The Southeastern Librarian v 67 no 4 (Winter 2020)

Full issue of The Southeastern Librarian v 67 no 4 (Winter 2020)

The strategic value of the balanced scorecard in the networked economy

Thesis (D. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2007Success in today’s competitive business environment demands innovative approaches. Organisations must be able to react effectively and make informed decisions in order to be in the best position to take advantage of collaborated business opportunities in the organisation’s external network. The results of strategic decisions are affected by the strategic choices that are made and how successfully those objectives are implemented. In many cases the strategies have mediocre success or fail to achieve what they set out to do due to the failure to formulate and implement strategies that enhance the development of a sustainable competitive advantage in the long term. The case study organisation, MultiChoice Africa (Pty) Limited, serves as an example in understanding the knowledge base imperative in utilising strategic management instruments such as Kaplan and Norton’s (1996a: 8-18, 224-292) Balanced Scorecard to guide leadership in creating real-time value, thereby creating a sustainable competitive advantage. Balanced Scorecards have largely been developed and applied to internal managerial purposes, though they are seldom used for external marketing. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the strategic value of the Balanced Scorecard in the networked economy, utilising a case study design by following a phenomenological paradigm approach. The outcome was based on a pre- and postanalysis of the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard within the case study organisation, focusing on the perceived value towards overcoming the barriers to strategy implementation, developing a competitive advantage and sustaining this advantage. Sustainability was specifically defined and tested against the environment and ethical behaviour as the results indicated that a link exists between sustainable competitive advantage and the appropriate utilisation of the Balanced Scorecard. Research results suggest that respondents appear to be enthusiastic and have started the process of transforming the organisation into a ‘Balanced Scorecard organisation’. The main advantages included an increased awareness of vision, linking operational tasks to strategic employees’ participation and flexibility. Shortcomings, on the other hand, included the perceived lack of contribution of the Balanced Scorecard to the final outcome as well as to the transformation process. A number of limitations were evident in the design, deployment and utilisation of the Balanced Scorecard in overcoming the barriers to strategy implementation and how to gain a sustainable competitive advantage in the networked economy. Important aspects surrounding employees and stakeholders were also highlighted as the design of the case study organisation’s original Balanced Scorecard is based on its value chain. However, due to the networked economy and its implications for the organisation, the Balanced Scorecard architecture should be modified to make provision for a networked design. These modifications should incorporate additional constructs that need to be taken into consideration when creating larger networks and establishing collaborative communities of practice. Key to the organisation’s future strategic value and intent is the successful implementation of change management (transformation) as a driver into the application of the Balanced Scorecard in the networked economy. Insight gained was used to propose a theoretical model based on global business landscape demands, utilising new and innovative strategies and business model architectures that require the convergence of aggregated metrics of all role players in the borderless network, as outlined in the ‘Networked Balanced Scorecard’ theoretical model. The theoretical model outlines how organisations can reform and integrate their Balanced Scorecards to support strategy formulation, implementation and control. It therefore supports sustainable competitive advantage and is based on embracing components of competitive intelligence and collaboration in the networked economy. It is thus suggested that organisations can no longer implement sustainable competitive advantage strategies in isolation, but need to focus on organisational development strategies that encapsulate the network concomitance structure and architecture, thereby attaining the new value proposition for strategic intent

Is South Africa ready for a national Electronic Health Record (EHR)?

Bibliography: leaves 94-100eHealth Strategies in countries have shown a trend that countries are moving to Electronic Health Records(EHR). EHR implementation is expected to produce benefits for patients, professionals, organisations, and the population as a whole. The use of some format of an Electronic Health Record is used by many countries and others are in the implementation or planning phases. South Africa has kicked of the project to implement a national EHR as part of the national eHealth Strategy. This study aims to analyse the key success factors from other EHR implementation projects and evaluate if South Africa is ready to implement an EHR.Graduate School of Business LeadershipMB

Queensland University of Technology: Annual Report 2010

Our annual report provides an evaluation of our performance and achievements during the previous year, measured against our goals and strategic plans. It documents our performance in the three key areas of: teaching and learning research community service. The report includes a summary of financial performance and a copy of our audited accounts

Three Essays on the Role of IT in Environmental Sustainability: Motivating Individuals to Use Green IT, Enhancing Their User Experience, and Promoting Electricity Conservation

This dissertation focuses on the role of IT in environmental sustainability and electricity conservation through three research essays. The first essay makes a case for behavior research, with the focus on individuals\u27 use of Green IT. Moreover, environmental studies lack a coherent theory that could identify the motivators of Green-IT beliefs. We develop the hedonic motivation theory, which synthesizes theoretical and philosophical thoughts on hedonism with concepts from environmental research. Using this theory, we develop a conceptual model that identifies the motivators of context-specific beliefs, attitudes, and uses of Green IT. We theorize that there are significant generational differences in the process by which hedonic motivators influence Green IT use behaviors. Young adults are more motivated by personal hedonic motivation, and an affective and automatic process, whereas older adults are motivated by a cognitive and attitudinal process. This study was carried out using a structural equation modeling method of analysis based on 702 observations of the survey data. The results support the theorized model, with significant implications. The second essay examines the design taxonomy of electricity consumption feedback applications, which are considered one of the critical technologies in alleviating the increasing trends of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. We relied on an integrative theoretical framework and literature review to propose a comprehensive taxonomy for salient design elements of electricity consumption feedback applications. Using a survey method, we collected data from general public to evaluate the preference and relative importance of the design elements. We found that there is a preferred set of design elements for the feedback applications. Our results could serve as a basis to evaluate the design of existing electricity consumption feedback applications, and to help in studying the influence of design elements on beliefs and behaviors related to individuals\u27 electricity conservation. The third essay investigates the role of the salient design elements identified in the second essay, and the processes by which these elements motivate electricity consumers\u27 behaviors towards energy conservation. We developed a conceptual framework by extending the theory of planned behavior to study how salient design elements of feedback applications impact the beliefs and behaviors of individual electricity consumers. To our knowledge, this is the first study aimed at examining the relationship between electricity consumers\u27 beliefs and behaviors and the specific perceived design elements of electricity consumption feedback applications. We empirically evaluated the conceptual model by developing a mobile app and a corresponding website and conducting a controlled longitudinal lab experiment. The results indicate strong support for the premises of the model and support the significant role of personalized design elements in use behaviors and electricity conservation. Our findings show the importance of integrating descriptive social norm, personalized goal setting, and personalized privacy preferences design elements in feedback applications. This dissertation makes a number of significant contributions to theory and application. First, it develops a new theory that identifies motivators of Green IT use. It shows that the conceptualized motivators impact use behaviors though multiple paths--the cognitive and emotional automatic paths-- and are moderated by users\u27 age. Second, this work develops a taxonomy of design elements for electricity consumption feedback applications based on an integrative theoretical framework and extensive review of the existing literature. This taxonomy and the relative importance of elements in the taxonomy could serve as the standard for developing and assessing feedback application tools. Third, this work develops a conceptual model that identifies the processes by which design elements of electricity consumption feedback applications help in the conservation of electricity by individuals. Together, the three essays contribute to the sustainability and Green IT literature by uncovering the significant role of individuals in dealing with environmental threats and energy consumption challenges and by conceptualizing the different antecedents and processes that shape the perceptions and behaviors related to Green IT and electricity consumption. Moreover, the three studies extend user-centric design research by integrating insights from multiple disciplines to explain, design, create, and test innovative tools that could have a pivotal role in dealing with global sustainability challenges. This work also provides a standard for the evaluation of such tools from multiple stakeholder perspectives. Finally, the three essays contribute to practice by proposing guidelines to industry designers and policy makers for promoting sustainability and energy conservation through personalized tools and effective campaigns

Queensland University of Technology: Annual Report 2006

Our annual report provides an evaluation of our performance and achievements during the previous year, measured against our goals and strategic plans. It documents our performance in the three key areas of: teaching and learning research community service. The report includes a summary of financial performance and a copy of our audited accounts