Skills development among South African based innovative ICT firms

Thesis (M.M. (Innovation Studies))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2016FDI is a buzzword used in the discourses of many emerging market politicians over the last two decades and SA politicians make no exception. It is commonly accepted that many multinationals (MNEs) provide employment opportunities and contribute to the transfer of technological knowledge in support of the host country’s catch up activities. This study aims to provide insight into how the South African subsidiaries of innovative ICT MNEs invest in skills development and why their local leaders chose to act in this way by comparing the case studies of IBM SA, Cisco SA and Dimension Data. It also seeks to find which of these three firms is more efficient at this investment and how South Africa, as a host country, influences their investment activities. The theoretical foundation for this study contains the literature review under the topic framed by the research problem: “How innovative ICT firms based in SA invest in skills.” The researcher gained knowledge about the habit of investment in skills in these branches of MNEs, in particular, their behaviour when they operate within South Africa, and produced a set of propositions that were investigated under the framework of the three case studies using qualitative research methodology. On one hand, the outcome of the study is that these researched branches are not innovating in SA because of the special emerging market context of SA and consequently, at present, they do not invest in R&D and innovation activities. On the other hand, SA government business consultants consider the branches of MNEs as sources of strong innovative and R&D activities that may influence SA innovation successes, different from what these firms do. Moreover, the results of the analysis show that the studied firms intensively exploit their existing products for maximum short-term profit. Policy makers could be assisted by this study in developing adequate policies in support of R&D and innovation activities. The study could also provide guidance for those HQs and leaders of local branches who want to improve their performance in SA and to SA innovators who are seeking to understand the twofold effect of globalisation.DM201

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Envisioning Digital Europe 2030: Scenarios for ICT in Future Governance and Policy Modelling

The report Envisioning Digital Europe 2030 is the result of research conducted by the Information Society Unit of IPTS as part of the CROSSROAD Project - A Participative Roadmap on ICT research on Electronic Governance and Policy Modelling (www.crossroad-eu.net ). After outlining the purpose and scope of the report and the methodological approach followed, the report presents the results of a systematic analysis of societal, policy and research trends in the governance and policy modelling domain in Europe. These analyses are considered central for understanding and roadmapping future research on ICT for governance and policy modelling. The study further illustrates the scenario design framework, analysing current and future challenges in ICT for governance and policy modelling, and identifying the key impact dimensions to be considered. It then presents the scenarios developed at the horizon 2030, including the illustrative storyboards representative of each scenario and the prospective opportunities and risks identified for each of them. The scenarios developed are internally consistent views of what the European governance and policy making system could have become by 2030 and of what the resulting implications for citizens, business and public services would be. Finally, the report draws conclusions and presents the proposed shared vision for Digital Europe 2030, offering also a summary of the main elements to be considered as an input for the future development of the research roadmap on ICT for governance and policy modelling.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Effective use of product quality information in food supply chain logistics

Food supply chains have inherent characteristics, such as variability in product quality and quality decay, which put specific demands on logistics decision making. Furthermore, food supply chain organization and control has changed significantly in the past decades by factors such as scale intensification and globalization. In practice, these characteristics and developments frequently lead to supply chain problems, such as high levels of product waste, product quality problems, and high logistics costs. Recent technological developments have created the opportunity to gather, process, and communicate more information on the status of processes and products to support logistics decision making, providing business opportunities to realize performance improvements, and add extra value by differentiating products to specific market segments. This will, however, require the development of effective logistics management strategies that ensure the supply of products of appropriate quality in a cost-effective way to each stage of the supply chain. This thesis studies the use of product quality information in logistics decision making in food supply chains, captured in the following central research question: How can the effectiveness of logistics decision making in food supply chains be improved using advanced product quality information? This research question is investigated using four case studies: two in the context of the European Q-porkchains project (i.e. in pork supply chains), and two in the context of the European Veg-i-Trade project (i.e. in fruit- and vegetable supply chains). In these cases we investigated the impact of variability in product quality and quality decay on chain processes and studied if use of product quality information can improve logistics decision making regarding product sourcing and process design. In each case decision support models were developed – in close cooperation with industrial partners - to quantify the impact. Case study 1: Process design for advanced sorting of meat products The first case study, presented in chapter 2, considers the process design of a meat processing company that seeks to add value by sorting meat products for a specific product quality feature. The relation between product sorting, processing efficiency and process design is investigated using a discrete event simulation model. Results indicate that increasing sorting complexity by use of advanced product quality information results in a reduction of processing efficiency, whereas use of production buffers was found to mitigate negative effects of high sorting complexity. The simulation allows practitioners facing segmented customer demand to assess which scenario offers the best trade-off between benefits and drawbacks resulting from efforts to improve responsiveness and flexibility. Case study 2: Livestock sourcing decisions The second case study considers a meat processing company that faces quality feature variation in animals delivered to its slaughterhouses. To support sourcing decisions and ensure that the right product quality is received at its slaughterhouses two stochastic programming models are developed that exploit product quality data gathered during earlier deliveries. The presented implementations reveal that uncertainty in supplied product quality can be reduced using historical farmer delivery data, which improves processing performance. Case study 3: Product sourcing in international strawberry supply chains The third case study relates to an international strawberry distributor that faces frequent product quality problems and substantial product waste. Different sourcing strategies were tested using a combination of both a slow, but cheap transport mode (i.e. sea and truck), and a faster, but more expensive mode (i.e. plane). The performance of these sourcing strategies is examined using a discrete-continuous chain simulation that includes microbiological growth models to predict quality decay. Simulation results reveal that standard cost parameters (that do not take quality decay into account) result in substantial product waste, but if cost for expected shelf-life losses are included in the order policies the effectiveness of product sourcing for the considered supply chain is improved. Case study 4: Use of form postponement for food waste reduction The fourth case study concerns an international lettuce supply chain that struggles with effective product sourcing. Form postponement (FP) is a supply chain strategy which delays processing steps until a demand is realized. This allows a reduction of the total inventory in the supply chain. We studied supply chain scenarios that differ in where and when in the supply chain whole crop lettuce is converted into processed lettuce products. A discrete-continuous chain simulation model revealed that application of FP reduced both product waste and age and improves point-of-sale product quality. Integrated findings The findings of this thesis demonstrate that decision makers can improve logistics decisions and reduce food waste by using product quality information and predicting changes in product quality. The developed quantitative decision support models provided essential insights into trade-offs resulting from information-based supply chain performance improvement strategies. The presented case studies demonstrate that supply chain flexibility and responsiveness is required to reduce the impact of product variability and product quality decay. Increasing responsiveness and flexibility typically comes at the expense of other performance dimensions. This research demonstrates the potential of use of product quality information in food supply chain logistics, which may contribute to the effectiveness of food supply chains by improving consumer satisfaction, reducing overall costs, and reducing food waste.</p

The moderating effects of the external environment on the relationship between technology strategy and organizational performance

Technology strategy has been considered as a robust mechanism for improving business growth and achieving competitive advantage, yet there are limited empirical and confirmatory researches in this area. Therefore, this study investigates technology strategy and its relationship to organizational performance. Technology strategies consist of pioneer-follower posture, technical investments: internal R&D, the intensity of product upgrades, external technology sources, and product and process technology. This study also examines the role of external environments in moderating the relationship between technology strategies and organizational performance in the Malaysian manufacturing companies’ context. This study employed a survey strategy to examine the hypothesized research model and used a probability sampling design based on the sampling frame obtained. 96 responses were collected via a standard structured questionnaire from chief executive officers and managers of Malaysian manufacturing companies. PLS-SEM technique was used for the analysis of data. The findings of the study indicated that there are five dimensions of external environments. These are dysfunctional competition, institutional support, environmental turbulence, strategic alliance for product development, and political networking strategy. The findings also revealed that technology strategies influence the organizational performance of Malaysian manufacturing companies. In particular, the findings found a significant positive impact of technology strategies on organizational performance. In terms of the moderating effect, external environments moderate the relationship between technological investments and organizational performance and the relationship between product and process technology and organizational performance. These findings suggest that technology strategy is considered a nerve system and a backboned in determining organizational performance and success. The implications of this study fold into theoretical and managerial. It further explains the construct of technology strategy and its relationships with external environments and organizational performance in manufacturing companies. Practically, the findings provide information that benefits the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, and a broad range of relevant stakeholders in developing more industry and government agency strategic collaboration such as technology transformation programs to enhance organizational performance potentially. Understanding external environments that strengthen the relationship of technology strategy and organizational performance also enrich the technology strategy literature