Ask Not What FHS Can Do For You, But What You Can Do For FHS

Jessica Endlich brings the reader into intimate contact with the faculty of a small, urban high school which depends heavily on voluntary teacher leadership, and finds itself straining against the limits of capacity. Her candid interviews show vividly the tensions that exist when there is never enough time, support, appreciation, and equity to turn a wonderful idea into reality. She suggests some baseline, common-sense strategies to enable teachers to lead without sacrificing their students or their own personal lives

Internationale Markteintrittsstrategien für mittelständische Softwareanbieter : Ergebnisse einer Unternehmensbefragung

Der Vertrieb von Software in ausländischen Märkten kann grundsätzlich über verschiedene Kanäle erfolgen. Somit stellt die Wahl der Form des internationalen Markteintritts eine wesentliche Gestaltungsgröße mit Auswirkungen auf die Kosten des Auslandsengagements einerseits und auf Kontrollmöglichkeiten und Kundennähe im Auslandsmarkt andererseits dar. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie ist es, Gestaltungsoptionen internationaler Markteintrittsstrategien insbesondere für mittelständische Softwareunternehmen aufzuzeigen und daraus Handlungsoptionen für die Unternehmen abzuleiten. Die Ergebnisse der Studie lassen Handlungsbedarf für noch nicht im Ausland tätige Softwareunternehmen erkennen. Die Analysen zeigen Differenzierungsmöglichkeiten in ausländischen Märkten auf und liefern konkrete Handlungsempfehlungen, wie ausländische Markteintritte in Abhängigkeit der Unternehmenssituation gestalten werden sollten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass insbesondere die Eigenschaften der angebotenen Software und der komplementären Dienstleistungen Auswirkungen auf die internationale Markteintrittsstrategie haben. Zur Internationalisierung bedarf es interkulturell qualifizierte Mitarbeiter, um eine erfolgreiche Zusammenarbeit mit Kunden und Partnern in den Auslandsmärkten zu erreichen. Entsprechend sollten deutsche Softwareanbieter künftig in die interkulturelle Auswahl und Weiterbildung ihrer Mitarbeiter investieren

Explaining Variations in Client Extra Costs between Software Projects Offshored to India

Gaining economic benefits from substantially lower labor costs has been reported as a major reason for offshoring labor-intensive information systems (IS) services to low-wage countries; however, if wage differences are so high, why is there such a high level of variation in the economic success between offshored IS projects? This study argues that offshore outsourcing involves a number of extra costs for the client organization that account for the economic failure of offshore projects. The objective is to disaggregate these extra costs into its constituent parts and to explain why they differ between offshored software projects. The focus is set on software development and maintenance projects that are offshored to Indian vendors. A theoretical framework is developed a priori based on transaction cost economics (TCE) and the knowledge-based view of the firm, complemented by factors that acknowledge the specific offshore context. The framework is empirically explored using a multiple case study design including six offshored software projects in a large German Financial Service institution. The results of our analysis indicate that the client incurs post contractual extra costs for four types of activities: (1) requirements specification and design, (2) knowledge transfer, (3) control, and (4) coordination. In projects that require a high level of client-specific knowledge about idiosyncratic business processes and software systems, these extra costs were found to be substantially higher than in projects were more general knowledge was needed. Notably, these costs most often arose independently from the threat of opportunistic behavior, challenging the predominant TCE logic of market failure. Rather, the client extra costs were particularly high in client-specific projects because the effort for managing the consequences of the knowledge asymmetries between client and vendor were particularly high in these projects. Prior experiences of the vendor with related client projects were found to reduce the level of extra costs but could not fully offset the increase in extra costs in highly client-specific projects. Moreover, cultural and geographic distance between client and vendor as well as personnel turnover were found to increase client extra costs. Slight evidence was found, however, that the cost increasing impact of these factors was also leveraged in projects with a high level of required client-specific knowledge (moderator effect)

The Influence of product-specific determinants on software firms’ international entry mode choices

In an environment of globalization of software and IT services, providing software solutions in international markets has become a strategic necessity for many software firms. When setting up international business operations, software firms need to make a fundamental choice on the distribution arrangements for software and related services in foreign markets. Particularly, such arrangements may either involve contracting with local partners to distribute products and services or extending the firm abroad by establishing wholly-owned subsidiaries or deploying employees. This study focuses on analyzing such boundary choices of software product firms in international markets. Taking a knowledge-based perspective, a research model is developed that outlines the influence of software product and service characteristics on software firms’ international entry mode choices. The research model is tested using PLS based on survey data from internationally operating software firms. The study findings support the knowledge-based reasoning that unique knowledge inherent in a software product that may be required during the sales process can be more easily transferred within firm boundaries. Particularly, the results point out the need for software firms to enter foreign markets through company-owned channels (i.e., wholly-owned subsidiaries or employee deployment) if the business processes and the functionality reflected in software product are highly specific. Likewise, company-owned channels are chosen if a high share of complementary services (e.g., implementation, consulting, training, maintenance, and support) is provided along with the introduction of a software product in a foreign market. In contrast, if significant country-specific adaptations of software products need to be performed, in particular language localization, the required knowledge is most effectively integrated through cooperation with local sales partners

Offshoring of Application Services in the Banking Industry – A Transaction Cost Analysis

Gaining economic benefits from substantially lower labor costs has been reported as a major reason for information systems (IS) offshoring. However, many offshoring projects have failed to achieve expected cost savings, indicating that labor cost savings are offset by additional costs that arise in offshoring projects in certain situations. While previous research on IS offshoring has mostly focused on management issues in offshoring, the focus of this paper is to improve our understanding why the realization of economic benefits varies substantially between offshored software projects. Based on a conceptual framework from transaction cost economics and empirical data from an in-depth case study involving six software development and maintenance projects that were offshored to software vendors in India by a major German financial services organization, two research questions are studied. First, what types of additional costs may arise in offshored software projects? Second, how and why do additional costs vary between projects, considering both task and offshore characteristics? The findings from our analysis indicate that offshoring can lead to increased effort on the client side, both in terms of production costs (requirements specification, knowledge transfer, conceptual development) and transaction costs (vendor coordination, and control). These additional costs are particularly high when the outsourced function is highly asset specific. Moreover, offshore country characteristics such as cultural differences, geographic distance as well as vendor characteristics such as the degree of personnel fluctuation and lack of absorptive capacity can lead to cost add-ons at the client side – in particular when a high degree of human asset specificity is involved in the offshored software projects

Transcriptome meta-analysis reveals a central role for sex steroids in the degeneration of hippocampal neurons in Alzheimer’s disease

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent form of dementia. While a number of transcriptomic studies have been performed on the brains of Alzheimer’s specimens, no clear picture has emerged on the basis of neuronal transcriptional alterations linked to the disease. Therefore we performed a meta-analysis of studies comparing hippocampal neurons in Alzheimer’s disease to controls. RESULTS: Homeostatic processes, encompassing control of gene expression, apoptosis, and protein synthesis, were identified as disrupted during Alzheimer’s disease. Focusing on the genes carrying out these functions, a protein-protein interaction network was produced for graph theory and cluster exploration. This approach identified the androgen and estrogen receptors as key components and regulators of the disrupted homeostatic processes. CONCLUSIONS: Our systems biology approach was able to identify the importance of the androgen and estrogen receptors in not only homeostatic cellular processes but also the role of other highly central genes in Alzheimer’s neuronal dysfunction. This is important due to the controversies and current work concerning hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women, and possibly men, as preventative approaches to ward off this neurodegenerative disorder

Altering the primacy bias – How does a prior task affect mismatch negativity (MMN)?

The role in which two tones are first encountered in an unattended oddball sequence affects how deviance detection, reflected by mismatch negativity (MMN), treats them later when the roles reverse: a “primacy bias”. We tested whether this effect is modulated by previous behavioural relevance assigned to the two tones. To this end, sequences in which the roles of the two tones alternated were preceded by a go-nogo task in which tones were presented with equal probability. Half of the participants were asked to respond to the short sounds, the other half to long sounds. Primacy bias was initially abolished but returned dependent upon the gostimulus the participant was assigned. Results demonstrate a long-term impact of prior learning on deviance detection; and that even when prior importance/equivalence is learned, the bias ultimately returns. Results are discussed in terms of persistent go-stimulus-specific changes in responsiveness to sound

Infant behavioral reactivity predicts change in amygdala volume 12 years later

The current study examined the link between temperamental reactivity in infancy and amygdala development in middle childhood. A sample (n = 291) of four-month-old infants was assessed for infant temperament, and two groups were identified: those exhibiting negative reactivity (n = 116) and those exhibiting positive reactivity (n = 106). At 10 and 12 years of age structural imaging was completed on a subset of these participants (n = 75). Results indicate that, between 10 and 12 years of age, left amygdala volume increased more slowly in those with negative compared to positive reactive temperament. These results provide novel evidence linking early temperament to distinct patterns of brain development over middle childhood