Perhaps one of the most visible aspects of human society is its ability and desire to communicate and articulate ideas, arguments and emotions, in the most effective way. Apart from the gift of speech itself, the power and importance of the printed word has commanded respect for many centuries. While this may appear to be a grandiose statement, it is a fact that in this modern age, we are very much ruled by this power of information. How we use this tool to grow relationships, conduct business and simply to be involved in an information dialogue, lies at the heart of what the topics that this journal addresses also. I believe that without understanding information, how we control it and what we require of it, we could easily find ourselves spending more and more time administering information rather than using it effectively. Over the past 5 years, internet related technologies have undoubtedly transformed the medium of communication. The direct result of such a wealth of data is in the form of web sites, emails and freely available information. This has meant that globally, individuals and organisations are facing a critical information overload, on a daily, or worse, hourly basis. The internet has shown enormous growth since 1996 and it is clear to see that the statistics show an unabated thirst for information in this modern age: over 100 million computers connected to the internet ; more than 400 million global users; more than 4 billion web pages; over 7.5 Petabytes of information; and over 3 million people are employed in internet-related jobs. The continual increase in IS-stored information in general and the problem of effectively managing and making sense of the growing sea of information is a very real logistical problem.
The current research investigates the impact of persona‐system characteristics, technical backing, and computing skill on information systems (IS) usage by Malaysian small and medium firms (SMF) using the TAM. The study hypothesizes that persona‐system characteristics (such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) and usage of systems will be greater when there is greater computing skill and strong technical backing. A total of 177 firms responded to the survey and the results show that there is a positive relationship between computing skill and technical backing on one hand and IS usage directly, and indirectly via perceived usefulness and ease of use on the other. Usage is influenced directly by usefulness and indirectly (via usefulness) by ease of use. These findings are particularly crucial to system designers and vendors targeting SMF, as well as, to information systems management in SMF. Important theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The phenomenon of the Internet has forced businesses and organisations to examine their existing business practices and adopt new methods of working, both for existing and potential customers. This paper presents an analysis of a pilot study of 24 SMEs, which seeks to elicit the various determinants of employing ICTs and the level of sophistication of use. The paper analyses the approach used to facilitate the introduction and implementation of new technologies, with a view to achieving integration with business processes. The discussion, based on the initial findings, examines the circumstances for ICT success and strategic effects resulting from implementation and use of such technologies. A conceptual model provides a framework for determining the level of sophistication of SMEs in their exploitation of ICTs. The findings highlight that characteristics of the firm and industry sector are contributory factors to the extent of adoption and exploitation of ICTs by SMEs, to support business processes.
The public health sector in South Korea introduced district health information systems (DHIS) in health centres in the early 1990s. DHIS aimed to help health centres to provide comprehensive health care services and to achieve effective and efficient management of their works. District health information systems are still being implemented in health centres. Information generated and collected through the systems is to be used by local authorities to plan and manage health services in their areas, and further by the central government to make a health plan and health policy at the national level. However, the adoption and implementation of DHIS by health centres does not meet the initial anticipation. Moreover, reasons for that have not been explored yet. This paper presents the development of DHIS for health centres in Korea, evaluates the project focusing on impacts and problems found in implementing the systems, and provides lessons and recommendations for establishing a nationwide health information network.
This paper charts the technological developments that have taken place within primary health care during the last 20 years, drawing upon previous research and presenting new survey findings on the current state of computerisation. The survey reveals that 96 per cent of UK practices use a clinical computer system, with repeat and acute prescribing, the collation of annual data and audits/searches being the most well used applications. The move towards the so‐called “paperless” practice is strongly related to GPs’ computing expertise, with larger practices more likely to have gone in this direction. Over half of GP practices now have access to the Internet. Improvement of computing skills appears a major determinant of successful integration of technology within a practice. There is a need to develop a social architecture and learning environment that allows GPs to provide good quality health care with clinical computer systems at its heart.
Adverse drug events and medication errors can occur because of decisions made during prescribing. The New Zealand Herald reported that preventable medical errors by doctors and other health workers are thought to be killing more than 1,500 patients a year in New Zealand. This article is a small‐scale case study which examines the perceptions of paediatric doctors in a New Zealand hospital regarding adverse drug events/reactions and their views on how they may or may not be avoided with the use of a clinical decision support system (CDSS) in a prescribing environment. It was found that doctors welcomed the use of a CDSS for prescribing. The doctors stated three critical factors for their use of such a system: time constraint, limited knowledge, and misreading.
This paper proposes a framework for evaluating the impact of e‐commerce on the roles of distributors in the semiconductor industry for four different types of products, namely differentiated products, architectural products, technological products, and complex products. Questionnaire and the purposive sampling method were used to collect data from respondents in the distribution industry. The results of the study show that the salience of the roles is increasing. In addition, there is strong likelihood of e‐commerce replacing the traditional distributors, more so for less standardized products such as complex, technological, and architectural products.
The paper examined the nature of information technology (IT) outsourcing decision making and developed a theoretical framework consisting of five phases of decision making. The phases augmented those of Simon and consisted of intelligence, analysis and planning, strategy selection, action, and evaluation and monitoring. Australia's largest organisations and government agencies were surveyed by questionnaire to establish the importance of tasks and subtasks to be performed when completing each of the five phases. Participants possessed high experiences with IT in general and IT outsourcing in particular. When the importance of phases vis‐à‐vis each other were established, the action phase and evaluation and monitoring phase were found to be more significant than the other phases. For the action phase, which was statistically the most significant phase, the tasks of selecting an IT‐outsourcing vendor and determining a suitable IT‐outsourcing contract were dominant and strongly correlated. Findings from the study should help organisations identify and therefore better manage critical decision‐making activities during IT outsourcing particularly those related to vendors and contracts.
This paper applies new empirically‐based knowledge in the area of constituent market orientation to a seven‐element taxonometric model of virtual organisation. The most effective distribution of resources and management attention in the development of combinations of real and virtual business solutions is identified for each of the seven alternative configurations. The paper concludes with a list of key concepts that offer owners and managers of virtual organisations analytically based heuristics founded on cross‐sectoral empirical research.
Presents a preliminary framework for making sense of and managing change in organisations that have adopted information systems and e‐commerce as a core element of their business strategy. Argues that the relatively low level of organisational benefits realised by typical strategic information technology interventions over the past decade is often a product of poor adoption and implementation practices on the part of senior managers and IT practitioners, who have failed to understand the non‐linear and emergent nature of change in complex organisations. Argues that a clear understanding of the dynamics of change at the people/technology interface, and the symbiotic relationship between information systems and strategy, is a prerequisite for the successful business benefits realisation for major IT and e‐business projects. Distils lessons learned from reflections on theories‐in‐use and practice into a basic model for senior managers and IT practitioners.
Considers the fundamental role of marketing within the dynamics of e‐commerce and addresses three key issues which challenge the concept of marketing when companies are faced with managing and utilising e‐commerce. First, is Internet marketing a “fad”? Second, if Internet marketing is viewed more broadly, does it provide an effective marketing tool for organisations? Third, does e‐commerce present a “new marketing paradigm”? Poses questions about the relevant skills that marketing managers need for effective marketing on the Internet. Questions whether these changes are IT or customer driven and the consequences for management development. To support the analysis of the effects of these changes, a preliminary study was undertaken in four different industrial sectors, involving four international companies based, or with main offices, in the United Arab Emirates. Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with marketing managers to address the key issues.
Because of growing congestion problems and environmental and safety considerations, freight transportation becomes more and more a key issue in logistics in particular and in the industrial process in general. The transportation mode choice is still often made in a rather irrational way. This paper presents the outcome of surveys conducted in Belgian industry about the logistics decision maker’s perception concerning the transportation modes. The different choice criteria are determined and weighted. Finally an interactive Internet tool is presented in order to support the transportation mode decision process. The paper provides insights into the logistics process to the authorities, but above all offers a tool to individual decision makers in the transportation mode selection.
The adoption of electronic commerce strategies is becoming an important means of assisting industries, and indeed whole economies, to gain significant net benefits. The extent to which e‐commerce‐based strategies, such as quick response and efficient consumer response, might have an effect on local economies depends in part on how readily they are being adopted. The dominant form of adoption of these strategies is to be found in the business‐to‐business forms of e‐commerce. To be successful, business partners must be in a position to develop customer intimacy through sharing of information, to improve their stock replenishment practices, and enhance their levels of online customer support. This paper presents the initial results of a national survey completed in the retail sector of the Australian economy, that assesses how well Australian industry is responding to these e‐commerce challenges.
Technological developments have shed optimistic light on the future of telecommunications in healthcare. However, problems still prevail in the healthcare industry and the need for an effective solution in a rapidly evolving technological environment is imperative in the coming years. This paper defines the problem within healthcare delivery worldwide and theoretically explores a typical medical scenario in Kuwait, utilising the grounded theory method. It traces the social processes within medical work and network and attempts to understand the underlying relationships between the two. Analysis of the scenario leads to an understanding of the concepts and categories, enabling the interpretation of a theory that forms the basis of an architectural model, resulting in the proposition of a new telehealth paradigm, the pay‐per‐use concept. The research question focuses on the appropriateness of such a concept for the healthcare industry. Anticipates that the proposed new conceptual framework will be the evolving IT solution in healthcare delivery.
Competitive international business environment has forced many firms to focus on supply chain management to cope with highly increasing competition. Hence, supplier selection process has gained importance recently, since most of the firms have been spending considerable amount of their revenues on purchasing. The supplier selection problem involves conflicting multiple criteria that are tangible and intangible. Hence, the purpose of this study is to propose an integrated model for supplier selection. In order to achieve this purpose, supplier selection problem has been structured as an integrated lexicographic goal programming (LGP) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model including both quantitative and qualitative conflicting factors. The application process has been accomplished in a food company established in Istanbul, Turkey. In this study, the model building, solution and application processes of the proposed integrated model for supplier selection have been presented.
In an attempt to bring the unique talents of various construction industry project participants together in a more productive and integrated manner, the Online Remote Construction Management (ORCM) project commenced in July 1999 proposing to test, field trial and/or evaluate the implementation of various Internet‐based construction project management (ICPM) systems and information and communication technologies (ICT) on four case study projects over a two‐year period, aiming, in general, to demonstrate leadership in facilitating the use of online technologies for the design, management and construction of building and civil construction projects. This paper provides the final results and a list of “best practice guidelines” that are critical in helping ensure successful implementation of ICT tools and/or ICPM systems on geographically dispersed (remote) civil and building construction projects..
The role of purchasing departments has changed significantly in today's competitive environment. In order to keep the promises to customers; an effective material procurement system becomes necessary beside the improved manufacturing methods and technology. It becomes a necessity to work with the suppliers to provide quality and just in time delivery by supplying raw materials, parts and products. A purchasing department can take on both the active and effective role by applying the lean supply principles as much as possible. Single sourcing provides to easy control of procurement for achieving the lean supply objectives. In this paper, the supplier selection and evaluation for a manufacturing company is studied under lean philosophy. In order to reduce the supplier base, the supplier selection and evaluation study is conducted by multi‐attribute selection model (MSM) in five basic steps. Consequently, the selected two suppliers are proposed to top management.
A supplier selection decision inherently is a multi‐criterion problem. It is a decision of strategic importance to companies. The nature of this decision usually is complex and unstructured. Management science techniques might be helpful tools for these kinds of decision‐making problems. The aim of this paper is to use fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to select the best supplier firm providing the most satisfaction for the criteria determined. The purchasing managers of a white good manufacturer established in Turkey were interviewed and the most important criteria taken into account by the managers while they were selecting their supplier firms were determined by a questionnaire. The fuzzy AHP was used to compare these supplier firms.
In this paper we examine how Internet technologies are useful in managing thin (amount of knowledge is low) and thinly distributed (density of expertise is low) medical knowledge. Our specific focus is to highlight the usefulness of the Internet in managing such knowledge, and that the nature of the “basket of Internet technologies” used to manage knowledge varies based on whether knowledge is thick or thin, and thickly or thinly distributed. We also draw attention to the need to examine the semiotic process management while designing Internet‐enabled solutions for managing thin and thinly distributed knowledge. Our study used medical genetics as the research context and collected data from physicians in the US Midwest through semi‐structured interviews.
In a dynamic and uncertain business environment, with increasingly intense competition and vibrant globalisation, there is a growing demand by healthcare businesses for both internal and external information, to analyse patients’ information quickly and efficiently, which has led healthcare organisations to embrace customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Data quality and data integration issues facilitate the achievement of CRM business objectives. Data quality is the state of completeness, validity, consistency, timeliness and accuracy that makes data appropriate for CRM business exploitation. A good integration strategy begins with a thorough data assessment study, and relies upon the quality of these data. A framework is proposed for evaluating the quality and integration of patient data for CRM applications in the health care sector. Even though this framework is in an early stage of development, it intends to present existing solutions for evaluating the above issues.
