EXPECTATION SHORTFALL IN THE HIGHLY SPECIALIZED B2B IT INNOVATION

Expectation shortfall is a common occurrence in outsourcing. Prior literature suggests that strategies such as strict contract terms and proper evaluation of the vendor capabilities are adopted to avoid expectation shortfall. However, in the case of highly specialised technical products custom made to vendor requirements (i.e., B2B IT innovation), traditional strategies in managing outsourcing projects may not work as expected. This is mainly due to the complexity of the product requirements and the inability to assess the scope of the project in depth at the beginning. In this research, we adopt the vendor’s perspective to better understand how organizations in the highly specialized B2B IT innovation handle outsourced projects to avoid expectation shortfall. We uncover a dynamic innovation process which the client and the vendor go through. In addition, we suggest strategies to achieve B2B IT innovation in a win-win scenario while elucidating reasons of failure

Effect of Digital Enablement of Business-to-Business Exchange on Customer Outcomes: The Role of Information Systems Quality and Relationship Characteristics

This study extends our understanding of how information systems impact business value creation by examining the effect of digital enablement of business-to-business exchange on customer outcomes. We shed light on the connection between information technology investment and firm performance by focusing on how information technology is used (Devaraj and Kohli 2003) in an industrial services context and by highlighting the importance of indirect effects (Mittal and Nault 2009). A conceptual model is developed that combines a customer centric perspective (Sheth et al. 2000) with elements from the information systems success framework (DeLone and McLean 1992, DeLone and McLean 2003). Mediating factors are identified in the chain of effects from information technology specific business-to-business service quality characteristics to customer outcomes. In addition, we consider two contextual factors, relationship duration and customer dependence, which are known to alter the nature of buyer-supplier relationships but which have received little attention in research on digital enablement of business-to-business exchange. An empirical test of hypothesized relationships was performed using subjective and objective archival data from business-to-business exchange relationships for a logistics services vendor. All expected main effects were confirmed. Customer satisfaction was found to be a significant mediator in the chain of effects from information technology specific business-to-business service quality characteristics to customer outcomes. In addition, logistics service quality was found to mediate the relationships between system quality and customer satisfaction and between information quality and customer satisfaction. The hypothesized moderating effects, however, were not found to be significant. Robustness of the findings was confirmed by testing model hypotheses using data from exchange relationships with customers in two different industries, manufacturing and wholesale trade. Differences in analysis results are consistent with industry differences. This study contributes to the literatures on interorganizational information systems (Rai et al. 2006) and information technology business value (Melville et al. 2004) by identifying mediating mechanisms in the chain of effects from digital enablement of exchange to customer outcomes. Explication of mediating mechanisms improves our understanding about the indirect nature of impacts from information technology. This study also contributes to the literature on information systems by extending DeLone and McLean\u27s (2003) model of information systems success to the context of business-to-business exchange relationships. In addition, this study contributes to the literature on services marketing (Zeithaml and Bitner 2003, Berry and Parasuraman 1993) by showing how system quality and information quality impact logistics service quality and customer satisfaction in a business-to-business exchange context

The development of an authentic Indian restaurant concept in Portugal - idea validation

Recent trends demonstrate a crescent demand for ethnic restaurants in Portugal, that Indian cuisine is not as well-entrenched as other international gastronomies and that current offers are mostly characterised by commercialised food and lack of differentiation. Hence, to capitalise on the market gap, the authors developed a unique detailed concept that aims to deliver a novel experience of Indian culture and cuisine, rooted in authentic and sustainable values, to adventurous food seekers. For the development of an authentic Indian restaurant concept in Portugal, focus is given to the most critical aspects for a successful business implementation

Blockchain technology in the area of e-Governance – Guidelines for implementation

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementThe perception of the public administration among society is widely associated with the area before the digital age and the information revolution: Less efficiency, less democratic, partially transparent, majorly bureaucratic, insufficient service quality, and slow responsiveness. Driven by information and communication technologies, there is an urgent need for disrupting the public sector to improve government decisions, increase the trust of citizens and their participation possibilities as well as enhance government accountability and transparency. The blockchain as a novel and innovative technology with its underlaying technological concept provides a plausible solution to reinvent the public administration processes and transactions with other governments, businesses, or citizens. This dissertation follows a design science research approach to apply multiple analytical methods and perspectives to create an artifact. The type of evidence within this methodology is a systematic literature review, with the goal to attain insights into the current state-of-the-art research of blockchain technology in the area of e-Governance. Additionally, proven best practices from the industry are examined in depth to further strengthen the credibility. Thereby, the systematic literature review shall be used to pinpoint, analyze, and comprehend the obtainable empirical studies and research questions. This methodology supports the main goal of this dissertation, to develop and propose evidence-based practice guidelines for the implementation of blockchain technology that can be followed by the public administration

Information systems innovation adoption among organizations - A match-based framework and empirical studies

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Information technology, contract and knowledge in the networked economy: a biography of packaged software for contract management

In this research I investigate the intersection of information and communication technology (ICT), contract and knowledge in the networked economy as illuminated by the “life” of contract management software (CMS). The failure of CMS to fulfill market expectations provides the motivating question for this study. Based on interview, survey and archival data, I construct a “biography” of CMS from a market perspective informed by the theory of commoditization as well as studies of markets from economic sociology. From the latter, I draw upon the theory of performativity in markets to identify in the failure of CMS a series of breakdowns in performative assumptions and operations normally at work in the making of a packaged software market, ranging from a failure in classification performativity to a detachment of marketized criteria, in the form of analyst ratings, from the underlying software product and vendors. This catalog of breakdown indicates that packaged software production implicates multiple levels of commoditization, including financialized meta-commodities and marketized criteria, in a dynamic I theorize as substitution of performance. I explore the implications of my findings for packaged software and for process commodities more generally, suggesting, inter alia, that process commoditization may revolve around contract and information exchange rather than product definition. I go on to propose an open theorization of contract as a technology of connectedness, in a relationship of potential convergence, complementarity and substitution with ICT, interpenetrating and performative. My contributions are to information systems and organizations research on the topics of packaged software and the relationship of ICT, contract and organizational knowledge; and to economic sociology on the topics of performativity in markets and product qualification in process commoditization

Customer Relationship Management : Concept, Strategy, and Tools -3/E

Customer relationship management (CRM) as a strategy and as a technology has gone through an amazing evolutionary journey. After the initial technological approaches, this process has matured considerably – both from a conceptual and from an applications point of view. Of course this evolution continues, especially in the light of the digital transformation. Today, CRM refers to a strategy, a set of tactics, and a technology that has become indispensable in the modern economy. Based on both authors’ rich academic and managerial experience, this book gives a unified treatment of the strategic and tactical aspects of customer relationship management as we know it today. It stresses developing an understanding of economic customer value as the guiding concept for marketing decisions. The goal of this book is to be a comprehensive and up-to-date learning companion for advanced undergraduate students, master students, and executives who want a detailed and conceptually sound insight into the field of CRM

Competencies, capabilities, and relational factors in buyer-supplier Business-to-Business networks

Includes bibliographical references.Most of today's knowledge of Business-to-Business marketing is grounded on studies conducted in so-called western countries. Recently some researchers have started to question the validity of concepts, ideas and measures conceived in developed markets to explain business marketing phenomena in non-western contexts. Moreover research has attributed this gap in the literature on the relative absence of Business-to-Business marketing research from emerging, non-western countries (see, for example, Biggemann and Fam, 2011.) In emerging markets firms also operate in large networks that contains multiple, complex, direct and indirect business relationships among buyers and sellers. The thesis draws on four different empirical studies to integrate key sets of knowledge spawned from the realms of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group (IMP) to observe Business-to-Business relationships in a South African context

ESSAYS ON DECEPTIVE COUNTERFEITS IN SUPPLY CHAINS: A BEHAVORIAL PERSPECTIVE

This dissertation is comprised of three essays intended to contribute to the operations management discipline, specifically within supply chain management. The first essay provides a research agenda for studying deceptive product counterfeits, which are products that have been manufactured and/or distributed and sold by an entity in violation of another’s intellectual property rights and intentionally misrepresented by the seller as the genuine article. The proliferation of counterfeits into legitimate supply chains presents quality, health and safety and cost concerns for nearly all industries. We identify antecedents of vulnerability to deceptive counterfeits for firms and their supply chain partners using Situational Crime Prevention Theory and Normal Accident Theory. Vulnerability to counterfeiting has negative performance impacts for the firm, its customers and society. We propose using the Six Ts of Supply Chain Quality Management (Roth, Tsay, Pullman and Gray, 2008) as an approach to select effective strategies to mitigate these impacts. Essay Two serves as an initial effort to understand how counterfeits can enter supply chains. In this essay, we test whether purchasing specialists can serve as effective guardians of the supply chain using a scenario based role playing experiment. We explore if buyers can detect signals of counterfeits in proposals and successfully avoid the counterfeit supplier in the decision process. We additionally examine whether time constraints and workload pressure detracts from the ability to successfully process signals and avoid the counterfeit. We find that the buyers can successfully detect counterfeit signals and avoid the counterfeit in the selection decision, but don’t find support for time constraints and workload pressure effects. The final contribution of this dissertation is a methodological essay that explores the effect of time pressure on decision making by using a combination of perceived time pressure and objective measures of time spent in the decision process to determine if time pressure affects the quality of the decision making in a supplier selection decision. We find that time constraints and perceived time pressure are related constructs that negatively affect decision quality in a supplier selection decision