Measuring e-business dependability: The employee perspective

Electronic business (e-business) enables employees in organizations to complete jobs more efficiently if they can rely on the dependable functions and services delivered by e-business. Unfortunately, only a limited amount of research has explored the topic of employee perceived dependability of e-business, and the concept lacks measurement tools. Hence, this research develops a validated instrument for measuring e-business dependability (EBD) from an employee perspective. Based on a survey of 152 employees in six large semiconductor manufacturing companies in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park in Taiwan, this research conceptualizes and operationalizes the construct of EBD, and then creates and refines an e-business dependability instrument (EBDI). After rigorous purification procedures, the 22-item EBD instrument with good reliability and validity is presented. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of potential applications of this EBD instrument. The e-business dependability instrument and its potential implications will not only aid researchers interested in designing and testing related e-business theories, but also provide direction for managers in improving the quality and performance of e-business.     

An empirical investigation of competency factors affecting e-business success in European SMEs

In the last decade there was growing interest in strategic management literature about factors that influence a company's ability to use IT. There is general consensus that knowledge and competency are necessary in developing an IT capability, but there is very little understanding of what the necessary competencies are, and how they influence IS usage in different contexts. The small and medium-sized enterprise context is particularly interesting for two reasons: it constitutes a major part of the economy and it has been relatively unsuccessful in exploiting e-business.     

Coping with ERP-related contextual issues in SMEs: a vendor's perspective

From an ERP vendor's perspective, this paper analyzes what can be done to address contextual issues relating to ERP implementation. The case of UFSoft, a Chinese ERP vendor, reveals three strategies that could be useful for achieving fit between ERP systems and adopting organizations. First, ERP systems need to be localized to reflect the local management features. Second, ERP systems should be customizable at a variety of levels. Finally, BPR should be carried out in an incremental manner, taking the dialectic of organizational learning into account. A significant contention is that IS researchers and practitioners should consider companies' stages of growth as a contextual factor when conducting ERP research or implementing ERP systems.     

The degree of e-business entrepreneurship and long-term sustainability: an institutional perspective

Information Systems and e-Business Management - The purpose of this study is to develop and validate an institutional model to investigate the relationships among institutional drivers, the degree...     

Formalized systems development methodologies: a critical perspective

Systems development issues occupy a position of central importance in the information systems field and much has been prescribed in the quest for successful systems development. However, given the well-documented 'software crisis', success is far from guaranteed for systems development projects. Many researchers see the solution to the software crisis in terms of increased control and the more widespread adoption of rigorous and formalized system development methodologies. This paper presents some arguments and pressures which support the use of methodologies and some evidence of the literature bias which favours methodologies is provided. However the problems associated with the use of methodologies have not perhaps received as much attention in previous research. This paper identifies a number of arguments and pressures which question the value of methodologies, and reports the results of a field study which investigated the role of methodologies in practice. The critical perspective adopted throughout shows that, contrary to the predominant view in literature, the assumption that increased adoption of methodologies addresses the problems inherent in systems development is by no means proven.     

Web service conversation modeling: a cornerstone for e-business automation

Web services are emerging as a promising technology for effectively automating interorganizational interactions. However, despite the growing interest, several issues remain to be addressed to provide Web services with benefits similar to what traditional middleware brings to intraorganizational application integration. We identify a framework that builds on current standards to help developers define extended service models and richer Web service abstractions. The framework's main feature is a conversation metamodel derived from our analysis of e-commerce portal sites.     

Data quality: a rising e-business concern

Data quality has become a business-critical issue because it can make or break the databases and data warehouses that drive e-business. Garbage in, garbage out is not new; it started to become more important because of data warehouses and data marts as well as the Web. In recent InformationWeek surveys, IT professionals have consistently ranked data quality tasks as the leading IT challenge in the post-Y2K remediation era. What's also new is that data quality issues aren't limited to individual erroneous records: they now include how applications associate various pieces of data, and how users use or interpret data. As new data usage revealed the need to ensure data consistency throughout the enterprise, new tools have emerged to help IT reconcile data inconsistencies. Not all professionals are confident off-the-shelf solutions can flexibly meet their needs, but vendors argue that automating tasks allows quicker, cost-effective project and application deployment     

Mapping ergonomics application to improve SMEs working condition in industrially developing countries: a critical review

In industrially developing countries (IDC), small and medium enterprises (SMEs) account for the highest proprotion of employment. Unfortunately, the working conditions in SMEs are often very poor and expose employees to a potentially wide range of health and safety risks. This paper presents a comprehensive review of 161 articles related to ergonomics application in SMEs, using Indonesia as a case study. The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent of ergonomics application and identify areas that can be improved to promote effective ergonomics for SMEs in IDC. The most urgent issue found is the need for adopting participatory approach in contrast to the commonly implemented top-down approach. Some good practices in ergonomics application were also revealed from the review, e.g. a multidisciplinary approach, unsophisticated and low-cost solutions, and recognising the importance of productivity. The review also found that more work is still required to achieve appropriate cross-cultural adaptation of ergonomics application.     

Information technology workforce skills: The software and IT services provider perspective

It is now commonplace for an organization to turn to external firms for the provision of IT services and software. As technology advances and the business environment continues to evolve, a key challenge facing IT software and service providers is identifying critical skill sets, both today and in the future. The challenge is compounded as a result of the continuing growth of outsourcing and the increasing demand for technology solutions. This paper explores that challenge through a survey of IT software and service providers. We extend and complement previous studies of non-IT firms by comparing skills sought by non-IT organizations with those of IT services and software providers. Results indicate that, surprisingly, software and services providers place more emphasis on business domain and project management skills than on technical skills. This has implications for the hiring and retention practices of managers, and for academic curriculum and course offerings.

A theory of application service provider (ASP) use from a client perspective

Since the late 1990s, “application service providers” (ASPs) have offered telecommunication-based application services. ASP use can be considered a type of IS outsourcing as well as the creation of an inter-organizational system, such as is created for electronic data interchange (EDI). We developed a theory of ASP adoption and use from the client’s perspective based on analysis of primary and secondary data on ASP use and analysis of literature on IS outsourcing and EDI. We present a model and highlight similarities and differences between conventional IS outsourcing, ASP use, and EDI.     

The use of computer technology in university teaching and learning: a critical perspective

Abstract  Despite huge efforts to position information and communication technology (ICT) as a central tenet of university teaching and learning, the fact remains that many university students and faculty make only limited formal academic use of computer technology. Whilst this is usually attributed to a variety of operational deficits on the part of students, faculty, and universities, this paper considers the wider social relations underpinning the relatively modest use of technology in higher education. The paper explores how university use of computer technology is shaped into marginalized and curtailed positions by a variety of actors. From the 'writing' of ICT at a national policy level through to the marginalization of ICT within the lived 'student experience', a consistent theme emerges where computer technology use is constructed in limited, linear, and rigid terms far removed from the creative, productive, and empowering uses which are often celebrated by educational technologists. In the light of such constraints, the paper considers how these dominant constructions of a peripheral and limited use of ICT may be challenged by the higher education community. In particular, it concludes by reflecting on current critical thinking about how educational technologists can foster a more expansive and empowered use of computer technology within university settings.     

Limited engagement of SMEs with social media: A structuration and sensemaking perspective

Despite the worldwide rapidly growing social media use, previous surveys have shown an adoption rate below average among SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). The problem of why and how SMEs engage with social media has received scant attention. Informed by structuration and sensemaking theories, this qualitative inquiry attempts to close this gap by scrutinizing cognitive and collective pre-adoption aspects. Differently perceived technology features, the structural context of the ecosystem, and the triggering conditions as well as their role for individual and collective understanding and decision-making activities form the building blocks of a processual framework and the derivation of further research avenues.     

Semantic model for knowledge representation in e-business

Semantic knowledge representation is the key for the development of present intelligent systems. Furthermore, the Semantic Web provide a formal representation and knowledge-driven set of technologies to enable automation of business processes. Despite the new trends on business process automation based on semantic technologies and Web Services, a number of business processes still require human intervention. In this paper we address the problem of ontology-based process representation based on expert’s knowledge, considering both tasks executed by means of web services and tasks executed by persons. In this way, fully-automated and semi-automated processes (guided by a person) could be represented and executed. The proposed model is based on the set of situations that can be identified by an expert in a given process and the actions required in each situation. For validating our approach, a sales supporting system based on the proposed architecture has been developed. The proof-of concept system has been running for a remarkably time, supporting the sales process for non-expert sellers.     

Measuring e-business performance: Towards a revised balanced scorecard approach

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a management system that enables executives and managers to map their strategic objectives onto a set of performance measures in four inter-related areas, known as the financial, customer, learning and growth, and the internal process perspectives. Based on research into leading and lagging e-business companies and their measurement practices, this paper introduces an approach to modifying the balanced scorecard, applicable to the management of e-business units in which the customer perspective of the traditional balanced score card is supplemented by the incorporation of four additional perspectives (brand, service, market and technology) that have been found to be critical to the development and execution of e-business strategies. This approach facilitates a clearer understanding of the customer perspective, which consequently benefits the process of selecting the goals and measures associated with the other three perspectives, improving the quality of the overall decision-making and managerial processes as a whole.     

IT capabilities for product innovation in SMEs: a configurational approach

With the advent of globalization and the knowledge-based economy, industrial SMEs must constantly innovate to remain competitive. Now, an important research issue in this regard concerns the role played by IT capabilities in enabling innovation processes such as new product development, and in determining the product innovation performance of these organizations. Using a configurational approach grounded in the resource-based view, contingency theory, and the notions of “fit” and equifinality, we argue that IT capabilities can be leveraged for innovation purposes to the extent that they are coaligned and thus constitute IT capability configurations. This paper presents the results of a survey of 588 Canadian industrial SMEs designed to further analyze this issue. Three IT capability configurations were thus empirically identified, that is, IT Defenders (n = 234), IT Analyzers (n = 91) and IT Prospectors (n = 263), the last two being associated to greater product innovation performance.     

The critical success factors for ERP implementation: an organizational fit perspective

Since early 1990s, many firms around the world have shifted their information technology (IT) strategy from developing information systems in-house to purchasing application software such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. IT managers responsible for managing their organization’s ERP implementation view their ERP systems as their organizations’ most strategic computing platform. However, despite such strategic importance, ERP projects report an unusually high failure rate, sometimes jeopardizing the core operations of the implementing organization. This study explores the root of such high failure rate from an “organizational fit of ERP” perspective. Based on the relevant literature, we define the concept of organizational fit of ERP and examine its impact on ERP implementation, together with ERP implementation contingencies. The results from our field survey of 34 organizations show that ERP implementation success significantly depends on the organizational fit of ERP and certain implementation contingencies.     

Core capabilities for practitioners in achieving e-business innovation

The rapid advance of information technology and its penetration into the core elements of the business model and organizational structures is enabling profound and significant organizational changes. In such a dynamic environment, firms must be able to continually evolve their capabilities to facilitate electronic business (e-business) innovation. Yet, current research pays little attention to the core capabilities that contribute to e-business innovation in general. This research seeks to identify the core capabilities that are necessary for achieving e-business innovation. We propose a tri-core model of e-business innovation adopted from Swanson (1994), which knits together three cores: business technology, the business model and the value network. We use this model initially to specify the functional areas of the capabilities. Based on data collected through an intensive literature review and an exploratory Delphi study, thirteen essential capabilities were considered as the keys to e-business innovation exploitation and exploration. Firms can facilitate their e-business solutions over time through the successful development of these capabilities. These findings provide great insights for practitioners and scholars alike to better understand the core capabilities for achieving e-business innovation. It can also help practitioners form a template of the requisite in-house management for identifying knowledge gaps and developing action plans.     

The EBS management model: an effective measure of e-commerce satisfaction in SMEs in the service industry from a management perspective

While many electronic commerce (e-commerce) systems have been successfully adopted in businesses across a number of different industries, a significant number have failed, especially in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is therefore necessary to explore new methods to describe and measure e-commerce success from a business perspective. Using the fifteen critical success factors (CSFs) obtained from previous works as a foundation, this continuing research explored an EBS Management Model categorised into five components including Marketing, Management Support & Customer Acceptance, Web Site Effectiveness & Cost, Managing Change, and Knowledge & Skills. Further research is needed to determine the weighting of these CSFs and components as a yardstick so that this EBS Management Model, as an established practical model, can be adopted by business managers for the pursuit of e-commerce success, and assist service industry SMEs in effectively adopting e-commerce systems using a business-focused approach.     

A critical review of selective attention: an interdisciplinary perspective

During the last half century, significant efforts have been made to explore the underlying mechanisms of visual selective attention using a variety of approaches—psychology, neuroscience, and computational models. Among them, the computational approach emerged on the stage with the development of computer science and computer vision focusing researchers interests in this area. However, computer scientists often face the difficulty of how to construct a computational model of selective attention working on their own purpose. Here, we critically review studies of selective attention from a multidisciplinary perspective to take lessons from psychological and biological studies of attention. We consider how constraints from those studies can be imposed on computational models of selective attention.