Should ‘Virtual’ Mean ‘Vague’? A Plea For More Conceptual Clarity in Researching Virtual Organisations

Around fifteen years ago the concept ‘virtual organisation’ (VO) was coined to describe changes in organisational structures of value creation as a reaction to developments in modern market environments. Since then, the VO as a concept has been used to describe different things in different contexts, so that today we find a rather unsatisfying mix of VO notions in the literature. Moreover, in many articles the VO remains underspecified and vague; sometimes even a mismatch exists between VO definitions provided and examples discussed. Motivated by these observations we carried out a literature analysis to explore differing notions of virtual organisation. The contribution of our study is twofold. First, we identify and describe in conceptual detail three distinct types of VO as the basis for future research endeavours. Second, we point to a need for conceptual clarity in researching VOs in practice, in light of the rather different management challenges of the three identified types

Information technology tools and supply chain performance of online retailers in Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State, Nigeria

The work examined the impact of information technology (IT) tools on supply chain performance of online retailers in Calabar Metropolis, Cross River State. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey research design and the purposive sampling procedure. Data were analyzed using the multiple regression analysis. The study revealed that information technology (IT) tools have positive influence on supply chain performance of online retailers in Calabar Metropolis. It has been observed that the use of information technology improves supply chain performance as it assists the online retailers in building accumulative knowledge about various supply chain partners (customers, suppliers, distributors, and main channels). The study concluded that supply chain management begins and ends with the customers. And, the sole aim of the integration and collaborations of the supply chain is to effectively and efficiently satisfy customers’ demands and needs, as well as add value to the supply chain activities which would enhance their performance. The study therefore, recommended that online retailers should build an effective supply chain, integrated with information technologies enabled logistic system that can improve supply chain performance and response quickly to unexpected needs of the consumers.Keywords: Information technology, IT tools, supply chain management and supply chain performanc

Computer Aided Business Model Design: Analysis of Key Features Adopted by Users

Business model innovation comprises many theoretical models, frameworks and methodologies; however, there is still little in the way of digital support for them using Computer Aided Design software. In this paper, we present an analysis of real-world usage data from the first generation of such tools that were designed to support the business model canvas. We first present how two artifacts implement features such as colors for grouping, custom attributes and positioning of elements. An examination of how digital support brings about new opportunities in business modeling allows us to compare this with a paper-based version. We then analyze how variations of these features have been used in the real world. Finally, we examine the implications of our observations for the next generation of tools and the advancement of research for dedicated Computer Aided Design tools to support strategic objects such as business models

In pursuit of value:The objective of a purchase as guide for a relationship

This study investigates how buying firms differentiate their relationship practices based on the objective of a purchase. Although previous research shows that purchasing objectives strongly influence how buyers organize their relationships, it remains unclear how so-called tactical sourcing levers are used to support an objective. We draw on a mixed-method case study design consisting of a scenario-based survey study and semi-structured interviews. Our quantitative findings show that while transactional levers are commonly applied across purchasing objectives, they are not necessarily the most important for the different objectives. In fact, our qualitative findings reveal that sourcing levers are not either transactional or relational, but exist on a continuum where each lever can be used in different ways depending on the objective of the purchase. As such, our study provides a novel view on more traditional purchasing classifications such as the one on purchasing levers. Consequently, our findings suggest that existing purchasing tools need to be revised in line with today's value creation approach of purchasing.</p

Framework for a business interoperability quotient measurement model

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova da Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial (MEGI)Over the last decade the context of Interoperability has been changing rapidly. It has been expanding from the largely technically focused area of Information Systems towards Business Processes and Business Semantics. However, there exists a need for more comprehensive ways to define business interoperability and enable its performance measurement as a first step towards improvement of interoperability conditions between collaborating entities. Through extensive literature reviews and analysis of European Research initiatives in this area, this dissertation presents the State of the Art in Business Interoperability. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a model that closely captures the factors that are responsible for Business Interoperability in the context of Collaborative Business Processes. This Business Interoperability Quotient Measurement Model (BIQMM), developed in this dissertation uses an interdisciplinary approach to capture the key elements responsible for collaboration performance. Through the quantification of the relevance of each element to the particular collaboration scenario in question, this model enables a quantitative analysis of Business Interoperability, so that an overall interoperability score can be arrived at for enhanced performance measurements.Finally, the BIQMM is applied to a business case involving Innovayt and LM Glassfiber to demonstrate its applicability to different collaboration scenarios

CURRENT ISSUES AFFECTING TRADE AND TRADE POLICY: AN ANNOTATED LITERATURE REVIEW

This review provides a base of literature describing current issues and research on the impacts of lobalization and the industrialization of agriculture and recent approaches to analyze and model agricultural trade and trade policies. Three key factors of the survey are differentiated goods, global economic integration and international supply chain linkages. The review covers 182 publications, which are presented alphabetically by author with a brief annotation describing how it relates to the above criteria. The articles are also indexed by keyword. A brief summary highlights the documented literature and includes a series of issues for future discussion and research.International Relations/Trade,

The Invisibles in IB: How State agents’ export promotion support, finance, and time influence firms’ internationalization

LOI. This thesis joins the conversation about the internationalization of the firm: Dunning’s Eclectic Paradigm (Ownership, Location, Internalization) operates as an envelope to anchor important factors that have previously received little attention in the IB conversation. These missing elements are the role of finance in explaining internationalization, the role of State agents, i.e. ECAs, and the role of time. The reason why it is important to deal with these omissions is because, many firms rely on export credit agencies’ (ECAs’) services to conduct either their early internationalization, or they rely on ECAs to provide financing tools to enable their later international business activities. This factor has surprisingly been neglected in most IB explanations on internationalization and the success and failure of MNEs. Within the thesis, I studied these in three separate studies. Essay 1, 2 and 3, have been conducted to shed light on the role of ECAs in firms’ internationalization. The three studies brought up surprising observations that were not sufficiently considered in the explanations of internationalization and how MNE safeguard their business. I focused on novel elements and applied an abductive reasoning (Saetre & Van de Ven, 2021). The surprising results in each of the studies, let me to search for a theoretical anchoring framework. I used Dunning’s OLI as an envelope to integrate the most important factors. These enhance our understanding of internationalization. Then I propose a new direction for the three dimensions conceptual model, presented as LOI. Regarding the contributions, I found as the results that the focused factors, finance, state agents and time, increase our understanding how ECAs support firms’ capabilities and influence how firms make their internationalization decisions. And I am highlighting new factors that increase the explanatory power of the internationalization journey of firms: capabilities, willingness and the goal. The research contributes to academia beyond IB through the methodology used. The abductive reasoning serves as a concrete illustration of how a human brain conceives and constructs internationalization decision making. The dimension that connects it to natural Life sciences and biological models, is the innovation of this thesis: the concept of time internalization.---- LOI. Tämän väitöskirjan kontribuutio kohdistuu teoretisointiin näkymättömien tekijöiden roolista yritysten kansainvälisessä liiketoiminnassa. Väitöskirja tutkii, miten viennin edistäminen, rahoitus ja aika yhdessä selittävät yritysten kansainvälistymistä. Tätä kysymystä pohditaan rationaalisen abduktion (Saetre & Van de Ven, 2021) avulla. Väitöskirjassa peilataan useiden sidosryhmien näkökulmia ja työn käsitteel-linen positio rakentuu Dunningin eklektisen paradigman ympärille. Tämä malli yhdistää omistajuuden sijaintiin liittyviin etuihin ja sisäisen hallinnan eri tyyppeihin. Tämän OLI (Ownership, Location, Internalization) -viitekehyksen sisällä tässä työssä keskitytään sijainnin eli lokaation alakohtana viennin edistämiseen, omistajuuden alakohtana rahoitukseen ja sisäisen hallinnan alakohtana ajan rooliin. Nämä tekijät ovat toisiinsa kytkeytyneitä kansainvälisissä vaihtotransaktioissa ostajien ja myyjien välillä. Vaihdon juurtuneisuus kuvaa OLI-osatekijöiden näky-mättömyyttä kansainvälisessä liiketoiminnassa. Tämä väitöskirja jakautuu neljään osaan. Ensimmäisessä esitellään yhteenveto viennin edistämiseen liittyvästä tiedosta ja määritelmistä, sekä kartoitetaan olemassa olevat viennin edistämiseen liittyvät teoriat. Toisessa osassa arvioidaan rahoitusta omistajuuteen liittyvänä tekijänä ja yrityksen ikää omistajuuteen liittyvänä etuna yritysten kansainvälistymistä edistävinä tai sitä rajoittavina tekijöinä. Kolmantena esitellään kyselytutkimuksen tuloksia viennin edistämistoimenpiteiden suhteesta yritysten kansainvälistymisen ajoitukseen. Viimeisenä keskustellaan löydösten vertailevasta analyysistä ja ehdotetaan yritysten kansainvälistymisen tukemisen strategiaa sekä vienninedistäjille että rahoittajille perustuen saatuun syvempään ymmärrykseen asiakasyritysten tavoitteista halukkuuden näkökulmasta, pelkän kyvykkyyden lisäksi. Tämä tutkimus täydentää Dunningin alkuperäistä mallia paljastamalla vähem-mälle huomiolle jääneet tekijät OLI-viitekehyksen saumakohdissa. Viitekehykseen lisätään ajan dynaamisuus sisäisen hallinnan dimensiona ja toimintahalukkuuden vaikutin, jonka rooli ajan sisäistämisessä on kriittinen. Lisäksi tutkimus selittää, miksi on tärkeää erottaa toisistaan yrityksen toimintahalukkuus ja toiminta-kyvykkyys, sillä halukkuus on kytköksissä yrityksen tehokkuuteen ja strategiaan. Tämä tutkimus ehdottaa, että erilaiset implisiittiset oletukset ajasta mahdollisesti heikentävät yrityksen toimien koordinoimista paikkaan liittyen erityisesti pitkien matkojen välillä, digitaalisissa suhteissa ja valtiorajojen yli. Lopullinen käsitteel-linen viitekehys esittää yhden ratkaisun toimivan kansainvälistymisstrategian tunnistamiseen: omistajuuden ja ajan synkronoinnin sisäistämisen kautta, mukaan lukien kyvyn ja halukkuuden saavuttaa määritelty kansainvälistymistavoite