ICT Transformation in China After Its WTO Entry: Lessons from the Tobacco Industry

This study examines ICT’s impact in meeting the challenges, Chinese tobacco companies are facing in the context of an open door policy as well as the WTO entry. The analysis is based on an in-depth study of the ICT evolution in Chinese tobacco companies. For our conclusion we use Nolan’s stage hypothesis and the strategic grid model. We show that, depending on a company’s strategic grid cell, different behavior patterns can be observed in terms of Nolan’s stage model. We conclude that a fast transformation of ICT plays a major role for Chinese tobacco companies in order to face the challenges entailed by the WTO entry

Service Consumer Model: Understanding and Describing Consumers for New Service Development

Against the background of an increasing discrepancy between consumer access to an evergrowing range of products and being increasingly frustrated with the consumption processes, we propose a model for understanding and describing consumers and their behavior holistically. In this paper, a design science approach is used. The model is build on existing concepts such as the concept of consumer processes, user context, service-dominant logic, disconfirmation, activity theory, and event-driven process chains. The application of the model and its usefulness for improving new service development is demonstrated by an example

Service Oriented IT Management: Benefit, Cost and Success Factors

Due to an enhanced customer focus in the planning, development and delivery of IT services, service-oriented IT management has become increasingly important. This paper investigates to what effect service-oriented IT management has already been put into place in European companies. Benefit and cost categories of integrating service-oriented principles into IT management processes are analyzed. Additionally success factors for implementing serviceoriented IT management are investigated. For this purpose, six case studies were conducted. The situation of IT management before and after implementation was analyzed and comments are made on the corresponding transformation projects. Based on the case studies, this paper shows three typical benefit categories of service-oriented IT management. Eight cost categories for implementing and operating service-oriented IT management processes are discussed and six success factors of pertinent re-organization projects are identified. Findings can serve as guidelines for other IT organizations and can be used as enabler for getting informed decisions regarding the initiation of service-oriented IT management. Finally, the article highlights four current trends for service-oriented IT management and further research is outlined

Excellence-Modell der Industrialisierung des Informationsmanagements

Zusammenfassung: Die Akzeptanz der Dienstleistungen von IT-Einheiten in Industrie und Verwaltung ist trotz allen Fortschritts in Technik und Prozessen nicht zufriedenstellend. Das industrialisierte Informationsmanagement (IIM) will hier durch eine neue Ausrichtung der Methoden und Inhalte des IT-Managements helfen, die IT ihrer Bedeutung entsprechend zu managen. Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung eines Excellence-Modells zur Bewertung und Einschätzung des Industrialisierungsgrades eines IT-Dienstleisters. Zur Strukturierung der Analyse gruppiert das Modell die Aufgaben eines IT-Dienstleisters in 12 Rollen, wie z. B. Produkt-Engineering, Sourcing, Delivery-Management, Controlling, und bildet drei Analyseebenen: die genannten Rollen, darüber Prozesse und schließlich das Gesamtunternehmen. Am Praxisbeispiel eines deutschen Unternehmens wird das Excellence-Modell für die Rolle Controlling beschrieben. Erste Erkenntnisse der Anwendung zeigen auf, zu welchen Anregungen die Nutzung des Modells im Beispielunternehmen geführt ha

A Service Model for the Development of Management Systems for IT-enabled Services

The shift from device and application towards service-orientated IT Management raises new questions that require concepts such as portfolio management, resource planning or mass customization for IT services. These concepts increase the complexity of IT Service Management and require additional tool support. Conceptual models are necessary in order to develop appropriate tools. The goal of our paper is to propose and validate a conceptual IT service model. We introduce the characteristics of IT services and analyze existing IT service models. A common IT service model is derived (theoretically) from the literature and validated through cases of IT service providers. These case studies from three German IT service providers also yield insights for further research

A CLASSIFICATION OF SHARED SERVICE CENTERS: INSIGHTS FROM THE IT SERVICES INDUSTRY

Shared service centers are a common approach for organizing IT service provisioning. However, current research reveals little that both consultants and scientists maintain a fragmented understanding of the basic characteristics of SSCs and their different variations. From SSCs with free access to external markets, to SSCs with restricted access or no access to external markets, many facets of the SSC require further clarification. Other criteria such as legal form, organizational structure, and accounting approach vary across different departments. The general elements describing SSCs are extracted from literature and show a common understanding. Based on material gathered during focus groups and extensive case studies in 7 SSCs from Europe and North America, our study extracts typical SSC characteristics, as well as their distinctive attributes, and designs a classification grid. This framework is used to classify three typical profiles that have been identified