The future of management: The NASA paradigm

Prototypes of 21st century management, especially for large scale enterprises, may well be found within the aerospace industry. The space era inaugurated a number of projects of such scope and magnitude that another type of management had to be created to ensure successful achievement. The challenges will be not just in terms of technology and its management, but also human and cultural in dimension. Futurists, students of management, and those concerned with technological administration would do well to review the literature of emerging space management for its wider implications. NASA offers a paradigm, or demonstrated model, of future trends in the field of management at large. More research is needed on issues of leadership for Earth based project in space and space based programs with managers there. It is needed to realize that large scale technical enterprises, such as are undertaken in space, require a new form of management. NASA and other responsible agencies are urged to study excellence in space macromanagement, including the necessary multidisciplinary skills. Two recommended targets are the application of general living systems theory and macromanagement concepts for space stations in the 1990s

Supply Chain Management Software Providers

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100203/1/MBA_Copeland_Spring 1996_Mitchel.Final.pd

Working Paper 36 - Information Technology and the Challenge of Economic Growth in Africa

The recent advances in information technology are becoming central to the process of socio-economic development. Information technology offers new ways of exchanging information, and transacting business, changes the nature of the financial and other service sectors and provides efficient means of using the human and institutional capabilities of countries in both the public and private sectors. The world is rapidly moving towards knowledge-based economic structures and information societies, which comprise networks of individuals, firms and countries that are linked electronically and in interdependent relationships. In an increasingly globalized economy, information technology is one of the key determinants of competitiveness and growth of firms and countries. Firms are becoming more competitive on the basis of their knowledge, rather than on the basis of natural endowments or low labor costs. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the role of traditional sources of comparative advantage (a large labor force and abundant natural resources) in determining international competitiveness is diminishing. The competitive and comparative advantages of countries are gradually being determined by access to information technology and knowledge. The comparative advantage that now counts is man-made, engineered by knowledge through the application of information. Since man-made comparative advantage can only be acquired by knowledge and brainpower, the newly emerging knowledge-based economic structures have far reaching implications with regard to labor markets and the roles of technical education, human capital formation and research and development in the process of economic growth. The evolution of the knowledge-based economy is expected to result in increasing the demand for skilled labor and reducing the employment prospects of unskilled labor. And within economies, enterprises would succeed only to the extent that their employees can access and use information and knowledge effectively. Information technology does not only determine the market share and profitability of individual companies in tomorrow's global economy, but it also has a huge impact on future generations of workers and on a country's economic prospects. What are the implications of information technology for the relative fortunes of nations? Countries that invest in and adopt information technology quickly will move ahead and those that fail to rapidly adopt information technology will be left behind. The views on the possible impact of the information revolution on African countries can be grouped in two opposing schools of thought. The first school predicts that as African countries incur an increasing 'technological deficit' the welfare gap between them and the industrialized world would increase. This school stresses that Africa risks further reduction in its ability to generate the resources necessary to accelerate its growth rate and reverse the trend of increasing poverty. On the other hand, the second school believe that information technology may actually help reduce the income gaps between rich and poor countries. In the words of Negroponte (1998): "the Third World five years from now may not be where you think it is. There have been many theories of leapfrog development, none of which has yet survived the test of time. That's about to change". The basic issue separating the two schools with regard to the impact of information technology on African countries is the question of whether Africa and other developing regions could, in the first place have adequate access to the global information Infrastructure, and hence to the information technology age. The prediction of the first school stems from the notion that, starting from an initial position of poverty, African countries would not be able to finance the investments in information infrastructure and computer hardware and software required to access the information technology age. This would, in turn, mean that they would risk increased marginalization in the global economy with severe competitive disadvantage for their goods and services, and hence for their development prospects. The prediction of the second school is based on the argument that the information technology, itself, would provide the means for countries to turn their disadvantages into advantages; adjust to the new ways of doing business; and, put in place the required infrastructure of telecommunications and information systems. This paper reviews Africa's development challenges in an increasingly information and knowledge-based global economy. It outlines the roles of knowledge and information technology in addressing these challenges and also discusses the strategies and policies that Africa and its development partners particularly the African Development Bank could adopt to accelerate the process of integrating the region into the emerging global information system. The paper is organized in five sections. Following this introduction, the next section examines the major developmental challenges facing Africa and what role information technology could play in overcoming them. Section III outlines the policies that would need to be adopted by African countries to improve their information accessibility and examines the initiatives taken by African countries in this domain. Section IV examines the role that could be played by the African Development Bank Group. The conclusion of the paper is provided in the last section.

Special Libraries, Summer 1992

Volume 83, Issue 3https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1992/1002/thumbnail.jp

Key concerns of executives making IS decisions

Bibliography: p. 20.Stuart E. Madnick, Y. Richard Wang

Technology Transfer and Technology Management in Strategic Systems

In a knowledge-based economy, the issues of technology transfer and management of technology, especially in sensitive strategic industries, are of major concern. The transfer of technology is a complex multidisciplinary area of technology management involving technology transfers from overseas developing agencies and internal technology transfers. Technology isa combination of four basic com~onents-facilities, abilities, facts, and frameworks. Economics of scale and complexities in technologies, especially in major weapon systems, would increasingly render the concepts of self sufficiency and evenself-reliance impossible ideals to achieve, even by the developed countries. In such a scenario, transfer of technology will continue to be used as a powerful tool of global geopolitical power projection by the developed countries as an extension of their foreign policies. For nations like India, there is no option but to invest in the indigenous RCD and SCT base in sensitivelstrategic industries. Experience in transfer of technology with those of space, defence research, atomic energy, scientific and industrial research must be pooled into knowledge bank to achieve synergy

A communications framework for extended enterprise performance measurement

Copyright © 2007 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing on 19 February 2007, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09511920500340858Inter-organizational performance measurement communication is a neglected facet of the performance measurement literature. Performance measurement (PM) is undergoing a transformation in today's business environment, consistent with the development of inter-organizational paradigms, such as the virtual enterprise, extended enterprise (EE), and supply chain management. In this paper the communications issue is discussed using an EE mindset, and the concepts behind a communications framework are presented. This utilizes the concept of an EE host – the member of the EE with responsibilities for formulating, detailing and distributing information concerning the EE performance measurement system to other EE nodes. The framework design is based upon standardized intranets located at each partner in the EE. This provides the necessary elements to enable different organizations in the EE to maintain PM databases locally, while ensuring the existence of a centrally located database maintained by the EE host. A case study is presented that focuses upon the implementation of the EE performance measurement system at the EE host

The potential impact of information technology in the construction industry

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1989.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-53).by Edward Ray Sharp.M.S

Knowledge Management and Information Technology: Enablers of E-Commerce Development

Information and Communication Technologies provide the platform for development across economic and other sectors. Knowledge and information are interconnected. The effective use of information and knowledge, however, depend on the availability of an efficient information technology. This in turn will accelerate the establishment of e-commerce in developing economies. This paper examines the relationship between knowledge, information, information technology and how they can be enablers for the development of e-commerce in Afric

Top managers & information systems: ‘Crossing the Rubicon’!

In reviewing the influence of information systems on today’s organisations, it becomes evident that top managers play a critical role in their inevitable success or failure. Yet, despite these systems strategic relevance many studies reveal a dichotomous relationship between ‘management’ and ‘information systems’, a relationship kept polarised by organisational myths resulting in the emergence of differing community perspectives. Such division is borne out in the increasingly high rates of information systems failure within practice. As strategic stewards of the organisation, top managers are noted to play a vital role in supporting information systems. Support is said to be a multifaceted concept requiring both thought and action. This paper in reviewing the information systems management literature attempts to unravel the mystery that has shrouded this topic over the past five decades. The journey seeks to provide top managers with a roadmap before Crossing the Rubicon to support the introduction of information systems