Business Commons^™

A Contextual Approach To Design And Development Of Interfaces For Search Engines, Using Activity Theory As The Basis For Informing Design Decisions, Joseph A. Meloche, Li Cheng

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The goal of this study is to support the design of more effective search engines. The research presented in this chapter investigates the design of search engines in the context of information seeking
activities. This study is also informed by Activity Theory and considers Information Seeking to be a Keystone Activity. This improvement in search engine design takes into consideration the context of users, and elicits and captures users' explicit and implied requirements. The study uses Q-methodology to elicit the subjective understanding of the participants thought the phases provided by the methodology. This entails collecting, sorting and analysis of detailed …

Understanding Tensions And Conflict: A Phases Of Learning Approach To Family Business, Ken Moores, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Tensions inevitably arise from time to time in most business settings. But in family businesses these tensions potentially can be especially acute and even result in the cessation of the enterprise. These tensions manifest at various times and for many reasons but they generally arise when the business is undergoing a transition. Understanding these transitions and how to prepare for them enable family business leaders to lessen the threats to survival. In this paper we present results from our research into the transitions that Australian family firms typically experience and how they influence four key stages of learning for family …

The Development Of A User Self-Help Knowledge Management System For Help Desk: Deployment Of Knowledge Management Approach And Software Agent Technology, Kar Yin Leung, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Most help desks have admitted their call volume has increased in the past decade while “help unavailable when needed” is the major reason for service delivery failure and user dissatisfaction. The habit of calling help desk for simple problems has prompted the investigation of transferring part of first-level troubleshooting duty from help desk to user. This research proposes the development of user self-help knowledge management system that allows user to solve simple and routine technical enquiries. The proposed approach incorporates software agent to allow autonomous handling of enquiries so that the most appropriate solution and user communication can be facilitated.

A Multi-Agent Approach Towards Collaborative Supply Chain Management, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management and effectively improves the performance of organizations in various industries. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Information technology is an important enabler of collaborative supply chain management. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management from legacy systems and enterprise resource planning (ERP) into the newly developed advanced planning and scheduling system (APS) and e-commerce solutions. However, these systems do not provide sufficient support to achieve collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology and multi-agent system (MAS) have received a …

Location Quotients And Shift-Share Analysis: A Low Cost Approach To Regional Development Planning, Ann Hodgkinson

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Location quotient and shift-share analysis are traditional and somewhat old fashioned methods for regional development analysis.

A Mission-Centric Approach To Financial Ratio Analysis In The Nonprofit Sector, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are melting pots combining mission, members and money. Given that the mission of a nonprofit organisation is the reason for its existence, it is appropriate to focus on financial resources in their association with mission and with the individuals who are served by that mission [1] [2] [3]. Measurement of financial performance by ratio analysis helps identify organisational strengths and weaknesses by detecting financial anomalies and focusing attention on issues of organisational importance [4].

Questions have been raised that relate the performance of NPOs to their fmancial resources, their mission and their membership. Addressing these questions is …

Collaboration In Supply Chain: A Multi-Agent Approach, Xin Li, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Supply chain collaboration has become a critical success factor for supply chain management. Supply chain collaboration builds on information sharing, collaborative planning and execution. Many information systems have been developed for supply chain management. However, these systems do not sufficiently support collaborative supply chain. Recently, intelligent agent technology has received a great potential in supporting transparency in information flows and modeling the dynamic supply chain for collaborative supply chain. This paper explores the similarities between multi-agent system and supply chain to investigate the appropriateness of multi-agent based technology to model supply chain system and support collaborative supply chain planning and …

Modelling The Impact Of China's Wto Membership On Its Investment And Growth: A New Flexible Keynesian Approach, Van Hoa Tran

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The standard theories of economics, international finance, transnational corporations, and within the accouting framework of the United Nations System of National Accounts (SNA93) or earlier stipulate that investment plays a crucial role in influencing microenconomic activity, national ouput growth and economic development.

A Framework Of Ontology Revision On The Semantic Web: A Belief Revision Approach, Seung Hwan Kang, Sim K. Lau

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The focus of the research in ontologies shifts from ontology representation to ontology evolution perspectives that become an important field of ontology research. Even though ontology refers to specification of conceptualisation that provides a useful way to represent the semantics of the Web resources, there is a still need for maintaining and handling ontologies. Because ontologies may change as a result of accepting new information, when this occurs, ontology needs to be revised. However the new information may contradict what was initially defined in the ontology when ontology revision is performed. To discuss this revision perspective, this research proposes an …

Macro-Econometric Modeling For An Oil Dependent Economy: An Instruments-Targets Approach For The Uae Economy, Ajit Karnik, Cedwyn Fernandes

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study constructs a macro-econometric model to analyze the problems of regions that exhibit dependence on non-renewable resources (e.g. oil). The role of th eoil sector in the UAE and the extent to which it subsidizes the rest of the economy is evaluated. The macro-econometric model constructed consists of four sectors, has 25 equations and is evaluated and calibrated employing dynamic simulation techniques. Counter =factual and policy experiments are carried out and the instruments-targets approach is used to analyze the impact of the oil sector. The paper highlights the continued dependence of the UAE economy on oil and the urgency …