System Dynamics Modeling for Strategic Management of Green Supply Chain

Environmental issues are rapidly emerging as one of the most important topics in strategic manufacturing decisions. Perusal of the literature has shown many models to support executives in the assessment of a company’s environmental performance. Unfortunately, none of these identifies operating guidelines on how the systems should be adapted to support the deployment of different types of green supply-chain strategies. This chapter seeks to investigate how system dynamics modeling can be supportive for management of feasible green supply-chain strategies. Besides conceptual considerations, we base our arguments on the development of efficient performance measurement systems for remanufacturing facilities in reverse supply chains, taking into account not only economic but also environmental issues. The behavior of the green supply-chain management under study is analyzed through a simulation model based on the principles of the system dynamics methodology. The simulation model can be helpful for green strategic management as an experimental tool, which can be used to evaluate alternative long-term strategies (“what-if” analysis) using total supply chain profit as measure of strategy effectiveness. Validation and numerical experimentation further illustrate the applicability of the developed methodology, while providing additional intuitively sound insights.

Strategic Decisions for Green Electricity Marketing

Green electricity (GE) has emerged as one of the most interesting instruments for promoting renewable electricity in liberalized markets, at least in theory. Indeed, some experiences have already been carried out, mostly in the U.S. and Europe. However, most of them have been largely unsuccessful. In this chapter, we look at previous surveys and studies carried out on customer response, and provide a review of the most relevant results achieved by GE experiences, in order to learn from them. As a result, we provide what we believe are the key strategic recommendations for green electricity retailers to launch a successful GE program. Although the green electricity market remains a difficult one, several improvements can be achieved by learning from past mistakes and carefully analysing the alternatives and the boundary conditions.

Enhancing Decision Support Systems with Spatial Capabilities

This chapter introduces spatial dimensions and measures as a means of enhancing decision support systems with spatial capabilities. By some way or other, spatial related data has been used for a long time; however, spatial dimensions have not been fully exploited. It is presented a data model that tightly integrates data warehouse and geographical information systems — so characterizing a spatial data warehouse (SDW) — ; more precisely, the focus is on a formalization of SDW concepts, on a spatial-aware data cube using object-relational technology, and on issues underlying a SDW — specially regarding spatial data aggregation operations. Finally, the MapWarehouse prototype is presented aiming to validate the ideas proposed. The authors believe that SDW allows for the efficient processing of queries that use, jointly, spatial and numerical temporal data (e.g., temporal series from summarized spatial and numerical measures).

Information Technology and Diversification

While the importance of IT coupled with organizational changes for business performance has been widely discussed in the information systems (IS) literature, there has been little empirical research on the issue. This research examines empirically the relationship between IT and diversification by employing multiple diversification measures. It also examines empirically the relative impact on performance of IT and diversification. Results show that diversification coupled with increased IT spending improves firm performance when its strategic emphasis is on related diversification. The results also show that firms place strategic focus on related diversification when they increase IT spending, and that they require more IT when their strategic emphasis is tilted toward related diversification. The findings imply that by providing a better means of coordination, IT enables scope economies, efficient utilization of business resources and collaboration across individual business units, eventually leveraging the benefits of diversification.

Security Policies and Procedures

The number and severity of attacks on computer and information systems in the last two decades has steadily risen and mandates the use of security policies by organizations to protect digital as well as physical assets. Although the adoption and implementation of such policies still falls far short, progress is being made. Issues of management commitment, flexibility, structural informality, training, and compliance are among the obstacles that currently hinder greater and more comprehensive coverage for businesses. As security awareness and security-conscious cultures continue to grow, it is likely that research into better methodologies will increase with concomitant efficiency of security policy creation and implementation. However, attacks are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. While the human element is often the weakest link in security, much can be done to mitigate this problem provided security policies are kept focused and properly disseminated, and training and enforcement are applied.

IT Infrastructure Capabilities and Business Process Improvements

It has been widely discussed in the management information systems (MIS) literature that the outcomes of information technologies (IT) and systems may be subject to the influence of the characteristics of the organization, including those of the IT and business leadership. This study was conducted to examine the relationships that may exist between IT infrastructure capabilities (ITC), business process improvements (BPI), and such IT governance-related constructs as the reporting relationship between the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief information officer (CIO), and senior management support of IT and BPI projects. Using a sample of 243 multinational and Hong Kong-listed firms operating in Greater China, this study yielded empirical support for the perceived achievement of capabilities in some dimensions of the IT infrastructure in the companies under study. It was found that the BPI construct was related to the reporting relationship between the CEO and CIO (CEO-CIO distance), and to the levels of senior management support. The dimensions of the ITC construct were also investigated and identified by an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Associations were found between the selected organizational constructs and the ITC dimensions, except in two hypothesized relationships. Those between CEO-CIO distance and the ITC dimensions of data integration and training were not supported at the significance level of 0.05.

Investigating the Impact of Customer Relationship Management Practices of E-Commerce on Online Customer's Web Site Satisfaction

This study addresses the effect of customer relationship management (CRM) practices on online customers’ satisfaction with their experience in interacting with the company Web sites. Recognizing the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with customers, companies are actively seeking ways to enhance the customer value of their offerings through relationship marketing. Since effective managing of customer relationships essentially involves managing customer information flow, Internet technologies have become an important element of a firm’s CRM program. The company Web site is functioning as the focal point of contact for interacting with existing and prospective customers. An important concern is how the company Web site affects customers’ overall perception of the Web site. Using the concepts of Internet-mediated market orientation in marketing and user satisfaction in information systems, this study formulated and validated a theoretical model to analyze causal relationships between CRM practices, customers’ perception of a Web site’s online customer orientation and online customer Web site satisfaction. Based on the structural equation modeling analysis of the primary data collected in Taiwan, the study found that CRM practices positively impact online customers’ Web site satisfaction through their perception of the Web site’s customer orientation.

Product Customization on the Web

Choiceboards are Web-based systems that allow consumers to customize their orders. The study investigated factors that affect consumers’ intention to use choiceboards. The research is based on Masons’ theory and DeLone and McLean’s model of information system use. It was found that intention to use is affected by overall satisfaction. In turn, these two factors are positively impacted by factors such as system quality and information quality. In spite of support from theory, the evidence for the factor, information presentation was weak.

How Well Do E-Commerce Web Sites Support Compensatory and Non-Compensatory Decision Strategies? An Exploratory Study

The burgeoning growth of online retailing is forcing businesses to provide better support for consumer decision making on e-commerce Web sites. Consequently, researchers in information systems and marketing have been focusing on investigating the effectiveness of Web-based decision support systems (WebDSS) in providing accurate and satisfying choices for customers. We consider WebDSS implementation based on compensatory, non-compensatory decision strategies and synthesize the existing literature. The results of synthesis show that compensatory WebDSS perform better than non-compensatory WebDSS in terms of decision quality, satisfaction, effort, and confidence. We then investigate the level of Web site support provided for consumers’ execution of compensatory and non-compensatory strategies. We examined 375 U.S.-based company Web sites and found that though moderate levels of support exists for consumers to implement non-compensatory choice strategies, virtually no support exists for executing multi-attribute-based compensatory choice strategies.

Analysis and Intuition in Strategic Decision Making

Many management scholars believe that the process used to make strategic decisions affects the quality of those decisions. However, several authors have observed a lack of research on the strategic decision-making process. Empirical tests of factors that have been hypothesized to affect the way strategic decisions are made are notably absent (Fredrickson, 1985). This article reports the results of a study that attempts to assess the effects of decision-making circumstances, focusing mainly on the approaches applied and the managerial skills and capabilities the decision makers built on during concrete strategic decisionmaking procedures. The study was conducted in California between September 2005 and June 2006 and it was sponsored by a Fulbright research scholarship grant.