Information Technology in The Learning Economy -Challenges for Developing Countries

This paper inquires how the concept of the "learning economy" can be applied to the requirements of developing countries. The main purpose is to develop an analytical framework to better understand how learning and capability formation can foster industrial upgrading. Special emphasis is given to te spread of information technology (IT). We inquire under what conditions developing countries can use this set of generic technologies to improve their learning capabilities. We argue that information technology should not be regarded as a potential substitute for human skills and tacit knowledge. Instead, its main role should be to support the formation and use of tacit knowledge. In the paper we compare two stylised models of the learning economy, the Japanese versus the American model. The Japanese model is explicit in its promotion and exploitation of tacit knowledge, while the American model is driven by a permanent urge to reduce the importance of tacit knowledge and to transform it into information - that is into explicit, 4 well structured and codified knowledge. We show that each of these models has peculiar strengths and weaknesses. Developing countries need to develop their own hybrid forms of institutions that combine the advantages of both models in a way that is appropriate to their idiosyncratic needs and capabilities.information technology; learning; learning economy; knowledge; capabilities; networks; developing countries; economic development; industrial upgrading

Factors facilitating upgrading process of knowledge-intensive business services' clusters in global value chains

The aim of this article is to describe the factors that facilitate upgrading process of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) clusters in global value chains. The observed phenomenon which can be described as an increase in value added produced by KIBS leads to a similar increase at the clusters’ level, and consequently to an increase in the position of these clusters in global value chains. This topic constitutes a new research area. The available definitions of clusters were reviewed. The nature and specificity of knowledge-intensive business services’ clusters were presented. The concepts of upgrading and global value chains were defined and the idea of upgrading of KIBS’ clusters in global value chains were presented. As a result of the literature analysis, endogenous and exogenous factors influencing the upgrading of clusters in global value chains were presented. The article is conceptual and based on scientific literature, the review of which was a research method used

Invest to Save: Report and Recommendations of the NSF-DELOS Working Group on Digital Archiving and Preservation

Digital archiving and preservation are important areas for research and development, but there is no agreed upon set of priorities or coherent plan for research in this area. Research projects in this area tend to be small and driven by particular institutional problems or concerns. As a consequence, proposed solutions from experimental projects and prototypes tend not to scale to millions of digital objects, nor do the results from disparate projects readily build on each other. It is also unclear whether it is worthwhile to seek general solutions or whether different strategies are needed for different types of digital objects and collections. The lack of coordination in both research and development means that there are some areas where researchers are reinventing the wheel while other areas are neglected. Digital archiving and preservation is an area that will benefit from an exercise in analysis, priority setting, and planning for future research. The WG aims to survey current research activities, identify gaps, and develop a white paper proposing future research directions in the area of digital preservation. Some of the potential areas for research include repository architectures and inter-operability among digital archives; automated tools for capture, ingest, and normalization of digital objects; and harmonization of preservation formats and metadata. There can also be opportunities for development of commercial products in the areas of mass storage systems, repositories and repository management systems, and data management software and tools.

Virtual HR Departments: Getting Out of the Middle

In this chapter, we explore the notion of virtual HR departments: a network-based organization built on partnerships and mediated by information technologies in order to be simultaneously strategic, flexible, cost-efficient, and service-oriented. We draw on experiences and initiatives at Merck Pharmaceuticals in order to show how information technology in establishing an infrastructure for virtual HR. Then, we present a model for mapping the architecture of HR activities that includes both internal and external sourcing options. We conclude by offering some recommendations for management practice as well as future research

A unified view of data-intensive flows in business intelligence systems : a survey

Data-intensive flows are central processes in today’s business intelligence (BI) systems, deploying different technologies to deliver data, from a multitude of data sources, in user-preferred and analysis-ready formats. To meet complex requirements of next generation BI systems, we often need an effective combination of the traditionally batched extract-transform-load (ETL) processes that populate a data warehouse (DW) from integrated data sources, and more real-time and operational data flows that integrate source data at runtime. Both academia and industry thus must have a clear understanding of the foundations of data-intensive flows and the challenges of moving towards next generation BI environments. In this paper we present a survey of today’s research on data-intensive flows and the related fundamental fields of database theory. The study is based on a proposed set of dimensions describing the important challenges of data-intensive flows in the next generation BI setting. As a result of this survey, we envision an architecture of a system for managing the lifecycle of data-intensive flows. The results further provide a comprehensive understanding of data-intensive flows, recognizing challenges that still are to be addressed, and how the current solutions can be applied for addressing these challenges.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A Design Process for Process-based Knowledge Management Systems

In order to gain sustainable competitive advantage in today’s knowledge economy, organizations are looking beyond routine transactional workflow processes to support knowledge-intensive processes. Traditional business process management systems are effective in providing coordination support, but are not geared towards providing relevant knowledge support as well. Also, knowledge management systems are used in an ad hoc manner without explicitly linking them to the underlying organizational processes. Process-based knowledge management (PKM) systems have emerged as a potential solution to support knowledge-intensive processes. However, design guidelines for developing PKM systems are minimal. This paper highlights this research problem, identifies kernel theories governing the design and development of PKM systems, and synthesizes various kernel theories to propose a comprehensive design theory for PKM systems. Feasibility and a comparative evaluation of the proposed design theory are also discussed

Practitioner requirements for integrated Knowledge-Based Engineering in Product Lifecycle Management.

The effective management of knowledge as capital is considered essential to the success of engineering product/service systems. As Knowledge Management (KM) and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) practice gain industrial adoption, the question of functional overlaps between both the approaches becomes evident. This article explores the interoperability between PLM and Knowledge-Based Engineering (KBE) as a strategy for engineering KM. The opinion of key KBE/PLM practitioners are systematically captured and analysed. A set of ranked business functionalities to be fulfiled by the KBE/PLM systems integration is elicited. The article provides insights for the researchers and the practitioners playing both the user and development roles on the future needs for knowledge systems based on PLM

Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Workshop on Automating Software Design. Theme: Domain Specific Software Design

The goal of this workshop is to identify different architectural approaches to building domain-specific software design systems and to explore issues unique to domain-specific (vs. general-purpose) software design. Some general issues that cut across the particular software design domain include: (1) knowledge representation, acquisition, and maintenance; (2) specialized software design techniques; and (3) user interaction and user interface