Knowledge source preferences as determinants of strategic entrepreneurial orientation

In the knowledge intensive context, firms’ capacity to integrate external and internal sources of knowledge becomes an important competitive advantage and may distinguish entrepreneurial from conservative firms. This paper explores the proposition that differences in strategic entrepreneurial orientation (EO) across firms may be significantly determined by differences in firms’ preferences regarding knowledge sources. Our research is based on 208 firms operating in knowledge intensive industries in six Central and East European countries (CEEC). We identified three types of firms in terms of patterns of sources of knowledge: external R&D knowledge based firms, in-house knowledge based firms and value chain dependent firms. By using different proxies or different dimensions of EO, we have found that the EO is strongest in firms based on external knowledge. Firms with inhouse based knowledge have an intermediate strength of the EO, and firms dependent on value chains are the least entrepreneurially oriented. We have also found moderate support for grouping different proxies of EO into three dimensions identified in literature – innovativeness, pro-activeness and risk-taking. Value chain firms are not pro-active, have the lowest innovativeness, and are the most risk averse. External knowledge based firms are the most active in all three dimensions of EO, while inhouse knowledge based firms are in an intermediate position. Our results point to strong systemic features of entrepreneurial activities; i.e., EO is inherently different in different sub-populations of firms depending on their patterns of sources of knowledge. It seems that these patterns operate as a moderating factor between performance and the EO, which explains mixed results from the literature

The evaluation of E-business related technologies in the Railway Industry

For the purposes of this paper, e-business is defined as: "the performance, automisation and organisation of transactions, or chains of them, and the gathering and publishing of data, electronically over a communication protocol" Little research has been conducted either into how e-business technology can be successfully evaluated, or into the associated costs and benefits specifically related to the transportation and railway industries. Based upon a review of the current literature and a series of interviews held with railway operators, track managers and transportation customers from the Australian Fortune 100, the paper puts forward a framework for the evaluation of e-business investments within the railway industry. The research reported here is aimed at developing a flexible interface that enables the decision maker to assess and evaluate a wide variety of complex interacting variables. The proposed approach uses a variety of evaluation methods, as opposed to searching for a single "best" approach. Additionally, an attempt is being made to include the complex interaction between the implementation of the new technology and the changing organisational setting. A model is proposed using fuzzy logic to handle incomplete and uncertain knowledge; as well as to combine criteria within a conceptual model from which "real-worth" evaluations can be performed. This model provides a systematic approach to guide the decision maker in the deployment of e-business and emerging technologies in the industry. After discussing the main findings from a literature review on the use of evaluation frameworks in IT related projects, the paper deals with the proposed framework in detail. The use of empirical data, which was obtained transportation customers to help define the main framework factors, is also discussed. Finally, the paper summarises the main implications for rail freight of customers’s perceptions and stated needs in the e-business domain

Electronic marketplace-to-marketplace alliances: emerging trends and strategic rationales

The electronic marketplace domain has recently witnessed the joining together of a number of previously independent marketplaces and the formation of collaborative alliances between others. This study seeks to determine the nature or type of cooperative arrangements or alliances that are currently being forged between electronic marketplaces, and the strategic rationale that is leading to this observed alliance formation. The findings of the study are based upon an examination of statements made to the press by marketplaces undertaking strategic alliances. This published data was supplemented with face-to-face interviews with managers at three relevant electronic marketplaces. Three distinct types of alliance are observed; the merger between previously separate marketplaces, the acquisition of one marketplace by another and the formation of an interoperability agreement between two marketplaces. Three rationales for alliance formation were observed: an increase in the number of buyers or suppliers in a given market sector that can access the marketplace (an increase in scale of operations), an increase in the breadth or depth of services that are offered to users of the marketplace (an increase in the scope of operations) and providing the ability to exchange information across multiple tiers of a supply chain. A broader discussion of the findings is given and suggestions for further research are made

The activity-based costing method developments: state-of-the art and case study

This paper analyses the management accounting applications which try to improve the Activity-based Costing method. In the first part, we describe them using the Strategic Management Accounting stream. Then, we present the main features of these applications. In the second part, we examine in details two of these features: The widening of the analysis perimeter and the relevant level of details to analyse the costs. Then, we analyse several proposals: Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA), Interorganizational Cost Management (IOCM), Resource Consumption Accounting (RCA) and Time-driven ABC (TDABC). Finally, we describe an experience observed in the IT supply European division of an international group. This group experiments what we call at the end a supply chain ABC tool to manage its interorganizational relations.Activity-based Costing, Strategic Management Accounting, Time-driven ABC, Case study.

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