The selection of case studies: strategies and their applications to IS implementation case studies

Case study research by definition is well suited to the study of IS implementation, especially when context is important. Furthermore, its products are highly relevant and therefore they appeal to IS practitioners, an audience for which the IS literature has been critiqued of ignoring. While the value of single case research is methodologically viable in the study of critical cases, the multiple case study approach is believed to be more appropriate to the study of typical cases of IS implementations. However, the IS literature provides little guidance on strategies for case study selection, particularly for multiple case studies. More important, is the need to provide the rational for case selection that relates these suggested strategies to the particular objectives of the case research inquiry. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by providing a review of strategies for single and multiple case study selection in the context of systems implementation. Furthermore, the application of these guidelines in a multiple case study of strategic decision making of enterprise systems implementations will be illustrated

An ES process framework for understanding the strategic decision making process of ES implementations

Enterprise systems (ES) implementations are regarded costly, time and resource consuming and have a great impact on the organization in terms of the risks they involve and the opportunities they provide. The steering committee (SC) represents the group of individuals who is responsible for making strategic decisions throughout the ES implementation lifecycle. It is evident from recent studies that there is a relationship between the decision making process and ES implementation success. One of the key elements that contribute to the success of ES implementations is a quick decision making process (Brown and Vessey, 1999; Gupta, 2000; Parr, et al., 1999). This study addresses the strategic decision-making process by SC through its focus on four research questions (1) How can the strategic decision-making process in the implementation of ES be better understood, during each phase of the ES implementation lifecycle? (2) What is the process by which the SC makes strategic decisions? (3) How are fast decisions made? and (4) How does decision speed link to the success of ES implementation? Process models of ES implementation will provide a framework to investigate the strategic decision making process during each phases of the ES implementation lifecycle. Patterns in the decision making process will be explored using strategic choice models. This study develops a research model that focuses on the decision making process by steering committee to explore research questions. It concludes with identifying contributions to both IS research and business practitioners

Some development in Urdu poetry since 1936

This work is devoted to discuss the developments in Urdu poetry since 1936.A brief account of the developments in poetical language, various verse-forms and themes of Urdu poetry till Iqbal (1877-1938) has been given in the introductory chapter. The second chapter is on the poetical language of Urdu poetry. In it, the Influence of English language, the use of Hindi words and phrases and the employment of colloquial vocabulary in Urdu poetry of the last thirty years is discussed at some length. In the third chapter on metres, a general account of the use of metres in Urdu poetry is given. In addition, some recent attempts to write poetry with disregard to metres are discussed, a "relative frequency table of metres" is also prepared and Included in this chapter. The fourth chapter deals with various traditional and new verse-forms of Urdu poetry. They are both defined and distinguished from each other. In the fifth and sixth chapters, a number of themes of Urdu poetry since 1936, such as the influence of Communism, the Independence of the sub-Continent of India and Pakistan and its aftermath. Communal Riots of 1947, writings on social evils and customs and on peace and war, historical and allegorical themes, humorous and satirical poetry, the influence of religion, recent Indo-Pakistani War, and psychological themes Including sex, escapism, scepticism, an Individual’s predicaments, imprisonment of the present moment and so on are discussed at length The final chapter is that of the conclusion

Investigating factors affecting restoration of native grassland in ex-cropland

Native grasslands are one of the most endangered ecosystems in Australia. Approximately 99% of native grasslands have been disturbed for agriculture and pastoralism. Today, however, many agricultural and grazing lands have been abandoned. Restoring abandoned areas to native grassland is a challenge that must be met if these systems are to persist. This thesis sought to gain a better understanding of the biotic and abiotic barriers to restoring native grasslands in ex-cropping land, and to investigate novel techniques to overcome them in degraded native grassland in the Victorian Volcanic Plains. Firstly, I compared ex-cropland to high-quality remnant grassland, and showed that excropland supports a high number of exotic weeds, a lack of native species propagules, high nutrient levels (especially phosphorus and nitrogen), and an absence of organic carbon—all barriers which must be overcome if native grassland restoration is to succeed. I conducted a replicated field experiment in ex-cropland, to investigate four restoration approaches to overcoming barriers to restoration: (i) adding urban green waste to heat and kill the exotic seed bank (ii) adding sugar and/or mulch to promote microorganism and draw down soil nitrogen, (iii) using a modified clay product called Phoslock to reduce soil phosphorus levels, and (iv) scalping of topsoil 10 cm on ex-cropland site to remove the exotic seed bank and high nutrient soil. After each treatment, native grass seed was added, and the vegetation, seed bank, soil nutrients and microbial activity were monitored over 2.5 years. The hot mulch, scalping and sugar treatments all achieved significantly greater cover of native grasses than the control treatments. The hot waste treatment also effectively eliminated the exotic weed seed bank, but the soil N levels increased dramatically, which is counterproductive to the long-term goals of grassland restoration. Scalping out-performed all other treatments with regard to reducing soil N and P. All treatments suffered from reinvasion by exotic species, suggesting that any grassland restoration technique needs to be coupled with ongoing exotic weed management. Abstract ii High soil phosphorus is a difficult barrier to restoration of native grassland. A possible way to address this is to use plants with high P uptake to help draw down soil P. Native grassland taxa from the genus Ptilotus have been shown to have high P-uptake. I conducted two studies of Ptilotus macrocephalus and Ptilotus polystachyus to investigate their potential in this role. The first of these was an examination of techniques to break their seed dormancy, and to find their optimum germination conditions. I tested their response to smoke water, heating shock, cold stratification and gibberellic acid. The highest germination rates (62% and 38% for P. microcephalus and P. polystachyus, respectively) were achieved when the seeds were pre-treated with GA500 and exposed to a temperature range of (20/18OC) and a 12h dark/12h light regime. Smoke water, heat shock and the removal of floral bracts also improved germination rates, but not at the same magnitude as GA. The second study of Ptilotus was a glasshouse trial that examined the effectiveness of the two taxa at reducing available soil phosphorus. This trial included a third high P-uptake species (Lupinus albus) for comparison, and also investigated if the addition of Phoslock® could bind soil P into insoluble forms. P. macrocephalus and P. polystachyus accumulated high amounts of soil P. Thus, several years of seeding and harvesting of these plants is anticipated to provide a useful option for soil P reduction. Phoslock® reduced soil available P, but only at high concentration of Phoslock 1500 g/m2 and at very high soil P concentrations; it was less effective at levels that typically expect in ex-cropping paddocks. The findings of this thesis have advanced our current knowledge of the restoration of excropland. The research has tested methods to overcome biotic and abiotic barriers to restoration of the Victorian Volcanic Plains grasslands, and has demonstrated some practical approaches to begin the treatment. It was suggested that many of the methods and techniques used in this study could be useful technique in broad areas of grassland restoration within Australia as well as in similar situations in temperate climate conditions across the globe.Doctor of Philosoph

Interpreting the world trade collapse

World trade’s dramatic collapse from the end of 2008 was emblematic of a globally synchronised recession that threatened to become a depression and of a financial crisis painfully transmitted to the real economy. The extent of the fall in world trade relative to that in world GDP and the subsequent strength of the trade recovery so far suggests particular factors have been affecting global trade flows. This article considers the possible reasons for the pronounced fall and recovery in world trade relative to world GDP, focusing on UK export demand. At its core, the extraordinary decline in trade stemmed from the combination of a shock to global demand skewed towards highly tradable sectors and the ever-more globalised production process for these goods. The encouraging improvement in world trade from the second half of 2009 can also be attributed to some of these factors, as well as suggesting that permanent damage to the global marketplace may be less extensive than first feared.