Towards a business-IT alignment maturity model for collaborative networked organizations

Aligning business and IT in networked organizations is a complex endeavor because in such settings, business-IT alignment is driven by economic processes instead of by centralized decision-making processes. In order to facilitate managing business-IT alignment in networked organizations, we need a maturity model that allows collaborating organizations to assess the current state of alignment and take appropriate action to improve it where needed. In this paper we propose the first version of such a model, which we derive from various alignment models and theories

Public credit registries as a tool for bank regulation and supervision

This paper is about the importance of the information in Public Credit Registries (PCRs) for supporting and improving banking sector regulation and supervision, particularly in the light of the new approach embodied in Basel III. Against the backdrop of the financial crisis and the existence of information data gaps, the importance of complete, accurate and timely credit information in the financial system is evident. Both in normal times and during crises, authorities need a device that allows them to look at the universe of credits in a detailed and readily way. And more importantly, they need to develop tools that exploit as much as possible the information therein contained. PCR databases contain individual credit information on borrowers and their credits which makes it possible to implement advanced techniques that measure banks'credit risk exposure. It allows optimizing the prudential regulation ensuring that provisioning and capital requirements are properly calibrated to cover expected and unexpected losses respectively. It also permits validating banks'internal rating systems, performing stress tests and informing macroprudential surveillance. In this respect, it is envisioned that the existence of a PCR will be a key factor to enhance the supervision and regulation of the financial system. Furthermore, the extent, accuracy and availability of the information collected by the authorities will determine the usefulness of the PCR as part of their toolkit to monitor the potential vulnerabilities not only on a microprudential level, but also on a macroprudential one.Banks&Banking Reform,Access to Finance,Financial Intermediation,Debt Markets,Bankruptcy and Resolution of Financial Distress

Assessing partnership alternatives in an IT network employing analytical methods

One of the main critical success factors for the companies is their ability to build and maintain an effective collaborative network. This is more critical in the IT industry where the development of sustainable competitive advantage requires an integration of various resources, platforms, and capabilities provided by various actors. Employing such a collaborative network will dramatically change the operations management and promote flexibility and agility. Despite its importance, there is a lack of an analytical tool on collaborative network building process. In this paper, we propose an optimization model employing AHP and multiobjective programming for collaborative network building process based on two interorganizational relationships’ theories, namely, (i) transaction cost theory and (ii) resource-based view, which are representative of short-term and long-term considerations. The five different methods were employed to solve the formulation and their performances were compared. The model is implemented in an IT company who was in process of developing a large-scale enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The results show that the collaborative network formed through this selection process was more efficient in terms of cost, time, and development speed. The framework offers novel theoretical underpinning and analytical solutions and can be used as an effective tool in selecting network alternatives

An integrated core competence evaluation framework for portfolio management in the oil industry

Drawing upon resource-based theory, this paper presents a core competence evaluation framework for managing the competence portfolio of an oil company. It introduces a network typology to illustrate how to form different types of strategic alliance relations with partnering firms to manage and grow the competence portfolio. A framework is tested using a case study approach involving face-to-face structured interviews. We identified purchasing, refining and sales and marketing as strong candidates to be the core competencies. However, despite the company's core business of refining oil, the core competencies were identified to be their research and development and performance management (PM) capabilities. We further provide a procedure to determine different kinds of physical, intellectual and cultural resources making a dominant impact on company's competence portfolio. In addition, we provide a comprehensive set of guidelines on how to develop core competence further by forging a partnership alliance choosing an appropriate network topology

The role of inter-organizational collaboration within innovation strategies: towards a portfolio approach.

Within the innovation literature, inter-organizational collaboration is being advanced as instrumental for improving the innovative performance of firms. In addition inter-organizational collaboration can be instrumental for addressing the multiple requirements innovation strategies entail. At the same time - large scale - empirical evidence for such a relation is scarce. Within this paper we examine whether evidence can be found for the idea that inter-organizational collaboration supports the effectiveness of innovation strategies. Multivariate and Tobit analyses of data on Belgian manufacturing firms, collected by means of the CIS survey (n=221), reveals a positive relationship between inter-organizational collaboration and innovative performance. Moreover the findings reported here suggest the relevancy of adopting a portfolio approach towards inter-organizational collaboration.Data; Effectiveness; Firms; Innovation; Innovation strategy; Manufacturing; Performance; Portfolio; Requirements; Strategy; Time;

Corporate strategy in turbulent environments: Key roles of the corporate level

This paper analyzes the evolution during the period 1986-2002 of the corporate strategy of Lujan, a highly successful car components manufacturer headquartered in Spain, as a way to explore how the corporate level influences the successful evolution of a company exposed to a "turbulent" environment over a long period. We find that the corporate level plays three key roles. First, it drives a firm's evolution by developing a cognitive representation of the firm's competitive landscape. Second, it paces the company's evolution by alternately shifting the balance of organizational initiatives between static efficiency-based "local search" strategies, chosen in times of stability or economic slowdown, and dynamic efficiency-based "long jump" strategies, adopted during periods of major environmental turbulence. Long-jump corporate strategies, carried out through limited downside strategic initiatives such as real options and strategic alliances ("off-line long-jumps"), are particularly frequent in these circumstances. The third role consists of developing an organizational architecture that frames the self-organized coordination of the different business divisions. The Lujan story clearly illustrates the important role of corporate strategy in a firm that must undergo radical transitions as a result of major environmental changes.corporate strategy; turbulent environments; complexity theory; car components;

Modelling the Value Adding Attributes of Real Estate to the Wealth Maximization of the Firm

Firms develop strategies to help them achieve their primary goal of maximizing the wealth of the shareholders. These strategies should define the supporting role corporate real estate management plays; however current theory and practice do not adequately identify the direct and indirect methods by which corporate real estate management (CREM) adds value to the firm. We develop a model of how real estate adds value to the firm to help fill this void. This model can be then used to develop more precise and complete metrics to measure the value real estate adds to the firm.

Efficient Memory-Protected Integration of Add-On Software Subsystems in Small Embedded Automotive Applications

Current innovations in the automotive industry evolve mainly in the electronics and software domain. This leads to an increasing integration of additional software subsystems into already existing electronic control units (ECUs) to cope with the raised amount and complexity of present ECUs in modern high-end vehicles. This paper discusses different approaches which are required to integrate such add-on software subsystems in an isolated memory domain, and considers particularly the special needs of small embedded systems—including the limited hardware support. Special focus is brought to the efficient detection of malicious memory accesses, as well as the benefits of a thereupon possible and adaptable failure-handling strategy. All investigations are based on a developed memory-protection framework which has been tailored to the special needs of a sample vehicle dynamics control system. Its usage allows the combination of. integrating additional subsystems without reducing the main application’s availability

Dynamics of Buyer-Supplier Co-dependency for Optimizing Functional Efficiency

The performance related issues of buyer-supplier relationship have attracted both the academic and corporate managers. The study attempts to make theoretical contributions to the literature on relationships in marketing channels. Compared with the impact of the often-investigated construct of dependence structure, the impact of channel function performance on relationship quality is relatively large. This study has been conducted in reference to the suppliers of office equipments serving to the industrial accounts in Mexico. The study addresses broadly the issues as to what extent is the impact of quality performance responsible for doing business with the organizational buyers. Discussions also analyze the impact of channel function performance on relationship quality, which is moderated by the extent dependence structure of the relationship.Buyer behavior, supplier performance, co-dependency, supply design, profit optimization, buyer value, market coverage, conformance, supply quality