Taking a Leadership Position In The IT Business Environment

Well-defined Industrial economics have been based upon internal, specialized, and proprietary business models.  Success in that economy has been dependent upon the ability to produce and distribute products and services faster, better, and cheaper than competitors (Economy of Scale).  The opportunity for such competition translates into executable capabilities primarily by building specialized plants, jobs, and workers that support that opportunity.  Then, and only then, an Economy of Scope will develop when those capabilities have been established.  The business value is heavily dependent upon that ability to leverage an existing business infrastructure with a launch of a new opportunity.  Job specialization, hierarchical supervision, and assembly line approaches have been techniques that have successfully leveraged a launch with an existing business structure.  Those models have had little success in the Information Age.  For example, a need has risen to leverage supply and distribution with existing business models.  Therefore, a new infrastructure must be created to develop and execute external proprietary strategies and capabilities

Synergy Of Incident Management And Real-Time Technology: The Next Step In The Evolution Of Supply Chain Management

Over the last two decades, the culture of the supply chain environment has transformed from one of mass production and distribution to one centered on pull-based demand sensing and response.  This transformation, in turn, has necessitated the use of more efficient supply chain operations.  One of the cornerstones of efficient supply chain operations is just-in-time (JIT) delivery and inventory reduction, both in-transit and in-facility (Anderson et al 2003, Simchi-Levi et al 2000).  The goal of JIT, a sub-part of a larger concept referred to as time-critical logistics (TCL), is to facilitate the delivery of materials only as they are required.  This practice, in turn, leads to improved efficiency by reducing inventory costs and idled capacity.  In addition, JIT provides increased customer orientation and responsiveness; two very critical elements in an environment of intense competition and rising fuel prices.  A vital part of JIT is the routing and scheduling of shipments.  Therefore, in order to effectively manage JIT, accurate predictions of routes and travel times are essential. (Miller et al 1999).  The JIT approach has dramatically increased the importance of reliability and efficiency throughout supply chain operations, in such areas as the sourcing of goods, transportation, manufacturing, and distribution. &nbsp

Strategic Human Resource Planning In Academia

A strategic plan guides a college in successfully meeting its mission.  Based on the strategic plan, a college can develop a human resource plan that will allow it to make management decisions in the present to support the future direction of the college.  The overall purpose of human resource management is to:ensure the organization has adequate human resources to meet it goals and operational plansallow the organization to stay apprised of the current social, economic, legislative and technological trends that affect human resources, and allow the organization to remain flexible to the dynamic changes in the environment. Human resource management identifies the future needs of the college after analyzing the college's current human resources, the external labor market, and the future human resource environment in which the college will be operating. The analysis of issues external to the college, and developing scenarios about the future, are what distinguishes human resource management from operational planning. The basic questions to be answered for strategic human resource management are:Where are we going? Given the circumstances, how will we get there? This article seeks to provide a framework for strategic human resource planning in academia

Government Control Of Communications Technology

The internet allows for the sharing of knowledge, communications, and business transactions on a global scale. Governmental regulation of the internet varies among different countries and regions of the world.  The benefits and burdens of such regulatory policies should be considered

Higher Education Should Have A Role In The Workforce Development System

In order to understand the Workforce Development System, we propose to review the history of the current workforce development system, discuss models and initiatives that are evolving, and conclude with a discussion on how higher education can be involved in research, community partnership, and programmatic activities

The Changing Workforce And Marketplace

The makeup of the labor force has changed dramatically in the last 25 years and will continue to change at an even faster pace. Businesses and/or organizations will achieve many benefits from including the ageing population and people with disabilities in both the workforce and marketplace.  Viewing the ageing population and people with disabilities as strategic business partners will achieve a strong, competitive advantage

Perspectives On The LEED (Leadership In Energy And Environmental Design) System As A Green Certification Standard

As we begin to reach the limits of Earths biosphere, ensuring that sustainable practices are integrating into new buildings and into older buildings are crucial to remove unsustainable strains on the environment. This paper seeks to examine the merits and disadvantages of LEED as a certification system in the context of environmental sustainability. While there does seem to be legitimate criticism of the LEED system, it does serve to bring and legitimize sustainable development to an area that has a profound and continual effect on the environment. The systems should be continuously examined and revamped in the context of improving the integration of environmental sustainability into commercial and residential development. LEED has the opportunity to be revamped, improved, and to become a powerful force in promoting environmental sustainability in construction

Transforming Business And Society: The Impact Of IT

Business operations and processes are revolutionizing at a rapid speed and as we continue to dive into this digital age, it is of great importance to understand the impact Information Systems and Technology has on a society as a whole, the world of business, and Main Street. With this in mind, it’s clear to see that technology solutions must conform, attribute to, and honor the triple bottom line - people, planet, and profit

A Prototype Curriculum For The Study Of Software Management

The discipline of Software Management, which is a new and potentially meaningful direction for information technology (IT) education, is presented for the first time in this article.  Software Management is a curriculum model, which specifically addresses the productivity and quality issues that have arisen in IT.  It is distinguished from the traditional disciplines of Computer Science, Software Engineering and Information Science by its body of knowledge, which focuses explicitly on building strategic governance infrastructures rather than technical artifacts.  This article presents curricular recommendations for each traditional discipline and uses these to illustrate Software Management’s unique role and value.  It also presents a conceptual framework and justification, which will assist educators in curriculum development and design issues

Embedding Security Functionality In Formal Specifications Of Requirements

The methodology in this paper will let designers specify the security properties defined through the functional families of the ISO/IEC 15408 Standard, graphic representations.  This blueprint will allow both business and technical participants, to discuss and refine a common solution.  It also serves as a roadmap, to guide the implementation process. We feel this can become a useful supporting methodology for the construction of effective security responses, because it ensures both the widest possible participation in the design process as well as the greatest degree of understanding.  The fact that the advice of the world’s experts is readily available and easy to use as a result of this process might also serve to make the mission to protect America’s information assets a little more effective