4,053 research outputs found

    New Entrants versus Incumbents in the Emerging On-Line Financial Services Complex

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    The emergence of electronic commerce complexes raises important questions regarding competence building and leveraging, both for practitioners and strategy scholars. Competences of brick-and-mortar incumbents (large and mature players) are being challenged by new entrants' click-and-mortar or click-and-click business models. The implications of this challenge for the financial services industry - as for many other industries - are only starting to become clear. In this paper we contribute to these initial understandings by developing a conceptual framework that considers which strategies incumbents and new entrants might adopt to improve their competitiveness. We identify four relevant organizational types in the emerging on-line financial services complex. For each of these types we outline how ties to sponsoring organizations can be used as a buffer against environmental turbulence and as a bridge towards changing stakeholder perspectives.legitimacy;e-commerce;co-evolution;competence building and leveraging;on-line financial services complex

    Outsourcing the logistics function: the supply chain role of third-party logistics service providers in UK convenience retailing

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    Logistics, defined as the process of strategically managing the procurement, movement and storage of materials; parts; finished inventory and related information flow through the organisation and its marketing channels, is increasingly being recognised as a vital part of an organisation’s marketing strategy. In many organisations, the logistics function is currently facing significant challenges. Pressures from increasing competition and high customer service-level expectations have created a need for more professional and better-equipped logistics services. Confronted with such competitive pressures, these organisations are faced with decisions of the make OR buy kind with regard to the logistics processes of supply and distribution. In addition, the emergence of a need to focus on core capabilities has led many organisations to contract out all, or part of, the logistics function to third-party providers. This paper explores the challenges of outsourcing logistics in the UK convenience-retailing sector

    Synesthesia: Detecting Screen Content via Remote Acoustic Side Channels

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    We show that subtle acoustic noises emanating from within computer screens can be used to detect the content displayed on the screens. This sound can be picked up by ordinary microphones built into webcams or screens, and is inadvertently transmitted to other parties, e.g., during a videoconference call or archived recordings. It can also be recorded by a smartphone or "smart speaker" placed on a desk next to the screen, or from as far as 10 meters away using a parabolic microphone. Empirically demonstrating various attack scenarios, we show how this channel can be used for real-time detection of on-screen text, or users' input into on-screen virtual keyboards. We also demonstrate how an attacker can analyze the audio received during video call (e.g., on Google Hangout) to infer whether the other side is browsing the web in lieu of watching the video call, and which web site is displayed on their screen

    Ergonomics Contributions to Company Strategies

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    Managers usually associate ergonomics with occupational health and safety and related legislation, not with business performance. In many companies, these decision makers seem not to be positively motivated to apply ergonomics for reasons of improving health and safety. In order to strengthen the position of ergonomics and ergonomists in the business and management world, we discuss company strategies and business goals to which ergonomics could contribute. Conceptual models are presented and examples are given to illustrate: 1) the present situation in which ergonomics is not part of regular planning and control cycles in organizations to ensure business performance, and 2) the desired situation in which ergonomics is an integrated part of strategy formulation and implementation. In order to realize the desired situation, considerable changes must take place within the ergonomics research, education and practice community by moving from a health ergonomics paradigm to a business ergonomics paradigm, without losing the health and safety goals.corporate strategy;paradigm shift;system performance

    Co-Opetition and Prelaunch in Standard-Setting for Developing Technologies

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    Firms faced with the decision of whether to standardize or not prior to introducing a new network technology face a tradeoff: Compatibility improves the technology's chances of consumer acceptance, but it also means having to share the resulting profits with other sponsors of the standard. In this paper, we show that even prior to market introduction of a new technology, the timing of decisions is important and that firms have to weigh up the cooperative and competitive elements of pre-market choices. We also show that the option to precommit to a technology before it is fully developed (as has been the case with the Compact Disc) can be profitable for network technologies.Standardization, compact disc, preemption, war-of- attrition

    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE VS DESIGNER: THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON DESIGN PRACTICE

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    Technological advances, including the use of possibilities offered by artificial intelligence (AI), have become an area of strategic importance and a key driver of economic development. AI today has been integrated into a variety of economies, the design industry is no exception: AI is being increasingly applied in the development of design products and services. However, as technological breakthroughs rapidly shift the borders between the work tasks performed by humans and those performed by machines and algorithms, global labor markets are undergoing major transformations. This raises the question: how are these changes affecting and will continue to affect designers’ work in the future? What skill sets will be needed for designers to begin or continue working in the industry? The article aims to perform a meta-analysis, summarizing the research on the impact of AI on the designer’s professional activity and test the capabilities and results of AI-based design solutions. Research methods – theoretical – research and analysis of literature and Internet resources; empirical – case study to analyze possibilities and results of AI-based design solutions.

    Biological Innovation and Productivity Growth in the Antebellum Cotton Economy

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    The Cliometrics literature on slave efficiency has generally focused on static questions. We take a decidedly more dynamic approach. Drawing on the records of 142 plantations with 509 crops years, we show that the average daily cotton picking rate increased about four-fold between 1801 and 1862. We argue that the development and diffusion of new cotton varieties were the primary sources of the increased efficiency. These finding have broad implications for understanding the South's preeminence in the world cotton market, the pace of westward expansion, and the importance of indigenous technological innovation.

    WP 40 - Boxing and dancing: Dutch trade union and works council experiences revisited

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    h3. English summary This paper contains a quantitative analysis of approaches and results of 67 projects of Dutch company union groups and Works Councils to influence technological and organisational change, in three generations between 1975 and 1996. The effectiveness of problem-solving activities jointly undertaken with management (‘dancing’) in realizing advances in quality of working life proved to be higher than that of own activities solely undertaken by union groups and Works Councils. Yet, such activities were more effective in improving their own position vis-à-vis their constituency and/or vis-à-vis management. The scores on own activities were on average substantially higher than on joint problem-solving: even in these projects, active union groups and Works Councils mostly chose for a strong own profile, related to ‘boxing’ practices. This has notably been the case in manufacturing, in larger organizations and where relatively high union densities prevail. h3. Nederlandse samenvatting Dit paper bevat een kwantitatieve analyse van benaderingen en resultaten van 67 projecten die door Nederlandse vakbondsgroepen en Ondernemingsraden zijn ondernomen om technologische en organisatorische veranderingen te beinvloeden, in drie generaties van 1975 tot 1996. De effectiviteit van activiteiten gericht op het gezamenlijk met management zoeken naar oplossingen (‘dansen’) bleek ten aanzien van het verbeteren van de kwaliteit van de arbeid groter dan die van louter eigen activiteiten van bondsgroepen en OR’en. Daarentegen waren zulke eigen activiteiten effectiever voor het versterken van de eigen positie tegenover de achterban en/of tegenover het management. Gemiddeld kwamen de scores op eigen activiteiten hoger uit dan die op gezamenlijke probleemoplossing: zelfs in deze projecten kozen bondsgroepen en OR’en er meestal voor om zichzelf flink te profileren, een praktijk die verbonden is met ‘boksen’. Dit blijkt vooral het geval te zijn geweest in de industrie, in grotere organisaties en bij een relatief hoge organisatiegraad.

    Information technology for purchasing

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