How to Organize DevOps’ Teams in Customer Firms? A Comparative Case Analysis

The issue of DevOps’ team structures has been seldom addressed in prior literature. Some scholars underlined certain teams' characteristics and proposed structure taxonomies. However, they hardly considered the effect of the firm's context on a structure choice, by only focusing on project-level influences in few studies. To cover this gap, we propose an organizational model for DevOps’ implementation within a consulting configuration. This setting is frequent in the current digital era and is particular as the partners differ in terms of digital maturity, cognition, and goals. We explored three cases in the public administration, telecommunications, and banking sectors. Data was collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews and thematically analyzed with Nvivo. As results, we identify the key components of DevOps’ teams and highlight their synergies. We also contribute to academic literature and managerial practice by raising customer firms’ awareness on the contextual factors inducing variability on DevOps’ team structure

Determinants of IFRS for SMES Adoption Worldwide

The main purpose of this study is to analyze whether there is a relationship between macroeconomic factors and the adoption of IFRS for SMEs in order to help answer the question of why some countries adopt IFRS for SMEs while others do not. We used logistic regression analysis to investigate 150 countries, including 85 jurisdictions that have adopted IFRS for SMEs. The main results indicate that a country is more likely to adopt IFRS for SMEs if it has an unfavorable political climate and a non-Anglo-Saxon culture. Nonetheless, there is no evidence that the country’s economic growth, the existence of a capital market, the educational level, and the legal system are associated with the decision to adopt IFRS for SMEs.This study contributes to a better understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of IFRS for SMEs on a country level and could be used to predict a country’s decision to adopt this standard. It also adds to the literature on international accounting harmonization by examining country-level determinants that influence the adoption of IFRS for SMEs by all companies

LE CGNC ET LA NORME IFRS POUR PMES : ETUDE COMPARATIVE ENTRE LES PRINCIPES, CONCEPTS, ÉTATS FINANCIERS ET LEURS ÉLÉMENTS.

Il existe plusieurs manières d’implémenter la norme IFRS pour PMEs, adoption obligatoire, adoption volontaire et la convergence. Chacune d’entre elles requière une analyse à priori comparant les normes comptables d’un pays avec la norme IFRS pour PMEs. Tout au long de notre article nous allons comparer douze composantes principales du CGNC (Code Général de la Normalisation Comptable) et la norme IFRS pour PMEs en vue de relever les principales différences et similitude

An improvement and a fast DSP implementation of the bit flipping algorithms for low density parity check decoder

For low density parity check (LDPC) decoding, hard-decision algorithms are sometimes more suitable than the soft-decision ones. Particularly in the high throughput and high speed applications. However, there exists a considerable gap in performances between these two classes of algorithms in favor of soft-decision algorithms.  In order to reduce this gap, in this work we introduce two new improved versions of the hard-decision algorithms, the adaptative gradient descent bit-flipping (AGDBF) and adaptative reliability ratio weighted GDBF (ARRWGDBF).  An adaptative weighting and correction factor is introduced in each case to improve the performances of the two algorithms allowing an important gain of bit error rate. As a second contribution of this work a real time implementation of the proposed solutions on a digital signal processors (DSP) is performed in order to optimize and improve the performance of these new approchs. The results of numerical simulations and DSP implementation reveal a faster convergence with a low processing time and a reduction in consumed memory resources when compared to soft-decision algorithms. For the irregular LDPC code, our approachs achieves gains of 0.25 and 0.15 dB respectively for the AGDBF and ARRWGDBF algorithms

Volume 37 Issue 2 (2006)

International audienceInitial usability testing was used to identify and fix usability concerns within a recently developed absorptive capacity assessment tool. The tool was designed to aid innovation management decision making by helping firms understand their processing of external knowledge within the context of a collaborative innovation network. Part of the recent development of the tool involved the implementation of Simos-Roy-Figueira's revised method for eliciting subjective importance weights. However, the method, as it was applied within the tool, suffered from poor usability that could not be fully addressed. This paper presents a study on the usability of the tool further by conducting additional think-aloud studies to better understand its nature. Five common attributes of usability (efficiency, effectiveness, satisfaction, learnability, and usefulness) were characterized based on the findings from the think-aloud studies in order to develop a list of recommendations for improving usability. The goal of these recommendations is to help future academic developers of decision aid tools to better consider usability in their own work to maximize the impact and dissemination of their research

Supplier involvement in NPD projects:the buyer's perspective on the complementary roles of social capital and social exchange for project performance

Purpose: Buying firms involve suppliers early in New Product Development (NPD) projects to benefit from their capabilities. The authors investigate the joint impact on project performance improvement, of the social capital established throughout the project, and the strategic preferred buyer/supplier statuses awarded prior to the project, from the buyer's perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The authors propose a conceptual model underlining the complementary contribution to project performance of social capital dimensions and of preferred partners' statuses resulting from social exchange expectations. The model is analyzed with Partial Least Squares using 80 responses of purchasers and R&amp;D managers involved in collaborative NPD projects with suppliers. Findings: The relational capital built during the project has a positive central role, with a direct impact on NPD project performance and mediating effects through cognitive and structural capitals. The preferred partners' statuses have strong direct impacts on performance, and mediating effects that do not completely supplant the social capital's contribution. Practical implications: The implications for the efficient management of supplier involvement are twofold. First, the authors encourage strategic investments of buying firms to acquire preferred buyer's status and to support preferred supplier programs. Second, the authors alert them on the importance of establishing trust and shared cognition during the project. Originality/value: This study captures NPD project performance from the social angle of buyer–supplier relationship management. It demonstrates the complementarity of relationship management at the strategic and operational levels, before and during the project unfolding.</p

Primary renal teratoma: a rare entity

ABSTRACT: Teratomas are neoplasms that arise from pluripotent cells and can differentiate along one or more embryonic germ lines. Renal teratoma is an exceedingly rare condition. Teratomas commonly arise in the gonads, sacrococcygeal region, pineal gland, and retroperitoneum. They present mainly as an abdominal mass with few other symptoms. Majority of the tumors are benign, situated on the left side and para renal, occasional lesions are bilateral. If diagnosed early, they are amenable to curative excision. Renal teratomas are rare and most have been dismissed as cases of teratoid nephroblastomas or retroperitoneal teratomas secondarily invading the kidney. The differentiation between these two neoplasms in the kidney is often problematic. We present a case of intrarenal immature teratoma in a six-month-old baby girl. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slides for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1746249869599954