CGIAR Consortium - Consultancy Service to Support Shared Location Services Strategy - Key Findings and Recommendations

Results of analysis on implementing shared service models in both Addis Ababa and Dhaka and recommendations on how to scale those models to other locations

Consultancy on Common Administrative, Financial and Research Support Services in the New Consortium

Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) performed a shared service evaluation across the CGIAR starting in August 2009. During the course of the project, ADP interviewed over 200 CGIAR employees across all 15 Centres, visited 13 CGIAR locations across 5 continents, gathered financial data from all Centres and engaged with key leadership across the Alliance Office, corporate services and research. Leveraging leading practices from Accenture’s shared service practice and relevant experiences across the non-profit sector, ADP has found significant opportunities for shared services to improve the current operations of the CGIAR as well as to improve the position of the CGIAR for future opportunities. ADP developed a target operating model covering the use of shared services across all Centre functions and recommended seven key opportunities to focus preliminary shared service activities. The seven key shared service opportunity areas are: 1. Develop and Expand Research Support Services, 2. Standardised Ways of Working, 3. Rationalise Back-office Systems, 4. Share HR Functions, 5. Procurement and Leveraged Buying, 6. Share IT, and 7. Share / Rationalize Physical Facilities and Facility Support. The target operating model and key opportunities were reviewed by a broad cross-section of finance, IT and research leadership, and general consensus was achieved. Across the seven opportunities, ADP developed business cases, implementation roadmaps and location strategies to allow the CGIAR to effectively prioritize shared service efforts and to help align shared services with other CGIAR strategic initiatives. This document only represents draft findings and recommendations as of 22 October 2009. A more complete paper, including cost and benefit analyses and final detailed recommendations, will be presented to the Alliance by 10 November 2009. This document was discussed at ExCo17

Social Desirability and Cynicism Biases in CSR Surveys: An Empirical Study of Hotels

Purpose: Previous studies support the notion that corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives can have a positive effect on customers in the hospitality and tourism industry. However, most of these studies have ignored response biases and none have incorporated them into their analyses numerically. This study aims at closing this research gap. Design/methodology/approach: We utilized a hybrid choice model to test for the hypothesized effects of social desirability (SD) and cynicism biases on reported purchase intention. We further compared the results with those of analyses that ignore these biases to demonstrate their distorting influence. Findings: Our results indicate that SD and cynicism biases have a moderating effect on reported purchase intention. Older generations and frequent travelers seem particularly prone to bias, and the biases have a distorting effect on the overall survey results. Research limitations/implications: Traditional analyses that exclude biases, incorrectly, suggest several aspects of CSR that are significant (or insignificant) to purchase intention and provide unreliable results. We did not generalize bias-prone respondent segments but urge future research to investigate this. Practical implications: Hotel managers aspiring to gain competitive advantage through CSR investment must consider biases in their market research. Otherwise, they risk developing CSR initiatives that do not instigate positive customer behaviors, leading to the failure of the investment. Originality/value: We quantified SD and cynicism as significant causes of response bias, which distorts survey results. Previous studies have conceptualized SD without quantifying its impact, while cynicism has been identified as a novel source of bias in the industry. This study further introduces hybrid choice modeling as a novel approach to address response bias that could extend itself beyond the industry studied here

On the road to carbon reduction in a food supply network: a complex adaptive systems perspective

Purpose: In acknowledging the reality of climate change, large firms have set internal and external (supplier oriented) targets to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study explores the complex processes behind the evolution and diffusion of carbon reduction strategies in supply networks. Design/methodology/approach: The research uses complex adaptive systems (CAS) as a theoretical framework and presents a single case study of a focal buying firm and its supply network in the food sector. A longitudinal and multilevel analysis is used to discuss the dynamics between the focal firm, the supply network and external environment. Findings: Rather than being a linear and controlled process of adoption-implementation-outcomes, the transition to reduce carbon in a supply network is much more dynamic, emerging as a result of a number of factors at the individual, organizational, supply network and environmental levels. Research limitations/implications: The research considers the emergence of a carbon reduction strategy in the food sector, driven by a dominant buying firm. Future research should seek to investigate the diffusion of environmental strategies more broadly and in other contexts. Practical implications: Findings from the research reveal the limits of the control that a buying firm can exert over behaviours in its network and show the positive influence of consortia initiatives on transitioning to sustainability in supply networks. Originality: CAS is a fairly novel theoretical lens for researching environmental supply network dynamics. The paper offers fresh multilevel insights into the emergent and systemic nature of the diffusion of environmental practices in supply networks

Avoiding the internet of insecure industrial things

Security incidents such as targeted distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on power grids and hacking of factory industrial control systems (ICS) are on the increase. This paper unpacks where emerging security risks lie for the industrial internet of things, drawing on both technical and regulatory perspectives. Legal changes are being ushered by the European Union (EU) Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive 2016 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) (both to be enforced from May 2018). We use the case study of the emergent smart energy supply chain to frame, scope out and consolidate the breadth of security concerns at play, and the regulatory responses. We argue the industrial IoT brings four security concerns to the fore, namely: appreciating the shift from offline to online infrastructure; managing temporal dimensions of security; addressing the implementation gap for best practice; and engaging with infrastructural complexity. Our goal is to surface risks and foster dialogue to avoid the emergence of an Internet of Insecure Industrial Things

Exploring the “impact” in Impact sourcing ventures: a sociology of space perspective

Using qualitative methods this paper explores the lived experience of individuals employed in impact sourcing ventures. In doing so, the paper attempts to understand “impact” from the point of view of beneficiaries. The paper, drawing on Georg Simmel’s work on the sociology of space, explores how space influences the lived experience of beneficiaries in ImS ventures. The findings highlight the various strategies adopted by beneficiaries to navigate the dialectical tensions experienced as a result of living and working in the new (ImS workplace) and the old (community) space. The paper also draws attention to the multifaceted nature of impact