Dynamic Capabilities in Information Systems Research – A Literature Review

Information systems (IS) and digital business strategies are increasingly focal to companies navigating the changing modes of working, collaborating and operating in various networked business settings. Dynamic capabilities (DCs) are often asserted as a key for companies’ attaining sustainable competitive advantage in turbulent and uncertain environments. However, the construct of DCs is utilized in multifarious ways and often researched primarily from a managerial perspective. This makes comprehensive, empirical study of DC development in organizations amorphous and difficult. To address this issue, based on a semi-structured literature review, this paper investigates how DCs are conceptualized in strategic IS literature. Further, the aim is to understand to what extent they have been studied empirically with a multilevel perspective. Firstly, the findings suggest terminology used in defining and explaining DCs is interlaced and tangled. Secondly, the findings point that the suspected gap in multilevel research on DCs within the IS field exists

Catch Crops in Organic Farming Systems without Livestock Husbandry - Simulations with the DAISY model

This paper presents simulations of the soil-plant-atmosphere model DAISY based on an organic crop rotation with incorporation of different catch crops following pea as a leguminous cash crop. Special emphasise was put on the simulation of N-mineralisation/-immobilisation and of soil microbial biomass N. The DAISY model was able to simulate soil mineral N and soil microbial biomass N after soil incorporation of catch crop plant residues to some extend. Several processes need further attention and may be integrated into the DAISY model: (1) soil tillage induced mobilisation of organic material including considerable amounts of organic N, (2) winter killing of sensitive plant species and varieties, (3) decomposition of plant residues at the soil surface as occurring after winter killing, (4) decomposition of easily decomposable plant residues at low temperatures, (5) soil microbial residues as an organic pool temporarily protected against turnover. Furthermore, reliable criteria for the subdivision of green plant residues into an easily decomposable pool and a more recalcitrant pool have to be developed

Optimal price subsidies for appropriate malaria testing and treatment behaviour.

BACKGROUND: Malaria continues to be a serious public health problem particularly in Africa. Many people infected with malaria do not access effective treatment due to high price. At the same time many individuals receiving malaria drugs do not suffer from malaria because of the common practice of presumptive diagnosis. A global subsidy on artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) has recently been suggested to increase access to the most effective malaria treatment. METHODS: Following the recommendation by World Health Organization that parasitological testing should be performed before treatment and ACT prescribed to confirmed cases only, it is investigated in this paper if a subsidy on malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) should be incorporated. A model is developed consisting of a representative individual with fever suspected to be malaria, seeking care at a specialized drug shop where RDTs, ACT medicines, and cheap, less effective anti-malarials are sold. Assuming that the individual has certain beliefs of the accuracy of the RDT and the probability that the fever is malaria, the model predicts the diagnosis-treatment behaviour of the individual. Subsidies on RDTs and ACT are introduced to incentivize appropriate behaviour: choose an RDT before treatment and purchase ACT only if the test is positive. RESULTS: Solving the model numerically suggests that a combined subsidy on both RDT and ACT is cost minimizing and improves diagnosis-treatment behaviour of individuals. For certain beliefs, such as low trust in RDT accuracy and strong belief that a fever is malaria, subsidization is not sufficient to incentivize appropriate behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: A combined subsidy on both RDT and ACT rather than a single subsidy is likely required to improve diagnosis-treatment behaviour among individuals seeking care for malaria in the private sector