An Exploratory Study into Open Source Platform Adoption

Research on open source software has focused mainly on the motivations of open source programmers and the organization of open source projects [17] [19]. Some researchers portray open source as an extension of the earlier open systems movement [36]. While there has been some research on open-systems software adoption by corporate MIS organizations [4] the issue of open source adoption has received little attention. We use a series of interviews with MIS managers to develop a grounded theory of open source platform adoption. We contrast this to prior academic and popular reports about the adoption of open source

Green IS: Concepts and Issues for Information Systems Research

While public awareness of environmental sustainability is growing, there is concern about the economic costs of shifting to a greener economy. In the case of climate change, a critical issue is the relationship of economic output to greenhouse gas emissions, which has been labeled carbon productivity. Increasing carbon productivity means that economic growth can be sustained while emissions are reduced. Information technology has great potential to enhance carbon productivity, as IT is used to increase the energy efficiency of buildings, transportation systems, supply chains and electrical grids. On the other hand, the production and use of computers is a fast-growing component of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, a fact that must be balanced against the benefits of IT use. Green IS refers to the use of information systems to achieve environmental objectives, while Green IT emphasizes reducing the environmental impacts of IT production and use. This article focuses primarily on Green IS. It reviews existing Green IS research, presents a model of IT investment and carbon productivity, and lays out suggestions for future research

Globalization and E-Commerce V: Environment and Policy in Brazil

In Brazil, high inflation rates and public policies for local information technology (IT) development encouraged the early adoption of IT, including electronic data interchange (EDI), especially in the banking industry. Starting in the early 1970s, Brazil developed capabilities both in the production and use of information technologies. Mexico and Brazil are the only Latin American countries with substantial IT hardware production. Since inflation control became the highest priority in economic policy in the 1990s, the Brazilian economy has grown at a relatively slow pace compared to historical growth rates. Brazil ranks third in the Americas in GDP value. However, in per capita terms, it falls behind the top five wealthiest countries in Latin America. Education levels increased substantially in the last decade. Primary education is almost universal (95.7%). 78.5% of the population in the secondary education age group is enrolled, compared to less than 60% in 1992. In 2000, investments in telecommunications as a percentage of the GDP were the highest in Latin America. In the last four years, fixed line teledensity doubled while cellular subscribers quintupled. In per capita terms, Brazil is now at the Latin American average, both in fixed lines and cellular phones. In 2000, teledensity was about 23 fixed lines per 100 people, 15% of whom were connected to the Internet. The development of the Internet in Brazil was somewhat similar to the NSF Net program in the United States. The National Research Network (RNP) began to operate a national backbone in 1991. In 1996, the backbone became available for commercial purposes. The government is active in promoting e-commerce diffusion, especially through the e-government initiative. This initiative includes on-line purchasing, government information, tax collection, and other applications. However, government programs lack coordination and resources. The use of the Internet as a business tool is most advanced in information- related sectors such as finance, communications, information services, and other services that can easily be digitized. The banking sector leads e-commerce diffusion, followed by government and retailing. Consumers in countries such as Brazil are increasingly demanding products from Web sites located in their own countries. To succeed in the Brazilian e-commerce market, multinational Internet companies need to invest in local content and distribution networks. Although the diffusion of the Internet presents many opportunities for social development, notably in the fields of education, health, and information, the future growth of e-commerce in Brazil may be limited by social and economic factors such as income level, income distribution, and education

Information Technology Investment and Carbon Intensity in the Era of Cloud Computing: A Cross-National Study

To tackle climate change in the digital economy, there has been increasing attention to the role of information technology (IT) investment in decoupling economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions, or reducing carbon intensity. This research examines the impact of cloud computing on carbon intensity and further scrutinizes how the advent of cloud computing has altered the relationship between IT capital and carbon intensity. We combine data on IT capital stock for 51 countries during 1995-2014 with a natural experiment involving the staggered launches of cloud data centers across countries. Our preliminary findings suggest that cloud on-ramps availability is positively associated with carbon intensity, whereas it negatively moderates the impact of IT capital on carbon intensity. Taken together, our preliminary evidence implies that the environmental impact of cloud computing may not be as adverse as conjectured if we factor in its indirect effect on making overall IT capital greener

Assessing Drivers of E-Business Value: Results of a Cross-Country Study

This study seeks to better understand the facors that contribute to value creation of e-business. Grounded in the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, we developed a research model for assessing the value of e-business at the firm level. Based on this framework, we formulated six hypotheses and identified six factors (technology integration, firm size, firm scope, financial resources, competition intensity, and regulatory environment) that may affect value creation of e-business. Survey data of 612 firms across 10 countries in the financial services industry were collected and used to test the theoretical model. To examine how e-business value is influenced by national environments, we compared two subsamples from developed and developing countries. Structural equation modeling demonstrated several key findings: (1) Within the TOE framework, technology integration emerges as the strongest factor for e-business value, while financial resources, firm scope, and regulatory environment also significantly contribute to e-business value. (2) Firm size is negatively related to e-business value, suggesting that structural inertia associated with large firms tends to retard e- business value. (3) Competitive pressure often drives firms to adopt e-business, but e-business value originates more from internal organizational resources (e.g., technological integration) than from external pressure. (4) Government regulation plays a much more important role in developing countries than in developed countries. These findings indicate the usefulness of the TOE framework and our research model for studying e-business value

Environment and Policy Factors Shaping E-Commerce Diffusion: A Cross-Country Comparison

The growing use of the Internet and e-commerce for conducting business is being driven by global and national forces. Many firms are being driven toward greater adoption of e-commerce by global competitive pressures, which some suggest will lead to a global networked economy. On the other hand, firms are also being driven by national environmental and policy factors, which are both drivers and inhibitors of e-commerce diffusion. A key question is whether the continuing diffusion of e-commerce will lead to a single homogeneous global market or whether national market niches create special business opportunities and barriers that affect innovation outcomes. This paper identifies and discusses major environmental and policy related factors that influence e-commerce diffusion across and within countries. It is based upon case studies in 10 countries representing both developed and developing countries in each of three major world regions. Although e-commerce is still in its infancy, this preliminary analysis indicates that diffusion is an uneven process across countries and industries. Certain countries and industries are driving the process while others lag behind. Digital divides are evident both between and within developed and developing countries. Moreover, local differences in e-commerce are evident between countries, suggesting that the diffusion process is strongly shaped by national environments and policy rather than following a universal trajectory

IT and Productivity in Developed and Developing Countries

Previous research at the cross-national level has found that IT investment is associated with significant productivity gains for developed countries but not for developing countries. Notwithstanding the lack of evidence of productivity gains, developing countries have increased their investment in IT dramatically. Given all of this investment, there is a need for research to study whether the investment has begun to pay off in greater productivity for developing countries. In this study, we employ production function analysis on new data on IT investment and productivity for 49 countries from 1985-2004, and compare the results from 1994-2004 with the earlier years (1985-1993) that were covered by Dewan and Kraemer (2000). The goal is to find out whether developing countries have been able to achieve significant productivity gains from IT investment in the more recent period as they have increased their IT capital stocks and gained experience with the use of IT. We also incorporate a set of complementary factors missing from previous studies, including telecommunications investment and prices, human resources, and foreign direct investment, to determine whether these factors have an impact on the relationship of IT to productivity. We find that for developing countries, there was no significant effect for IT capital for the 1985-1993 sample, but the relationship is positive and significant for the 1994-2004 sample. On the other hand, for developed countries, IT capital is significant across all time periods. Non-IT capital stock and labor hours also are positive and significant across all samples and time periods as expected. We also find developing countries with higher levels of tertiary education and lower telecommunication prices achieve greater productivity gains. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical research to find productivity impacts from IT investments in developing countries. The finding that developing countries only began to realize payoffs from IT investment in more recent years suggests that there may be some critical level of IT capital stock, or some minimum level of accumulated experience (human capital) required before such gains become evident. For policymakers in developing countries, these findings provide evidence that IT investments are likely to lead to productivity gains and give support for policies to promote IT investment and use

It diffusion in developing countries

here is widespread belief among international agencies and development specialists in the potential value of information technology (IT) to sup-port economic and human development [11, 12]. Some question whether IT alone can have a major impact on the standard of living in developing countries, but most see it offering access to vital information and services such as weather forecasting, commodity prices, health care, and education. However, a significant digital divide exists between richer and poorer countries in the use of IT and the availability of complementary assets such as telecommunications networks and skilled IT profes-sionals. This gap has led to a public debate about what can be done to promote greater IT use so that developing coun-tries can achieve the types of benefits already being enjoyed in the industrialized world. Policymakers need to recognize that developing economies have different drivers for IT investment than their wealthier brethren

Introduction to the Special Volume on Globalization and E-Commerce

The ten papers in this special volume of CAIS focus on environmental and policy influences on the diffusion of e-commerce in selected countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. They are part of a multi-year, multi-country study entitled, Impacts of Electronic Commerce in the Global Networked Economy: A Multi-Country Stud

A Dynamic Model of Offshore Software Development

As the offshoring of knowledge work has accelerated, theoretical models to explain the phenomenon have not kept up. Most theoretical models assume a static transactional relationship from various factors to a binary offshoring decision. Such models do not take into account the mix of sourcing choices at the level of a firm, nor do they consider dynamic changes over time. To help fill these gaps, we use five case studies on offshore migration of software work by major US companies. Data were collected from senior executives. We use these data to develop a dynamic conceptual model that incorporates three factor groupings which collectively help explain offshore sourcing outcomes: (1) economic factors; (2) the nature of the development activity; and (3) managerial capabilities and practices. Importantly, the model includes five feedback loops among sourcing decisions, sourcing mix, and these three factors. Thus, the relationships in the model are not unidirectional, nor static; rather, they are Iterative and dynamic, involving feedback loops, learning, and cumulative effects over time. In this dynamic model, the sourcing ‘mix,’ a continuously changing offshore portfolio, is a key firm-level dependent variable, closer to the economic concept of a ‘stock’ measure that represents the cumulative effect of sourcing decisions over time. This variable may be measured in different ways, for instance as the amount of work done offshore, or the number of workers employed offshore