The Development Strategy of IT Capability: A Contingency Perspective

This study proposes a conceptual model to link IT capabilities, industry types, and value implications. We attempt to use a contingency analysis to theorize that which types of IT capabilities (e.g., externally-focused, internally-focused, and aggregate IT capability) should a firm develop and then what benefits (e.g., firm value and firm performance) it will gain according to its industry’s value creation logic (e.g., value chain-based, value shop-based, and value network-based industry). The empirical findings show that a value network-based firm should develop externally-focused IT capabilities to create its firm value and a value chain-based firm should develop aggregate IT capabilities to improve its firm performance and create its firm value

Learning behavior in an asynchronous Web-based executive program

Web-based learning (WBL) of the asynchronous type provides great potential for today’s managers and professionals to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Managers and professional staff, unlike full-time students, have to balance work, family and learning commitments. However, most research focuses on full-time students, with less concern for managers and professional staff. In this study, we adopt the ethnographic method to conduct a case study of the learning behavior and experience of managers and professional staff in an asynchronous Web-based Strategic Management course. Taking an interpretive stance, we reach several important findings: contingencies exist and influence learning behavior; deadlines play a significant but different role for different learners; learners spend more time and effort on an asynchronous Web-based course; learners adopt different strategies and build for themselves different combinations from the same set of teaching materials; and learners struggle to create for themselves a “classroom” where none in fact exists. These findings are substantial and contribute greatly to our understanding of how managers and professional staff learn in the asynchronous WBL environment

Creating E-Business Value And Firm Performance From Supply Chain Perspective

After e-commerce (electronic commerce) bubbled in the new millennium, the trend of information technology thus moved forward e-business (electronic business) manifestly. This is because e-business integrated and valued greater than e-commerce both in the physical and virtual networks. Also, it apparently shows that businesses are planning to achieve digitally tightened integration with suppliers, customers, and employees from the development of information technology in recent years. It means that e-business technologies are widely used by businesses. However, not all businesses are successfully using e-business technologies. Some of them face the failure of e-business technologies use to yield satisfactory value and firm performance due to the much more important lack of significant knowledge or capability to use e-business technologies. Therefore, such researches of e-business have been paid much attention by academia and practitioners. This study would initially investigate the relevant references of e-business technologies use and IT integration capability in order to identify the involved relationships. Furthermore, intrafirm integration and interfirm integration are regarded as two significant mediators and then try to verify the influence of above-mentioned variables on e-business value and firm performance so as to propose the research model. The results and findings in this study support the hypotheses we presented in the light of 248 respondents gathered from Taiwan top 1000 enterprises. Expect that there is a guideline to follow and the research model would contribute to enhance the success of e-business value and firm performance for businesses as using e-business technologies. Moreover, the results and findings of this study could be as the reference for academia and practitioners as conducting related researches

The Relationship Between It Capability And Firm Performance In Different E-Business Modes

Based on the technology typology view, this study propose three e-business modes: process-oriented EB, relationship-oriented EB, and knowledge-oriented EB. Then, they can be referred to different industry types (e.g., manufacturing, financial industry, and service, respectively). Further, the effects of IT capability on firm performance in these EB modes are compared. The preliminary empirical results shows that IT capability-enabled firm performance is more significant in process-oriented EB and not significant in relationship-oriented EB. The findings encourage firms to re-think different IT strategy according to the characteristics of their EB modes rather than only adopt a more general strategy (e.g., the development of IT capability)

Management of ERP implementation

Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, which involve both technical and social uncertainties, is in practice a highly uncertain, risky endeavour. Traditional ERP practices address implementation of ERP as a static process; such practices focus on structure, not on ERP as something that will meet the needs of a changing organization. As a result, many relevant uncertainties that cannot be predefined are not easily accommodated. Options theory, which addresses uncertainties over time, resolves uncertainties in changing environments that cannot be predefined. In this paper, we propose an options perspective on the ERP implementation process with a focus on uncertainty. This perspective takes into consideration the often-changing nature of the companies that undertake ERP implementations. In addition, we present a practical example that demonstrates how to use options theory in context, enabling active management when implementing ERP. By actively managing ERP implementation, management can improve the flexibility of ERP implementation and can take appropriate actions to respond to the changing ERP implementation environment, to achieve more a successful ERP implementation that better meets the needs of the organization

Knowledge-Based Organization Evaluation

Knowledge has become the main value driver for organizations nowadays. In particular, knowledge-based organizations (KBOs) allocate resources for intangible assets (e.g., R&D) in the rapidly changing and highly competitive environment in order to gain competitive advantages. Therefore, how to evaluate knowledge-based organizations has become one of the most important issues in knowledge management. This paper aims to provide a framework for the evaluation of KBOs under uncertainty, using the state-ofthe- art methodology in Real Options. We specify the unique features of KBOs and explain their value drivers. This paper makes three contributions: (1) it bridges the gaps existent in the knowledge management literature on evaluating knowledge capital, (2) it provides a systematic application of Real Options models in the context of knowledge-based organization evaluation, (3) it uses a real world case to demonstrate the implications of the main findings for management

Building Credit Scoring Models Using Genetic Programming

This report is one in a series that documents an analysis of the full social cost of motor-vehicle use in the United States. The author chooses to estimate the annualized cost of motor-vehicle use on the basis of activity, annual expenditures, and the value of capital stock in a particular year. He notes that the yearly social cost of motor vehicle use, as he estimates it, is the yearly cost stream of the entire motor-vehicle system analyzed as if it is one large transportation alternative among several. Among various aspects, he examines: price times quantity versus the area under a supply curve; the classification and interpretation of personal no-market costs, the social discount rate; general taxes; the lag between change in demand and change in supply, and actual social cost versus optimal social cost