Motorola cash management: The evolution of a global system

The set of interorganizational information systems used for global cash management in business markets is analyzed. A longitudinal case study of Motorola is presented. Their strategy has evolved from an internal cost saving focus to a cooperative one, yielding significant strategic benefits by the inclusion of trading partners. The financial aspects of Motorola's business relationships with trading partners and its principal bank have been transformed through a process of organizational learning and adaptation coupled with the close integration of information systems (ISs) throughout the cash supply chain. Cooperative behavior between Motorola and its suppliers, with the help of Citibank, has enabled a coordinated response to bring cash flows in line with product flows. The results are compared with existing IS marketing theories on business relationships, market structure, and globalization

Structure and restructuring in the Spanish economy

Accompanying report for submission in partial fulfllment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy based on published works to the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Luton.The changing character of the economic environment in the last quarter of the twentieth century has resulted in a continuous process of restructuring in the economy of Spain, mediated through the structure and regulatory framework of the economy. Three specific themes contributing to restructuring are addressed: globalisation of the economy, European integration, and the role of the public sector. Globalisation ofthe economy is demonstrated through increased international flows of goods, capital, people and information, and by the incorporation of businesses in Spain within the corporate networks of foreign multinational companies. Spanish businesses too have been extending their global reach, especially into Latin America. European integration has been part of the globalisation process. A substantial proportion of international flows are now concentrated within the European Union and business networks have been adapting to the 'Single European Market'. European integration has dominated economic policy, first in measures to secure membership of the European Economic Community, then in measures to adjust to the regulatory environment of the European Community and finally in the race to achieve the Maastricht criteria. The role of the public sector in restructuring has been to 'manage' the market forces unleashed by the liberalisation ofthe economy. Market forces, embracing increased competition and technological change, have driven the restructuring process demanding responses from the government. These responses have increasingly been constrained by the shedding of responsibilities upwards to international organisations and downwards to lower tiers of administration. Isolation, protection and goverrunent intervention in the economy have given way to a more liberal, open and international environment. Transformation in the mode of regulation from state corporatism to neo-liberalism has been accompanied by globalisation of the economy, particularly integration into the European economy and the corporate space of multinational companies. Nevertheless, despite the growing emphasis on globalisation, public policy continues to play a crucial role influencing the pace, if not the direction, of restructuring

Achieving supply chain integration using RFID technology: The case of emerging intelligent B-to-B e-commerce processes in a living laboratory

Purpose: Despite the high operational and strategic potentials of RFID technology, very little studies have been conducted about its role as enabler of supply chain integration to achieve high-level operational efficiency. Therefore, this study is an initial effort towards bridging the existing knowledge gap in the literature. Design/methodology: This exploratory research was conducted in one retail supply chain. A multi-method approach combining a longitudinal real-life case study and a methodology integrating several steps, including a “Living Laboratory” strategy was used and involved all members of a product line to analyze in terms of their contributing activities and their interface with other supply chain members, the aim being to explore the impact of RFID technology on inter- and intra-organizational processes and information systems. Findings: Our results provide support to the role of RFID as enabler of better integration of timeliness and accuracy data flows into information systems, business process optimization through automation, better system-to-system communication and better inter- and-intra-organizational business process integration. Furthermore, they also validate the unique characteristics of RFID technology such as enabler of realtime multiple tags items data collection and exchange within the supply chain and the read-and-write capability that may help, for example, to reuse some RFID tags within the supply chain and therefore reduce the cost related to the purchase of the said RFID tags. Finally, the study also reveals the importance of business process renovation and complementary investments during the adoption of RFID technology in order to achieve high level of business value from the technology

Achieving supply chain integration using RFID technology: The case of emerging intelligent B-to-B e-commerce processes in a living laboratory

Purpose: Despite the high operational and strategic potentials of RFID technology, very little studies have been conducted about its role as enabler of supply chain integration to achieve high-level operational efficiency. Therefore, this study is an initial effort towards bridging the existing knowledge gap in the literature. Design/methodology: This exploratory research was conducted in one retail supply chain. A multi-method approach combining a longitudinal real-life case study and a methodology integrating several steps, including a “Living Laboratory” strategy was used and involved all members of a product line to analyze in terms of their contributing activities and their interface with other supply chain members, the aim being to explore the impact of RFID technology on inter- and intra-organizational processes and information systems. Findings: Our results provide support to the role of RFID as enabler of better integration of timeliness and accuracy data flows into information systems, business process optimization through automation, better system-to-system communication and better inter- and-intra-organizational business process integration. Furthermore, they also validate the unique characteristics of RFID technology such as enabler of realtime multiple tags items data collection and exchange within the supply chain and the read-and-write capability that may help, for example, to reuse some RFID tags within the supply chain and therefore reduce the cost related to the purchase of the said RFID tags. Finally, the study also reveals the importance of business process renovation and complementary investments during the adoption of RFID technology in order to achieve high level of business value from the technology

A generic framework for process execution and secure multi-party transaction authorization

Process execution engines are not only an integral part of workflow and business process management systems but are increasingly used to build process-driven applications. In other words, they are potentially used in all kinds of software across all application domains. However, contemporary process engines and workflow systems are unsuitable for use in such diverse application scenarios for several reasons. The main shortcomings can be observed in the areas of interoperability, versatility, and programmability. Therefore, this thesis makes a step away from domain specific, monolithic workflow engines towards generic and versatile process runtime frameworks, which enable integration of process technology into all kinds of software. To achieve this, the idea and corresponding architecture of a generic and embeddable process virtual machine (ePVM), which supports defining process flows along the theoretical foundation of communicating extended finite state machines, are presented. The architecture focuses on the core process functionality such as control flow and state management, monitoring, persistence, and communication, while using JavaScript as a process definition language. This approach leads to a very generic yet easily programmable process framework. A fully functional prototype implementation of the proposed framework is provided along with multiple example applications. Despite the fact that business processes are increasingly automated and controlled by information systems, humans are still involved, directly or indirectly, in many of them. Thus, for process flows involving sensitive transactions, a highly secure authorization scheme supporting asynchronous multi-party transaction authorization must be available within process management systems. Therefore, along with the ePVM framework, this thesis presents a novel approach for secure remote multi-party transaction authentication - the zone trusted information channel (ZTIC). The ZTIC approach uniquely combines multiple desirable properties such as the highest level of security, ease-of-use, mobility, remote administration, and smooth integration with existing infrastructures into one device and method. Extensively evaluating both, the ePVM framework and the ZTIC, this thesis shows that ePVM in combination with the ZTIC approach represents a unique and very powerful framework for building workflow systems and process-driven applications including support for secure multi-party transaction authorization

A process analysis of the Namibian Health System: An exploratory case study

AbstractBackground: The Namibian health system is fragmented and data are collected from disparate systems that are not interoperable. Interoperability in this case refers to the ability of health information systems (HISs) to communicate and exchange health-related data at various healthcare levels. The multiplicity of HISs has resulted in limited access to integrated data across the entire health system, leading to duplication of data and under-reporting from primary healthcare facilities, yielding unreliable institution-based data within the health system.Methods: A qualitative approach was employed using a two-phase design. In phase one, a business process re-engineering (BPR) approach was applied to conduct a process analysis of the Namibian health system. A process model is developed to illustrate health inter-level data flows. In phase two, the process model was validated by experts, and semi-structured interviews were conducted as part of a Delphi study to elicit the opinions of experts on challenges and bottlenecks in the data flow process. Interview results were inductively analyzed using the NVivo software to identify themes and patterns from the data.Findings: The national HIS faces pertinent challenges concerning fragmented systems, originating from vertical programmes and donor-funded systems that do not exchange data with the national-level district health information system (DHIS). Findings also highlight that Namibia, among other developing nations, faces similar integration challenges, such as a lack of a trained workforce, different healthcare interoperability standards used by various HISs, an inadequate foundational infrastructure, and an absence of policies, unclear roles and structures that are necessary for driving HIS integration initiatives.Conclusion: There is a need to strengthen collaboration between the national HISs and vertical health systems (VHSs) to address curb the integration challenges. The Ministry of Health (MoH) needs to invest in capacity building projects to train HIS officers on data analysis and use of DHIS 2. In addition, a clear outline of structures and functions needs to be defined to ensure that various MoH units, particularly the IT department, fulfill their primary role of providing IT services, including HIS integration.  [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2018;32(4):200-209]Key words: Health information systems, process analysis, business process re-engineering, integration, interoperability, Namibi

Supply Chain Management in the Emergin Context of Electonic Commerce

This research will examine the different kinds of supply chains by providing modeling variations that include coordination mechanism, production planning and scheduling, and logistics management in the emerging context of electronic commerce. In contrast to most of the supply chain literature that takes the existing supply chain as given and attempts to optimize material flows or information flows, the research will focus on emerging forms of supply chain enhanced by new technologies such as open EDI, the Internet, intranets, and extranets. An observation in supply chain management, which recently gained popularity, the bullwhip effect, suggests that demand variability increases as one moves up a supply chain. Solutions for bullwhip effect include supply chain integration through information sharing and supply chain partnership. However, in emerging business-to-business electronic commerce, a perfectly competitive market is possible, where many suppliers and buyers can keep track of real-time demand and supply of a product, thus the price being adjusted promptly by market itself. Although problems such as quality assurance and increasing transaction/coordination cost may arise in return for reliable supply chain partners, causes of bullwhip effect such as demand forecast update, order batching, price fluctuation and shortage gaming may diminish in electronic marketplaces due to immediate information about the availability of products as well as price and demand. Such information is costly and difficult to get, unless strong partnership and information sharing exists between many supply chain parties. Hence, the first research question is: In terms of bullwhip effect, will market mechanism coordinated by electronic intermediaries reduce the demand distortion in upstream supply chain? If so, how effective is it compared to the hierarchy mechanism with vertical integration or information sharing? Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have become popular in 1990s with business process reengineering practices. ERP systems attempt to automate and integrate all functions in an enterprise’s value chain. With the burst of the Internet and electronic commerce, companies using or planning to use ERP, are beginning to demand interface functions that enable flexible communications among supply chain partners. Moreover, in electronic marketplaces, computerized agents (e.g. searching agent, purchasing agent) and intermediaries are expected to be the solution for controlling huge amount of information and material flow. The second research question regarding this issue, thus, is: What kinds of information systems or technologies are needed in order to support a firm’s supply chain or supply chain as a whole, in particular in electronic markets? While optimizing supply chains with regard to information flows and/or material flows, we expect that the following components for supply chain management will clearly be identified as enablers of successful supply chain management. • ERP extensions/modules that link adjacent supply chain partners • Supply chain reengineering and Web-enabled supply chain via intranet and extranet • Agents/intermediaries that control the costs (purchasing, sales, distribution), quality (parts, finished product), and time (on-time delivery, online demand information

THE TRANSFORMATION OF A COMPANY'S STRATEGY IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION

Abstract. Globalization represents the process of integration of different societies and countries. Thisphenomenon encompasses the flow of goods, services, labor, finance, information and ideas which spread across national borders. The frequency and intensity of these flows are related to the upward or the downward trends of globalization as a tendency. Globalization is defined as a process which is based on international strategies aimed at expanding business operations on a global level. It originates from the facilitation in global communications due to the technological advance and social and economic, political and environmental developments. The goal of globalization is to ensure that companies and enterprises can achieve the highest competitive positions at lower operating costs in order to cover a greater number of products, services and consumers. This approach to competition can be accomplished through a diversification of resources, the creation and development of new investment opportunities by opening up additional markets and ensuring access to new raw materials and resources. The diversification of resources is a business strategy that aims to boost the diversity of business products and services in various companies. Diversification reinforces institutions by lowering organization risk factors, spreading the interests of firms in different areas, taking advantage of market opportunities and acquiring companies ofboth horizontal and vertical nature.Keywords: globalization, economy, finance, GDP, business, industry, factors in the formation andimplementation of industry development strategies

A conceptual digital business model for construction logistics consultants, featuring a sociomaterial blockchain solution for integrated economic, material and information flows

In this paper, a new digital business model for independent construction logistics consultants, which features the conceptualization of a sociomaterial blockchain solution for integrated information, material and economic flows, is proposed.Theoretically, we offer an understanding of the economic flow, stress the optimization of construction logistics through flow integration, analyse current approaches to understanding blockchain, adopt sociomateriality to envision a suitable blockchain solution, and consider the way blockchain can constitute part of the value proposition of a related digital business model. Methodologically, we systematically reviewed the literature on blockchain-related construction research, and conducted empirical studies on independent logistics consultants in the Swedish context for more than a year. On the one hand, the literature review reveals that core blockchain properties can generate value for construction logistics (e.g. shared ledger structure and reduction of accounting rework) – however, apart from visions and prototypes, there currently exist no use cases, and potential implementational constraints and security issues are limitedly considered. One the other hand, the empirical findings show that independent construction logistics consultants in the sociomaterial Swedish context are suitable candidates for the proposed digital business model. By combining the literature and empirical insights, a permissioned private proof-of-authority blockchain solution integrating the supply chain flows in a generic sociomaterial setting is conceptualized. This solution is then embedded in the value proposition of a digital business model for an independent construction logistics consultant. The proposition includes, among others, improved process management and increased productivity, while the consultants’ competitive advantage through innovation is facilitated. Other business model segments, like key resources, are also updated via the blockchain solution, while some, like channels, are not significantly affected. To not hinder the realization of this digital business model, issues like the lack of blockchain awareness, and the existing power balances within sociomaterial constellations, have to be addressed

A unified view of data-intensive flows in business intelligence systems : a survey

Data-intensive flows are central processes in today’s business intelligence (BI) systems, deploying different technologies to deliver data, from a multitude of data sources, in user-preferred and analysis-ready formats. To meet complex requirements of next generation BI systems, we often need an effective combination of the traditionally batched extract-transform-load (ETL) processes that populate a data warehouse (DW) from integrated data sources, and more real-time and operational data flows that integrate source data at runtime. Both academia and industry thus must have a clear understanding of the foundations of data-intensive flows and the challenges of moving towards next generation BI environments. In this paper we present a survey of today’s research on data-intensive flows and the related fundamental fields of database theory. The study is based on a proposed set of dimensions describing the important challenges of data-intensive flows in the next generation BI setting. As a result of this survey, we envision an architecture of a system for managing the lifecycle of data-intensive flows. The results further provide a comprehensive understanding of data-intensive flows, recognizing challenges that still are to be addressed, and how the current solutions can be applied for addressing these challenges.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft