An interpretive field study of packaged software selection processes

Packaged software is pre-built with the intention of licensing it to users in domestic settings and work organisations. This thesis focuses upon the work organisation where packaged software has been characterised as one of the latest ‘solutions’ to the problems of information systems. The study investigates the packaged software selection process that has, to date, been largely viewed as objective and rational. In contrast, this interpretive study is based on a 2½ year long field study of organisational experiences with packaged software selection at T.Co, a consultancy organisation based in the United Kingdom. Emerging from the iterative process of case study and action research is an alternative theory of packaged software selection. The research argues that packaged software selection is far from the rationalistic and linear process that previous studies suggest. Instead, the study finds that aspects of the traditional process of selection incorporating the activities of gathering requirements, evaluation and selection based on ‘best fit’ may or may not take place. Furthermore, even where these aspects occur they may not have equal weight or impact upon implementation and usage as may be expected. This is due to the influence of those multiple realities which originate from the organisational and market environments within which packages are created, selected and used, the lack of homogeneity in organisational contexts and the variously interpreted characteristics of the package in question

Improving sales force performance through mobile applications

Estágio realizado na Novabase e orientado pelo Eng.º Pedro FaúlhaTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informátca e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Konzeption und Implementierung einer Sales Performance Analyse für den Vertriebs-Manager in einem virtuellen Unternehmen (IDES)

Die Praxis zeigt, dass die meisten Leistungsmessungssysteme für den Vertriebsbereich konzeptuell bereits an ihre Grenzen gestoßen sind und den heutigen Geschäftsgegebenheiten kaum noch entsprechen können. Mehr noch, durch ihre „übertriebene“ Fokussierung auf die finanz-orientierten Indikatoren wirken sie sogar hinderlich im Konkurrenzkampf um den „besten Kunden“. Im Rahmen des Projektes, in welchem diese Arbeit entstanden ist, wurde für den Vertriebsmanager die Sales Performance Analyse als ein leistungsfähiges Controllinginstrument konzipiert und implementiert. Sie basiert auf dem bekannten Ansatz der Balanced Scorecard von Kaplan/Norton und bietet eine über alle Bereiche hinweg ausgewogene und strategieorientierte Betrachtung relevanter Vertriebsabläufe. Sie ermöglicht somit das Controlling, d.h. das Messen und Steuern, der relevanten Erfolgsfaktoren auf Basis der vier Perspektiven: Finanzen, Interne Prozesse, Kunden und Lernen&Wachstum. Um den vordefinierten inhaltlichen und funktionalen Ansprüchen gerecht zu werden, ist die Sales Performance Analyse in einer Systemlandschaft von SAP-eigenen Lösungen implementiert worden: Enterprise Portal, BW (Business Warehouse), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management) und HR (Human Ressources). In diesem Projekt wurde ein funktionsfähiger Prototyp erstellt, der aktuell zu Präsentationszwecken bei den internationalen Branchenveranstaltungen und im laufenden SAP-Lösungs-Vertrieb verwendet wird

New high volume production, production linkages and regional development: the case of the microcomputer hardware industry in Ireland and Scotland

The dissertation explores the regional development effects, via production linkages, of subsidiaries of multinational enterprises that have adopted New High Volume Production (NHVP) approaches, in non-core regions NHVP approaches are positioned amid other post-Fordist forms of industrial organisation. There are literatures that suggest that the adoption of NHVP approaches will have positive implications for regional development of non-core regions because of greater indirect, backward linkage, effects. Theoretically, local linkage formation or buyersuppher proximity in NHVP industries might be the outcome of three drivers. It can be driven by a search for efficiency in product flow/logistics, efficiency in formal information exchange in the context of inter-firm functional integration and by sociocultural and institutional factors enhancing information flow in a local milieu. This dissertation investigates the role of the first two drivers in shaping the geographical configuration of backward linkages in NHVP industries. This is done in a case study of the microcomputer hardware industry in Ireland and Scotland. The findings of the case study do not support the positive suggestions of greater backward linkage effects. A detailed examination of the supply chains of the subsidiaries of foreign microcomputer assemblers shows that the vast majority of components and parts were imported from the Far East and, to a lesser extent, the USA. It is shown that efficiency in technical information exchange was a relatively insignificant driver for buyer-supplier proximity, and how this fact was related to the particular way NHVP manifested itself m the microcomputer hardware industry. Similarly, in relation to most material inputs, logistical efficiency did not lead to buyer-suppher proximity. It is shown that the supply chains generally involved inbound inventories, stored in local warehouses - ‘hubs’ - from where the manufacturing lines were supplied on a very frequent basis. This logistical solution should, however, not be interpreted as sub-optimal. A detailed examination of the key logistics data shows that the inbound logistics pipelines were tightly managed and that inventory levels and shipment frequencies were consistent with modem comprehensive logistics management principles. The dissertation also explores the actual impact that the NHVP plants had on the quality and competitiveness of their local suppliers in non-core regions. The findings show that, although the subsidiaries of the foreign microcomputer assemblers created few local linkages, they had a significant positive impact on the quality and competitiveness of nearly all local suppliers they were dealing with