Research and Output Management in Digital Era

The institutional commitment to research that was hitherto left to individual researchers and few research centres came with the University Strategy, ‘Shape Our Future’. The Strategy, with clear mission and vision of research excellence, provided support for the development of a policy framework, subsequent research, output management infrastructure, and associated processes. This paper has reviewed these developments and emerging challenges posed by resource intensive paper based processes that need to be addressed inline with increasing aspirations for digital scholarship. Efforts to address these challenges are largely to reduce intensity of resource use inline with digital scholarship aspirations that embrace information and communication technology (ICT). However, the dynamism of developments and innovations in ICTs are characterized by high frequency of system obsolesce that could be costly to emerging resource poor Universities, particularly proprietary systems. This leads to the need of embracing the use of open source ware by investing in human resource development for capacity building and sustenance of digital scholarship.

Operationalizing the Concept of Success in Software Engineering Projects

Success in industrial software development projects is critical in the sense of economic survival for companies acting as software suppliers. If the structure or decision-making mechanism is heavyweight, the suppliers will encounter problems when improving their performance due to their inadequate ability to change. This, however, offers an opportunity for more flexible organizations that are able to proactively survive in a volatile software business environment. Taking such an advantage, regardless, requires understanding the components of success holistically. Research on project success regarding software engineering is still fragmented and focuses on the isolated relationships of success. This article operationalizes the concept of project success based on a literature survey and an empirical validation. As a result, an indicative project success model for software engineering projects is proposed. The resulting model is evaluated empirically in a large multinational software corporation setting. The results show the model provides a valuable tool for KIBS organizations to increase their capabilities in running successful projects as well as to find targets for improvements in these projects.

Model for Digital Economy in Indonesia

This study introduces the early development of digital economy in Indonesia. e-Business activity is growing at an unprecedented rate in Indonesia as indicated by the number of online real time transactions (Real Time Gross Settlement) recorded by Bank Indonesia (Indonesian Central Bank), the emergence of dotcom companies, and the use of ICT in conventional business (a combination of brick & mortar with click/online). Research was conducted by investigating the digital activities of businesses. Unfortunately out of the 109 businesses approached, response rate was very poor with only 30 responding (27%). This is not uncommon in Indonesia for a variety of reasons. Results from the four variables utilized in this study, e-Distribution Channels, Value Creation, Online Products & Services, and Online Infrastructures, indicate that the development of digital economy in Indonesia is still in its early stages due to a number of encountered obstacles.

The Financial Related Analysis on Sales Management and Human Resources by Means of BI Type Solutions

All companies need information in order to make decisions. There is usually too much data spread in the IT systems of the company, but transforming the data into information that can be analyzed in order to make decisions is a difficult process. Considering the demands imposed by the knowledge society, each organization strives to become an intelligent organization and, by the means of new and innovative Business Intelligence(BI) strategy, to gain a market competition advantage. The new BI era integrates information into the decision process through the means of decision services, relates business processes to business rules that may be changed at any time, and integrates BI benefits to capabilities provided by teamwork, cooperation, and business process management. In this article, the authors present a BI solution, implemented through QlikView Application, thanks to which it is possible to analyse the employee expenses and for management sales.

Economic Growth, Technical Progress and Labor Productivity

The debate on deindustrialization assumes that domestic industry is a leading sector and produces positive externalities for the whole economy. This paper will partially refute this. Since the early 1990’s, most developed and emerging economies have been subjected to two paradoxes: the paradox of Solow, which calls into question the relationship between ICT investment and productivity gains, and the paradox of Gordon, showing that productivity gains in the ICT sector do not propagate to all other sectors. These paradoxes lead one to question the linear nature of the kaldorian cumulative mechanisms. Following both a theoretical and an empirical approach, such relationships are analyzed from the viewpoint of the various models of unbalanced growth built by Baumol. The author will highlight the limits of such models and provide elements for an alternative explanation. Ultimately, the real problem is to investigate the economic nature and the role that services and forms of intangible capital play in the new dynamic of growth.

Innovations in Mobile Broadband in Japan and its Implications to Developing Countries

Japan has experienced two developmental stages in the mobile telephony innovation since 1979 when the first mobile phone was commercially launched. The stages can be identified as traditional mobile phone with only voice function and mobile phone with IP (Internet Protocol). This paper discusses how mobile phone with IP function offers diversified services, influences people’s daily lives by changing their ways of communication, and interaction by adopting mobile broadband. The paper examines key economic, technology and policy factors based on monthly datasets from 2000-2007 in the provision of both second (2G) and third generation (3G) mobile phones adoption. Particularly, the study uses a linear regression model and presents extended and reduced models using the Pearson correlation method. The results of the empirical study examine how innovations in services contribute to the mobile broadband deployment in Japan. Main findings of this study suggest policy and strategy implications for developing countries which are adopting IP functionality in mobile phones. The paper also presents brief recommendations for India’s 3G mobile phone adoptions in terms of opportunities, challenges, and policies which drive on growth.

Research Review

Getting requirements right is considered the most important and difficult part of the software development process. As organizations and stakeholders become more globally distributed, getting requirements right will pose a greater challenge. Today, organizations are offered a sophisticated array of multimedia meeting systems with video, audio and computer support for remotely specifying requirements. In the context of present day’s global workforce scenario, distributed requirements engineering is now being explored by researchers as well as industry to build an understanding of the dynamics of this highly interactive phase in a globally distributed context. Accordingly, this paper addresses the timely need of reviewing the literature on globally distributed requirements engineering. Findings highlight paucity of literature in this area. Additionally, the paper presents an innovative approach to globally distributed requirements engineering by reviewing the literature on the applicability of agile development approach in a globally distributed setting. Contributing to academic and practitioner literature, the author discusses emerging directions for future research in this area.

Creativity as a Predictor of Business Performance

This study investigates the impact of creativity as a predictor of business performance of undergraduate entrepreneurs in Nigerian universities. Survey research design was used. A sample size of 120 respondents was selected while only 100 of them actively participated in the study. Research questions were set with one main hypothesis that was formulated and tested. Descriptive statistics comprising the simple percentage and tables were used for detailed presentation and analysis of data. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was adopted to test the hypothesis. The study reveals that there is a positive relationship between creativity and business performance. The researcher concluded by recommending that young entrepreneurs be more creative, attend more business seminars, invest in reading wide, scanning the environment regularly, and identifying society problems as well as customers’ needs and wants. It was also recommended that universities should widen their curricula to include core courses that encourage creativity, lateral-thinking, brainstorming, and problem solving as well as entrepreneurship development. In addition, universities should set up programmes to encourage the commercialisation of student’s business ideas and possibly self employment scheme.

Tripartition of Knowledge in Knowledge-Intensive Services

The Service Process Management in Travel Business Networks project focuses on knowledge tripartition. It is carried out at the University of Lapland with the aim of defining knowledge management, network management, and customer relations management from the practical point of view. The implementation of the project entails cooperation with enterprises involved in the travel industry in Lapland. This article examines knowledge-intensive services in the travel industry from the viewpoint of knowledge tripartition. The focus is on implicit knowledge and its special character in the organizational context. Implicit knowledge lies between explicit and tacit knowledge. The conclusion is that implicit knowledge should be taken into account in organizational action. The question is whether this tripartition makes organizational environment clearer or more complex.

Information Systems Usage in Business and Management

Information systems in the world of business and management exist to serve varied needs. This article examines the role of information systems technology in business activities and management functions and discusses how organisations can best use information systems. This study provides managers and researchers with a framework for effective use of information systems for business and management purposes and offers an alternative approach to investigate the impact of new technology. The author concludes that a need exists for further research in this field to increase understanding of information systems usage in business and management. The study recommends that more attention be paid to information systems technology, as it is key to better management and succeeding in business.