Foreclosure in contests

We consider a contest in which one firm is a favourite as it initially has a cost advantage over rivals. Instead of taking the set of rivals as given, we consider the possibility that the favourite transfers the source of its advantage wholly or partially to a subset of rival firms. The result of this may be foreclosure of those firms that do not receive the cost reduction. We present conditions under which this transfer will be expected to occur, and show that the dominant firm will prefer to grant some rivals the maximum cost reduction even if a partial transfer can be made. Furthermore we consider the welfare properties of excluding some rivals. Applications include lobbying, patent races and access to essential infrastructure.Foreclosure; contest

Virtual Organizational Learnign in Open Source Software Development Projects

We studied the existence of virtual organizational learning in open source software (OSS) development projects. Specifically, our research focused on learning effects of OSS projects and factors that affect the learning process. The number and percentage of resolved bugs and bug resolution time of 118 SourceForge.net OSS projects were used to measure the learning effects> Projects were characterized by project type, number and experience of developers, number of bugs, and bug resolution time. Our results provide evidence of virtual organizational learning in OSS development projects.Virtual organizational leraning: Organizational learning curve: Virtual organization: Open source software development: Project performance

Matrix Passwords: A Proposed Methodology of Password Authentication

Password reuse and other security issues have become a significant concern to both practitioners and scholars in recent years. These concerns threaten the confidentiality of the information in general and have prompted scholars and practitioners to search for a better way to solve the trade-off between password complexity and one’s ability to remember passwords. Along with previous studies regarding password security and related cognitive psychology theories, we propose a new method of password authentication—Matrix Passwords. By slightly modifying the manner in which traditional passwords are created, Matrix Passwords may significantly reduce the risk of reusing passwords and facilitate the ease of creating passwords that are easy to remember, yet hard to crack

Minimizing Conformity in Focus Group for Software Development

In order to create successful software or systems, user involvement is one of the essential activities in the software development process. When user involvement is solicited, participant attitudes and their knowledge level about the software are substantially related to the quality of participant feedback. Particularly, in a focus group test, which is one of the most widely used methods for attaining user feedback, if a participant is extremely passive or has no experience to share, he or she cannot provide productive feedback and, more importantly, may tend to conform to the viewpoints of others. This tendency can be problematic in focus groups because it decreases the likelihood that participants’ feedback stands for their true belief and further amplifies the strength of dominant voice in the group. In this research, conformity and its relationship with the knowledge level and assertiveness of participants in the focus group will be investigated in the context of a focus group test

In Search of the Primary Suppliers of IS Research: Who Are They and Where Did They Come From?

The purpose of this study was to determine the leading IS researchers and the universities that supply them. We reviewed publications from the seven leading IS journals (CAIS, DSS, Information & Management, ISR, JAIS, JMIS, and MIS Quarterly) during calendar years 2001 to 2005. During that time, 2,401 authors contributed toward 1,486 published articles. We believe our findings to be valuable to the field of IS research by providing a means for assessing research productivity within the IS field

Current State of Information Security Research In IS

The importance of information security in a pervasive networked environment is undeniable, yet there is a lack of research in this area. In this study we conduct a comprehensive survey of the information security articles published in leading IS journals. We then compared the research themes with those of the IBM Information Security Capability Reference Model

The Clinical Approach to Successful Program Development

To more adequately meet the needs for the decade ahead, it is essential that sociology departments evaluate their existing curricula and plan new programs or concentrations that will interest and attract students. Using the example of clinical sociology, this article focuses on general guidelines for developing a variety of program models in sociological practice. The guidelines are divided into the three parts of assessment, planning, and implementation, and an inventory of ideas and suggestions are given for each phase. Relevant issues of the importance of labels, leadership and independence, and rationales for program development are discussed