Current state of e-services in Saudi Arabia: the case of intermediaries in facilitating government services in Madinah city

The government of Madinah has launched ‘Khdamatec’ electronic Offices (e-Offices) concept under their national electronic Government (e-Government) modernisation agenda to facilitate service delivery to citizens and seamless interaction to communicate their needs. By offering e-Offices around the government departments, Madinah government hopes to increase accessibility of e-Government services and make steps forward to electronic age, encourage Medina' citizens to participate and use e-Services and bridging digital divide. However, the empirical findings illustrate that the adoption and diffusion of the e-Office concept and e-Government in the wider context at a lethargic pace. This paper highlights some of the challenges faced by the Madinah city in implementing the e-Office concept and e-Government

Selling Rooms Online: The Use of Social Media and Online Travel Agents

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the reason why hoteliers choose to be present in online travel agent (OTA) and social media web sites for sales purposes. It also investigates the technological and human factors related to these two practices. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a survey sent to a wide range of hotels in a Swiss touristic region. The empirical analysis involves the specification of two ordered logit models exploring the importance (in terms of online sales) of both social media and the online travel agent, Booking.com. Findings – Findings highlight the constant tension between visibility and online sales in the web arena, as well as a clear distinction in social media and OTA web site adoption between hospitality structures using online management tools and employing personnel with specific skills. Practical implications – The research highlights the need for the hospitality industry to maintain an effective presence on social media and OTAs in order to move towards the creation of a new form of social booking technologies to increase their visibility and sales. Originality/value – This research contributes to understanding the major role played by OTAs and social media in the hospitality industry while underlining the possibility of a major interplay between the two

Information Technology Applications in Hospitality and Tourism: A Review of Publications from 2005 to 2007

The tourism and hospitality industries have widely adopted information technology (IT) to reduce costs, enhance operational efficiency, and most importantly to improve service quality and customer experience. This article offers a comprehensive review of articles that were published in 57 tourism and hospitality research journals from 2005 to 2007. Grouping the findings into the categories of consumers, technologies, and suppliers, the article sheds light on the evolution of IT applications in the tourism and hospitality industries. The article demonstrates that IT is increasingly becoming critical for the competitive operations of the tourism and hospitality organizations as well as for managing the distribution and marketing of organizations on a global scale

Research methods and methodologies for studying organisational learning

The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate the main research methods and methodologies for studying organisational learning (OL), and propose a framework for their selection. It presents a comprehensive review of literature on OL, learning organisation (LO) and research methods and reports evidence on recent developments in research methods for studying OL. The paper highlighted on the purists and pragmatists’ views of research methodologies as basis of the study. The results revealed that the research methods and methodologies for studying OL do not reflect on the differing views of the purists and pragmatists’ debate but rather conform to the convergence ideologies of the two camps. Particularly, the outcomes augment the use of triangulation and suggest that the choice of method(s) should be consistent with research aims and epistemological philosophy of OL. Consequently, the study recommends OL Research Methods Framework as a useful guide for selecting a suitable approach in the area. The paper recommends ethnography for future research consideration

Informatisation of transport process using GPS navigation system

Nowadays, internal business processes are one of the crucial factors of firms’ competitive advantage achievement, which is becoming increasingly important, not only on local but also on global markets. Firms’ performance improvement depends to a large extent on its flexibility, adjustability and especially ability to manage internal business processes. Hence, use of information technology is among the fundamental elements of business process change, which not only improve competitiveness but also assure long term development and growth of the firm. For all these reasons, the main purpose of this article is firstly to establish that use of information technology is feasible in all industries, explain what possible obstacles for successful informatisation are, and which are major advantages after its implementation. Secondly, within theoretical aspect we present broaden view of informatisation in logistics, whilst practical example illustrates successful informatisation of transport process with adoption of GPS (Global Positioning System) in a transport firm. Furthermore, in this article we are also introducing a case study of three transport firms describing process flow before and after implementation identifying enhanced information quality, service quality and communication as a foremost advantages and achievements after informatisatio

International conference on software engineering and knowledge engineering: Session chair

The Thirtieth International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE 2018) will be held at the Hotel Pullman, San Francisco Bay, USA, from July 1 to July 3, 2018. SEKE2018 will also be dedicated in memory of Professor Lofti Zadeh, a great scholar, pioneer and leader in fuzzy sets theory and soft computing. The conference aims at bringing together experts in software engineering and knowledge engineering to discuss on relevant results in either software engineering or knowledge engineering or both. Special emphasis will be put on the transference of methods between both domains. The theme this year is soft computing in software engineering & knowledge engineering. Submission of papers and demos are both welcome

Corporate Social Responsibility in Tourism Small and Medium Enterprises. Evidence from Europe and Latin America

While there is a growing literature related with corporate social responsibility (CSR) in hospitality and tourism large firms, much remains to be done in the case of CSR in tourism small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In this paper we provide three studies regarding this particular aspect through the evidence present in different destinations: Catalonia, European natural parks and Chile. Among the conclusions that can be highlighted is the prevalence of altruism in the reasons for being responsible, the introduction of increasingly advanced measures or their impact on different business variables, and the link to financial performance

Temporary Clusters and Knowledge Creation: The Case of Tourism@

With respect to the knowledge-based-view and management science, innovations contribute to a company's competitiveness. And for successful innovation process, companies need to share, create and combine their internal knowledge as well as managing their external relationships and opportunities. Consequently, it is widely accepted that clusters - systemic and local configurations - by supporting horizontal and vertical knowledge exchange could be a fundamental mean for innovation. However, the prolific literature on clusters analyse them only as durable and permanent entities. Yet, interestingly, some forms of temporary organizations as trade fairs, conventions and other professional gatherings, are similar to permanent clusters, but in a temporary, repeated and intensified form. Maskell, Bathelt and Malmberg (2004) even call them “temporary cluster” using the concept to define a short-lived hotspot of intense knowledge exchange, network building and idea generation. It gathers heterogeneous participants in the same spot enabling them to bring together their specific knowledge through intensive interactions. Nevertheless, to date, we observed that the literature focusing on temporary clusters is limited. Notwithstanding, it requires growing attention for management science. In fact, the literature existing on temporary clusters, had asserted that these transient events are important for companies to access markets and knowledge pools in different part of the world. Therefore we consider temporary clusters as a significant vector for the building of trans-local business relations in common situations of incomplete knowledge and uncertainty. Besides, temporary clusters help developing global knowledge pipelines to benefit from outside knowledge.In this context, the paper will analyze a specific empirical case of temporary organization related to the tourism industry. Two arguments support this choice. On the one hand, as stated by Maskell et al. (2005), ‘identifying, selecting, approaching and interacting with new partners is a tricky and costly process' and, we think, even more in the tourism industry. Indeed, the tourism industry is structured by dispersed activities in nature, time and space that need to be combined and assembled dynamically. On the other hand, the tourism industry has been one of the most innovative activities related to the development of ICT, almost 50% of the innovations in the e-commerce activity come from e-tourism or m-tourism. Therefore, the analysis of a temporary cluster dedicated to this ‘dispersed' activity is particularly relevant.The paper will thus focus on such an event called Tourism@. This major event gathers the main actors of e-tourism and is dedicated to the usages of ICT in the tourism industry. It appears as a unique international trade fair in Europe dedicated to start up innovative companies, high tech SMEs, academic research, as well as large multinationals. Tourism@' specificity lies in the fact that each year, since 2001, the event includes the organization of a competition rewarding projects for their creativity and commitment in developing and implementing either new technologies or new uses for the tourism industry. The projects involved in this competition (175 since 2001) will be the basic elements of the temporal database we have build, in which the nature of the projects is extensively described (nature of the firm, of the technology, of the team, capabilities implemented, level of innovation...). In order to analyze the evolution of innovative activities in e-tourism, the initial step will be to characterize the projects through three main features: the market they address, nature of the technology and their innovative intensity. The study reveals that, each year, a main technology or a main innovation in terms of uses emerges showing some kind of self organization. Then, two points of the case study will be examined: first, the evolution of the dominant technology over time, and secondly, the diffusion of the emerging technology. Therefrom, the empirical study will aim at analyzing if temporary proximity allows the different actors from tourism industry to set up or mobilize knowledge and social links without requiring durable co-location. Furthermore, it will aim at identifying if, in a dynamic context of annual event, the repeated face to face temporary relations can result in trust and durable cooperation between different organizations. It might be expected that Tourism@ trade fair, in the role of a temporary cluster, enables to develop or implement innovative solutions, supports technology transfers and backs the creation of new markets as well as the fostering of horizontal and vertical relations between stakeholders.The paper is structured as follows. First section will investigate the theory field of temporary clusters and question in what extent a temporary cluster can be considered as a specific temporary organization regarding the interactions it support that lead to knowledge creation. Section two will present the Tourism@ case study; the methodology used and will develop the statistical analysis of the database. Lastly, the third section will be dedicated to the discussion of temporary clusters as a specific form of inter-firm organization that allows intensive exchange of knowledge.Knowledge creation; Temporary cluster; Tourism; Technological innovation

Usages of the internet and e-tourism. Towards a new economy of tourism

This paper analyses the impact of internet on the organization of industry and the marketdynamics in the tourism activities, focusing in the European scene. Tourism incorporates many features ofthe contemporaneous information and communication economy. Even if e-tourism still stands for a smallshare of the whole tourism activity, the paper establishes that the internet basically explains theorganization of the activities and markets that emerge today. A relevant analytical framework able toapprehend these dynamics is first defined. The concept of sectoral system of production and innovation isshown to provide a relevant analytical framework to grasp the basic changes of the tourism industry. Thepaper enlightens on this basis the evolution resulting from the emergence of e-tourism and the uses ofinternet, their impacts on the coordination of the activities and the markets, with a special focus on theEuropean caseTourism; Sectoral Systems of Production and Innovation;ICT; Virtual Communities; GDS

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