Challenges in information systems procurement in the Norwegian public sector

Public procurement of information systems (IS) and IS services provides several challenges to the stakeholders involved in the procurement processes. This paper reports initial results from a Delphi study, which involved 46 experienced procurement managers, chief information officers, and vendor representatives in the Norwegian public sector. The participants identified altogether 98 challenges related to IS procurement, divided further into 13 categories: requirements specification, change management, cooperation among stakeholders, competence, competition, contracting, inter-municipal cooperation, governmental management, procurement process, rules and regulations, technology and infrastructure, vendors, and IT governance. The results contribute by supporting a few previous findings from conceptual and case-based studies, and by suggesting additional issues which deserve both further research and managerial and governmental attention. As such, the results provide altogether a rich overview of the IS procurement challenges in the Norwegian public context

The effect of gold market speculation on REIT returns in South Africa: a behavioral perspective

This study provides novel insight to the evolution of herd behavior during crisis periods by relating the time-variation in investor herding to speculation in gold, an asset traditionally considered a safe haven during periods of market crisis. We find that higher level of speculation in gold significantly contributes to herding in the emerging South African real estate investment trust (REIT) market, particularly during the mid-2008 to 2011 period, matching the duration and aftermath of the global financial crisis. The evidence of herding in this market is in contrast to the static and two-regime model specifications that fail to detect herding, underscoring the significance of econometric specifications that directly track the time-variation in herd behavior. Our findings suggest that speculative activities in the gold market contain valuable information regarding market fundamentals that drive investor behavior in emerging markets and that regulators should monitor indicators of speculative activities in gold in order to implement circuit breakers in their markets that may help mitigate the negative effects of herd behavior.https://link.springer.com/journal/121972018-10-08hj2018Economic