Online Project Management for Dynamic e-Collaboration

Today’s collaborative projects demand efficient and productive software application tools for the workplace that will bring remote teams together to get the work done. Dynamic e-collaboration is a necessity for virtual relations and business agreements. It depends on two distinct factors: trust and need. This paper presents a way to manage remote teams using a web application developed with ColMap model of project management in an IT company. The information exposed and shared applications with partners in collaborative projects are based on RBAC. Group collaboration and management software has been proven to successfully manage and coordinate projects.Dynamic E-collaboration, Collaboration Model, Web Application

Revitalizing Multilateral Governance at the World Trade Organization Report of the High-Level Board of Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance. Bertelsmann Policy Brief 2018

If international trade is not governed by rules, mere might dictates what is right. The World Trade Organization (WTO) serves as a place where trade policy issues are addressed, disputes arbitrated, legal frameworks derived and enforced. Through these functions, the WTO ensures that the rules of trade policy are inspired by fairness and reciprocity rather than national interest. It is more important than ever to vitalize the global public good that it rep-resents against various threats that have been undermining it. Therefore, the Global Economic Dynamics project of the Bertelsmann Stiftung has called into life a High-Level Board of Experts on the Future of Global Trade Governance. Composed of eminent experts and seasoned trade diplomats, it elaborated a series of feasible policy recommendations that will increase the effectiveness and sali-ence of the WTO. We hope that this Report provides helpful suggestions in a time marked by increasing trade disputes and protectionism and instead contributes to stronger multilateral institutions and fora.1 The Bertelsmann Stiftung owes a debt of gratitude to Prof Bernard Hoekman, the Chairman of the Expert Board and author of this report. His invaluable expertise and experience, guidance and ability to bridge controversial opinions have been crucial in defining the work of the Board. We would also like to express our sincere thanks to all our Board Members, who generously contributed their expertise, time and networks. Without their dedication, this Report would not have been possible. Finally, we would like to thank Robert Koopman and Aik Hoe Lim of the WTO for their support throughout the whole process and Christian Bluth of Bertelsmann Stiftung for managing this common endeavour

A trading model and security regime for mobile e-commerce via ad hoc wireless networking

Ad hoc wireless networking offers mobile computer users the prospect of trading with others in their vicinity anywhere anytime. This thesis explores the potential for developing such trading applications. A notable difficulty in designing their security services is being unable to use trusted parties. No one can be guaranteed present in each ad hoc wireless network session. A side benefit is that their costs don't have to be paid for. A reference model is defined for ad hoc m-commerce and a threat model is for- mulated of its security vulnerabilities. They are used to elicit security objectives and requirements for such trading systems. Possible countermeasures to address the threats are critically analysed and used to design security services to mitigate them. They include a self-organised P2P identity support scheme using PGP cer- tificates; a distributed reputation system backed by sanctions; a group membership service based on membership vouchers, quorate decisions by some group members and partial membership lists; and a security warning scheme. Security analysis of the schemes shows that they can mitigate the threats to an adequate degree to meet the trading system's security objectives and requirements if users take due care when trading within it. Formal verification of the system shows that it satisfies certain safety properties

Improving access to climate financing for the Pacific Islands

Executive summary The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commits developed countries to provide assistance to ‘developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in meeting the costs of adaptation.’ Although recent commitments of ‘fast-start’ climate funding from partners like Australia, Japan and the European Union are welcome, Pacific Island countries face wider obstacles in accessing appropriate and timely levels of funding for adaptation and mitigation to manage the adverse effects that environmental challenges have on core areas for economic, social and human development. The experience of Solomon Islands, the first Pacific country to obtain funding from the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund for a project on food security and agricultural production, offers some important lessons for the region. Access to climate financing could be improved through seeking special access for small island states in financial mechanisms, establishing programs and structures that improve donor coordination and build the capacity of national institutions, developing national climate trust funds and a Pacific Regional Climate Change fund and, most importantly, implementing more targeted action on the ground to assist the most vulnerable communities with concrete adaptation programs

Ties That Bind: the emergence of entrepreneurs in China

The paper describes the emergence of entrepreneurship in Shanxi province based on fieldwork in the last 6 years. Employing institutional and evolutionary economics shows that both the kind of firms that emerge and the individual behaviour of entrepreneurs reflect a systematic response to the situational constraint all would-be entrepreneurs face, namely a high level of uncertainty and weak institutions. In this situation to establish firms with a weak organisational identity allows to flexibly respond to new opportunities, while a strong reputation for accountability of the owners and managers is needed to get long term business relations started. As the Shanxi sample shows accountability can be achieved by a mix of reviving old economic institutions, hijacking social organisations, and building new business practices. To the extent that old institutions, social organisations and business practices do not spread equally across China, different forms of firms and different forms of entrepreneurship can be expected within China. In short, local cultures matter.evolutionary economics;organisational change;dealing with uncertainty and risk

Informal networking: An overview of the literature and an agenda for future research

Informal inter-organizational networks provide manifold opportunities to organize the transfer of information, knowledge and technology between actors. Given their potential and their importance, the lack of theoretical discussion and empirical research on informal networks and their dynamics is surprising. The objective of this paper is twofold. It attempts to review the fragmented academic discussion of the notion of informal networking, thereby focusing on how these relationships emerge initially and what conditions (presumably) are required to make them a mutually fruitful and sustainable channel of the transfer of information and knowledge. On that groundwork, the most important empirical studies which try to confirm and disentangle the aforementioned basic mechanisms of informal exchange relationships are reviewed. Finally, we outline an agenda of future research directions that we encourage researchers to pursue in future empirical studies. Five important research gaps can be identified. -- Informelle Netzwerkstrukturen bieten vielfältige Möglichkeiten, den Transfer von Informationen, Wissen und Technologie zwischen Akteuren zu organisieren. In Anbetracht des Potentials sowie der Bedeutung informeller Netzwerke ist der bestehende Mangel an theoretischen Diskussionen wie auch empirischer Forschung überraschend. Hier setzt der Beitrag an, indem eine Bündelung der bislang lediglich in Fragmenten vorliegenden Auseinandersetzung mit dem Konzept informeller Netzwerke vorgenommen wird. Der Fokus wird dabei auf Fragen der Entstehung solcher Netzwerkstrukturen sowie auf diejenigen Faktoren gelegt, die notwendig sind, informelle Netzwerke als effektiven und beständigen Kanal des Wissens- und Technologietransfers nutzbar zu machen. In einem zweiten Teil des Beitrags wird ein Überblick über die wichtigsten, zum gegenwärtigen Zeitpunkt existierenden, Studien gegeben, die sich empirisch mit dem Konzept informeller Netzwerkstrukturen auseinandersetzen. Basierend auf dieser Aufarbeitung werden anschließend fünf wichtige Forschungsfragen formuliert, die im Fokus zukünftiger Forschungsbestrebungen stehen sollten.Informelle Netzwerke,Information trading,Wissenstransfer,Literaturüberblick