What value do consumers really expect from Product Service Systems? : Reflections on how a different conception of value could facilitate the implementation of PSS in consumer markets

Purpose – This paper explores how PSS may create value in consumer markets in urban environment and how consumers value PSS beyond a narrow focus on functionality. Design/ methodology/approach – Within a case study of a use orientated PSS based on baby products, we conducted ten ethnographic interviews of current users of the scheme. Findings – Our data gives evidence that some of these products are important possessions for consumers’ identity construction. In contrast with highly visible products such as push-chairs, however, baby cots and car seats are seen by consumers from a more utilitarian perspective. Practical implications – The design of a PSS provision around products which are highly symbolic is problematic because of a need to fully understand the complex symbolism and hedonic value consumers attribute to these products. Originality /value – We fill a gap in PSS research by adopting a constructivist perspective to explore the multidimensional value consumers co-create around a baby products PSS.Non peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Case study : an evaluation of the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) at a South African municipal entity.

Master of Commerce in Information Systems and Technology. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2018.Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a computer based software application that is widely implemented in many business organisations. These systems have evolved over the years into component based modules with the ability to easily integrate with other systems, provide real time information and improve information sharing and collaboration. Choosing an ERP system is a complex process and the literature clearly illustrates the failure of organisations to effectively specify, select and implement ERP systems resulting in the inability to effectively harness the associated benefits. This study focuses on a South African water utility and the processes followed in procuring and implementing an ERP system. It is interesting to note, that in this study, despite the utility having experienced a failed ERP implementation decided to replace the same? ERP system. A rigorous process was followed to find a replacement ERP system only to set aside all alternate commercial of-the-shelf systems and re-implement the original failed ERP system. To gain insight of the processes followed, the COTS theoretical framework is presented to bring the reader’s attention to associated theoretical studies. In this study, we will conduct a systematic literature review on ERP systems, its background, implementation processes and associated implementation outcomes. This research, presents a case study that will describe and explore the process of ERP implementation at the water utility. We will document the process the utility followed in acquiring and setting up functional and non-functional evaluation criteria for the ERP system. Further, we have considered the processes of preparation, evaluation, selection and implementation. The analysis of the implementation process has brought to light the importance of defining ERP scopes based on business requirements, specifications based on the business scopes and evaluation criterion. The findings and results from this case study will contribute to the conceptual and contextual understanding of the specification, selection and implementation of ERP systems

The Role of Information Communication Technology to Enhance Property Tax Revenue in Africa: A Tale of Four Cities in Three Countries

Information communication technology (ICT) is an important tool to support local governments in their efforts to more efficiently administer property taxes and other own-source revenues. Increasingly, developing countries, including those in Africa, are managing large volumes of data on taxable properties and taxpayers within the ICT environment. With reference to four African cities, this paper comments on the benefits and challenges relating to the use of ICT in the administration of property tax and other own-source revenues. Key findings of this research include: (1) the importance placed on ICT by cities to improve own-source revenue (OSR) administration; (2) ICT provides the opportunity for city councils to adopt a cashless payment system built around e-payments; (3) whilst ICT systems have only been recently introduced in Arusha City Council and Kiambu County, there is evidence that improved administration has contributed to improved revenue collections; (4) the introduction of new business processes have largely been accepted by city customers; and (5) Kitwe City Council and Ndola City Council have begun to implement ICT although there are issues with the technical support of the systems and the lack of arrangements with banks to facilitate e-payments. Furthermore, Ndola’s experience confirms the risks of using an internationally-developed and maintained IT system.UKAIDBill and Melinda Gates Foundatio

Commercialization is Required for Sustainable Space Exploration and Development

The U.S. Space Exploration policy outlines an exciting new direction in space for human and robotic exploration and development beyond low Earth orbit. Pressed by this new visionary guidance, human civilization will be able to methodically build capabilities to move off Earth and into the solar system in a step-by-step manner, gradually increasing the capability for humans to stay longer in space and move further away from Earth. The new plans call for an implementation that would create an affordable and sustainable program in order to span over generations of explorers, each new generation pushing back the boundaries and building on the foundations laid by the earlier. To create a sustainable program it is important to enable and encourage the development of a selfsupporting commercial space industry leveraging both traditional and non-traditional segments of the industrial base. Governments will not be able to open the space frontier on their own because their goals change over relatively short timescales and because the large costs associated with human spaceflight cannot be sustained. A strong space development industrial sector is needed that can one day support the needs of commercial space enterprises as well as provide capabilities that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and other national space agencies can buy to achieve their exploration goals. This new industrial space sector will someday provide fundamental capabilities like communications, power, logistics, and even cargo and human space transportation, just as commercial companies are able to provide these services on Earth today. To help develop and bolster this new space industrial sector, NASA and other national space agencies can enable and facilitate it in many ways, including reducing risk by developing important technologies necessary for commercialization of space, and as a paying customer, partner, or anchor tenant. This transition from all or mostly government developed and operated facilities and services to commercial supplied facilities and services should be considered from the very earliest stages of planning. This paper will first discuss the importance of space commercialization to fulfilling national goals and the associated policy and strategic objectives that will enable space exploration and development. Then the paper will offer insights into how government can provide leadership to promote the nascent commercial space industry. In addition, the paper describes programs and policies already in place at NASA and offers five important principles government can use to strengthen space industry

Markup meets middleware

We describe a distributed system architecture that supports the integration of different front-office trading systems with middle and back-office systems, each of which have been procured from different vendors. The architecture uses a judicious combination of object-oriented middleware and markup languages. In this combination an object request broker implements reliable trade data transport. Markup languages, particularly XML, are used to address data integration problems. We show that the strengths of middleware and markup languages are complementary and discuss the benefits of deploying middleware and markup languages in a synergistic manner

Determining criteria for selecting software components: lessons learned

Software component selection is growing in importance. Its success relies on correctly assessing the candidate components' quality. For a particular project, you can assess quality by identifying and analyzing the criteria that affect it. Component selection is on the suitability and completeness of the criteria used for evaluation. Experiences from determining criteria for several industrial projects provide important lessons. For a particular selection process, you can organize selection criteria into a criteria catalog. A CC is built for a scope, which can be either a domain (workflow systems, mail servers, antivirus tools, and so on) or a category of domains (communication infrastructure, collaboration software, and so on). Structurally, a CC arranges selection criteria in a hierarchical tree-like structure. The higher-level selection criteria serve to classify more concrete selection criteria, usually allowing some overlap. They also serve to leverage the CC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version