The Existential Doctorate: Liminality in Industry-Academic Doctoral Partnerships

Formalised industry-academic doctoral partnerships are increasingly sought as a way to bring academia and industry closer together. However, existing approaches appear to either reinforce the divide between the two “worlds” or acknowledge their independence. By focusing on both the doctoral candidate and their supervisor, we problematise existing doctoral partnership models in order to foreground our own “liminal” and “existential” doctoral experience. We provide self-reflections to discuss how the worlds of industry and academia can be transcended through the “liminal self”, as matters of being and belonging are brought into question as the embedded doctoral researcher navigates the two worlds. As a sensemaking process, our paper showcases an innovative and promising approach towards doctoral research; one where the candidate’s philosophical contemplation of their identity comes to play an irrevocable role in the exploration of an empirical phenomenon

The Beergame in Business-to-Business eCommerce Courses – A Teaching Report

In this teaching report I demonstrate the use of the so-called beer distribution game in teaching business-to-business eCommerce courses. The beergame is a role-play supply chain simulation game that lets students experience typical coordination problems of (traditional) supply chains without information sharing and collaboration. With this paper I want to show how the beergame can be used to provide students with a more profound understanding of the reasons why eCommerce technologies are used in contemporary supply chains; I also want to share my experiences and beergame materials with other information systems scholars in the field. To this end, I will introduce the beergame, demonstrate its use in a classroom setting, and show how I embed the game in a typical B2B eCommerce syllabus

The Role Of Social Capital In Managing Relationships With eCommerce Suppliers

Contemporary E-Commerce solutions are often developed and delivered in inter-firm setups that involve various business partners. Being characterised by innovative, ill-structured tasks and using new technologies to develop new business models and services, E-Commerce projects and the subsequently resulting relationships with business partners are demanding and challenging to manage. Surprisingly, project and partner management issues in E-Commerce remain largely unaddressed. This paper takes an inter-firm perspective and addresses the social dimension of E-Commerce relationships. Social capital theory, referring to the value of social relationships and networks, is used to guide this research. Based on findings from case study research, different types and episodes of E-Commerce supplier relationships are distinguished, each calling for a different role of social capital as the basis for effective inter-firm collaboration. By applying social capital theory the study enhances the understanding of E-Commerce as a network-based business as well as the general understanding of the social aspects in relationship management, which to date is largely dominated by concepts like trust and culture. The paper presents a comprehensive framework of social capital in E-Commerce relationships and points out some management implications.

Strategic Positioning in Converging Technology Markets—The Clyp Case

This case is set in the market for Internet telephony software, which emerged as the result of the convergence of traditional telecommunications technology with new Internet-based speech technology. Clyp is the provider of a software-based IP-PBX, a public branch exchange, which allows companies to set up and self-manage an internal IP-based telephony network, whereby telephony and data share the same computer network infrastructure. Clyp finds itself confronted with an increasingly competitive and converging market. Its growth rates have fallen behind market average, and its product hasn’t seen innovative changes for some time. The case is targeted at Postgraduate (master’s-level) students in (business) information systems and strategic (technology) management. Its main aim is to facilitate learning on strategic positioning and business model analysis in the faces of converging technology markets and the unique characteristics of a software company. The case lends itself to a three-step analysis: (1) business model analysis, (2) market analysis and strategic positioning, (3) identification of strategic options

Measuring blood flow and pro-inflammatory changes in the rabbit aorta

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease that develops as a consequence of progressive entrapment of low density lipoprotein, fibrous proteins and inflammatory cells in the arterial intima. Once triggered, a myriad of inflammatory and atherogenic factors mediate disease progression. However, the role of pro-inflammatory activity in the initiation of atherogenesis and its relation to altered mechanical stresses acting on the arterial wall is unclear. Estimation of wall shear stress (WSS) and the inflammatory mediator NF-κB is consequently useful. In this thesis novel ultrasound tools for accurate measurement of spatiotemporally varying 2D and 3D blood flow, with and without the use of contrast agents, have been developed. This allowed for the first time accurate, broad-view quantification of WSS around branches of the rabbit abdominal aorta. A thorough review of the evidence for a relationship between flow, NF-κB and disease was performed which highlighted discrepancies in the current literature and was used to guide the study design. Subsequently, methods for the measurement and colocalization of the spatial distribution of NF-κB, arterial permeability and nuclear morphology in the aorta of New Zealand White rabbits were developed. It was demonstrated that endothelial pro-inflammatory changes are spatially correlated with patterns of WSS, nuclear morphology and arterial permeability in vivo in the rabbit descending and abdominal aorta. The data are consistent with a causal chain between WSS, macromolecule uptake, inflammation and disease, and with the hypothesis that lipids are deposited first, through flow-mediated naturally occurring transmigration that, in excessive amounts, leads to subsequent inflammation and disease.Open Acces

Beziehungsmanagement: Grundlagen, Konzepte und Maßnahmen am Beispiel von Supplier- und Customer-Relationships

Die Vertreter der IT-Branche - Softwareunternehmen, Systemhäuser und Berater - plädieren für den Einsatz einer Vielzahl von Beziehungsmanagementsystemen. Ziel dieses Beitrags war es, diesen Trend in den Kontext wirtschaftlicher und technologischer Entwicklungen einzuordnen und einen umfassenden und mehrdimensionalen Überblick über das Beziehungsmanagement, seine Grundprinzipien und die typische Ausgestaltung in Form des Supplier- und des Customer-Relationship-Managements zu geben. Zu diesem Zweck wurde aufbauend auf einer Definition zunächst eine Einordnung und Abgrenzung des Beziehungsmanagements vorgenommen. Dann wurden kurz die Historie der wichtigsten Konzepte SRM und CRM nachgezeichnet und das Beziehungsmanagement als strategischer Managementansatz portraitiert. Zu diesem Zweck wurden die ökonomischen Beiträge von SRM und CRM verdeutlicht. In den folgenden Kapiteln wurden dann die zwei wesentlichen Grundprinzipien des Beziehungsmanagements - Segmentierung und Beziehungsbildung - detaillierter und beispielhaft unter Nennung der wesentlichen Konzepte und Maßnahmen diskutiert. Die Vorstellung der grundlegenden IKT-Komponenten zur Unterstützung der Beziehungsmanagementkonzepte schließt den Beitrag ab. --

Enterprise social networking in knowledge-intensive work practices : a case study in a professional service firm

Social media technologies are making fast inroads into organisations. In the context of knowledge-intensive work the propositions of improved communication, information sharing and user involvement seem particularly promising. We study the phenomenon of Enterprise Social Networking (ESN) in the context of Professional Service Firms (PSF). Our case study investigates emerging knowledge work practices on the ESN platform Yammer within Deloitte Australia. We perform a genre analysis of communication data and uncover a set of emerging practices. We reflect on our results in the context of the knowledge-intensive nature of professional service work. We find that Yammer in the case company has become 1) an information-sharing channel, 2) a space for crowdsourcing ideas, 3) a place for finding expertise and solving problems and 4) a conversation medium for context and relationship building. We conclude by positioning ESN in the well-known 3-C model for classifying collaborative ICT.<br /

CONTEXTUALIZING IS IN BUSINESS: $ R US FINANCIAL PLANNING – A MODULAR TEACHING CASE FOR INTRODUCTORY 1ST YEAR GENERAL BUSINESS MIS COURSES

This Teaching Case has been developed to assist students in introductory first year MIS courses to develop an understanding of business context, while building practical expertise in IS modeling techniques and problem solving. The case has been formulated around a small financial planning practice, in order to work in a learning environment where students may not have had any (or limited) exposure to organizational business operations. In focusing on a small organization students are able to very gradually build their knowledge of organizations in an easily understood and controlled fashion. The case is composed of self-contained vignettes/modules. While the case takes students on a journey with the establishment of the business and its growth, it is also flexible and possible to alter the selection and sequence of modules to fit a particular course outline. The case covers the breadth of entry-level MIS courses and works with typical MIS introductory textbooks

Identity and self-presentation : from a representational to a performative lens in studying social media engagement in organisations

Social media make fast inroads into organisations. This raises issues regarding self-presentation and locating experts in these new emerging communication spaces, as the basis for effective social media-enabled knowledge work. However, research on self-presentation and identity in organisational social media is only just emerging and has been founded on broader understandings from studies of public social media. In this literature study we demonstrate that the existing body of research on identity in social media is dominated by a &lsquo;representational lens&rsquo;. Based on an analysis of the historic foundations of this stream of research, we will expose limitations of this lens in capturing contemporary engagement in online spaces and advocate for a &lsquo;performative lens&rsquo; in studying identity work in organisations. We contribute a detailed exposition of the evolution of identity studies in the context of public social media, and we offer an alternative lens for studying the topic in organisational contexts.<br /