Alea M. Fairchild

Knowledge management metrics via a balanced scorecard methodology

IT professionals are finding that more of their IT investments are being measured against a knowledge management (KM) metric. Those who want to deploy foundation technologies such as groupware, CRM or decision support tools, but fail to justify them on the basis of their contribution to KM, may find it difficult to get funding unless they can frame them within the KM context. Determining KMs pervasiveness and impact is analogous to measuring the contribution of marketing, employee development, or any other management or organizational competency. The paper addresses the problem of developing measurement models for KM metrics and discusses what current KM metrics are in use, and examines their sustainability and soundness in assessing knowledge utilization and retention of generating revenue. The paper then discusses the use of a Balanced Scorecard approach to determine a business-oriented relationship between strategic KM usage and IT strategy and implementation.

Value positions for financial institutions in electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP)

Business to consumer (B2C) electronic commerce has led to new relationships connecting various supply chain partners via the Internet, significantly increasing the quantity and quality of inter-organizational information flows. Banks are traditionally partners in the information and financial flow elements in the supply chain, but other nonbank parties are also getting involved in these activities. Electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) may be defined as technology solutions that allow billers to present their bills electronically to companies and enable companies to initiate electronic payments (Au and Kauffmann, 2001). EBPP may be seen, therefore, to have two main components: presentation of the bill and payment of the bill. The strength of the traditional role of banks will be seen in the second component, as billers and consolidators still do not have fiduciary powers of banks to actually pay the bill. Banks are providers of trust, play a role in insuring against credit risk and provide an infrastructure of network relations to businesses, governments, and individuals (Eriksson and Fjelstad, 2001). The paper advances a structural frame to explore the possible B2C value positions that banks may undertake in the area of EBPP. Banks will need to assess where the value proposition is for them in the various business models used in EBPP, and how best to leverage their position as a neutral trusted third party (TTP), so to modulate and reduce the risk for buyer, seller and the overall marketplace. Some case studies are described with the proposed frame.

E-Accessibility and Municipal Wi-Fi: Exploring a Model for Inclusivity and Implementation

One of the typical design objectives of municipal Wi-Fi systems is the free or low-cost provision of connectivity for citizens, including people with disabilities and others impacted by the digital divide. This paper examines a range of municipal Wi-Fi implementation models for potential impact on e-accessibility. A comparative analysis was undertaken of sample U.S. and European municipal Wi-Fi systems to assess the business model and stakeholders involved in municipal wireless initiatives and to examine the degree of accessibility to or sensitivity of, municipal wireless systems for people with disabilities. As many people with disabilities are currently affected by social disparities in education and income, further marginalization of their communication and information access creates additional access barriers to critical information and full participation in community life.

Intellectual capital valuation processing in higher education

The role of higher education in the economic structure of a country is important as it adds value to both the private and public sector, from the provision of educated employees to increased research and development innovation. However, the Intellectual Capital (IC) value of a higher education institution is rarely discussed when cost and efficiency of higher education is debated. Even private institutions tend to focus on production economic methods to visualise the (financial) value of their institution. This paper discusses IC in attempting to understand both the tangible and intangible assets of a university and the value IC brings to such an institution. A case study of a European university is included, with directions for future research on the process approach of valuing IC and its worth in the debate on cost and efficiency of higher education.

The Phenix project: a case study of e-justice in Belgium

The Phenix project, launched in 2001, is the core part of a strategy to implement an e-justice system based on the concept of electronic files, using Open Source standards. It is expected that the project will enable the Belgian judiciary to be an e-justice system by 2008, and so create not only internal efficiencies, but more importantly even benefits to citizens in terms of lower cost and simpler, faster procedures. The project is compared with existing and emerging e-justice projects in other countries.

Legal and Economic Justification for Software Protection

This article discusses legal and economic rationale in regards to open source software protection. Software programs are, under TRIPS1, protected by copyright reference is made to the Berne Convention2. The issue with this protection is that, due to the dichotomy idea/expression that is typical for copyright protection, reverse engineering of software is not excluded, and copyright is hence found to be an insufficient protection. Hence, in the U.S., software makers have increasingly turned to patent protection. In Europe, there is an exclusion of computer programs in Article 52 2 c EPC EPO, 1973, but this exclusion is increasingly narrowed and some call for abandoning the exclusion altogether. A proposal by the European Commission, made in 2002, called for a directive to allow national patent authorities to patent software in a broader way, so as to ensure further against reverse engineering; this proposal, however, was shelved in 2005 over active opposition within and outside the European parliament. In summary, open source software does not fit in any proprietary model; rather, it creates a freedom to operate. Ultimately, there is a need to rethink approaches to property law so as to allow for viable software packaging in both models.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND THE DEBATE ON RENT SEEKING AND ALLOCATION OF KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES

AbstractIntellectual property rights have been extended in scope and, in some cases, in time to such extent that questions may be raised about the allocation of such proprietary knowledge resources. It may be questioned in particular whether excessive rent seeking opportunities in certain intellectual property-protected knowledge resources may lead to misallocations.