HOW TO INFORM THE POINT OF SINGLE CONTACT? – A BUSINESS PROCESS BASED APPROACH

The EU-Service-Directive will lead to big challenges for public administrations. The administrations have to offer a point of single contact supporting the customer. This point of single contacts needs an overview of the administrational processes to perform his task. As processes from different organizations and organizational units are relevant for the EU-Service-Directive they can only be captured by using a distributed approach. The contribution of this paper is to present a domain specific distributed modeling method which allows a fast, efficient, and consistent capturing of the information needed for the point of single contact.

Putting Community First: A Promising Approach to Federal Collaboration for Environmental Improvement: An Evaluation of the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Demonstration Program

This report is an independent evaluation of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Demonstration Program, a community-driven process that uses the best available data to help communities set priorities and take action on their greatest environmental risks. CARE fosters local partnerships that seek participation from business, government, organizations, residents and EPA staff. It also supports a public, transparent planning and implementation process based on collaborative decision-making and shared action.Key FindingsThe National Academy Panel overseeing this effort was impressed by the dedication of the EPA staff to this unique initiative and commended the EPA for its efforts to partner with communities in achieving important long-term and sustainable environmental improvements at the local level. Recommended actions for the CARE Program include: (1) develop and implement a multifaceted information sharing approach; (2) coordinate and refine internal program management activities; and (3) develop a strategic plan and a business plan for CARE

What do business models do? Narratives, calculation and market exploration

Building on a case study of an entrepreneurial venture, we investigate the role played by business models in the innovation process. Rather than debating their accuracy and efficiency, we adopt a pragmatic approach to business models -- we examine them as market devices, focusing on their materiality, use and dynamics. Taking into account the variety of its forms, which range from corporate presentations to business plans, we show that the business model is a narrative and calculative device that allows entrepreneurs to explore a market and plays a performative role by contributing to the construction of the techno-economic network of an innovation.WP abstract: Analyzes the uses and functions of business models through original, qualitative case studies focused on research-based spin-offs.Business models; spin-offs; innovation; commercialization; calculation; exploration; R&D; entrepreneurship

Evaluating Business Process Improvement Patterns by Simulation

Existing approaches for business process improvement often lack systematic guidelines to transform a business process into an enhanced state, which we refer to as the “act of improvement”. To close this gap, a pattern-based approach has been designed and developed in previous works. In this paper, the usefulness of “Business Process Improvement Patterns” (BPI-Patterns) as a means of improving business processes is analyzed. For this purpose, a simulation experiment is performed in which several BPI-Patterns are applied to evaluate whether their anticipated effects can be confirmed for real-life business processes. From the analysis of the simulation results, i.e. how the application of BPI-Patterns affects the business processes, we investigate enabling as well as hindering factors that influence the implementation of BPI-Patterns. These factors may serve as a means to further specify instances of BPI-Patterns and also contribute to the overall evaluation of the BPI-Pattern approach

An Agent-based Approach for Improving the Performance of Distributed Business Processes in Maritime Port Community

In the recent years, the concept of “port community” has been adopted by the maritime transport industry in order to achieve a higher degree of coordination and cooperation amongst organizations involved in the transfer of goods through the port area. The business processes of the port community supply chain form a complicated process which involves several process steps, multiple actors, and numerous information exchanges. One of the widely used applications of ICT in ports is the Port Community System (PCS) which is implemented in ports in order to reduce paperwork and to facilitate the information flow related to port operations and cargo clearance. However, existing PCSs are limited in functionalities that facilitate the management and coordination of material, financial, and information flows within the port community supply chain. This research programme addresses the use of agent technology to introduce business process management functionalities, which are vital for port communities, aiming to the enhancement of the performance of the port community supply chain. The investigation begins with an examination of the current state in view of the business perspective and the technical perspective. The business perspective focuses on understanding the nature of the port community, its main characteristics, and its problems. Accordingly, a number of requirements are identified as essential amendments to information systems in seaports. On the other hand, the technical perspective focuses on technologies that are convenient for solving problems in business process management within port communities. The research focuses on three technologies; the workflow technology, agent technology, and service orientation. An analysis of information systems across port communities enables an examination of the current PCSs with regard to their coordination and workflow management capabilities. The most important finding of this analysis is that the performance of the business processes, and in particular the performance of the port community supply chain, is not in the scope of the examined PCSs. Accordingly, the Agent-Based Middleware for Port Community Management (ABMPCM) is proposed as an approach for providing essential functionalities that would facilitate collaborative planning and business process management. As a core component of the ABMPCM, the Collaborative Planning Facility (CPF) is described in further details. A CPF prototype has been developed as an agent-based system for the domain of inland transport of containers to demonstrate its practical effectiveness. To evaluate the practical application of the CPF, a simulation environment is introduced in order to facilitate the evaluation process. The research started with the definition of a multi-agent simulation framework for port community supply chain. Then, a prototype has been implemented and employed for the evaluation of the CPF. The results of the simulation experiments demonstrate that our agent-based approach effectively enhances the performance of business process in the port community

An examination of strategy development and strategic management processes within growth-seeking small businesses

This doctoral thesis responds to the need for greater understanding of what constitutes effective strategic management practice in successfully developing small firms. And an associate need to enhance the strategic management capability of small business owner managers and ability of support providers to deliver sound, pragmatic strategy development assistance. The study in its action research mode of investigation recognises and attempts to address the numerous shortcomings and pitfalls associated with small business management. Integral to this approach is a longitudinal business development project-orientation to facilitate the fulfilling of parallel academic and small business development practice objectives. The research approach is based upon the premise that there is a glove-tight relationship between advances in knowledge and the research methodology which facilitate those knowledge advances. An overarching aim of this study is thus the development of a creative and innovative research approach to enable production not only of advances in small business strategic management knowledge and practical small business development, but also a base research methodology capable of ongoing refinement and use by others in the future. The origins of the methodology lay in the non-acceptance of traditional philosophical positions in epistemology and ontology, with a philosophical standpoint of constructive alternativism underpinning the research and the use of a drive theory which builds out of that standpoint. As part response to that philosophical positioning, the concept of epistemological bootstrapping is used to develop a ‘partial research framework’ to foothold and inform the qualitative action research process. The key insights highlighted by the ‘bootstrap’ facilitate design and development of the innovative methodology, integral to which is a close ‘rich’ working partnership interface with the participant small business owner managers. A novel attempt at linked multi-level and processual (contextualist) analysis was attempted within an action research approach which is underpinned and driven by personal construct theory. Both researcher and the researched are thus treated as ‘man the scientist’ who is progressively seeking to refine and enhance his own personal constructions of phenomenon, issues and circumstances facing him throughout his life. Such conceptualisation facilitates the build up of dual working partner investigation using live, longitudinal practical business development projects to produce tangible outputs for both parties - academic small business management knowledge for the researcher and world of academia and practical strategic development and associate knowledge and enhanced abilities for the owner manager

Business Development and Marketing Strategy in Early‐stage Technology Start-­up Businesses: The Importance of Understanding the Customer

The author sets out to explore the role of a marketer and the importance of the customer in an early-stage technology start‐up business when exploring the commercial options for a new technology or product. The author sets learning objectives around the use of an academic model to explore the development of the enterprise and the role of a marketer within a start-up team. In order to reach these aims, the author compares three strategic marketing models and draws on insights from academic and practice-­based literature to justify the use of Kotler and Armstrong’s Marketing Process Model. The author then implements Kotler’s model, detailing the practical elements of his role as the marketing and business development lead across three different projects, exploring the commercial potential for three different technologies/or products. The author recommends the use of Kotler and Armstrong’s Marketing Process Model for early-­stage start-up business teams that are exploring commercial options for a new technology or a product. He recommends a customer-­led approach to marketing within a technology start-­up team. The author recognizes the importance of a marketer’s role in establishing, maintaining and nurturing relationships with potential customers in order to drive and inform product development

How Do Procurement Networks Become Social? Design Principles Evaluation in a Heterogeneous Environment of Structured and Unstructured Interactions

Expanding procurement networks involving many countries, organizations and people impose challenges on procurement e-business systems. Firstly, the classic document ex-change based connection approach across company borderlines is still both time con-suming and costly. Secondly, today’s systems provide limited support for people net-working dimensions, combining structured and unstructured activities as part of the entire business process. We argue that the potential for accelerating the intra and inter firm procurement processes by addressing the challenges of integration and heteroge-neous activities is not sufficiently leveraged at present. In this paper, we present the re-sults of our design science research focusing on the evaluation of design principles along a software artifact, towards effects on procurement network performance

An analysis of the use of market intelligence data by senior business leaders – the development of a new model (ICSAR) for the identification and implementation of specifically focused data

Big data, analytics and data science are terms that have come to represent a growing focus on decision making built on the foundation of market intelligence data. The enthusiasm for this form of evidence-based decision making has grown with the ability for businesses to better track their customers, competitors and market. Strategy firms such as McKinsey and company have also added to the discussion by highlighting the potential for data to improve business efficiency. News headlines such as 'Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity' (McKinsey and Company, 2011) and 'Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century' (Harvard Business Review, 2012) are two examples illustrating the optimism for data use in business activities. The ability to better track customer and markets has resulted from the development of technology and the transition to more digital services. For example, a growing number of businesses offer their services and products based on a subscription model through the internet. Software-as-a-Service is one example of this. With many products now available in the digital space, there has been a corresponding increase in the volume and variety of data sources available to business leaders. For example, software services hosted in the digital space mean enhanced customer behaviour insights because digital forms and ‘clicks’ can be monitored and analysed. Marketing departments now have an enhanced ability to conduct rapid testing of video marketing content through social media that is faster and cheaper than testing two different television commercials. The move to more digital and mobile-based services is a phenomenon that has occurred in all industries and has given business leaders access to more data sources than ever before. In theory, this should support better decision making because the amount of information has grown rapidly. However, academic studies have shown that overwhelming levels of information resulted in poorer decision making ability. Industry analysts have also extensively commented that the large variety of data sources have made it more difficult to know which data sources to use when making decisions. These points raised questions about how business leaders were selecting from the growing variety of data sources and what factors influenced that selection process. From there, the question was raised about how data was being used in decision making. Answering these questions holds significant potential for businesses. Understanding limitations to data use and applying this knowledge in a structured way has the potential to ensure data is used objectively and holistically in decision making. The result is that businesses are better able to take advantage of market intelligence and extract the greatest value from its organizational knowledge. This research studied what data sources were used by business leaders, how the data was used in their day-to-day projects and what factors led to the selection of a data source over another in the decision making process. The research was an exploratory approach using a mixed methodology that included in-depth interviews, a survey and a case study. The research deliberately focused on senior business leaders to ensure the research participants were at the level that was most likely to be in a position to make decisions. The research found that there was a varied approach to data use with multiple factors being involved in how data was used. The first finding was that most business leaders used a variety of data sources. However, data sources were selected based on a hierarchy that was specific to each individual business leader and data sources were not used consistently. The hierarchy was subjective and was based on several factors shown in the second finding. There was not a standardised approach to the use of any single data source meaning a data source like surveys could be used for behavioural tracking by one business leader and for logo feedback by another, for example. This highlighted the need for organisations to educate business leaders on the best data source for answering different business questions and to put structure around how data sources were used. Second, the research showed there were four types of influence involved in selection of data sources. Those four influence types were organisational demographics, personal experience with a data source, time-based needs and project requirements. These four factors led to the subjective selection of data by business leaders. For example, a business leader was more likely to use a familiar data source even if there was a non-familiar data source that would have been more accurate. Additionally, business leaders were found to forgo accuracy in favour of a data source that was available more quickly. This highlighted the need for a framework that minimised the subjectivity involved in choosing a data source and encouraged objective data use. The third finding was that there was mix of data maturity levels and that most organisations did not have an integrated approach to data use. The possible cause of this was that many organisations lacked data leadership to ensure that data use in decision making was structured and holistic across the business. Instead, this study found silos between teams that resulted in duplicated or contradictory use of data and individual data sources used inconsistently. This highlighted the gap between the potential of market intelligence and the lack of organizational structures to support effective data use. It also showed the need for organisations to invest in data use structures and frameworks to complement data collection investments. These findings showed that businesses seeking to capitalise on the growing number of data sources needed to examine whether business leaders were using data effectively. The finding that there was a degree of subjectivity in the selection of a data source suggests businesses needed to invest in a decision making framework that ensured a data source was used objectively and based on its ability to meet the project needs. This led to the final section of this research which was the development of the ICSAR model for data use. The ICSAR model was designed by the research author as a five step framework that provides business leaders with a structured approach to selecting and using data objectively in decision making. The model was created based on the research findings in order to support business leaders to enhance their data use and to avoid the subjective influences. The design also promotes objective data use by tying research insights to organisational learning and is cyclical to ensure insights are continually developed