowledge in supply chain of SMES clusters. In this sense, a network functioning model is finally proposed.
Knowledge Transfer within Multinational Corporations
Authors: Haghirian Parissa
Published: October 2011

A growing interest in the various aspects of knowledge transfer within multinational corporations has been evidenced by a recent surge in empirical research. Despite the fact that the number of empirical studies investigating various aspects of knowledge transfer within multinational corporations has significantly increased, very few insights into the influence of culture on knowledge transfer, however, have come to light. In fact, the cultural aspects and the individuals involved in the transfer and communication of corporate knowledge within multinational corporations seemed to have been overlooked by researchers. This chapter attempts to fill this gap and investigates the impact culture has upon knowledge transfer processes within multinational corporations. It presents a comprehensive intercultural knowledge transfer model and identifies which aspects of national culture hinder and which aspects foster an effective transfer of knowledge.
The Benefits of Home-Based Working’s Flexibility
Authors: Osorio Diana Benito
Published: October 2011

The history of home working in Western economies can only be understood by means of changes in the systems of production in Europe and North America and through changes in the general sphere of women’s responsibilities, which typically include family work as well as paid work (Johnson, 2003). Both new situations produce the most important change: the change in work venue. The development in industrial production has been an uneven and changing pattern, beginning with artisanal guilds of the middle ages and continuing through to industrial production in the 19th and 20th centuries (Boris, 1996). Mistakenly, the process of industrialization has often been characterized as a unidirectional shift of production from home to factory (Johnson, 2003), but the reality has been very different. The earliest forms of industrialization first appeared within the home setting (Albrecht, 1982). One of the initial impetuses for the use of home-based working arrangements among such employees was provided by the oil crisis of the 1970s which, in conjunction with advances in computer technology, led to a surge of interest in “telecommuting” among white collar workers (Niles, Carlson, Gray, & Hanneman, 1976). However, it was not until the development of personal computers and networked systems in the 1980s that home-based working arrangements experienced significant growth, growth that has been particularly pronounced among executives, managers, scientists, and engineers in large corporations (Bureau of National Affairs, 1991). This home-based working’s revival, on the early 1980s, was linked to the shift in the structure of employment and production in post-industrial economies of North America and Western Europe (Lipsig-Mummé, 1983). Years later, in the 1990s, this subject was treated again but with a new vision. While adoption of telework was slow during the 1980´s, the subsequent decade’s information revolution resulted in considerable growth in new work forms (Moss, Whitfield, Johnson, & Andrey, 2006; Robertson, 2005) The “renaissance” was interpreted as a symptom of economic restructuring that put increased pressure on domestic industries from off-shore producers (Leach, 1998).
E-Leadership Styles for Global Virtual Teams
Authors: Chamakiotis Petros , Panteli Niki
Published: October 2011

With time, an increasing number of organizations deploy global virtual teams (GVTs) in an effort to respond to the demands and the competitive nature of the global business arena. Leadership, a factor that is arguably central to the successful functioning of collocated teams, is much altered in view of the virtual backdrop, and thus, management practices, when referring to GVTs’ operation and effectiveness, have to be re-addressed. This chapter explores the contribution of a leader-coordinator in GVTs and – by drawing upon interviews with staff that participate in intra-organizational virtual teams of an eminent global operator – it discusses leadership approaches suitable for those teams. In addition, this chapter attempts to unveil and discuss the personal values that drive ordinary virtual actors to emergently lead their teams. Ultimately, the chapter suggests e-leadership styles which could be of foremost value to current and future virtual teams and virtual organizations.
Agile Alignment of Enterprise Execution Capabilities with Strategy
Authors: Worden Daniel
Published: October 2011

Emergent strategy provides for both planned and reactive aspects of strategic planning. It also identifies that strategy as implemented will often have different characteristics than originally anticipated. Today, even traditional, non-knowledge based organizations have adopted comparatively high levels of computerization compared to a decade ago. Enterprises now rely extensively on digital systems for data handling across operational and administrative processes. This chapter maintains that detection and reporting capabilities inherent in information technology (IT) can themselves be exploited as a strategy for managing knowledge. Using feedback loops to describe the dynamics of systems lets an organization capture and communicate intended strategy and emergent characteristics of the actual strategy along with changes in the execution environment. The role of IT as an execution capability required for both business strategy and knowledge management is examined, along with the need to more quickly align the business processes that use IT services to changes in business strategies or priorities. Advances in IT assisting in requirements discovery, system design and development- including use cases, patterns, decision modeling, and aspect-oriented software-are discussed. Techniques to capture and communicate knowledge vital for aligning organizational capabilities with emerging strategies and competing priorities are evaluated. A predicted emergent business pattern as a tool for managing the capture and communication of organizational knowledge is proposed. This includes techniques for defining strategy and decision elements as data about processes that can be used during execution to trigger notification and appropriate handling of exceptional events.
Executive Judgement in E-Business Strategy
Authors: Baker Valerie , Coltman Tim
Published: October 2011

One of the main strategic challenges for organizations today is to effectively manage change and stay competitive in the future. Change appears to be the only constant in contemporary business and is present in every industry and in every country (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1998). Moreover, the key area of importance, current within many organizations, is how to effectively leverage technology within such a complex and dynamic business environment (Sauer & Willcocks, 2003). The alignment or fit approach, which has its roots in contingency theory, has long been promoted as the way to get high returns from technology investment. However, the realization of advantage from the Internet and related e-business technology investment has long been a source of frustration for corporate executives. Impressive performance returns by companies such as Dell Computers, Cisco Systems and General Electric illustrate that returns can be achieved by linking the Internet and related e-business technologies to firm strategy. These companies have shown that successful management of their IT investments can generate returns as much as 40% higher than those of their competitors (Ross & Weill, 2002). Yet, many executives view the Internet and related e-business technologies with intense frustration. They recollect investment in the great speculative bubble of the 1990s and excessive expenditure on year 2000 (Y2K) compliant systems (Keen, 2002). They recall high profile examples of botched enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems that have consistently run over time and budget and report that customer-relationship management (CRM) initiatives were largely a flop (Reinartz & Chugh, 2002). Unfortunately, it is not yet clear how firms should go about capturing the potential that exists in e-business, as few normative frameworks exist to guide practitioner investment.
Prioritizing Corporate R&D Capabilities
Authors: Chang Yuan-Chieh , Yu Pei-Ju , Chi Hui-Ru
Published: October 2011

This chapter examines a comprehensive list of intellectual capital (IC)-related indicators for developing corporate R&D capabilities along the input-process-result (IPR) processes. Via factor analysis, 43 R&D related IC indicators were abstracted into 11 factors. Corporate R&D managers prioritized these IC factors by completing analytical hierarchy process (AHP) questionnaires. The results of AHP are as follows: (1) the result phase is the pivotal of developing corporate R&D capabilities in three phases, (2) the top three weighting factors are the relational and process capitals (cost effectiveness to customers) in the result phase, followed by organizational capital (strategy fitness) in the input phase, and human capital (competency of R&D personnel) in the input phase; (3) strategy fitness in the input phase, project execution capability in the process phase; and cost effectiveness to customers in the result phase is the most crucial IC capabilities. Some discussions and conclusions were drawn.
E-business in Supply Chain Management
Authors: Wagner Claudia-Maria , Sweeney Edward
Published: October 2011

E-business is concerned with the use of the Internet to link companies with their suppliers, customers and other trading partners. As a business concept, it has evolved significantly since its introduction in the 1990’s in parallel with the rapid rate of development of information technology (IT) during this period. Supply chain management (SCM) is fundamentally concerned with integration of activities both with and between organisations. IT plays a crucial role in SCM as a key enabler of supply chain integration (SCI). This chapter sets out the role of e-business concepts in the context of the supply chain challenges faced by firms. It specifically explores the role of e-procurement as an example of how e-business concepts have been applied to one key SCM activity, namely purchasing and procurement. In this context, the chapter examines the nature and evolution of e-marketplaces and goes on to identify key adoption drivers and benefits based on recent research. This research identifies key adoption drivers and benefits but also recognises that there are many barriers that ongoing research needs to address if the potential of e-business is to be fulfilled.
Global Account Management (GAM)
Authors: Hollensen Svend , Wulff Vlad Stefan
Published: October 2011

Global account management (GAM) has become a critical issue for many multinational corporations that compete in a fast changing global market environment. In this article, we approach GAM from a benchlearning perspective, synthesize selected literature and examine an award winning case study in order to underline the importance of multilevel relationships in strategic business-to-business relationships. The purpose of this study is to address various issues related to multilevel relationships in strategic partnerships (e.g. the recruitment of the global account manager and his supporting team, turf wars and compensation) and suggest organizational solutions based on best-practice examples.
An Overview of Executive Information Systems (EIS) Research in South Africa
Authors: Averweg Udo Richard
Published: October 2011

Executive information systems (EIS) are designed to serve the needs of executive users in strategic planning and decision- making. Sometimes the terms “executive information systems” and “executive support systems” are used interchangeably (Turban, McLean, & Wetherber, 1999). Definitions of EIS are varied but all identify the need for information that support decisions about the organization. EIS can be defined as “a computerized system that provides executives with easy access to internal and external information that is relevant to their critical success factors” (Watson, Houdeshel, & Rainer, 1997). This article is organized as follows: The background to EIS implementation is given. EIS research studies undertaken in South Africa are then described. Some future EIS trends are then suggested.
Sociotechnical Issues of Tele-ICU Technology
Authors: Hoonakker Peter , McGuire Kerry , Carayon Pascale
Published: October 2011

Intensive care units (ICUs) are highly complex organizations where lives are hanging by a thread. Approximately 400,000 to 500,000 people die each year in American ICUs. The highly complex environment and large responsibilities put a burden on ICU staff including physicians and nurses. Research has shown that ICU physicians and nurses report high levels of workload and burnout that are related to lower quality of care provided to ICU patients and patient safety problems. Furthermore, there is a shortage of ICU personnel. In the past decades, the number of critical care beds has increased while the number of hospitals offering critical care services has decreased. Telemedicine may be one solution to deal with the shortage of ICU personnel. The tele-ICU technology represents the application of telemedicine in ICUs: ICU patients are monitored remotely by physicians and nurses trained in critical care. Recent estimates show that a nurse in the tele-ICU environment can monitor as many as 50 ICU patients in different ICUs, using the most recent telemedicine technology that provides access to patient information as well as video and audio links to patient rooms. The physicians and nurses in the tele-ICU collaborate with the physicians and nurses in the ICUs in what can be considered virtual teams. We know little about how the virtual team characteristics affect communication and trust between the participating members of the team. Furthermore, we know little about how the technological environment of the tele-ICU may affect the physicians and nurses’ workload and possibly burnout, and how this may affect quality of care and patient safety. In this chapter we describe the ICU and tele-ICU from a sociotechnical perspective, and examine how organizational factors may affect the jobs of nurses in the tele-ICU, and possible consequences for quality of work life, quality of care and patient safety.
Social Capital and Third Places Through the Internet
Authors: Timms Duncan , Ferlander Sara
Published: October 2011

Although Sweden is generally considered to be at the forefront of the ICT revolution and to have high levels of social capital – interpersonal trust and participation – there remain areas and populations which are relatively disadvantaged. In this chapter we examine a number of efforts which have attempted to make use of ICT to enhance social capital in a Stockholm suburb which has been stigmatised in the press and which contains relatively high proportions of immigrants, single parents and the unemployed, all groups which are relatively excluded. An initial effort, based on the installation of a local community network, largely failed. A second effort, based on a locally-run Internet Café was more successful, with the café operating as a Third Place, both online and offline, bridging many of the divisions characterising the community. Despite its success in encouraging participation, trust and community identity, the IT-Café could not be sustained following the end of project funding and a change in personnel. The factors accompanying the success and failure of the Swedish undertakings provide lessons for other efforts to use ICTs in attempts to enhance social inclusion and community.
Evolutionary Diffusion Theory
Authors: Wilkins Linda , Swatman Paula , Holt Duncan
Published: October 2011

Improved understanding of issues affecting uptake of innovative technology is important for the further development of e-business and its integration into mainstream business activities. An explanatory theory that can provide a more effective instrument for determining acceptance levels should therefore be of interest to IS practitioners and researchers alike. The authors aimed to establish whether evolutionary diffusion theory (EDT) could offer such an instrument, developing a set of axioms derived from the EDT literature and applying these to an in-depth review of two e-business implementations: a G2B document delivery system introduced by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) across a number of industry sectors; and an enterprise-wide system implementation in a local government instrumentality. The authors found EDT offered remarkable explanatory depth, applicable not only to analysing uptake of complex, multi-user technologies in organisational settings but to any e-business investigation requiring a system-wide perspective.
Management Theory
Authors: Davies John
Published: October 2011

This paper develops a systems perspective on the interdependent relationships between management academics, management theory and management practice. The author re-examines issues raised by Ghoshal, not only about how the uncritical acceptance of an ideologically based gloomy vision of human nature has led to “bad management theories ... destroying good management practices”, but also how practice can impact the development of theory. The approach provides an opportunity to reinterpret and reveal the systemic nature of related feedback and learning processes labelled as the double hermeneutic by Giddens (1987) and as reciprocal determinism by Bandura (1978), to draw a parallel with the role of theory in the decision sciences. This paper provides a constructive illustration of the use of the systems representational tools of system dynamics to develop a systems perspective on these matters to identify the underpinning systemic structure that gives rise to Ghoshal’s views. Finally, the author identifies a means of addressing issues of concern to management theorists, analysts, and practitioners.
Does User Centered Design, Coherent with Global Corporate Strategy, Encourage Development of Human Resource Intranet Use?
Authors: Guiderdoni-Jourdain Karine , Oiry Ewan
Published: October 2011

In organizations, researchers as well as professionals have generally observed insufficient use of computer technologies when compared to their expected outcomes before their implementation (Bowers, 1995). Reiterating in detail Orlikowski’s theoretical propositions, the authors try to impart a clear theoretical status and to identify how transformation of the « artifact » can eventually transform uses. Using a longitudinal case study describing uses of a HR Intranet in an aeronautical firm, the authors want to show that: computer technology conception integrating user’s needs, which scientific literature usually calls « user centered » conception, allows use development. However, data gathered in the interviews allows stating that this kind of conception achieved to develop uses only because it was in a strong interaction with corporate policy.
Teleworking and the "Disability Divide"
Authors: Bricout John C. , Baker Paul M.A. , Ward Andrew C. , Moon Nathan W.
Published: October 2011

Much of the discourse on the digital divide focuses on issues of information disparity and accessibility, frequently in socioeconomic terms. This perspective overlooks an important aspect of the digital divide, the lack of access and missed opportunities faced by persons with disabilities, referred to here as the “disability divide.” Barriers to access and knowledgeable use of information and communication technology (ICT) represent more than simple exclusion from information to encompass social segregation and devaluation. At its most insidious, barriers to ICTs limit full community engagement in employment activities. This chapter examines the ramification of the impact of digital divide on the nature of employment and participation in the workplace, using ICT to conduct telework, and explores challenges to social policy with respect to ‘reasonable’ accommodations. In the absence of practices, structures, and policies targeting the distributive work environment, telework is much less likely to close the digital divide for persons with a disability. This suggests the need to explore and develop potential policy options to close the disability divide.
Emerging Business Models
Authors: Chen Te Fu
Published: October 2011

This chapter, therefore, develops in scientific literature, the concept of e-Business 2.0 where e-Business companies are actively using Web 2.0 to create and appropriate value from, for, and with stakeholders. This research also makes a distinction between an internal and external focus. This research looks at e-Business 2.0 and has an external focus. E-Business 2.0 pure players depend on Web 2.0 to create and appropriate value with a focus to external customers, instead of internal organisations. There is a new wave of business communication tools including blogs, wikis and group messaging. There are new digital platforms for generating, sharing and refining information that are already popular on the Internet. These platforms are collectively labeled Web 2.0 technologies. The term ‘Enterprise 2.0’ focuses only on those platforms in which companies can buy or build in order to make the practices and outputs of their knowledgeable workers visible. Enterprise 2.0 looks at Web 2.0 technologies and practices within organisations and businesses and is therefore, referred to as internal focus. Enterprise 2.0 is the term used to describe how a Web 2.0 approach can be used to work more collaboratively together in business. Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent social software platforms within companies or between companies and their partner or customers. However Enterprise 2.0 is much more than just ’Web 2.0 for business’. Moreover, the study proposed a case study of Enterprise 2.0 to demonstrate by a detailed KPI analysis, how collaboration platforms (and related HR management) can drastically improve the global performance of an international group. Furthermore, the study was to further propose another case study of e-gov 2.0. Enterprise 2.0 is an evolutionary step forward releasing employees from the constraints and limitations of the legacy communication and productivity tools. The study concludes the challenges of the Enterprise 2.0: ten facts and Six Enterprise 2.0 - Myths. Enterprise 2.0, being more a philosophy than a technology, can truly create huge added value for organizations in any sector and it is often remarkable to see in what way the Enterprise 2.0 methods are used to solve specific problems.
Vision, Trends, Gaps and a Broad Roadmap for Future Engineering
Authors: Goossenaerts Jan , Possel-Dölken Frank , Popplewell Keith
Published: October 2011

New challenges result from the virtualization and distribution of product development activities. This article analyzes problems of cooperative engineering as well as methods and tools for the virtual engineering of extended products. Based on these analyses, a broad road map is proposed that articulates public- and civil-sector roles in coping with future engineering challenges. With a strategic horizon, the public-sector role targets the creation of a knowledge-intensive global business ecosystem conducive to balanced civil-sector innovation and sustainable growth. The civil-sector roles evolve tactics that implement proven cooperative and virtual engineering practices with a focus on value creation.
New Profession Development
Authors: Leung Ying Tat , Caswell Nathan S. , Kamath Manjunath
Published: October 2011

Adding engineering discipline to defining and managing the operation of business processes has become a truism although results of practical application have been mixed. This chapter argues that an obstacle to business process (re)engineering is the lack of a business process engineer role with an associated professional education, tools, and community. The main argument derives from an analysis of the domain structure for system design and comparison with existing practices in manufacturing engineering. We observe that: (1) At present there does not exist a profession of business process engineers. Their role in a firm is filled, on an ad-hoc basis, by business line personnel, information technology analysts or architects, and/or management consultants; (2) There is an increasingly critical need to master the subject of business process engineering for an individual firm as well as the general U.S. industry; (3) Other professionals, while having their own specialized skills valuable to a firm, do not necessarily have the optimal skill set for business process engineering. We therefore conclude that there is an urgent need for a professional business process engineer. We discuss the skills required of this profession and briefly describe a first course offered at a university on this subject. We propose that academic institutions should seriously consider such a new program today.
Articulating Tacit Knowledge in Multinational E-Collaboration on New Product Designs
Authors: Strang Kenneth David
Published: October 2011

An e-business new product development (NPD) knowledge articulation model is built from the interdisciplinary empirical and theoretical literature. The model is intended to facilitate a case study of a large multinational mobile communications services/products company (with team members in Europe, Asia and Australia). The NPD teams include subject matter experts that function as a community of practice, electronically collaborating in a virtual context. The knowledge created and shared in the NPD teams involve various unknown levels of tacit and explicit ideas, which are difficult to understand or assess. The goal of the research is to build a tacit knowledge articulation framework and measurement construct that can be used to understand how a successful (or unsuccessful) NPD team operates, in terms of knowledge innovation and productivity. Complex issues and controversies in knowledge management are examined to clarify terminology for future research.
Study on E-Business Adoption from Stakeholders’ Perspectives in Indian Firms
Authors: Goswami Ranjit , De S K , Datta B.
Published: October 2011

E-business adoption towards creating better stakeholders’ values in any business organization should begin with corporate home pages, which is equivalent of the online identity of the physical firm. This paper, by taking two snapshot pictures of corporate homepages, one in 2005 and another in 2007, analyses e-business adoption levels in fifteen publicly-listed Indian firms of three different sizes and five sectors from four external stakeholders (Customers, Suppliers/Alliances, Shareholders and Society/Community) perspectives. We also measure overall e-business readiness levels from four stakeholders’ perspectives in 2005 and 2007, and analyze the adoption as per Stages of Growth model. The measurement is based on presence of various categories of interactions, as commonly perceived, between the firm and respective stakeholder group.
An ICT-Based Network of Competence Centres for Developing Intellectual Capital in the Mediterranean Area
Authors: De Maggio Marco , Del Vecchio Pasquale , Elia Gianluca , Grippa Francesca
Published: October 2011

The rising of the knowledge economy, enhanced by the fast diffusion of ICTs, drives a wider perspective on the divide among Countries, interpreting it more and more as the result of an asymmetry in the access to knowledge and in the readiness to apply it in order to renew the basics of their development dynamics. Looking at the Mediterranean Area, the positive correlation between the Networked Readiness Index and the Global Competitive Index developed at Global Economic Forum – INSEAD, shows that the opposite sides of the Mediterranean Sea are performing a development path at two different paces. In the effort to face the challenge of supporting the creation of Intellectual Capital able to apply, diffuse and benefit from e-business, in 2005 the e-Business Management Section (eBMS) of Scuola Superiore ISUFI – University of Salento launched the “Mediterranean School of e-Business Management”. The present work aims to offer a presentation of its genesis, its most distinctive features, operational model and action plan. The preliminary results of its activities show the role and the main challenges of the School in addressing the needs of the Mediterranean Countries towards a logic of partnership for the development of their Intellectual assets.