Assessing the success and evaluating the benefits of government-sponsored regional internet-trading platforms for small and medium enterprises: A Western Australian perspective

The Internet has been viewed as an opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to efficiently compete in the global arena with their larger counterparts by overcoming distance and size. However, research has shown that actual uptake of Internet e-commerce by SMEs has been lagging behind that of larger companies. Fearing a growing digital divide between large companies and SMEs, some governments have taken specific measures to encourage SME participation in ecommerce. One of the more direct government initiatives to hasten the progression of SMEs on the e-commerce adoption curve is the creation, sponsorship and management of regional Internet trading platforms for these enterprises. Such a move is predicated on the belief that these platforms will offer SMEs a low-cost introduction to participation in Internet trading platforms without the need for significant technology investments, allowing them to reap benefits like lower costs, improved customer service and new levels of innovation through knowledge-sharing

Knowledge Management in an Organisational Climate of Uncertainty and Change: A Longitudinal Case Study of an Australian University

Universities are in the knowledge business and are expected to be at the forefront of knowledge management (KM). However, KM in a university is complex given the diversity of stakeholder groups. This is exacerbated in the Australian context by the changing climate of rationalisation, corporatisation and marketisation universities faced in the past decade. This paper investigates KM strategies in an Australian university to uncover barriers to knowledge-sharing among academics. Although the organisational infrastructure supports KM, many academics have not actively embraced it. One reason is that they struggle with KM for operational excellence in the increasing administrative aspects of the academic’s role, rendering them time-poor in terms of KM for innovation in research and teaching. As a first step, we propose a self-defined sub-unit level customised view of the explicit knowledge artefacts provided at the organisational level i.e. a wiki for a school-based community of practice for administrative best practices

Regional eMarketplaces: Towards a Unified Theoretical Framework

Regional electronic marketplaces (REMs) are currently one of the measures adopted by some local governments and regional organizations to improve uptake of e-commerce by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The rationale behind this move is to ensure SMEs do not fall on the wrong side of a digital divide. REMs are also viewed as a way to improve business efficiency and increase trade within the locality, expand into new markets and develop the region generally. However, while the development and management of REMs can be advised by a number of theoretical frameworks and models, there is no one definitive framework that can be used to comprehensively examine the factors that facilitate and inhibit the successful implementation of such e-marketplaces. This paper reviews the literature on e-marketplaces and IT/IS/ e-commerce adoption by SMEs and discusses how the constructs of existing theories and models can be used to examine REM success. It demonstrates how the constructs can be combined, refined and extended with insights from involvement in a REM in Western Australia and from content analysis of published case studies of e-marketplaces and emarketplace participation, to form an integrated theoretical framework upon which the assessment of REM success can be grounded

Contextual support for innovation in an Australian financial services firm

Organizational learning can facilitate innovation and it is affected by internal and external contexts. Leaders can provide internal contextual support for learning to occur in the organization in order to respond to changes in external contexts. However, there are limited studies about how leaders affect innovation in financial services firms. This paper applies Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I framework to examine the impact of internal and external factors on an organization’s learning process and the extent of its innovation. An on-going case study of a large Australian financial services firm is used to gain insights about contextual support for innovation. Competition in the industry has increased through the introduction of IT-enabled innovation but innovation is limited by bureaucracy, risk-aversion and regulatory-driven reliability. The study shows that leaders in such organisations can support IT-enabled innovation through vision, organizational culture, an agile methodology, activity-based working environments, and technology that supports innovation

A Conceptual Framework to Support the Development of Government Sponsored Community-Portal Regional Electronic Marketplaces for SMEs: A Stage Approach

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are important to most economies. To improve e-commerce uptake and often motivated by regional economic and community development issues, some governments are creating Internet-based e-marketplaces for SMEs. Given the complexities involved in creating such e-marketplaces, a conceptual framework to support their development needs to be considered. The proposed framework uses a staged approach to advise the development of government-sponsored community-portal regional e- marketplaces (CP-REMs) for SMEs. Data from an ongoing case study is used to examine the framework constructs. Findings indicate that the staged approach allows CP-REMs to develop in tandem with e-commerce sophistication of SMEs

Evaluating the benefits of regional electronic marketplaces: assessing the quality of the REM success model

Abstract: A number of regional Internet electronic marketplaces (REMs) have failed or are floundering, partly due to the lack of proper evaluation of their costs and benefits. This paper uses a conceptual REM Success Model to examine the costs and benefits of a REM in Western Australia. The model has been derived from an extension to the Updated DeLone & McClean IS Success Model. The findings from the case study indicate that the REM Success Model, which includes cognisance of SME-profile and motivation of the market maker, allows up-front identification of the costs and benefits to all stakeholders

Administrative innovation in an Australian public university

Organizational learning can facilitate administrative innovation and it is affected by internal and external contexts. This paper applies Crossan et al‘s (1999)4I framework to examine the effect of internal and external factors on an organization’s learning process and the extent of its innovation. A case study of a large public Australian university is used to gain insights about the process of administrative innovation. A resource-constrained environment characterized by significant reduction in government funding and increased competition has encouraged university leaders to pursue administrative innovation aimed at increasing efficiency