Spherical collapse model in agegraphic dark energy cosmologies

Under the commonly used spherical collapse model, we study how dark energy affects the growth of large scale structures of the Universe in the context of agegraphic dark energy models. The dynamics of the spherical collapse of dark matter halos in nonlinear regimes is determined by the properties of the dark energy model. We show that the main parameters of the spherical collapse model are directly affected by the evolution of dark energy in the agegraphic dark energy models. We compute the spherical collapse quantities for different values of agegraphic model parameter $\alpha$ in two different scenarios: first, when dark energy does not exhibit fluctuations on cluster scales, and second, when dark energy inside the overdense region collapses similar to dark matter. Using the Sheth-Tormen and Reed mass functions, we investigate the abundance of dark matter halos in the framework of agegraphic dark energy cosmologies. The model parameter $\alpha$ is a crucial parameter in order to count the abundance of dark matter halos. Specifically, the present analysis suggests that the agegraphic dark energy model with bigger (smaller) value of $\alpha$ predicts less (more) virialized halos with respect to that of $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. We also show that in agegraphic dark energy models, the number of halos strongly depends on clustered or uniformed distributions of dark energy.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted in Physical Review

How Multinational Firms Use IT to Manage Their Global Operations

Despite a generally-acknowledged importance of IT in enabling global strategy and a broad understanding of the manner in which IT enhances coordination and reduces cost, few studies have focused precisely on how multinational firms use IT to facilitate globalization. We conduct a detailed case study across four major multinational firms, and use primary data to develop theoretical propositions on the characteristics of products, processes and customers that impact the ways in which multinational firms use IT to manage their global operations

Antecedents of Onshore and Offshore Business Process Outsourcing

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for adoption of onshore and offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) by firms. Our analysis of data from 244 firms publicly traded in the United States indicates that firms with a stronger information technology infrastructure and business process knowledge are more likely to engage in onshore and offshore BPO. We also find a positive association between offshore BPO and cost-cutting business strategy, and between offshore BPO and IT department focus on innovation. This study makes three contributions. First, we integrate multiple streams of literature (transaction cost economics and capabilities) to create a theoretical framework to understand the drivers of BPO. This theoret- ical framework extends the emerging literature on BPO. Second, we establish a link between IT infrastructure and BPO, using contributions from the information systems literature on IT outsourcing and business process management. Third, we distinguish between onshore and offshore BPO, including contributions from the inter- national business literature on internationalization, to identify any differences between onshore and offshore BPO

Technology based supply chain training: its use and effectiveness

Employee training is a huge business in the United States with spending in the neighborhood of $51 billion dollars. Over the last five years a growing proportion of training dollars have been committed to technology based training involving distance learning and e-learning. This article reports on the use of these innovative training methods in supply chain management and their impact on organizations in terms of cost effectiveness, time efficiency, skill development, and return on investment

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder: Toward a Contextual Understanding of Compensation of IT Professionals Within and Across Geographies

How do multinational corporations (MNCs) and domestic firms compensate technical and managerial skills of knowledge workers within and across geographies? This paper answers this question by examining how developed economy MNCs and emerging economy firms value MBA education and firm-specific IT experience of IT professionals in India; and how developed economy MNCs value MBA education and firm-specific IT experience differently across India and the U.S. Our analyses of archival data on more than 20,000 IT professionals reveal two important findings. First, for IT professionals in India, the marginal effect of firm-specific IT experience on compensation is greater for developed economy MNCs than for emerging economy firms, and the marginal effect of MBA education is greater for emerging economy firms than for developed economy MNCs. Second, when we compare compensation of IT professionals employed by MNCs across India and the U.S., we find a greater marginal effect of firm-specific IT experience in India but a greater marginal effect of MBA education in the U.S. These findings suggest that the manner in which MNCs and emerging economy firms value and compensate IT professionals across geographies is consistent with their firm-level strategies and capabilities. The findings provide important insights on compensation of IT professionals within and across geographies based on firm national origin. These contributions are important to understand the broader context of compensation of IT professionals across firm national origin and geographies

Information Technology, Production Process Outsourcing, and Manufacturing Plant Performance

What is the role of information technology (IT) in enabling the outsourcing of manufacturing plant production processes? Do plant strategies influence production outsourcing? Does production process outsourcing influence plant performance? This research addresses these questions by investigating the role of IT and plant strategies as antecedents of production outsourcing, and evaluating the impact of production outsourcing and IT investments on plant cost and quality. We develop a theoretical framework for the antecedents and performance outcomes of production outsourcing at the plant level. We validate this theoretical framework using cross-sectional survey data from U.S. manufacturing plants. Our analysis suggests that plants with greater IT investments are more likely to outsource their production processes, and that IT investments and production outsourcing are associated with lower plant cost of goods sold and higher product quality improvement. Our research provides an integrated model for studying the effects of IT and production outsourcing on plant performance

Artificial Intelligence and IT Professionals

How will continuing developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning influence IT professionals? This article approaches this question by identifying the factors that influence the demand for software developers and IT professionals, describing how these factors relate to AI, and articulating the likely impact on IT professionals