Exploring the Future Shape of Business Intelligence: Mapping Dynamic Capabilities of Information Systems to Business Intelligence Agility

A major challenge in today’s turbulent environments is to make appropriate decisions to sustainably steer an organization. Business intelligence (BI) systems are often used as a basis for decision making. But achieving agility in BI and cope with dynamic environments is no trivial endeavor as the classical, data-warehouse (DWH)-based BI is primarily used to retrospectively reflect an organization’s performance. Using an exploratory approach, this paper investigates how current trends affect the concept of BI and thus their ability to support adequate decision making. The key focus is to understand dynamic capabilities in the field of information systems (IS) and how they are connected to BI agility. We therefore map dynamic capabilities from the IS literature to agility dimensions of BI. Additionally, we propose a structural model that focusses on DWH-based BI and analyze how current BI-related trends and environmental turbulence affect the way that BI is shaped in the future

The Role of IT and Organizational Capabilities on Digital Business Value

The opportunities and threats that digital technologies like SMACIT (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and Internet of Things) bring to organizations are increasingly being explored by the academia and industry. Organizations face the challenge not only to use new technologies but to gain competitive advantage from such embracement in order to stay relevant in the market. This study aims to provide practical insights on how Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can prepare to embrace Digital Technologies. For this, it proposes that a combination of both IT and Organizational capabilities can be the foundation for achieving Business Value with Digital Technologies or “Digital Business Value”. IT capabilities are evaluated by the IT capability maturity framework (IT-CMF) and Organizational Intelligence Quotient (Mendelson and Pillai, 1999) is used to evaluate organizational capabilities. Digital Business Value is defined as the achievement of business objectives using Digital Technologies (Riera & Iijima, 2017). The target population was one hundred Japanese SMEs which were awarded by The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry due to their effective utilization of IT supporting business performance in the list of “Competitive IT Strategy SME Selection 100” over the years 2015, 2016 and 2017. Data collection was done with questionnaires sent to all the awarded organizations and collected 34 responses. A quantitative approach was used and the data analysis was done with correlation and regression analysis. Empirical evidence demonstrated that IT and Organizational capabilities are linked to Digital Business Value. A subset of IT capabilities like Risk Management, Business Planning among others was indeed related to Digital Business Value. In addition, Internal Knowledge Dissemination and Continuous Innovation dimensions from Organizational IQ showed relationship with Digital Business Value. This study unveiled that the combination of IT and Organizational capabilities leverage the value from Digital technologies. The outcomes from this study may be of reference to SMEs that look to embrace Digital Technologies as it shows which particular capabilities may be of interest for developing. This study extends the Digital Transformation literature in particular how dynamic capabilities work together in order to enable Digital Business Value. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol11/iss2/4

What are the Key Competencies and Skills Required for Leaders in China for the Greatest ROI?

Developing a leadership pipeline was the number one strategic business challenge in the American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai 2010 survey, even ahead of increasing market share and new innovations. With local leaders replacing expats at astonishing levels, the development of Chinese managers is critical to success. For instance, an Aon Hewitt survey showed that between 2007 and 2010, the number of MNCs replacing expats with locals nearly doubled to 46%. In addition, MNCs in China experience turnover rates 25% above the global average with the average retention period of a middle manager in Shanghai amounting to less than two years. The fact that highly skilled leaders can expect up to 40% increases in salary at a new organization certainly encourages turnover. While employee development can act as a retention tool, programs should be systematically focused on key competency needs to ensure the continual development of a strong pipeline

What are the Key Practices that STEM & Manufacturing based Companies are Deploying to Drive Improvements in the Diversity of their Workforce?

Studies have shown that approximately 67% of U.S. manufacturing companies are currently facing a worker shortage. This rate is dramatically higher than that of other private firms in the U.S. (See Appendix A). Subsequently there has been a huge push to recruit and advance female employees, which have been historically underrepresented. In order to do so, it is strongly encouraged that companies follow a strategy of Attract, Develop, Engage and Retain (A.D.E.R.) and employ as many best practices as possible

Identifying smart design attributes for Industry 4.0 customization using a clustering Genetic Algorithm

Industry 4.0 aims at achieving mass customization at a mass production cost. A key component to realizing this is accurate prediction of customer needs and wants, which is however a challenging issue due to the lack of smart analytics tools. This paper investigates this issue in depth and then develops a predictive analytic framework for integrating cloud computing, big data analysis, business informatics, communication technologies, and digital industrial production systems. Computational intelligence in the form of a cluster k-means approach is used to manage relevant big data for feeding potential customer needs and wants to smart designs for targeted productivity and customized mass production. The identification of patterns from big data is achieved with cluster k-means and with the selection of optimal attributes using genetic algorithms. A car customization case study shows how it may be applied and where to assign new clusters with growing knowledge of customer needs and wants. This approach offer a number of features suitable to smart design in realizing Industry 4.0

The impact of information technology resources on SMEs' innovation performance

This work aims to develop a research framework to examine the impact of information technology resources on the innovation performance of Saudi small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs innovation capability influences growth and technological progress (Bruque & Moyano, 2007). However, many developing countries exhibit moderate or even low innovation performance. For instance, Saudi Arabia is ranked 54th by the Global Innovation Index (GII 2011). Innovation systems studies focus on the alignment between the interactions of innovation actors with their constantly changing environment toward better innovation performance (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000). The dynamic capabilities of organisations have been highlighted as a crucial characteristic that helps to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Teece et al., 1997). The indirect impact IT resources on innovation performance represents an attractive research area (Benitez-Amado et al., 2010). Therefore, we argue that a closer look at Saudi SMEs information technology resources and their impact on the firm dynamic capabilities and innovation performance would make a significant contribution to existing knowledge. Areas such as the organisation strategies of developing countries, innovation management, dynamic capabilities, open innovation and strategic information systems are few examples of areas that might benefit from this work

BUSINESS INTELLIGENT AGENTS FOR ENTERPRISE APPLICATION

Fierce competition in a market increasingly crowded and frequent changes in consumer requirements are the main forces that will cause companies to change their current organization and management. One solution is to move to open architectures and virtual type, which requires addressing business methods and technologies using distributed multi-agent systems. Intelligent agents are one of the most important areas of artificial intelligence that deals with the development of hardware and software systems able to reason, learn to recognize natural language, speak, make decisions, to recognize objects in the working environment etc. Thus in this paper, we presented some aspects of smart business, intelligent agents, intelligent systems, intelligent systems models, and I especially emphasized their role in managing business processes, which have become highly complex systems that are in a permanent change to meet the requirements of timely decision making. The purpose of this paper is to prove that there is no business without using the integration Business Process Management, Web Services and intelligent agents.business intelligence, intelligent agents, intelligent systems, management, enterprise, web services

Environmental modelling of the Chief Information Officer

Since the introduction of the term in the 1980’s, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been widely researched. Various perceptions and dimensions of the role have been explored and debated. However, the explosion in data proliferation (and the inevitable resulting information fuelled change) further complicates organisational expectations of the CIOs role. If organisations are to competitively exploit the digital trend, then those charged with recruiting and developing CIOs now need to be more effective in determining (and shaping) CIO traits and attributes, within the context of their own organisational circumstances and in line with stakeholder expectations. CIOs also need to determine their own suitability and progression within their chosen organisation if they are to remain motivated and effective. Before modelling the role of the future CIO, it is necessary to synthesise our current knowledge (and the lessons learnt) about the CIO. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and summate the spectrum of key researched ‘themes’ pertaining to the role of the CIO. Summating previous research, themes are modelled around four key CIO ‘dimensions’, namely (1) Impacting factors, (2) Controlling factors (3) Responses and (4) CIO ‘attributes’. Having modelled the CIOs current environment, and recognising the evolving IT enabled information landscape, the authors call for further research to inform the recruitment and development of the future CIO in terms of personal attributes and the measurable impact such attributes will have on their respective organisation

Transformation of entrepreneurial leadership in the 21st century: prospects for the future

The 21st century imposed many challenges on mankind, among them there is a very important problem of entrepreneurial leadership transformation. Entrepreneurship gradual modification under the pressure of factors of innovation, informatization of the environment and the need for socialization of the relations between businessmen and society has led to the need of new understanding of leadership positions. The purpose of this scientific research is to substantiate the style of entrepreneurial leadership, which will become dominant in the 21st century. Analyzing and systematizing the scientific works of many modern scholars by the methods of theoretical synthesis, analysis and synthesis, we have solved the problems of entrepreneurial leadership transformation. The use of the historical and logical method has revealed the relationship between the entrepreneurial leadership development and entrepreneurial types. The study found that the global business environment requires new leaders, whose key competences will meet the needs of society, educational space, ethical requirements, etc. Studying the similarities and differences of various leadership styles has become the basis for the allocation of a new style – the leadership of conscious influence, the main characteristics of which are given in this research. In order to achieve the goals, set by the leader-entrepreneur, it is proposed to systematize the leadership opportunities on tactical and strategic, the factors of influence on their realization in the future are generalized. By the method of scientific and theoretical prediction the portrait of an entrepreneur in a global perspective has been formed. Prospects for further research in this area are the development of a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of business leaders' actions and systematization of ways to increase their effectiveness in the future

Data and Predictive Analytics Use for Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the social process of Big Data and predictive analytics (BDPA) use for logistics and supply chain management (LSCM), focusing on interactions among technology, human behavior and organizational context that occur at the technology’s post-adoption phases in retail supply chain (RSC) organizations. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow a grounded theory approach for theory building based on interviews with senior managers of 15 organizations positioned across multiple echelons in the RSC. Findings Findings reveal how user involvement shapes BDPA to fit organizational structures and how changes made to the technology retroactively affect its design and institutional properties. Findings also reveal previously unreported aspects of BDPA use for LSCM. These include the presence of temporal and spatial discontinuities in the technology use across RSC organizations. Practical implications This study unveils that it is impossible to design a BDPA technology ready for immediate use. The emergent process framework shows that institutional and social factors require BDPA use specific to the organization, as the technology comes to reflect the properties of the organization and the wider social environment for which its designers originally intended. BDPA is, thus, not easily transferrable among collaborating RSC organizations and requires managerial attention to the institutional context within which its usage takes place. Originality/value The literature describes why organizations will use BDPA but fails to provide adequate insight into how BDPA use occurs. The authors address the “how” and bring a social perspective into a technology-centric area