Risk Analysis of ICT Assets

Risk analysis is required in all companies to help the business owners or top managers make decisions about risk management strategy, which itself provides an organization with a roadmap for information and information infrastructure protection aligned to business goals and the organization's risk profile. This chapter identifies information assets including network, electricity, hardware, service, software, and human resources in the ICT department of a health insurance company and their relevant risks. To determine the risks, the level of confidentiality, level of integrity, level of availability, the likelihood of threat occurrence, and intensity of vulnerability have been assessed and rated. Assessment is done based on the opinions of 30 experts in the field of information security. According to the results, the highest information security risk is on the network.

Policymaking to Enhance Customer Loyalty by E-CRM

This chapter is about using the methodology of system dynamics for the analysis of the effect of electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) on customer loyalty in the banking industry. For this purpose, after reviewing the existing theoretical literature, a research model including factors describing e-CRM in the bank based on the system dynamics approach is determined. Afterward, according to views of two major decision makers of one of the branches of the Iranian Tejarat Bank, causal loop diagrams and dynamic models of the system are defined that make it possible to describe trends of the past, present, and future of the e-CRM and customer loyalty in the bank. After verifying the validity of the model with the test of model structure, the test of model behavior, and test of policy implications, policies are described and explained.

Neuro-Fuzzy Approach for Technology Strategic Planning

In the chapter, a neuro-fuzzy-based technology strategic planning model is suggested. It is the result of an integrated and systematic hybrid of existing models presented in the literature of technology strategy planning and hybrid intelligent strategic planning. The neuro-fuzzy technique is used for modeling of technology strategies with MATLAB. The model is evaluated in Iran's petrochemical industry based on average test error and average train error which were satisfying. A list of technologies in the industry, the industry's ability in the development of technology, the attractiveness of technology in the industry, and patent indicators are identified based on experts' viewpoints. According to the location of technologies in decision matrices of technology strategies, technology strategies are proposed in three categories: research-driven, investment-driven, and knowledge-driven. Data is collected by the researchers in subsidiary companies who do research in specific fields of petrochemical industry and have the knowledge in those fields.

An Analysis of the Impact of Business Networks on Technology Development

This chapter proposes an agent-based model (ABM) of business networking at the level of an industry involving two technology products and populated with technology-based firms. Since technology-based companies trade technologies as products, the concept of new technology development (NTD) is generalized to the new product development. In ABM, each agent represents a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) which might develop one technology based on some features including perceived value of the technology, perceived ability of NTD, and business network. By defining agents as being the current companies along with the new entrants, one can analyze the effect of the policy of “improving the entry of new companies into the industry” with and without business networking. The results of ABM demonstrated that business networking enhances the number of SMEs with the ability to develop new technologies, especially in a case where the number of new entrants is high.

Dynamic Modeling of Balanced Scorecard

This chapter aims to use system dynamic (SD) methodology for the implementation of a balanced scorecard (BSC) model in Tehran Telecommunication Company-Data Network. The value of this chapter at first is related to the application of SD in a BSC which overcomes the limitations of BSC such as ignoring time dimension and causal loop, lack of integration between strategic and operational levels, and wider view to consider competitors and supplier contributions. It provides a causal loop diagram of the system and dynamic modeling for each perspective of the BSC that can be applied for the purpose of policymaking. The chapter is based on a case study of Tehran Telecommunication Company-Data Network, which is a service-based company. Thus, it provides knowledge and information for academicians and practitioners of BSC and SD to implement SD based on a BSC in companies, especially service-based firms.

Balanced Scorecard in a Telecommunications Company

In recent decades, telecommunication has been considered as an organization for socio-economic progress in the world. At the same time, increasing demand for telecommunications services has greatly contributed to the growth of this industry, so that the number of data service subscribers worldwide is over a billion, and thousands of new subscribers are added per minute. The main purpose of this chapter is finding strategic objectives and related key performance indicators considering each perspective of the balanced scorecard in data network sector of a telecommunications company in Tehran. The financial aspect has one objective, the customer and market perspective has six objectives, the internal business process perspective has 10 goals, and finally, the perspective of learning and growth has four objectives. According to the objectives, performance indicators are presented that are useful for performance measurement and strategy implementation.

Identification of Technology Assessment Indicators

This chapter aims to describe technology assessment (TA) indicators in Iranian small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the renewable energy sector based on the available literature and expert viewpoints. For this purpose, data were collected from 234 participants by simple random sampling method. This study also determines the difference in viewpoints of technology manufacturers and technology suppliers in case of TA factors and sub-factors, sustainability, and technological capability and attractiveness. Data is analyzed through Cronbach's alpha, confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive methods, and non-parametric two independent sample tests. The results are comprehensive TA indicators that comply with the conditions under study that can be applied to the rational and structured analysis of potential and existing technologies and provide decision makers with information on technology strategy planning.

Adoption of a New Technology

This chapter explores the factors of technological adoption in public and private sectors in developing countries. Public organizations are under the control of government to serve the citizens of the country, and private companies are owned and controlled by private individuals or companies and attempt to earn profits. Generally, in developing countries, industry as private firms is smaller than public organizations, and they struggle with lots of challenges in adoption of acquired technologies from foreign owners. In this study, after reviewing existing studies, based on the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework, a relative comprehensive model is proposed and tested in both types of companies. Afterward, the importance of factors and sub-factors are evaluated by experts' viewpoints. The sample size is 200 selected by simple random sampling method. The results show that organizational factors in public organizations and environmental factors in private companies are very important.

Identification of Information Security Management Factors

Considering the important role of information in organizations, an appropriate management is required for maintaining the security of the information. The information security management system is part of a general management system in an organization and based on the business risk approach aims to establish, implement, use, monitor, revise, maintain, and improve security that leads to the protection of information and minimizes unauthorized access. The main objective of this chapter is to identify factors and indicators of information security based on the information management system. For this purpose, after reviewing the literature and having opinions of 30 experts, a conceptual framework for public organizations is proposed that includes information security management factors such as financial, technical, operation and communication, human resources, data and information classification, environmental and physical, and managerial.

A Conceptual Framework Illustrating the Effects of E-CRM on Customer Loyalty

Customer relationship management (CRM) is recognized as a business strategy to identify the most profitable customers in the banking industry and to devote time and attention to gain their loyalty. The purpose of this chapter is to propose a conceptual framework representing sub-factors of electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) and customer loyalty as a base model to examine the effect of e-CRM on customer loyalty. E-CRM is a well-structured and systematized process of CRM that automatizes processes of marketing, sales, and customer service. This study helps us to have a better understanding of the role of e-CRM in customer loyalty in Tejarat Bank. The main focus is on e-CRM including factors such as e-banking, customer support, security, and additional services.