Business Value of the Internet of Things – A Project Portfolio Selection Approach

The Internet of Things (IoT) counts among the most disruptive digital technologies on the market. De-spite the IoT’s emerging nature, there is an increasing body of knowledge related to technological and business topics. Nevertheless, there is a lack of prescriptive knowledge that provides organizations with guidance on the economic valuation of investments in the IoT perspective. Such knowledge, however, is crucial for pursuing the organizational goal of long-term value maximization. Against this backdrop, we develop an economic decision model that helps organizations determine an optimal IoT project port-folio from a manufacturer’s perspective and complies with the principles of project portfolio selection and value-based management. For our purposes, IoT project portfolios are compilations of projects that aim to implement IoT technology in an organization’s production process, products, or infrastructure. Our decision model schedules IoT projects for multiple planning periods and considers monetary as well as monetized project effects. On this foundation, it determines the project sequence with the highest value contribution. To evaluate our decision model, we discussed its real-world fidelity and under-standability with an industry expert renowned for its proficiency in IoT technology, implemented a soft-ware prototype, and demonstrated its applicability based on real-world data. Keywords: Internet of Things, economic valuation of IoT, value-based management, project portfolio management

An evaluation of the total quality management implementation strategy for the advanced solid rocket motor project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

An evaluation of the NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) strategy to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) Project is presented. The evaluation of the implementation strategy reflected the Civil Service personnel perspective at the project level. The external and internal environments at MSFC were analyzed for their effects on the ASRM TQM strategy. Organizational forms, cultures, management systems, problem solving techniques, and training were assessed for their influence on the implementation strategy. The influence of ASRM's effort was assessed relative to its impact on mature projects as well as future projects at MSFC

The Craft of Incentive Prize Design: Lessons from the Public Sector

In the last five years, incentive prizes have transformed from an exotic open innovation tool to a proven innovation strategy for the public, private and philanthropic sectors. This report offers practical lessons for public sector leaders and their counterparts in the philanthropic and private sectors to help understand what types of outcomes incentive prizes help to achieve, what design elements prize designers use to create these challenges and how to make smart design choices to achieve a particular outcome. It synthesizes insights from expert interviews and analysis of more than 400 prize

Strategic I/O Psychology and the Role of Utility Analysis Models

In the 1990’s, the significance of human capital in organizations has been increasing,and measurement issues in human resource management have achieved significant prominence. Yet, I/O psychology research on utility analysis and measurement has actually declined. In this chapter we propose a decision-based framework to review developments in utility analysis research since 1991, and show that through lens of this framework there are many fertile avenues for research. We then show that both I/O psychology and strategic HRM research and practice can be enhanced by greater collaboration and integration, particularly regarding the link between human capital and organizational success. We present an integrative framework as the basis for that integration, and illustrate its implications for future research

Report from GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394: Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World

This report documents the program and the outcomes of GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 16394 "Software Performance Engineering in the DevOps World". The seminar addressed the problem of performance-aware DevOps. Both, DevOps and performance engineering have been growing trends over the past one to two years, in no small part due to the rise in importance of identifying performance anomalies in the operations (Ops) of cloud and big data systems and feeding these back to the development (Dev). However, so far, the research community has treated software engineering, performance engineering, and cloud computing mostly as individual research areas. We aimed to identify cross-community collaboration, and to set the path for long-lasting collaborations towards performance-aware DevOps. The main goal of the seminar was to bring together young researchers (PhD students in a later stage of their PhD, as well as PostDocs or Junior Professors) in the areas of (i) software engineering, (ii) performance engineering, and (iii) cloud computing and big data to present their current research projects, to exchange experience and expertise, to discuss research challenges, and to develop ideas for future collaborations

Strategy-focused architecture investment decisions

The thesis considers how a systematic approach for evaluating architecture investments can lead to decisions that are driven by business preferences rather than by personal incentives. A decision to invest in software-architecture requires systematic evaluation of the trade-off between strategic long-term benefits of architecture on the business and short term investment. It typically is a decision that is difficult to explain and quantify. In this sense, it is not surprising that such a decision is often driven by personal incentives or strong leadership of deciders, architects and managers, leading to suboptimal decision-making process in the organization. This PhD thesis proposes a way in which to support the decision to invest in architecture by linking the architecture improvements to the business strategy and taking into consideration the human aspects. We follow the iterative study design process including several real-life case studies, multiple interviews, and an experiment. In the first case study, we investigate how practitioners make a decision on architecture investment with a focus on how the decision process can be improved in industrial practice. To support the decision process in an objective way, we propose to use arguments based on real options theory. The evaluation by practitioners disclosed that including such economics of architecture is necessary but not sufficient for decision making. To better understand the information needs for decision making we conducted field interviews on the kinds of information that architects and managers need. In a subsequent experiment we tested whether which kind of information is actually used in decision making. As expected, the professionals tend to use just a few information types for decision making. However, our results suggest that additional quantified information was used by participants with longer development experience and under time pressure. Based upon the experimental findings we propose a concept to quantify the customer value of architecture. Despite the positive evaluation, the practitioners asked for further improvements to translate the architecture changes directly to the economic value. Ultimately, based on the findings from the preceding studies we propose a comprehensive approach to support objective architecture decision making; we label it Strategy-focused Architecture (StArch). Adopting strategic management tools, strategy map and balanced scorecards, we provide step-by-step guidance to assess the economic benefits of architecture improvements aligned with the strategic business objectives

Дослідження системи операційного менеджменту організації, на прикладі Apple Computer, Inc

The object of investigation is the process of managing of operating activities of Apple, Inc. The aim of the work is to formulate theoretical approaches and to develop practical recommendations on directions of improvement of operating management at the organization. Research methods cover methods of analysis, synthesis, comparison, detailing, system approach. This master’s research paper analyzes the operational management of Apple, Inc. and provides recommendations for it’s improvement. In particular, the main directions of solving the problems of operational management of the company have been outlined, the proposals on improvement of expansion distribution network and organization of innovative activity of the Apple Inc. have been made.Об'єкт дослідження ‒ процес управління операційною діяльністю компанії Apple, Inc. Мета дослідження - формування теоретичних підходів та розробка практичних рекомендацій щодо напрямів вдосконалення системи операційного менеджменту компанії Apple, Inc. Методи дослідження: методи аналізу, синтезу, порівняння, деталізації, системний підхід. У роботі проведено аналіз операційного менеджменту Apple, Inc., а також викладені рекомендації щодо його вдосконалення. Зокрема, окреслено основні напрями вирішення проблем операційного менеджменту компанії, внесено пропозиції щодо розширення дистриб’юторської мережі, а також вдосконалення організації інноваційної діяльності Apple Inc.Introduction 6 CHAPTER 1 THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT 8 1.1 Meanings and definition of operational management 8 1.2 Principles and methods of operations management 12 1.3 Factors affecting the Operations activity of Apple Inc. company 21 CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS 31 2.1 Сompany introduction 31 2.2 SWOT - analysis of Apple Inc. Company 46 2.3 Analysis of operation management at Apple Inc 50 CHAPTER 3 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING OF OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT AT THE APPLE INC 63 3.1 The main directions of solving operational management problems of the company 63 3.2 Recommendations concerning improvements of Distribution in the organization 65 3.3 Recommendations concerning improvements of innovative activity at the organization 67 CHAPTER 4 SPECIAL PART 73 4.1 Current trends in the field 73 4.2 Company policy in the market 75 CHAPTER 5 RATIONALE FOR RECOMMENDATIONS 77 5.1 Statement for recommendations at Company 77 CHAPTER 6 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY AT THE ENTERPRISE 79 6.1 The aim of occupational health 79 6.2 Organization of occupational health and safety at the enterprise 86 CHAPTER 7 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 92 7.1 Environmental issues in the field 92 7.2 Еnvironmental factors 94 Conclusions 96 References 98 Appendices 10

Implementation of a Successful Project Management Method to Serve Modern Organizations

The project management arena requires much knowledge, many skills, techniques, tools, and a high level of experience in order to achieve satisfactory results and to add value to organizations. The scope of this paper is to address and discuss many important aspects needed to succeed in project management within Iraqi organizations because Iraqi businesses are developing and expanding their products into global markets. However, most Iraqi organizations struggle to implement and select productive programs and projects that will fit in with their strategic objectives. Therefore, a primary aim of this paper is to discuss the factors that make project management more effective and successful in these organizations. Also, there are many challenges and risks that project management can face during project processes that can have an effect on an entire project and sometime cause project failure. In addition, many organizations have problems with project teams, such as, differences in culture and behavior within the same team. Therefore, project management should have the organizational skills, knowledge, experience, and technical skills in order to meet the project requirements. This paper contributes and clarifies the understanding of project management field and how it works in an efficient manner. The results will help Iraqi organizations to utilize project management skills and knowledge. Also, these skills will help them to reduce budgets and increase the value of the final products within a reasonable time

Applications of the analytic hierarchy process in management

Over the last three decades, managers, researchers, practitioners, management consultants and many other people have used the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to make decisions or to prioritize a set of factors in many areas of management. Perhaps, the most appealing reason for the method’s widespread use is its simplicity in application. Further, AHP can deal with subjective factors in decision making in a logical way. Number of real world applications of AHP is simply numerous. In this talk, only the following selected applications of AHP will be presented: Human Resource Management: - Developing A Human Resource Management Effectiveness Model - Selecting Managers for State-Owned Companies - Selection of Research Officers in the Saudi-Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Total Quality Management: - Whether or Not to Implement ISO 9000 Quality Management System - Improving Service Quality at Restaurants - Selecting a Manufacturing Process for Benchmarking Environmental Management - Identifying Public Preferences for Land Preservation - Prioritizing Attributes in Urban Open Space Design - Prioritizing Factors in SWOT Analysis for a Finish Forestry Firm Information Systems Management - Ranking Critical Success Factors for Executive Information Systems - How to Choose a Word Processing Softwar