Strategic Decision-Making In the Emerging Field Of E-commerce

Electronic commerce is changing the traditional way of doing business and furthermore the growth of the Internet is creating new opportunities for business.  This paper discusses how the nature of electronic commerce affects strategic decision-making. First, some features of electronic commerce are identified that distinguish it from traditional business - new markets and knowledge-based competition.  This is followed by a review of literature on the theoretical background of e-commerce an academic consideration on what are e-commerce strategies.  This paper then introduces some of the most common strategic tools used in decision –making, concepts for creating competitive advantage and value chains. Porter’s Value Chain Theory, Five Forces Model is examined in the emerging world of e-commerce, as well as generic competitive strategies

Business Intelligence technology: The Croatian case

Each company aims to improve its business performance. Business Intelligence (BI) helps enterprises to optimize their decision-making capabilities and to attain unprecedented levels of competitive advantage. Its usage leads to conditions, procedures and mechanisms for creating quality information and business knowledge. By these the organization can successfully respond to numerous pressures in dynamical and complex environment. The main objective of the paper is to present what the business intelligence is, and show the results of the research about the level and use of business intelligence in Croatian large organizations

Knowledge Management: A Cognitive Perspective on Business and Education

The concept of knowledge management concerns the creation of structures which combine the most advanced elements of technological resources and the indispensable input of human response and decision-making. This paper reviews key principles for creating and maintaining the knowledge base, and resources for teaching and learning. The discussion covers the clarification and definition of several terms, including information, knowledge, data and filtering. Various elements of knowledge management in the business environment are addressed by discussing the sources that present them, and, where relevant, are applied to the education context

Developing Wise Leaders

This proposition paper argues for a critical review of business education with particular emphasis on the purpose of what we do. The author believes that the emphasis should be shifted from offering explicit knowledge to assisting the development of a less tangible inner knowing of individuals. Creating space and time for character formation and discussing ethical dilemmas is a powerful way to equip course participants for the challenges of the workplace where high level of ethical awareness and strong virtues are necessary for wise decision making

Harnessing social innovation for energy justice: a business model perspective

This paper uses a business model framework to discuss how principles of energy justice - in particular, equitable distribution of costs and benefits, affordability, due process and greater participation in decision-making - can be embedded in business model innovations for energy, through social innovation. The paper discusses four cases at different scales (local, subnational, regional and global) to highlight opportunities for introducing principles of energy justice into the core of business models of companies. By doing so, the paper offers a critical perspective on the potential of business model innovation to be guided through a more broadly defined understanding of value enhanced by concepts of energy justice. The discussion of the four case studies— the Carbon Cooperative, Robin Hood Energy, RenEsco, and the Yansa Community Interest Company—highlights the importance of creating supportive wider environments for social and business model innovations, such as the development of skills, knowledge and social capital, through interventions coming from multiple levels and focused on different aspects of energy generation, supply and use (i.e. finance and technical implementation). Going against the grain of current policy, the study implies a shift away from upscaling innovations by taking them to the national scale, and towards creating supportive conditions for more local deals in different geographic locations

Organizational Readiness for Business Intelligence and Analytics Systems Success

BI&A systems have the potential to improve business performance by facilitating innovations, creating new products and service, and enhancing decision making effectiveness. However, it requires certain technological and organizational capabilities to fully realize the values of BI&A systems. This study investigates how an organization needs to prepare itself to harvest from its investments in BI&A systems. We build a model using the contingency approach to test factors that affect the success of BI&A systems. The insights from this study can inform managers of business organizations about their organizational readiness for the success of their BI&A systems and identify best practices to implement BI&A systems in business organizations. It will also help advance our knowledge in how to accurately assess the success of BI&A systems

Ethically Aligned Design: An empirical evaluation of the RESOLVEDD-strategy in Software and Systems development context

Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in human contexts calls for ethical considerations for the design and development of AI-based systems. However, little knowledge currently exists on how to provide useful and tangible tools that could help software developers and designers implement ethical considerations into practice. In this paper, we empirically evaluate a method that enables ethically aligned design in a decision-making process. Though this method, titled the RESOLVEDD-strategy, originates from the field of business ethics, it is being applied in other fields as well. We tested the RESOLVEDD-strategy in a multiple case study of five student projects where the use of ethical tools was given as one of the design requirements. A key finding from the study indicates that simply the presence of an ethical tool has an effect on ethical consideration, creating more responsibility even in instances where the use of the tool is not intrinsically motivated.Comment: This is the author's version of the work. The copyright holder's version can be found at https://doi.org/10.1109/SEAA.2019.0001

Critical business intelligence practices to create meta-knowledge

In order to successfully implement strategies and respond to business variations in real-time, business intelligence (BI) systems have been deployed by organisations that assist in focused analytical assessments for execution of critical decisions. Although businesses have realised the significance of BI, few studies have explored their analytical decision-enabling capabilities linked to organisational practices. This study investigates the BI practices critical in creating meta-knowledge successfully for strategy-focused analytical decision-making. First, key BI suppliers are interviewed to develop an understanding of their BI capabilities and current deployment practices. Subsequently, two large BI implementation case studies are conducted to examine their practices in data transformation process. Findings reveal that BI practices are highly context-specific in mapping decisions with data assets. Complimentary static and dynamic evaluations provide holistic intelligence in predicting and prescribing a more complete picture of the enterprise. These practices vary across firms in their effectiveness reflecting numerous challenges and improvement opportunities.Publishe

BUSINESS MAJOR STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS BASIC ACCOUNTING COURSES IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF OMAN

Purpose: The objective of the study is to find out the areas in which the business students lack and to analyze the reasons for such lack of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach: For carrying out the research study, 160 students from various Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Oman studying accounting subjects were selected and a test was conducted with five identified areas of accounting – accounting concepts, application knowledge, accounting formulae, accounting methods, and decision making. After completion of the test, the results were shown, and the correct answer keys were explained. Subsequently, a questionnaire mentioning all the five areas and the difficulties faced therein were requested to be filled in by the respondents. Findings: The results of the empirical study reveal that the students assume that they are good at accounting but they lack knowledge of application, formulae usage, and decision making.  Practical Implications: It is confirmed that the concepts, methodologies, and techniques are not difficult but proper guidance and proper education methods through real-world examples might help towards creating interest among the students to improve their way of learning. Social Implications: The study has identified the areas where the students lack and helps the teachers to improve their methods of teaching and the students to improve their way of learning. Originality/value: No study has investigated before the accounting learning difficulties of business major students, and this study will help accounting educators to introduce and modify their teaching strategies

Developing Intellectual Asset by Knowledge Sharing

The study seeks to determine the motivational factors that influence knowledge sharing, identify the obstacles to knowledge sharing, determine the nature of relationship between structural capital and human capital, and ascertain the extent of sharing knowledge in public sector organizations. The study was carried out primarily through the survey method and interview of employees in three public sector organizations in Nigeria. Secondary data were obtained through books, journals, and internet. Findings indicate that reciprocal benefits, recognition, information and communication technology and joy in helping others are the motivational factors that influence knowledge sharing: fear of criticism, lack of incentives, organisation culture, inappropriate decision making and operational structure are the obstacles for knowledge sharing; there is a  significant  relationship between structural capital and human capital; the extent of sharing knowledge in public sector organisations is high. Knowledge sharing as a concept is essential and provides several business opportunities. It is necessary for creating a new knowledge in order to achieve competitive advantage. It is an engine that transforms knowledge into business value. However, implementation of knowledge sharing is not easy. Organisations have to condone various issues and challenges, such as organization culture, strategy, information technology, knowledge organization, etc. Despite these challenges, organizations have shown interest in knowledge sharing. Keywords: Intellectual Asset, Structural Capital, Tacit Knowledge, Explicit Knowledge and knowledge Sharin