19 research outputs found
Strategic Alignment In Mergers And Acquisitions: Theorizing IS Integration Decision making.
This paper focuses on IS integration decisions made during mergers and acquisitions from a strategic-alignment lens. The objectives of this study are to: (1) examine business-IS alignment as reflected in IS integration decisions in a merger context and (2) identify factors that shape IS integration decisions in a merger context. We study these issues in three oil and gas mergers from pre-merger announcement to three to four years after merger announcement. Our contributions are three-fold. We show that firms are somewhat misaligned in the early post-merger period, and come into alignment only two to three years after the merger. We find that business-IS alignment was a minor concern for the new organizations in pre-merger and early post-merger phases. Other factors such as acquirer-target power struggles, prior merger experience, and overarching synergy goals drove much of the initial integration decision making. Only late in the post-merger do the merged organizations revisit their systems to bring them into alignment with the business needs
Storage Area Networks
This tutorial compares Storage area Network (SAN) technology with previous storage management solutions with particular attention to promised benefits of scalability, interoperability, and high-speed LAN-free backups. The paper provides an overview of what SANs are, why invest in them, and how SANs can be managed. The paper also discusses a primary management concern, the interoperability of vendor-specific SAN solutions. Bluefin, a storage management interface and interoperability solution is also explained. The paper concludes with discussion of SAN-related trends and implications for practice and research
Rethinking risk and disasters in mountain areas
This chapter presents a view of risk and disaster in the mountains that finds them fully a part of public safety issues in modern states and developments, rather than separated from them. This contrasts with prevailing approaches to disaster focused on natural hazards, âunscheduledâ or extreme events, and emergency preparedness; approaches strongly reinforced by mountain stereotypes. Rather, we find the legacies of social and economic histories, especially relations to down-country or metropolitan actors, are decisive in shaping contemporary âmountain realitiesâ. Developments in transportation, resource extraction and tourism that serve state and international agendas can increase rather than reduce risks for mountain populations, and undermine pre-existing strategies to minimise environmental dangers. Above all, we see rapid urbanisation in mountains generally and the Himalaya in particular as highly implicated in exacerbating risks and creating new types of vulnerabilities. Enforced displacement, and concentration of people in urban agglomerations, is a major part of the modern history of mountain lands that invites more careful exploration. Rapid expansion of built environments and infrastructure, without due regard to hazards and structural safety, introduce new and complex risks, while altering older equations with and to the land and sapping peopleâs resilience. In the lives of mountain people, environmental hazards are mostly subordinate to other, societal sources of risk and vulnerability, and to the insecurities these involve. Basically we conclude that âmarginalisationâ of mountain lands is primarily an outcome of socio-economic developments in which their condition is subordinated to strategic planning by state, metropolitan and global actors.Cet article aborde la question des risques et des catastrophes en montagne. Il vise non pas Ă dissocier mais plutĂŽt Ă replacer ces concepts au cĆur des questions de sĂ©curitĂ© publique et de dĂ©veloppement des Ătats contemporains. Cette approche des catastrophes se distingue des prĂ©cĂ©dentes, pourtant considĂ©rablement renforcĂ©es par les stĂ©rĂ©otypes habituels, propres Ă lâenvironnement montagnard. De fait, celles-ci Ă©taient jusquâalors centrĂ©es sur lâalĂ©a naturel, sur son caractĂšre extrĂȘme et imprĂ©visible, ainsi que sur la rĂ©ponse post-catastrophe (phase dâurgence). La prise en compte dâautres facteurs apparaĂźt nĂ©cessaire. Les hĂ©ritages des histoires Ă©conomique et sociale des territoires montagnards, et, plus particuliĂšrement, les relations tissĂ©es avec les acteurs mĂ©tropolitains et le reste du pays, contribuent, de maniĂšre dĂ©cisive, Ă façonner la rĂ©alitĂ© contemporaine des montagnes. Le dĂ©veloppement des transports, lâextraction de ressources et le tourisme, qui profitent Ă lâĂtat et sâinscrivent dans la tendance internationale, peuvent paradoxalement accroĂźtre le risque pour les populations montagnardes et saper les stratĂ©gies prĂ©existantes destinĂ©es Ă rĂ©duire le risque environnemental. Plus que tout, lâurbanisation rapide des montagnes en gĂ©nĂ©ral, et de lâHimalaya en particulier, a largement contribuĂ© Ă intensifier les risques et Ă crĂ©er de nouvelles formes de vulnĂ©rabilitĂ©s. La majeure partie de lâhistoire actuelle des montagnes reste influencĂ©e par les dĂ©placements contraints de population et la densification des centres urbains. Cela doit faire lâobjet dâune analyse particuliĂšre. Lâexpansion rapide du bĂąti et des infrastructures, mis Ă part la sĂ©curitĂ© de ces structures, engendre des risques nouveaux et complexes et dĂ©tĂ©riore parallĂšlement le rapport habituel des hommes Ă leurs terres, en dĂ©gradant ainsi la capacitĂ© de rĂ©silience des individus. Dans la vie quotidienne des peuples montagnards, les catastrophes environnementales sont bien souvent dĂ©pendantes dâautres formes sociales de risque, de vulnĂ©rabilitĂ© et dâune insĂ©curitĂ© corollaire. Pour conclure, la marginalisation des espaces montagnards reste avant tout la consĂ©quence du dĂ©veloppement socio-Ă©conomique de ces territoires, dont les paramĂštres dĂ©pendent des stratĂ©gies de dĂ©veloppement de lâĂtat et des acteurs mĂ©tropolitains et internationaux
Information systems procurement process risk and control: Insights from a public sector organization
Information Systems Procurement Process Risk and Control: Insights from a Public Sector Organization
Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017
A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1â70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6â70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organizationâs Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8â38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8â67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic
Correction to: Cluster identification, selection, and description in Cluster randomized crossover trials: the PREP-IT trials
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article
Repenser le risque et les catastrophes dans les régions de montagne
Cet article aborde la question des risques et des catastrophes en montagne. Il vise non pas Ă dissocier mais plutĂŽt Ă replacer ces concepts au cĆur des questions de sĂ©curitĂ© publique et de dĂ©veloppement des Ătats contemporains. Cette approche des catastrophes se distingue des prĂ©cĂ©dentes, pourtant considĂ©rablement renforcĂ©es par les stĂ©rĂ©otypes habituels, propres Ă lâenvironnement montagnard. De fait, celles-ci Ă©taient jusquâalors centrĂ©es sur lâalĂ©a naturel, sur son caractĂšre extrĂȘme et imprĂ©visible, ainsi que sur la rĂ©ponse post-catastrophe (phase dâurgence). La prise en compte dâautres facteurs apparaĂźt nĂ©cessaire. Les hĂ©ritages des histoires Ă©conomique et sociale des territoires montagnards, et, plus particuliĂšrement, les relations tissĂ©es avec les acteurs mĂ©tropolitains et le reste du pays, contribuent, de maniĂšre dĂ©cisive, Ă façonner la rĂ©alitĂ© contemporaine des montagnes. Le dĂ©veloppement des transports, lâextraction de ressources et le tourisme, qui profitent Ă lâĂtat et sâinscrivent dans la tendance internationale, peuvent paradoxalement accroĂźtre le risque pour les populations montagnardes et saper les stratĂ©gies prĂ©existantes destinĂ©es Ă rĂ©duire le risque environnemental. Plus que tout, lâurbanisation rapide des montagnes en gĂ©nĂ©ral, et de lâHimalaya en particulier, a largement contribuĂ© Ă intensifier les risques et Ă crĂ©er de nouvelles formes de vulnĂ©rabilitĂ©s. La majeure partie de lâhistoire actuelle des montagnes reste influencĂ©e par les dĂ©placements contraints de population et la densification des centres urbains. Cela doit faire lâobjet dâune analyse particuliĂšre. Lâexpansion rapide du bĂąti et des infrastructures, mis Ă part la sĂ©curitĂ© de ces structures, engendre des risques nouveaux et complexes et dĂ©tĂ©riore parallĂšlement le rapport habituel des hommes Ă leurs terres, en dĂ©gradant ainsi la capacitĂ© de rĂ©silience des individus. Dans la vie quotidienne des peuples montagnards, les catastrophes environnementales sont bien souvent dĂ©pendantes dâautres formes sociales de risque, de vulnĂ©rabilitĂ© et dâune insĂ©curitĂ© corollaire. Pour conclure, la marginalisation des espaces montagnards reste avant tout la consĂ©quence du dĂ©veloppement socio-Ă©conomique de ces territoires, dont les paramĂštres dĂ©pendent des stratĂ©gies de dĂ©veloppement de lâĂtat et des acteurs mĂ©tropolitains et internationaux.<br>This chapter presents a view of risk and disaster in the mountains that finds them fully a part of public safety issues in modern states and developments, rather than separated from them. This contrasts with prevailing approaches to disaster focused on natural hazards, âunscheduledâ or extreme events, and emergency preparedness; approaches strongly reinforced by mountain stereotypes. Rather, we find the legacies of social and economic histories, especially relations to down-country or metropolitan actors, are decisive in shaping contemporary âmountain realitiesâ. Developments in transportation, resource extraction and tourism that serve state and international agendas can increase rather than reduce risks for mountain populations, and undermine pre-existing strategies to minimise environmental dangers. Above all, we see rapid urbanisation in mountains generally and the Himalaya in particular as highly implicated in exacerbating risks and creating new types of vulnerabilities. Enforced displacement, and concentration of, people in urban agglomerations, is a major part of the modern history of mountain lands that invites more careful exploration. Rapid expansion of built environments and infrastructure, without due regard to hazards and structural safety, introduce new and complex risks, while altering older equations with and to the land and sapping peopleâs resilience. In the lives of mountain people, environmental hazards are mostly subordinate to other, societal sources of risk and vulnerability, and to the insecurities these involve. Basically we conclude that âmarginalisationâ of mountain lands is primarily an outcome of socio-economic developments in which their condition is subordinated to strategic planning by state, metropolitan and global actors