Browsing by Author "Krcmar, Helmut"

Purpose: Drawing from literature on innovation, strategy and culture the objective of this study is to explore the role of perceived potentials and perceived strategic importance on CIOs' perspective on RFID technology in two different cultural settings. Methodology: Based on survey responses from 463 German and 157 Italian IT decision makers we analyzed the data with PLS structural equation modeling. Findings: We show that perceived potentials of RFID influence the perceived strategic importance which positively influences CIOs' intention to invest in RFID. The composition of perceived potentials affecting the strategic importance of RFID differs significantly in both cultures. In Germany, potentials attributed to RFID are improving quality, automating manpower, reducing counterfeits, and improving customer-service. Italian CIOs value reducing stock inconsistencies, optimizing stock keeping, and improving customer- service as RFID potentials. Regardless of culture, findings show that company size hardly has impact on perceived strategic importance. Originality/value: This research shows on a large empirical basis cultural differences in the perception of RFID in two countries using PLS.

Purpose Drawing from literature on innovation, strategy and culture the objective of this study is to explore the role of perceived potentials and perceived strategic importance on CIOs’ perspective on RFID technology in two different cultural settings. Methodology Based on survey responses from 463 German and 157 Italian IT decision makers we analyzed the data with PLS structural equation modeling. Findings We show that perceived potentials of RFID influence the perceived strategic importance which positively influences CIOs’ intention to invest in RFID. The composition of perceived potentials affecting the strategic importance of RFID differs significantly in both cultures. In Germany, potentials attributed to RFID are improving quality, automating manpower, reducing counterfeits, and improving customer service. Italian CIOs value reducing stock inconsistencies, optimizing stock keeping, and improving customer service as RFID potentials. Regardless of culture, findings show that company size hardly has impact on perceived strategic importance. Originality/value This research shows on a large empirical basis cultural differences in the perception of RFID in two countries using PLS.

Acquisitions of new businesses and divestments of existing ones are frequently components of large organizations’ corporate strategies. In both acquisitions and divestments, corporate IT infrastructure plays a critical role for realizing business objectives. In this paper, we take a dual view of the IT-related challenges in divestment and acquisition strategies, studying them as a single integrated transaction between a buyer and a seller and investigating how the IT carve-out and IT integration strategies influence each other. The extant literature on the interaction between carve-outs and integration strategies is an empty set. Here, we begin to shed light to the limitations of the carve-out contract, the processes of carving out a business unit from one and integrating it into another multi-business organization, asymmetries in both parties’ preferences for an IT transaction process and its influence on arising challenges and organization performance.

Electronic services delivered over the Internet are gaining importance in the business world. This area has seen an increase in scientific interest over the past years under the labels “Internet of Services” and Web-service ecosystems. The paper develops a conceptual framework of actors and their roles in an open innovation system for a networked ecosystem of Web-services. The framework illustrates how open innovation can be implemented in a Web-service ecosystem to increase innovation performance. Simultaneously this research closes a conceptual gap in current reasoning about Web-service ecosystems that neglects innovation processes. The utility of the framework is demonstrated by two case studies of Web-service ecosystems in which the framework was used to identify gaps in the implementation of open innovation processes. Our research results identify specific functions to support innovation processes.

This paper describes a single sign-on solution for the central management of health care provider's smart cards in hospitals. The proposed approach which is expected to be an improvement over current

The role of security management in the development and operation of information systems has a long tradition of research in computer science, information systems and management science. Integrating the economic, organizational, and technical aspects of information systems security analysis and assessment requires a bridging of these different research streams. We examined major articles published concerning IS security using a new classification scheme for IS security analysis and assessment approaches. We looked at approaches discussed in recent publications as well those examined as in past articles that have attempted to classify various approaches to IS security. This paper therefore organizes a diverse collection of literature into a cohesive whole with the aim of providing IS management with an overview of current security analysis approaches, thereby offering management an effective aide for selecting the methods best suited to their needs. Furthermore, this work structures IS security research into a classification scheme that can also be used in future research and practice.

Product service systems (PSS) are bundles of physical technological elements and service elements that are integrated to solve customer problems. In practice, most components of PSS are developed independently from each other, which leads to problems with coordination of development activities and integration of PSS components. Therefore, an integrated requirements engineering for PSS is needed that deals with the involvement of developers from product engineering, software engineering, and service engineering, as well as the inherent complexity of the PSS and the development process. In a case study with the development department of a PSS provider, we analyzed requirements documents and conducted expert interviews. We identified problems in the development, for example, that requirements on different levels of abstraction are intermingled, rationales for requirements are missing, and the concretization of requirements is unclear. To solve these problems, we propose a requirements data model (RDMod) for requirements to PSS. An RDMod describes different types of requirements and the relations between them. Thus, it is a scheme for the concretization of the requirements, which especially addresses the problems of structuring the requirements, enabling traceability, and finding conflicts. We then used an analytical evaluation, a feature-based evaluation and a retrospective application with requirements analysts of the industry partner. In a joint workshop, we specified requirements for a PSS with the RDMod. In structured interviews, we analyzed the perceived advantages of the RDMod. The experts confirmed that the RDMod is applicable in their development and it provides a clear structure for the requirements and therefore helps overcoming the identified problems.

Potential of open innovatioin communities are manifold, but the question of systematically capturing value from these communities has rarely been researched. We therefore develop a value appropriation framework form absorptive capacity theory and apply in to the case of Ubuntu Brainstorm, one of the Internet's biggest open innovation communities. This theory integration contributes to bothe research strams. Open innovation can be embedded into a broader theoretical context, and a deeper understanding of real absorption processes can be developed. Need for future research and guidelines for practice in regard to improving a company's value appropriation from open innovation communities are offered.

Crowdsourcing marketplaces emerged in the internet and enable the integration of customers in various tasks along the innovation process. Marketplaces such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk install a member base for third parties, where they can offer small, highly structured paid tasks which can hardly be solved automatically with information and communication technology (ICT) which we call Pico Jobs. In this paper, a new method for systematically utilising the creative potential of the users of these marketplaces for new product development is illustrated. First, an analysis of related work offers an overview of existing methods for integrating customers into innovation processes and classifies crowdsourcing marketplaces according to existing methods. Second, the characteristics of Pico Jobs are elaborated by reviewing leading crowdsourcing marketplaces. Third, our real-world case with OSRAM pinpoints the features of Pico Jobs for idea generation and validation such as the speed and the dynamic of involving customers into innovation processes. The article concludes with a discussion of potentials and limitations for companies applying Pico Jobs in order to accelerate the integration of customers. Overall, this article contributes a new concept for utilising crowdsourcing and points out opportunities for future research in this area.

Virtual Communities (VCs) offer ubiquitous access to information and exchange possibilities for people in similar circumstances. This is especially valuable for patients with chronic / life-threatening diseases as they exhibit strong needs for information and interaction. Grounded on the preceding findings of the analysis on the user-centric construction of the VC krebsgemeinschaft.de, this article describes the evaluation of the underlying design elements and success factors by assessing the user's acceptance and usage of the site. The results obtained empirically substantiated insights into the systematic development and operation of VCs in general and for a subgroup of cancer patients in the German healthcare system in particular.

on push/pull allocation and centralized/decentralized queuing strategies. The model incorporates,

To evaluate the effect of structured vs. non-structured internet-delivered exercise recommendations on aerobic exercise capacity and cardiovascular risk profile in overweight sedentary employees.