Business Commons^™

Service System Fundamentals: Work System, Value Chain, And Life Cycle, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

Service systems produce all services of significance and scope, yet the concept of service system is not well articulated in the service literature. This paper presents three interrelated frameworks as a first cut at the fundamentals of service systems. These frameworks identify basic building blocks and organize important attributes and change processes that apply across all service systems. Although relevant regardless of whether a service system uses IT, the frameworks are also potentially useful in visualizing the realities of moving toward automated service architectures. This paper uses two examples, one largely manual and one highly automated, to illustrate the potential …

A Primer On Spreadsheet Analytics, Thomas A. Grossman Jr.

Business Analytics and Information Systems

This paper provides guidance to an analyst who wants to extract insight from a spreadsheet model. It discusses the terminology of spreadsheet analytics, how to prepare a spreadsheet model for analysis, and a hierarchy of analytical techniques. These techniques include sensitivity analysis, tornado charts, and backsolving (or goal-seeking). This paper presents native-Excel approaches for automating these techniques, and discusses add-ins that are even more efficient. Spreadsheet optimization and spreadsheet Monte Carlo simulation are briefly discussed. The paper concludes by calling for empirical research, and describing desired features spreadsheet sensitivity analysis and spreadsheet optimization add-ins.

Intentions To Use Information Technologies: An Integrative Model, Ron Thompson, Deborah Compeau, Chris Higgins, Nathaniel C. Lupton

Faculty Publications

An integrative model explaining intentions to use an information technology is proposed. The primary objective is to obtain a clearer picture of how intentions are formed, and draws on previous research such as the technology acceptance model (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989) and the decomposed theory of planned behavior (Taylor & Todd, 1995a). The conceptual model was tested using questionnaire responses from 189 subjects, measured at two time periods approximately two months apart. The results generally supported the hypothesized relationships, and revealed strong influences of both personal innovativeness and computer self-efficacy.

Viewing Virtual Property Ownership Through The Lens Of Innovation, Ryan G. Vacca

Law Faculty Scholarship

Over the past several years scholars have wrestled with how property rights in items created in virtual worlds should be conceptualized. Regardless of how the property is conceptualized and what property theory best fits, most agree the law ought to recognize virtual property as property and vest someone with those rights.

Social 'Service-Innovation', Usha Menon

Social Space

How can not-for-profit organisations move away from a traditional grant-seeking model to one that can catalyse and value-add the sector at large, beyond just meeting basic needs? Usha Menon thinks Youth for Causes might provide just that model.

Sources Of Wood & Wood Residues For Energy Production In Indiana, Isaac Slaven, Eva Haviarova, Klein Ileleji

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

As energy prices rise and there is a push for energy to be produced from renewable resources, the contribution of Indiana’s corn and soybean industry often overshadows the impact that the State’s wood residues can have in response to these demands. Reports show that the wood products industry is the largest, by paid wages, of any agricultural industry in Indiana and employs 47,000 Indianans.1 In fact, Indiana has more than 4.5 million acres of forest land,2 compared to about 12.3 million acres of cropland.3 In addition to the millions of acres of forestland, Indiana has more than 1,600 wood products …

The Yale Blocks, Brad Smith, Courtney Koehler, Kerry Hughes, Matt Stein, Pat Monaghan, Staci Beck

Real Estate Development Workshop Projects

Students from Portland State University's Center for Real Estate produce a development plan for a property site in Seattle's South Lake Union District.

Their task was to produce an original development plan, including the development concept, market analysis, conceptual design, economic analysis, capital and operations budget, and management plan.

Annual Report 2008, Eastern Illinois University

Lumpkin College Annual Reports

This 2008 Annual Report records the achievements, outreach activities, and student honors work of the Eastern Illinois University's Lumpkin College of Business and Applied Sciences. It also includes reports from the School of Business, the School of Family and Consumer Science, the School of Technology, and the department of Military Science.

Instant Websites: Using Wordpress As A Content Management System, Jonathan P. Allen

Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy

No abstract provided.

Ua7 Ored Quarterly Newsletter, Sadiq Shah

ORED Quarterly Newsletter

Connecting Knowledge with Businesses and Society to Promote Economic Growth and to Enhance the Quality of Life

Virtual World Affordances: Enhancing Brand Value, Sora Park, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, David Dewester, Brenda Eschenbrenner, Sunran Jeon

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional, computer-generated worlds that are a natural extension of the existing Internet. Although many businesses are jumping on the bandwagon to maintain a presence in virtual worlds, there is no well-established knowledge or theory to guide businesses in their involvement in these environments. In this paper, we identify affordances in the virtual worlds that can be used to increase the state of flow experienced in a business virtual site, which in turn may enhance brand equity, or the perceived added value of a brand to customers. We present a conceptual model that can be used to guide …

A Cross Cultural Study Of Corporate Blogs In The U.S. And In Korea, Sunran Jeon, Seong No Yoon, Jongheon Kim

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

Corporate blogging is now world wide due to the potential benefits of blogging. The purpose of this study is to investigate corporate blogging in the U.S. and Korea. The framework to compare corporate blogging in two countries is corporate blogging strategies developed by Lee et al. (2006). Comparing corporate blogging strategies in the U.S., top-down corporate blogging strategy IV (promotion) is mostly adopted in Korea, and most companies use their blogs at the third party site. Promotion blogs have gained popularity and high readership in Korea unlike U.S.

Asp Effects In The Small Size Enterprise: A Case Of Bizmeka Of Korea Telecom, Hwanyoung Kim, Sunran Jeon, Jongheon Kim

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

An application service provider (ASP) is a business model providing information technology (IT) enabled solutions to customers over the Internet. Utilizing an ASP model, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can acquire affordable IT solutions. Korea Telecom (KT), a leading IT company in Korea, provides an ASP service called Bizmeka to SMEs. In this study, we identify factors influencing the perceived benefits of Bizmeka usage. We also examine the relationship between the perceived benefits of Bizmeka usage and customer satisfaction. Based on the results of our survey, we found the following factors to be important in determining customer satisfaction with ASPs: …

Ethical And Managerial Implications Of Internet Monitoring, Andra Gumbus, Frances Grodzinsky

WCBT Faculty Publications

As Internet use pervades our personal and professional lives, organizations have become increasingly concerned about employee use of the Internet for personal reasons while at work. This has prompted the restriction of the Internet or the limitation of the Internet during work hours. Monitoring of employee Internet and email is another result of this trend. Legitimate business functions such as employee performance appraisal and progress toward goals are served by monitoring. However, poorly designed and communicated monitoring practices can be negative and have perverse effects on employee morale and productivity. Monitoring of employees erodes trust and may be considered an …

Role Of The Sales Manager And Its Intersection With Sales Technology, Stephen Kennelly

Masters

The area of sales management and technology is an expanding and dynamic field of research. Examining the impact and facets of technology in the arena of sales management has been steadily increasing over the past few decades as sales managers and industry seek to benefit from the multiple uses of technology. Large scale quantitative sales research itself in Ireland has been limited over the past 15 years and not since De Burca and Lambkin (1991) performed an analysis of the industry has there been any wide scale research in Ireland. This body of work seeks to follow on from De …

Continence Care: The Need For Creativity And Innovation, Karen A. Karlowicz

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) In April 2007, I attended a conference quite different from anything I had previously experienced. The conference, Innovating for Continence: The Engineering Challenge, was hosted by the Simon Foundation for Continence. As the title implies, this was not your usual conference about the diagnosis, treatment, and management of urinary incontinence. Rather, it was a conference dedicated to exploring technological advances in continence care. The central question throughout this two-and-a-half day event was, "What can be done to simulate continence technology to ensure the most effective management for persons who suffer with this problem?"

The Relationship Of E-Commerce Readiness To Technology Acceptance: The Case Of Barbados, Jude E. Edwards, Leila A. Halawi, Richard Mccarthy

Publications

This is an exploratory study that examines the relationship between selected components of ecommerce readiness and dimensions of Davis’ (1989) Technology Acceptance Model. Building upon the notion that there exists some linkage between ecommerce readiness and technology Acceptance, this study seeks to examine these linkages in e-businesses within Barbados. Three relationships are proposed – a relationship between technology acceptance and the existing e-Readiness infrastructure, a relationship between technology acceptance and current telecommunications access, and a relationship between technology acceptance and education. The results of this study demonstrated that there are strong relationships between e-commerce readiness components and various technology acceptance …

Online Leisure Hotel Selection Criteria And Booking Behavior Of Young Middle-Income Singaporeans, Kin Wai Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Internet has changed the face of purchasing and customer behaviour over the last decade or so. Traditional concepts of marketing must be reviewed and businesses must be ready to fully embrace the online marketplace. The hotel industry is no different and evidently, has much to gain from this new medium with online sales figures climbing annually (Carroll & Sileo, 2007; PhoCusWright, 2006).

Studies have shown that more and more consumers are moving towards the Internet to find their products and services and ultimately making the purchase online (Starkov & Price, 2003). Singaporeans make for interesting subjects in this area, …

' An Investigation Into The Impediments Of Rfid Adoption In Ireland, Emer O'Connor

Theses

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology increases the ability of organisations to acquire a vast array of data about the location and properties of any entity that can be physically tagged, and wirelessly scanned within certain technical limitations. Many companies can benefit from its adoption, companies such as Manufacturing, Logistics, FMCG/Retail, Libraries and Pharmaceutical. This Research investigates the impediments to RFID adoption in Ireland. Internationally the lack of standards, cost of the technology along with other factors are cited as major constraints to the adoption of RFID. In an Irish context these factors hold true. Following an extensive research process, this …

Commercialization Of Science: A Longitudinal Study Of Knowledge Distance, Firm Capabilities, And The Structure Of Licensing Contracts, Reddi Kotha, Gerard George

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Though the popularity of research on technology transfer offices (TTOs) has vastly increased, there is little empirical evidence of how the potential value for a technology is estimated and negotiated in a license. Limited qualitative work and empirical work (e.g., Owen-Smith, 2005) tap into the underlying decisions before a technology can be licensed. Consequently, we know very little on how a particular technology is valued and its impact on contract design. In this study, we analyze the content, design, and performance of 847 licensing contracts between university technology transfer offices and firms.

Technological Change Management Strategies In Asian Small-Scale Businesses: Trends In Singapore, Thomas Menkhoff, Yue Wah Chay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Based on survey data on the change management behavior of Chinese small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore, the paper explores how small entrepreneurs are coping with the city-state's turbulent business environment, processes of technological advancement and accelerated change. Differences between so-called opportunistic entrepreneurs and small business ventures are examined. Conceptually, the paper is informed by theories of change management, strategic choice, entrepreneurship and Chinese business. Special emphasis is put on the identification of demographic characteristics of "technological change masters" in Singapore's small business sector so as to gain an understanding of both the dynamism and relative passivity of …

Technology Strategy And China's Technology Capacity Building, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

China has the potential to become a major source of innovation for the world. The scientific investment is in place and rapidly growing. But in order to reap the benefits of this investment its organisations will have to become better at managing innovation. One of the key elements of innovation management is the determination and implementation of a sound technology strategy. The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework and a detailed overview of what it entails to develop and implement a technology strategy. The paper emphasizes the alignment of the strategy with the organisational competencies and the …

Soft Computing In The Forecasting Of The Stock Exchange Of Thailand, Suchira Chaigusin, Chaiyaporn Chirathamjaree, Judith Clayden

Research outputs pre 2011

Stock markets are affected by many uncertainties and interrelated economic and political factors at both local and global levels; determining the set of relevant factors for making accurate predictions is a complicated task. This paper analyzes relevant literature on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), according to the categories of techniques used. The research proposes an approach of soft computing on the SET forecasting and exposes the main driving indicators, from the literature, including Dow Jones, Nikkei index, Hang Seng index, Minimum Loan Rate, the value of the Thai baht and the gold price.

Tennis, Anyone? Lessons On Innovation In A Mature Industry, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Tennis qualifies as the oldest racquet sport in the world. Since 1874, little had changed until the 1970s when the wooden racquet was phased out, followed by a succession of cutting edge designs. How did the classic tennis racquet lend itself to being so thoroughly reinvented? Wharton management professor J.M. Pennings, together with Hann E Kim, professor at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Korea, set out to find some answers.

Building Swift Clan Control In Complex It Projects, Cecil Eng Huang Chua, Wee-Kiat Lim, Christina Soh, Siew Kien Sia

CCX Research

Clan control is often essential in complex multi-stakeholder projects for project success. Furthermore, clan control is especially important during requirements analysis which occurs at project inception. How can controllers quickly institute clan control in complex IT projects? Through the case analysis of a large IT project, we observed that clan control can be accelerated by the purposeful application of formal controls to build social capital. Our findings corroborate the notion that, properly structured, clan control can emerge quickly in a multi-stakeholder project to improve the likelihood of IT implementation success.

Technology And Social Anxieties, Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions Of Singaporeans Towards Using Self-Service Technology (Sst), Mukesh Kumar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The interactions between customers and service organizations, known as service encounters, have generally been between front-liner and consumers. Gradually however, these encounters are changing with the introduction of self-service facilities that are quickly replacing service staff. The use of self-service technology has seen an incredible amount of growth globally over the last few years. Self-service technologies are currently being used in more diverse ways for new services than once thought possible. The expenditure on self-service kiosks is expected to rise by 88% and the dollar value of transactions taking place through self-service technology should exceed 1.3 trillion by 2007 (Avery, …

Moment Analysis Of Near-Equilibrium Binding Interactions During Electrophoresis, Yousef Daneshbod, James D. Sterling, Ali Nadim

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

The electrophoretic transport of three chemically reacting species, two of which can bind reversibly to form the third, is analyzed mathematically. The species are assumed to move horizontally through a long channel with different electrophoretic mobilities and diffusion coefficients. By considering small perturbations of the system about equilibrium or when one of the two binding species is much more abundant than the other, the governing advection-reaction- diffusion equations can be linearized and studied via the method of moments. The result is a set of coupled ordinary differential equations for the moments that can be solved analytically. Analysis of the long-time …

Transforming A Region Into A Vibrant Entrepreneurial Economy: How To Create The Multiplier Effect, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Sankaran Venkataraman is business administration professor at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, and visiting professor of entrepreneurship and business at the Singapore Management University. At a recent seminar in Singapore, Venkataraman explored the question, “What does it take for a nascent entrepreneurial region to create the multiplier effect necessary to transform itself into a vibrant entrepreneurial economy?” In his view, institutional specialisation, division of labour, the architecture of entrepreneurial sub-systems and intangible cultures all play critical roles.

Do Software Development Projects Dispersed Across The Globe Deliver The Goods?, Knowledge@Smu

Knowledge@SMU

Higher demands on computer systems and networks compel technology companies to assign software development duties across many dispersed centres in the US, India, China and elsewhere. In actual practice, does this distributed development model work well? Singapore Management University information systems professors Narayan Ramasubbu and Rajesh Krishna Balan examined this question in an award-winning paper, “Globally Distributed Software Development Project Performance: An Empirical Analysis,” presented recently at a joint meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the ACM SIGSOFT symposium.

Innovation In Logistics Services, Carlos Mena, Martin Christopher, Mark Johnson, Fu Jia

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

The logistics industry manages the flows of products, services and information across customers and suppliers, allowing the integration of supply chains. Innovations in logistics can therefore help improve efficiency and effectiveness across many sectors of the economy. Furthermore, innovation can also have a major impact in reducing the environmental burden of this industry, particularly in terms of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

This overall aim of this report is to understand how the government can encourage and facilitate innovation in the logistics industry. The study focuses mainly on the UK and on the role of third party logistics providers (3PLs). …