The Network Characteristics of Open Source Software Business – a Multi-disciplinary Case Study

Open Source has become an important phenomenon in the field of software business, as Open Source can be seen as a viable alternative for traditional, proprietary way to develop competitive software solutions. Open Source bases on a networked way to develop software – networks are formed within one specific Open Source project (i.e. internal network) and between several Open Source projects (i.e. external network). This paper presents a case study of an Open Source project called Laika and its external network formed with other related Open Source projects. The network analysis of Laika is carried out both from technological and business-oriented viewpoints and by following qualitative research methods

Active Digiage? : Desirable Futures for Aging People

The changing age structure of population, with its growing number of ageing people, is a worldwide phenomenon among industrialized countries, and Finland is not an exception. This has implications for swiftly rising healthcare and social welfare costs, but also for new type of demand in related services, and thus creates business opportunities for Finnish know-how. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews this research builds understanding on the desires, needs and challenges that the ageing people have in their every-day life and especially in their use of digital technology and different kinds of digital services. This will further provide insight for the service creation for the needs of elderly people in Finland. The results presented in this paper are part of a larger research project, of which this paper represents the pilot study phase

Knowledge management processes in practice: Empirical insights from the public sector

Knowledge management can be regarded as a holistic and systematic process that integrates technology and human aspects to enable organizations to achieve their goals. Knowledge management promises many benefits both for the private and public sector organizations when operationalized successfully. In the context of public sector, it is possible - at least in theory - to make more informed decisions, to serve the citizens better and to use resources more effectively through knowledge management. Thus, it is not a surprise that many public organizations have started to develop their knowledge management processes. However, knowledge management faces in practice plenty of challenges in the context of public sector. The aim of this paper is to empirically study the challenges that public organizations face at different stages of the knowledge management process. Furthermore, the paper also aims to identify the enabling factors for successful knowledge management process. To better understand both the challenges and the enablers, we have carried out empirical study that is comprised of five cases from the Finnish public sector

Exploring Data Analytics Capability Building: An IS Success and Resource-Based View

Business organizations are increasing their investments in resources related to data analytics. However, these investments would not be transferred to business value unless business organizations use these resources efficiently for value creation. Prior literature has suggested that data analytics capabilities (DAC) are critical in generating value from data and data analytics for business organizations. However, prior research has primarily centered on examining the role of resources in data and data-related technologies and ignored the importance of data services and the quality of data-related resources in building DAC and in generating value. Thus, this study develops a data analytics capability building model based on the resource-based view and the information systems success model to explain how data quality, data system quality, and data service quality in business organizations may help build DAC, which could enhance business organizations’ business performance

Analysing Multi-voiced Strategising and Firm-stakeholder Interaction in Open Source Software Communities

This paper discusses how to analyse the firm-stakeholder interaction in open source software (OSS) communities by looking at the process from a multi-voiced strategy perspective. We argue that current business models are built on a single-voiced understanding of strategising and interaction. This means that different stakeholders in the OSS communities are left without a voice in firms’ strategy processes. As different actors involved in the OSS communities have sometimes very contradictory intentions and expectations, it is important to discover ways that will help us to better understand the nature of interaction in these communities and to create new ways of strategising that will take into account the different stakeholder perspectives

Value Assessment of e-Government Service from Municipality Perspective

Value assessment of e-government services remains a challenging task. In this study, we apply a value creation model of electronic business and value for money assessment approach of e-government service in an attempt to better understand value creation from the municipality perspective. By conducting semi-structured interviews and analysis of e-government service data we investigate how digital service creates value in public services focusing on the municipality perspective. We present the identified sources of value and the indicators of value that could be derived from the analysis of data from the service. We discuss the complementary findings from performing value assessment using e-commerce and e-government models, the limitations of conducting value assessment of e-government services and performing financial analysis, and conclude with directions for future research.

Knowledge Management Challenges in Renewal of R&D Processes in Software Business

A software company operates in a dynamic, knowledge intensive business. To stay competitive in such a business, the R&D processes and their development play a significant role. Knowledge management becomes a factor when organizing knowledge work. This paper is based on a qualitative case study conducted in a software company moving to component based production. In addition to theoretical insights, the paper describes the KM challenges involved in this process and suggests solutions to these. Also some managerial implications are proposed

Data Analytics Capabilities for Digital Service Development: A Case Study

Data analytics capabilities (DAC) have become important for business organizations in delivering successful digital services to their customers. The success of digital services depends on how efficiently business organizations can deploy DAC in association with other organizational capabilities. Prior information systems (IS) literature has also argued the importance of IS capabilities for digital service development. However, few studies have examined how DAC and IS capabilities will work together for digital service development. To address the research gap, we conducted a case study in a forest machine manufacturing organization. The research findings revealed that IS capabilities such as IS skills, IS infrastructure, and IS-enabled intangibles facilitated DAC’s technical, managerial, and organizational dimension for digital service development. This study contributes to the DAC literature by investigating the role of DAC and IS capabilities in developing digital services in business organizations

USER ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL ROBOTS: A SOCIAL RESPONSE PERSPECTIVE

Anthropomorphism of social robots has been argued to be an important factor that determines individuals’ usage of social robots. Little research on social robots has explained how the anthropomorphic design of social robots affects users’ social responses to social robots and how social responses further affect user acceptance of social robots. Drawing on the social response theory, we propose a conceptual model to examine user acceptance of social robots. Specifically, three anthropomorphic features (appearance, voice, and response) are proposed to trigger users’ social responses (perceived social presence and perceived humanness) to social robots, which lead to individuals’ intention to accept social robots. The proposed research model will be empirically tested with data collected among hotel customers via an online experiment. The current study aims to contribute to the social robot acceptance literature from the social response perspective