Ready, willing and capable How can SMEs gain competitive advantage from using Internet-based technologies? Ready, willing and capable How can SMEs gain competitive advantage from using Internet-based technologies?

SMEs can potentially gain competitive advantage from Internet-based technologies, because these require less investment and are more flexible than traditional Information Technologies. However, availability of IT resources is not enough. Organisations need particular competencies in order to deploy their resources effectively. Strategic application of these competencies can than lead to distinct organisational capabilities which provide competitive advantages. This paper presents a case study of a small organisation that was keen to exploit the potential of Internet-based technologies to help them compete in a very tough environment. It was found that Internet-based technologies enabled tactical quick-wins and hold the promise of potential strategic benefits through the creation of distinctive IT resources. However, it was shown that there was a need to develop competencies, particularly around capturing business needs as well as vendor management, before strategic capabilities could be realised. As SMEs have to be responsive to dynamic environments, these competencies and capabilities need to be enhanced and maintained by embedding IS management in overall management processes

Realising Telework: The Role Of Design

Telework is a form of organisational design in which organisations change their temporal-spatial characteristics in response to internal and/or external demands. This paper argues that realising such a new way of working involves the participatory creation a flexible, tailorable design, that triggers a gradual process of change. During this implementation process the design itself evolves to adjust to individual requirements and increasing understanding of needs. A case study is presented to demonstrate characteristics of telework design and its role in achieving successful teleworking

Managing value creation in knowledge intensive business services organisations

Value creation is essential in the Knowledge Intensive Business Service (KIBS) industry, due to its problem-solving nature. KIBS organisations need to understand their internal value creation processes as well as the complexity in the environment in order to survive and thrive. This paper investigates how value creation is managed in KIBS organisation through a case study. It then goes on to adopt Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) to propose an organisational design, namely the Value Integration Office (VIO). The VIO focuses on the 5 functions/systems defined by VSM in the meta-system and operation of an organisation in order to manage value creation. This design is implemented in a case study organisation with the aim to adopt a holistic view on value creation within the organisation as well as facilitate future planning function. The implementation and impact of the proposed organisational design are reported in this paper

Meeting the information needs of charity trustees: can Enterprise Performance Management Systems help?

Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) have multiple purposes, i.e. financial stability as well as their mission, often operate in complicated circumstances and report to multiple stakeholders. This paper shows that information is not being used as effectively as it could be for regulation and performance management in this sector. A preliminary study of secondary cases indicates that Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) systems could help to address this problem, because of their capabilities to combine, and subsequently analyse, data from various, internal and external, sources. Further interdisciplinary investigation of current practice and potential developments for the use of EPM in charity reporting and performance management is proposed with the expectation that this could enhance effectiveness in the sector

Value Creation Logics: A UK Case Study

Value creation is the core purpose of organisations, and the Value Creation Logics (VCLs) describe how organisations create value for their customers through the provision of goods or services. VCLs can help organisations understand and model their business processes in order to fully utilise their resources and achieve optimal performances. Most organisations rely heavily on IS/IT for their value creation. Alignment between IS/IT and business strategies as well as with the VCLs thus plays a key role in the benefits realisation of IT investment. This paper investigates the empirical realisation of different VCLs, and the role of IS/IT therein, through a case study of a UK law firm. The findings show that the different types of value creation logics co-exist and that problems occur when the organisational structure does not support the various needs of the different logics. In order to support the logics, a Viable System Model-inspired organisational design is suggested. This is intended to drive the IS/IT strategy in order to support concurrently different value creation logics

THE IMPACT OF ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ON MANAGEMENT CONTROL

Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) integrates ideas from Performance Management with Business Intelligence, to make actual performance information available in real-time to the relevant stakeholders. EPM uses a separate data management level to ‘harvest’ data from the operational processes and supply it to Business Intelligence applications, such as planning, dashboards, scorecards, reporting and analysis. The paper shows the theoretical capabilities of EPM systems to support five different types of management control, ranging from hierarchical and centralised to more democratic and autonomous methods. Based on an analysis of a range of secondary case descriptions, including some presented at a key vendor’s user group event, supplemented with conversations with some of these users, the papers gives some ideas on how these capabilities are currently used in practice. In particular it looks at whether the use of EPM Systems is related to changes in management control towards more democratic methods and empowerment

Driving Shareholder Value Through The Use Of Machine Translation Within Customer Support

Machine Translation (MT) is an increasingly mature field of applied computer technology, aimed at translating texts from one natural language into another. This paper focuses on the use of MT within Customer Support (CS), where it can support multi-lingual, multi-channel strategies. The paper shows how MT within CS positively impacts on shareholder value, through its influences on increasing and accelerating cash flows, reducing cash flow volatility and vulnerability and increasing the residual value of a business. Four application types of MT are recognized: multi-lingual chat and e-mail, multi-lingual knowledge base, multi-lingual forums and blogs and multi-lingual social media. Current use of MT concentrates on the more traditional multi-lingual knowledge base aspect of MT. However, respondents suggest that, with increased knowledge by managers of the strengths of MT, broader application can be achieved. This would further improve CS, increasing customer satisfaction, ultimately leading to higher customer loyalty and enhanced shareholder value

Can Charities Use Enterprise Performance Management Systems to Improve Information Provision?

Charities are often complex and networked, and face an increasingly demanding environment. Providing stakeholders with timely and adequate information on activities and impact is therefore challenging. Based on case studies of six UK charities, this paper finds that small/medium charities can use Enterprise Performance (EPM) systems to support providing such information, despite some challenges to their use of IT. There is an increasing awareness in charities of the importance of data, though technical aspects of data management are taxing for them. Compared to SMEs, charities share many of the challenges for IT-enhancement, but benefit from additional encouraging factors. EPM thinking, which is the ability to use an integrated and strategic approach to IT-support for EPM, is extant in charities’ Leadership and Business Systems Thinking capabilities. Necessary capabilities related to IT sourcing are much weaker and need external support. The study identified two different approaches to data integration and business process modelling in EPM: the first focuses on standardising performance measures across activities and projects, the second on standardising reporting processes while allowing for diversity of measures. The use of BI is largely unsophisticated, though improving, and may need enhancing to address the increasingly complex internal and external need for information

Fin spine chemistry as a non-lethal alternative to otoliths for stock discrimination in an endangered catfish

Trace element:Ca (Ba:Ca, Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca and Sr:Ca) ratios in water and last growth intervals (outer 45 µm) of dorsal spine and otolith edges from Genidens barbus collected in 3 study areas (Brazil, Argentina−Uruguay and Patagonia) were compared to determine whether the spine can provide a non-lethal natural marker alternative to otoliths for this endangered species. We found an association between calcified structures and the availability of some element:Ca ratios in water. Among the measured element:Ca ratios, a strong correlation in Ba:Ca between outer edges of fin spines and otoliths was found (r 2 = 0.87, p = 0.0001), whereas Mg:Ca, Mn:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios were weakly correlated between structures (0.09 < r 2 < 0.20, 0.0006 < p < 0.02). Several ratios were significantly different among sites for otolith and spine edge (p < 0.05). Permutational multivariate ANOVA (p < 0.05) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) proved highly effective for characterizing differences in otolith and spine edge compositions between sampling sites (mean classification rates: 84.2 and 90.1% for otolith and spine edge, respectively), suggesting that both structures can be used as habitat markers. To identify the possible contribution of multiple stocks to the different areas, we performed QDA for the complete last year of a fish’s life. Classification rates were high for both structures, averaging 79.6 and 81.2% for otolith and spine, respectively, suggesting the existence of new stocks in Patagonian waters. Spine chemistry seems to be an acceptable non-lethal advantage over otoliths to study different biological aspects of catfish.Fil: Avigliano, Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Unidad Ejecutora de Investigaciones en Producción Animal. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Unidad Ejecutora de Investigaciones en Producción Animal; ArgentinaFil: Maichak del Carvalho, Barbara. Universidade Tecnologia Federal do Parana; BrasilFil: Miller, Nathan. University of Texas at Austin; Estados UnidosFil: Córdoba Gironde, Sofía. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Tombari, Andrea Diana. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Limburg, Karin. State University of New York; Estados UnidosFil: Volpedo, Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Unidad Ejecutora de Investigaciones en Producción Animal. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Unidad Ejecutora de Investigaciones en Producción Animal; Argentin