Year 2000: A Reality Check

The paper examines the risks, cost, size, implications, and likely outcomes of the Year 2000 or Y2K Problem, as well as the lessons learned, opportunities, and silver linings of Y2K projects. The MIS academic community has largely missed a unique opportunity to be relevant to practitioners as well as our communities. Fortunately, it is not too late since knowledgeable and rational voices are needed to help communities, and the people and enterprises in them, intelligently deal with the challenges of Y2K. Strangely, in spite of billions of bytes of data about year 2000 problem appearing each week, we still know surprisingly little about the reality of the Y2K risks we face. And there is little chance that a complete assessment of even the greatest risks faced by our enterprises and communities can be made, let alone repairs completed. Then there are the global risks of Y2K, and the thorny fact that most Y2K risks are beyond our direct control anyway. So what can ethical, conscientious, and concerned MIS professionals do about this situation? How can we help our communities reduce risks, appropriately plan for contingencies, and quickly manage failures? With only a few months to go, this may be the last chance we have to be relevant, enhance our collective credibility, and genuinely help improve IS practices

Adequacy of Disclosure of Restrictions on Flipping IPO Securities

This Article examines the implications of this practice under the disclosure obligations imposed by federal securities laws and concludes that the current disclosure is materially misleading, particularly in light of the failure to disclose the selective application of the penalties. Moreover, the selective application of the penalties casts significant doubt on whether these offerings can be considered “fixed price” offerings, which would mean that cursory disclosure of the practice would not suffice

Carnegie Corporation of New York - 1999 Annual Report

Contains president's message, program information, description of the foundation's new Higher Education in the Former Soviet Union program, grants list, and financial statements

E-Government adoption and implementation in Oman: a government perspective

This thesis reports a description and analysis of the factors that influenced the process of adoption and implementation of the e-Government initiative in Oman over the period 2000 - 2013. The research provides an explanation of why government organisations in Oman developed and then adopted e-Government projects, and how that affected their success as an example of what might also be the case in many developing countries. Data was collected using a theoretical framework developed from the extant literature, and analysed using Institutional Theory. The findings suggest that the Omani Government was motivated to adopt e-Government as a service to the people of Oman because of a perceived need to conform to world standards and improving the performance of the public sector. The intention in Oman was also to adopt e-Government services to improve efficiency in relations with various government departments as a means to attract foreign direct investment and create a knowledge-based industry. The study shows that while it was considered important for Oman to adopt e-Government, the progress of implementation was slow with an observable mismatch between the rhetoric of the implementation strategy and the actual outcomes. This mismatch, the study argues, is associated with interrelated challenges within the institutional infrastructure which lacked integration, with an ineffective management style lacking effective project control and the requisite IS/IT knowledge, and with the technology infrastructure which lacked reliable high-speed network coverage. The study concludes that although a strong will for the adoption and implementation of e-Government existed, coupled with sufficient financial resources, the necessary human and technological resources to overcome implementation obstacles did not exist. The study shows that the implementation was episodic: the implementation of e-Government in Oman was launched in 2003, discovered to be stalled in 2011, and was restarted in 2012. As the focus of the study was on the supply-side of e-Government, an important theoretical contribution of this study is the development of a framework of e-Government adoption motivators. Using the concept of institutional decoupling, this framework offers a new understanding of the observed high failure rate of e-Government implementation in many developing countries. In terms of practical contributions, important lessons can be learnt particularly with regard to synchronising motivating factors with institutional, technological and organisational prerequisites, and expected outcomes. In other words, governments should establish a clear and close link between means and ends prior to implementing e-Government initiatives by engaging relevant stakeholders in the design process to avoid mismatch between project design and reality

Assessing the Risks of Y2K Reporting

The SEC\u27s new year 2000 reporting standards have drastically changed Management\u27s Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) reporting rules. In addition, the new year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act (IRDA) makes things even more complex. What new liability risks do they create for the chief financial officer (CFO)

TUTORIAL YEAR 2000: A REALITY CHECK

This paper examines the risks, cost, size, implications, and likely outcomes of the Year 2000 or "Y2K " Problem, as well as the lessons learned, opportunities, and silver linings of Y2K projects. The MIS academic community has largely missed a unique opportunity to be relevant to practitioners as well as our communities. Fortunately, it is not too late since knowledgeable and rational voices are needed to help communities, and the people and enterprises in them, intelligently deal with the challenges of Y2K. Strangely, in spite of billions of bytes of data about year 2000 problem appearing each week, we still know surprisingly little about the reality of the Y2K risks we face. And there is little chance that a complete assessment of even the greatest risks faced by our enterprises and communities can be made, let alone repairs completed. Then there are the global risks of Y2K, and the thorny fact that most Y2K risks are beyond our direct control anyway. So what can ethical, conscientious, and concerned MIS professionals do about this situation? How can we help our communities reduce risks, appropriately plan for contingencies, and quickly manage failures? With only a few months to go, this may be the last chance we have to be relevant, enhance our collective credibility, and genuinely help improve IS practices