1,039 research outputs found
Absorptive, adopted and agile: A study of the digital transformation of Africa carriers
My thesis explores the cultural, social and management context of digital transformation for African carriers, and discusses the elements of social-cultural barriers, obstacles of digital adoption, innovation, organisation change, ecosystem and their influences. Existing studies are mainly based on the presumed conditions in developed markets, including the free market, rule by law, human capital without considering the social and historical obstacles, absorptive capacities of organisations and the influences of foreign ICT enablers.
Using a qualitative research paradigm privileges the insiders’ perspective. I have examined the different backgrounds of digital transformation in Africa. Path dependence is a significant negative consequence of post-colonial social net and western knowledge dominant environment. Vested interest plus corruption slowed down the process of digital adoption while arbitrary administration causes unnecessary concerns for participants.
Traditionalism of Africa is a trade-off between customs of tribes and influence of colonial power. The priority for carriers is reshaping the organisation to take advantage of existing strategic assets, while the improvement of value creation efficiency is carried out by activating the ability of individuals. The new value net breaks the previous development model of low interdependence, maximising the use of external resources based on complementary advantages and sharing.
The value net inherits the advantages of flexibility, innovation, quick response, and risk reduction advantages of organisations. Meanwhile, it has 4 following unique characteristics in Africa: Extremely Various Needs of Customers, Cross-industry, Locally Adopted Business Model and High Sensitivity in Costs. Four aspects are examined in value proposition, core competence, incubation and co-value creation to enable value net synergies.
My research contributes to the theory of the digital transformation in undeveloped countries, in particular how social relationships and cultural norms are inextricably linked with insiders’ understandings of digital transformation. It also contributes to emerging debate about digital maturity research paradigms and methodologies
Collaboration : a key competence for competing in the 21st century
It is now an accepted fact that in the 21st century competition will be between networks of organisations and individuals, which efficiently and effectively integrate their competencies and resources in order to compete in a global economy (Bititci et al, 2004). Similarly the SME'2000 conference, which was held in Bologna, concluded that 'SMEs belonging to networks are often more competitive and innovative than those operating in isolation. When working together, SMEs can increase their focus through specialisation in functions that are complementary within their networks'
Algorithms for advance bandwidth reservation in media production networks
Media production generally requires many geographically distributed actors (e.g., production houses, broadcasters, advertisers) to exchange huge amounts of raw video and audio data. Traditional distribution techniques, such as dedicated point-to-point optical links, are highly inefficient in terms of installation time and cost. To improve efficiency, shared media production networks that connect all involved actors over a large geographical area, are currently being deployed. The traffic in such networks is often predictable, as the timing and bandwidth requirements of data transfers are generally known hours or even days in advance. As such, the use of advance bandwidth reservation (AR) can greatly increase resource utilization and cost efficiency. In this paper, we propose an Integer Linear Programming formulation of the bandwidth scheduling problem, which takes into account the specific characteristics of media production networks, is presented. Two novel optimization algorithms based on this model are thoroughly evaluated and compared by means of in-depth simulation results
Enterprise agility: A Balancing Act - a local government case study
Austerity and financial constraints have been threatening the public sector in the UK for a number of years. Foreseeing the threat of continued budget cuts, and addressing the situation many local councils face, requires internal transformations for financial stability without losing the key focus on public service. Agile transformations have been undertaken by organisations wanting to learn from the software development community and bringing agile principles into the wider organisation. This paper describes and analyses an ongoing behaviour-led transformation in a district council in the UK. It presents the results of the analysis of 19 interviews with internal stakeholders at the council, of observations of meetings among senior and middle management in a five-month period. The paper explores the successes and the challenges encountered towards the end of the transformation process and reflects on balancing acts to address the challenges, be-tween: disruption and business as usual, empowerment and goal setting, autonomy and processes and procedures, and behaviours and skills. Based on our findings, we suggest that behaviours on their own cannot guarantee a sustained agile culture, and that this is equally important for enterprise agility and for large-scale agile software development transformations
Investigating the Feasibility of Open Development of Operations Support Solutions
The telecommunications Operations Support Systems supply chain must address many stakeholders: R&D, Product and Requirements Management, Purchasing, Systems Integration, Systems Administration and Users. While the management of next generation networks and services poses significant technical challenges, the present supply chain, market configuration, and business practices of the OSS community are an obstacle to rapid innovation. Forums for open development could potentially provide a medium to shorten this supply chain for the deployment of workable systems. This paper discusses the potential benefits and barriers to the open development of OSS for the telecommunications industry. It proposes the use of action research to execute a feasibility study into the open development of OSS software solutions within an industry wide Open OSS project
Ericsson : TV is a new game : diversification strategy for TV & Media business
The thesis hereby presented in the form of a case study aims to address the challenges faced by the multinational Ericsson throughout the process of developing a diversification strategy for the TV & Media business and the strategic options made associated to this diversification maneuver. The case study functions as an educational tool since it allows students to apply the strategic frameworks and theoretical concepts learned in class to a real business situation.
Ericsson is a Swedish multinational company operating in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, being a provider of communications technology and services and operating and investing in several business areas, among them the TV & Media business.
The corporate business strategies followed by Ericsson, as well as the strategic options taken regarding the TV & Media business, and the analysis to the diversification strategy, as well as to the strategic options taken, constitute interesting topics for discussion in strategy courses, supported by the theoretical concepts and strategy frameworks proposed in the literature review.
The proposed reflection focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the strategic decision to diversify into the TV & Media business and the strategic options taken, particularly, the development of the business area through an acquisitions strategy
Leveraging fitness and lean bundles to build the cumulative performance sand cone model
Based on a sample of 317 manufacturing companies, this study adopts a structural equation modeling approach to test the relationships between bundles of lean practices and performance. The results of our analyses suggest that there is a sequence of lean practice implementation that permits to improve all the dimensions of operational performance. This study contributes to the academic literature and to practitioners by supporting the idea that a company - to achieve manufacturing excellence - should implement a "sand-cone" of lean practices to obtain a "sand-cone" of cumulative performance
Scalable agile frameworks in large enterprise project portfolio management
Con un alcance de estudio exploratorio, debido a que se ha investigado poco y se encuentra en
un estado emergente, el propósito de la investigación fue explorar la implementación de los
marcos ágiles escalables en la gestión del portafolio de proyectos (PPM) de grandes empresas.
Además, este estudio de caso cualitativo planteó la siguiente pregunta principal de
investigación: ¿De qué manera los marcos ágiles escalables se implementan en la PPM de
grandes empresas, y por qué? Este estudio recopiló información de 59 portafolios de
proyectos en 22 empresas con implementaciones de métodos ágiles y marcos ágiles escalables
de las industrias tecnologías de la información (IT- por sus siglas en inglés), financiera y
telecomunicaciones, de México, Colombia, Perú, Ecuador, Costa Rica y Chile, mediante 43
entrevistas en profundidad semiestructuradas. Los hallazgos revelan que existen portafolios de
proyectos con alta variabilidad en servicio, producto e innovación, y con implementaciones
híbridas de Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Spotify Model y Scrum. Además, enfrentan
diferentes desafíos relacionados con la implementación de los marcos ágiles escalables en la
PPM, la cultura organizacional, resistencia al cambio y liderazgo estratégico. Del mismo
modo, los hallazgos demuestran que los marcos ágiles son una opción viable para optimizar el
time-to-market, aumentar la productividad de los equipos y mejorar la comunicación a nivel
general. Este estudio es uno de los primeros en explorar cómo implementan las grandes
empresas los marcos ágiles escalables en la PPM para llenar el vacío en la literatura
relacionado con cómo y cuándo las empresas deben abordar un proceso de transformación
ágil que funcione de manera exitosa en su PPM. Por lo tanto, este estudio proporciona
evidencia empírica de seis países latinoamericanos como base potencial para futuras
investigaciones y publicaciones.With an exploratory study scope, due to little research and in an emerging state, the
purpose of the research was to explore the implementation of scalable agile frameworks in
project portfolio management (PPM) of large enterprises. This qualitative case study posed as
its primary research question: How and why are scalable agile frameworks implemented in
the PPM of large companies? Further, this study used the purposive sampling method and the
snowball technique. Data were collected from 59 project portfolios in 22 companies with
agile and scalable agile framework implementations in the information technology (IT),
financial and telecommunications industries in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica
and Chile, through 43 semi-structured in-depth interviews. The findings reveal that there are
project portfolios with high variability in service, product and innovation, and with hybrid
implementations of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Spotify Model and Scrum. In addition,
they face different challenges related to the implementation of scalable agile frameworks in
PPM, organizational culture, resistance to change, and strategic leadership. Similarly, the
findings demonstrate that agile frameworks are a viable option to optimize time-to-market,
increase team productivity and improve communication across the board. This study
represents one of the first to explore how large companies implement scalable agile
frameworks in PPM to fill the gap in the literature related to how and when companies should
approach an agile transformation process working successfully in their PPM. Accordingly,
this study provides empirical evidence from six Latin American countries as a potential basis
for future research and publications
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