Care: an integrated framework to support continuous, adaptable, reflective evaluation of eGovernment systems: A research note

CARE: an Integrated Framework to Support Continuous, Adaptable, Reflective Evaluation of Egovernment SystemsThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern to develop a better approach to learning from the experience of an eGovernment project and applying that knowledge in future projects. The proposed project is based on previous work in the construction industry that developed COLA, a Cross Organisational Learning Approach. Developing a similar strategy for Knowledge Management is likely to be effective because the ‘silo’ culture of local government organisations has parallels with the segmented organisational structures within the construction industry.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK (grant GR/T27020/01

CARE: An integrated framework to support continuous, adaptable, reflective evaluation of egovernment systems: A research note

CARE: an Integrated Framework to Support Continuous, Adaptable, Reflective Evaluation of Egovernment SystemsThis is an eGISE network paper. It is motivated by a concern to develop a better approach to learning from the experience of an eGovernment project and applying that knowledge in future projects. The proposed project is based on previous work in the construction industry that developed COLA, a Cross Organisational Learning Approach. Developing a similar strategy for Knowledge Management is likely to be effective because the ‘silo’ culture of local government organisations has parallels with the segmented organisational structures within the construction industry.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (grant GR/T27020/01

Cooperative purchasing within the United Nations

To support cooperative purchasing within the United Nations we carried out an empirical study in 2004, mainly to define cooperation forms, and to identify and rank motives and critical factors for cooperation. Important reasons to work together turn out to be lower prices and transaction costs, sharing information, and learning. Reasons not to work together are i.e. lack of opportunity or priority to purchase cooperatively. Most of the literature in the area of critical factors focuses on factors such as trust and support. Based on our study, we also emphasize the importance of choosing the right products and services. Furthermore, we observe what we call the hitchhikers’ dilemma. This dilemma deals with small agencies hitchhiking on contracts from large agencies. For large agen-cies there may be no incentive to allow hitchhiking. For small agencies hitchhiking can be very interesting though. Possible solutions to this problem are savings allocation mechanisms. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research

Control configurations in buyer-supplier relationships: environment- buyer organisation- goals and modes of control

Considering the growing externalisation of strategic activities, the problem of the control of buyer-supplier relationships is crucial. Therefore, researchers usually propose modes of control that are adapted to various environments. However, the organisations are often considered as “black boxes” whose goals are unspecified. This paper examines buyer-supplier control configurations that take into account the organisation of buying firms and their goals toward their suppliers. This research is based on six case studies conducted in the manufacturing industry (60 interviews). The outcome of the research is a matrix which represents four configurations of buyer-supplier control, based on the global purchasing environment of the buying firm (in terms of reciprocal dependence between the buyer and its suppliers). For each configuration, a type of purchasing organisation (structure and intra-organisational control of purchasing agents) and a principal goal for the buying firm are proposed: the lord-buyer wants to exert its power, the partner-buyer aims at assuring goal congruence with its suppliers, the vassal-buyer tries to reduce uncertainty and the market-buyer seeks to grasp opportunities on the market. For each configuration, the modes of control that the buyer exerts on its suppliers –in terms of means, objects of control, influence strategies of the buyer (more or less coercive) and suppliers reactions- are coherent with the main goal of the buyer.interorganisational control; buyer-supplier relationship; power; dependence; Goals of control

Mirroring or misting: On the role of product architecture, product complexity, and the rate of product component change

This paper contributes to the literature on the within-firm and across-firm mirroring hypothesis – the assumed architectural mapping between firms’ strategic choices of product architecture and firm architecture, and between firms’ architectural choices and the industry structures that emerge. Empirical evidence is both limited and mixed and there is evidently a need for a more nuanced theory that embeds not only whether the mirroring hypothesis holds, but under what product architecture and component-level conditions it may or may not hold. We invoke an industrial economics perspective to develop a stylised product architecture typology and hypothesise how the combined effects of product architecture type, product complexity and the rate of product component change may be associated with phases of mirroring or misting. Our framework helps to reconcile much existing mixed evidence and provides the foundation for further empirical research

Exploring continuous organisational transformation as a form of network interdependence

In this paper we examine the problematic area of continuous transformation. We conduct our analysis from three theoretical perspectives: the resource based view, social network theory, and stakeholder theory. We found that the continuous transformation can be explained through the concept of Network Interdependence. This paper describes Network Interdependence and develops theoretical propositions from a synthesis of the three theories. Our contribution of Network Interdependence offers fresh insights into managing complex change and offers new ways of looking at organisational transformation

The performance of economic institutions in a dynamic environment: air transport and telecommunications in Germany and Britain

Detailed case study material illustrates why the performance of two British national champions (British Airways and British Telecom respectively) was superior to that of their German counterparts (Lufthansa and Deutsche Telekom): beyond just the effects of privatisation, both the airline and telecommunications industries have been characterised by substantial technological and market change which has altered the parameters of competitive strategy. Under these new dynamic environmental conditions, the British institutional structure has out-performed the denser network of relationships within Germany. This paper seeks to develop a theory of Anglo-Saxon competitive advantage that is not predicated only on the allocative efficiency of free markets, but precisely on the notions of adaptive efficiency or dynamic efficiency of non-market organisational activities. In other words, the hypothesis is that under specified types of industry conditions, the adaptive or dynamic efficiency of Anglo-Saxon firms may be superior to that of firms in Northern Europe's industry-coordination economies. -- Eine Analyse von umfangreichem Fallstudienmaterial läßt erkennen, warum Leistungsfähigkeit und tatsächlich erzieltes Ergebnis der beiden britischen Spitzenunternehmen British Airways und British Telecom besser waren im Vergleich zu den entsprechenden deutschen Unternehmen Lufthansa und Deutsche Telekom: Neben den quasi automatisch auftretenden Wirkungen jeder Privatisierung waren die Luftfahrt- und Telekommunikationsbranchen durch tiefgreifende Änderungen der Technologien und der Märkte gekennzeichnet, wodurch die Kenngrößen für eine wettbewerbsorientierte Strategie geändert wurden. Unter diesen neuentstandenen, dynamisierten Umfeldbedingungen erwies sich die Institutionenstruktur Großbritanniens als dem dichteren Beziehungsnetzwerk in Deutschland überlegen. In diesem Papier sollen Elemente für eine Theorie über diesen angelsächsischen Wettbewerbsvorteil entwickelt werden, die nicht nur auf der Allokationseffizienz von freien Märkten basieren, sondern genau auf die Wahrnehmungen einer Anpassungseffizienz oder dynamischen Effizienz von nichtmarktlichen Aktivitäten unterschiedlicher Organisationen bezogen sind. In anderen Worten, es geht um die Hypothese, daß bei bestimmten, in einer Branche gerade herrschenden Bedingungskonstellationen, die Anpassungs- oder Reaktionseffizienz von angelsächsischen Unternehmen derjenigen von Unternehmen in den branchenkoordinierten Volkswirtschaften des nördlichen Europas überlegen ist.

The knowledge domain of chain and network science

This editorial paper aims to provide a framework to categorise and evaluate the domain of Chain and Network Science (CNS), and to provide an envelope for the research and management agenda. The authors strongly feel that although considerable progress has been made over the past couple of years in the development of the CNS domain, a number of important and exciting challenges are still waiting to be tackled. This paper provides a definition of the object of study of CNS, its central problem area, the organisation and governance of chain and network co-operation, and the relationships between chain organisation and technology development, market dynamics, and the economy and society at large. It indicates relevant sources of knowledge among the various academic disciplines. It touches upon CNS problem solving by identifying areas for knowledge development and CNS tool construction

Workplace Flexibility Practices in SMEs: Relationship with Performance via Redundancies, Absenteeism, and Financial Turnover

This workplace flexibility study uses primary data on private sector small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lancashire, United Kingdom, collected in 2009 during the recent “credit crunch” recession. Key features include: (1) objective measures of SME performance; (2) a focus on the previously relatively neglected relationship between workplace flexibility practices (WFPs) and three SME performance indicators, namely, redundancies, absenteeism, and financial turnover; and (3) a timely contribution to research on SMEs. Numerical, functional, and cost WFPs analyses, via zero-inflated Poisson and linear regressions, control for SME and market characteristics. Despite SMEs having limited resources, the results show a significant section of SMEs to be innovative and entrepreneurial organizations, embracing advancements in employment relations regarding employee discretion, training, participative working arrangements, and/or job security. Moreover, results indicate that WFPs have the potential to assist SMEs in responding to periods of constrained demand. Flexitime and job sharing are associated with low permanent-employee redundancies. Training, job security, and family-friendly practices relate to low absenteeism with reductions of up to six annual days per worker. Job security and profit-related pay are associated with high financial turnover. Staff pay-freeze links with high financial turnover, but to the detriment of redundancies and absenteeism, whereas management pay-cuts or management pay-freeze relate to low financial turnover. On a cautionary note, spending cuts, often enforced by policymakers, may be of limited benefit to SMEs, and thus other approaches would appear more fruitful