The Influence of Percieved Risk and Perceived Usefulness on Manager\u27s Attitude Towards Business Process Outsourcing

Although the financial services industry is a large buyer of outsourcing services, it still lags behind other industries especially regarding business process outsourcing (BPO). This research in progress asks why. The main hypothesis is that subjectively perceived risk is decisive for senior management\u27s attitude towards BPO. A causal model will be developed, derived from Perceived Risk Theory and a review of the literature on the usefulness of outsourcing. Using the model, the influence of different risk and utility facets on the attitude towards BPO is assessed. The next research step will be an empirical test of the model

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

Understanding dynamic process of emerging ICT adoption in UK service SMEs: an actor-network approach

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyAlthough literature reveals that significant efforts have been made to study ICT adoption and diffusion, the diversity of research in terms of theory and methodology is very low. Most studies have relied on traditional adoption theories (e.g., TAM and DOI) and these theories are not capable of providing rich explanantion on how the adoption and post-adoption develop over time. It is argued here that ICT adoption involves multi-dimensional and complex issues. These issues range from how various roles played by actors in emerging ICT are accounted for to ensuring successful adoption. Therefore, this research aims to advance our understanding of emerging ICT adoptions in SMEs from a dynamic process perspective. The specific objectives of this research are to: establish the stages of the dynamic process, identify the key actors and their roles, explore the critical factors affecting the emerging ICT adoption process, identify the challenges and provide recommendations and implications for stakeholders in promoting future adoption and diffusion in UK SMEs. The research adopts a social-technical approach that challenges the ideas of the mainstream thinkers. More specifically, it adopts Actor Network Theory (ANT). The key ANT concepts that influenced the empirical investigation are inscription, translation, framing and stabilisation. The research adopted a qualitative method using face to face interviews. Two rounds of data collection were undertaken. The first round started with a theoretical review, the analysis of relevant literature, and unstructured interviews mainly with small business managers. Eleven interviews were carried out. The second round of interviews was semi-structured with key human actors identified in the first round of interviews. A total of fifteen interviews were conducted. They included the small business manager; SMEs service sector customers, government agencies, SMEs consultants, and IT vendors. The aim was to further explore the dynamic adoption process, the roles and challenges of actors and to validate the outcomes of the findings. The analysis was guided by a hybrid approach of thematic analysis using NVivo software. The study proposed and validated a conceptual framework that illustrates the dynamic process of emerging ICT adoption in SMEs from the Actor Network Theory perspective. This framework helps to understand the adoption process, actors involved, actors’ roles and interactions, and the critical factors. Using the key concepts of ANT as the basis of the investigation, the findings identify a number of key activities associated with the adoption process. These activities include: problem assessment and evaluation, concept generation and evaluation, concept specification, product outsourcing /role delegation, misalignment and alignment of interests, product trial, product modification, adaptation, and impact and problem redefinition. These activities reveal that adoption of emerging ICT in a small business context is not constant, straightforward and certain; instead it is unpredictable, dynamic, and an on-going and reiterative process. ANT concepts were further used to analyse and categorise 20 roles that different actors play, 15 critical factors influencing emerging ICT adoption in SMEs, and the challenges facing actors. While all of these roles, factors, and challenges are critical, in this study, the findings reveal that monitoring and legislation are the most recurring roles at each stage. Furthermore, ease of use, managerial time, shared support, customer focus and adoption costs are the factors affecting the success of multiple stages (three stages). Finally, the thesis presents the contributions and implications for both research and practice in future adoption and diffusion

A method for strategic technical life cycle management of real estates

This research study focuses on the strategic technical life cycle management (TLCM) of real estate. In the early phases of the study it became clear that very often the performance of TLCM was not perceived as satisfactory: there were problems in the purchasing and provision of technical services, TLCM was not performed according to real estate specific needs and objective-setting for building characteristics did not serve cost-effective ownership. The study focuses on four research questions. The first research question is: What is the status of TLCM processes in the real estate sector? The underlying theories, key concepts, methods and tools in the real estate sector as well as practices related to the domain of TLCM are studied, along with the performance of TLCM as perceived by stakeholders. The initial aim was to establish whether there is a solid foundation of appropriate theories, key concepts and methods for TLCM, and was approached through a literature review and interview studies. Another aim of this preliminary phase was to define the appropriate scientific approach for the study and refine the further research questions. At the beginning of the study, it was not clear if there even was a theoretical background and therefore both hermeneutic and constructive approaches were possible depending on the results obtained in elaborating the first research question. According to the preliminary studies, there was no solid foundation of appropriate theories and key concepts for TLCM. There was no satisfactory method for performing TLCM, and one needed to be developed. Therefore the second research question asked: by what means can we successfully develop and deploy such a method? This research was carried out using the constructive approach to develop and test a new method for TLCM. The third research question focused on the method itself: What are the characteristics and capabilities required of such a method? This was approached by interview studies and literature reviews through which it was possible to identify the initial factors critical for success. After the new construct was developed and being tested, a fourth research question was asked: Does the method work? Is it practical, usable and useful? The thesis describes the research process phase by phase, as well as the results of five real life case studies which were chosen to test the method in different situations for which it was designed. When evaluating the TLCM Method, 21 users as well as 15 experts in the field were interviewed. Questionnaires were used as well. The net result of this research has been the construction of a practical, generic and novel TLCM Method for analyzing the technical risks and potential of buildings as well as costs for achieving the primary objectives from the perspective of cost-effective ownership. The Method begins with a detailed analysis, and then describes a process for developing a technical life cycle strategy according to decisions made during the analysis. The concept of TLC-manager was also defined and described. Finally, the thesis presents the results and the practical and theoretical contribution of the TLCM-Method and evaluates the validity and reliability of the research. The study demonstrates that the TLCM Method facilitates objective-setting related to the technical objectives of real estates, and also facilitates the purchasing and provision of technical services. Using the TLCM Method improves the cost-effectiveness and quality of TLCM, and improves risk management. According to the interview data, the need for such a new, practical method was obvious. The TLCM Method was perceived as systematic, logical and generic. It also proved to be useful and usable in all situations for which it was constructed, and is also applicable in other environments. Several real estate owners and technical service providers in Finland are currently using the TLCM Method in practice.reviewe

Management accounting innovations in the UK manufacturing sector : With special emphasis on ABC paradox

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Internet and competitive advantage: an empirical study of UK retail banking sector

There is wide agreement that the Internet has had a significant impact on the retail banking sector. However, no consensus has formed as to whether the Internet can provide retail banks with competitive advantage and if so, whether this competitive advantage is sustainable. This research project examines the provision of Internet usage in the UK retail banking sector. The goals of this study are threefold: 1) to explore the notion of "competitive advantage" in retail banking, 2) to understand why managers of retail banks invest in the Internet and what they consider are the advantages of Internet banking and 3) to ascertain why some managers of retail banks are more convinced of the benefits of the Internet as a generator of competitive advantage than others and whether this relates to the characteristics of their bank and/or its Internet strategies. A model of the use of the Internet in retail banking was developed. An analysis framework, based on the competitive advantage that the use of the Internet may produce, was also built up. In addition, a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies was utilised. Interviews were formulated and undertaken in order to extend the findings in the extant literature, and to further confirm and refine the theoretical framework of this study. Then utilising the results of the interviews, a survey was conducted and 151 senior managers responded. The responding mangers came from both small and large retail banks and, in addition, from building societies. They held a variety of different positions within their organisations. The thesis produced a number of significant findings. The concept of `competitive advantage' was defined in the UK retail banking sector. Key factors that provide retail banks with competitive advantage were identified; namely; "differentiation", "cost leadership" and "product uniqueness". These resembled Porter's generic strategies, however, the results rejected his concept of the "stuck-in-the-middle" competitive situation. He had indicated that an integrated strategy using more than one form of competitive advantage is likely to fail to achieve advantage. The results indicate that combined strategies are not only possible, but are likely to be the most successful overall Internet strategy for retail banking firms to pursue. The research concluded that the size and type of retail bank has direct impact on Internet strategy. Managers' perceptions of competitive advantage provided by the Internet is affected, both by the characteristics of their firms, and also by the Internet strategies that their banks employed. Internet strategies are confirmed to be mediation variables and have a good fit with the resource based view. This indicates that resource and core competences are crucial to the decision about which Internet strategies to employ to achieve maximum competitive advantage. The research therefore found that, in the Internet arena, the market-based view and the resource based perspective of competitive advantage may be seen as complementary as they are concerned with different domains (i. e. external and internal respectively). However when considering the issue of sustainability, a hypercompetitive view is more appropriate. It suggests that constantly being flexible, innovative and quickly responding to the changing environment are the foundations required for firms to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Further, a number of issues were identified to be important for the future of Internet banking

South African multinational pharmaceutical organisations : facing change and future challenges in a managed health care environment

The South African health care environment is a two-tier health care delivery system consisting of the public sector and the private sector. The focus of this study is on the private health care sector. Private health care is funded by medical schemes through employer and employee contributions. The private sector is also the most profitable sector for multinational pharmaceutical organisations to market and sell their products within the South African health care environment. The major cost saving initiative by employers and medical schemes in the private health care sector has also been the introduction of managed health care initiatives. The goal of managed health care is to establish a system which delivers value by giving people access to quality and cost-effective healthcare. The new reality of managed health care initiatives are changing the boundaries of the South African pharmaceutical industry. The managed health care wake is overturning the business processes which made the pharmaceutical industry so successful and are rendering obsolete the industry's conventional models of corporate strategy and management systems. In the context of these turbulent changes, pharmaceutical companies are being forced simultaneously to develop new strategic approaches for the future, design new business processes which will link them more firmly to their new customers, and implement the cultural changes neccessary to accomplish the transformation from yesterday's successful pharmaceutical company to tomorrow's customer-led, integrated health care supplier. The way forward lies in three organising concepts. The first is cutomer alignment. The effort of transformation must start with an understanding of how the customer defines the value of the services and/or products offered by the organisation. Everything that follows involves aligning internal processes with external contingencies. The second is sequencing. It is vital to understand not just what needs to happen first in the transformation process, but also what the subsequent steps is and in what order the steps need to be undertaken. The third organising concept is learning. The sequence of interventions that lead to organisational transformation must occur in such a way as to maximize the ability of the organisation to learn: from customers and the marketplace, and from itself.Business ManagementD.B.L

Implementing the measurement of modern service delivery mechanisms in a selected range of English councils.

This research provides the first thorough investigation into, and analysis of, the literature on e-government metrics and has opened up the topic and literature to the practitioner community. The research focuses on English local government, in response to what the researcher had experienced as haphazard implementation of e-government. Supplementary explorations included official and unofficial reasons for the adoption of e-government, along with the role of politics and Politics – local, national and international. Until this research, the main focus for e-government measurement had been on targets or large and complex analyses suitable only for central government. Instead, this research proposes parsimonious measurement. Such measurement, reliant upon collating citizen feedback across delivery channels, will assist improvement to services and assist channel migration. This had never been examined before. Since the subject of the research was electronic government, an action research methodology was employed, using electronic research instruments to deliver surveys, provide survey results and to house research models and background. The researcher is a practitioner within the field, so the instruments were designed to cross-fertilize the academic and practitioner thinking on the subject. It is expected that the research tool, in the form of the weblog, will continue (in the longer term) to assist professionals in debating the use of metrics. Ongoing research will continue to stretch across the academic and practitioner boundaries. This research makes original contributions to knowledge by revealing the most appropriate mechanism for the management and use of e-government, amongst other mechanisms for service delivery in the public sector, especially considering smaller authorities