Alina M. Chircu

Limits to Value in Electronic Commerce-Related IT Investments

This paper extends the limits-to-value model of Davern and Kauffman to explore market and process-level factors that impact value flows to firms for their information technology (IT) investments. We characterize IT value in terms of potential value and realized value, and show how each is subject to different effects - limits to value - that diminish the benefits of the investment. Our typology identifies barriers specific to the valuation process (industry and organizational barriers), and to the conversion process (resource, knowledge and usage barriers). Following the development of our analytical framework from existing economic and organizational theories of IT valuation and technology adoption and diffusion, we analyze a series of case studies of Internet-based travel reservation systems in electronic commerce (EC). These cases provide evidence in support of the usefulness of the framework, and illustrate the extent of the difficulties faced by organizations in making their investments in EC systems pay off.

Reintermediation strategies in business-to-business electronic commerce

Abstract: The literature on electronic commerce and electronic marketplaces has long recognized the importance of intermediaries and the functions they serve. The Internet is most often discussed in connection with digital intermediaries as the displacement of traditional intermediaries. This article proposes a new conceptual framework for understanding how competition in business-ta-business (B2B) electronic commerce in the presence of information technology (IT) innovations changes firm-level strategy choices and the structure of the marketplace. It also identifies and discusses the economic forces that lead to these changes, and in this context describes a recurring pattern of intermediation, disintermediation, and reintermediation through an “IDR framework.” The article explains the impetus for technological reintermediation, where a disenfranchised traditionol player is able to compete again by leveraging technological innovations with cospecialized assets. This perspective is built with the support of relevant literature from several reference disciplines and with evidence from a field study of intermediation on the Internet in the corporate travel industry. The analysis reveals that traditional travel firms hove access to a range of strategies thot enable them to avoid disintermediation and retain highly profitable central roles in the marketplace in the long run.

Strategies for Internet Middlemen in the Intermediation/Disintermediation/Reintermediation Cycle

The emergence of new technologies for electronic commerce on the Internet makes possible different ways of interacting for all the players in a market. This transformation of the traditional market interaction can be understood in terms of an intermediation, disintermediation and reintermediation (IDR) cycle. By looking at a series of minicases of the IDR cycle in various industries, we are able to identify four major competitive strategies firms use in the IDR cycle: partnering for access, technology licensing, partnering for content, and partnering for application development. We then analyze the conditions under which these strategies help a firm to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in its marketplace. Our analysis reveals that each strategy requires a different combination of firm capabilities and environmental conditions. As a result, these middlemen should not rely on technological innovation alone if they want to be successful in the marketplace.

E-government: key success factors for value discovery and realisation

As many public sector organisations are either planning for or implementing major e-government projects, there is a growing need to understand how these projects can be successfully managed for maximum realisation of their potential benefits. This paper proposes that the value of e-government needs to be managed by increasing the potential value and reducing the associated risks with public sector nuances in mind. We identify and discuss six reusable key success factors that can help maximise the e-government value by studying successful local, state and federal e-government solutions in the USA. We explain why these key success factors are appropriate for e-government initiatives in light of the specific needs of government organisations and summarise the results with a framework for e-government value discovery and realisation.

Managing electronic commerce retail transaction costs for customer value

We investigate how electronic commerce (EC) retailers, or e-tailers, manage transaction costs and generate customer value. We integrate information systems and marketing theories in a framework for transaction cost management based on four contingency factors: channel, customer, product and shopping occasion characteristics. We build the framework using archival case studies and validate it with customer interviews. We show that trying to minimize the entire cost of retail transactions is either unsustainable or devalues the customer shopping experience. Instead, looking at transactions as a series of atomic steps enables e-tailers to better understand and manage what really matters for consumers.

E-government evaluation: towards a multidimensional framework

This paper analyses how electronic government (e-government) value is defined and assessed by evaluating the progress of e-government research to date and comparing it to existing prescriptions of public sector information technology (IT) research based on multidisciplinary public administration and information systems (IS) perspectives. The paper shows that e-government projects are characterised by many stakeholders with multiple value dimensions (financial, social and political), but that few e-government studies adopt a multidimensional perspective incorporating all value dimensions and relevant stakeholders. The paper proposes a framework for identifying, analysing, communicating and managing e-government value in a more objective and comprehensive fashion.

Limits to value in electronic commerce-related IT investments

We extend the limits to the value model of Davern and Kauffman to explore market and process-level factors that impact value flows to firms for their information technology (IT) investments. We characterize IT value in terms of potential value and realized value, and show how each is subject to different effects-limits to value-that diminish the benefits of the investment. Our typology identifies barriers specific to the valuation process (industry and organizational barriers), and to the conversion process (resource, knowledge and usage barriers). Following the development of our analytical framework from existing economic and organizational theories of IT valuation and technology adoption and diffusion, we analyze a series of case studies of Internet-based travel reservation systems in electronic commerce (EC). These cases provide evidence in support of the usefulness of the framework, and illustrate the extent of the difficulties faced by travel industry firms in making their investments in EC systems pay off.

Maximizing the value of internet-based corporate travel reservation systems

Amajor problem firms face when they invest in information technology is ensuring the systems they build and deploy will actually pay off. In our experience, it is not unusual for IT departments to engage in costly and lengthy development efforts only to find out, after completing the work, that the technology has not been very well accepted by its intended users [3, 4]. Often, the initial expectations of the managers who have developed the value proposition and strategic plan for the system are wrong, too. It is quite natural for IT investors to look at industry estimates for the stock of IT capital needed to run a business (for example, by referencing the annual IT investment surveys of the International Data Corporation published in InformationWeek magazine). The problem is that senior managers and investors often develop expectations about the likely payoffs of their IT investments without taking into consideration a number of crucial specifics: their firm’s organization, other supporting resources simultaneously available to ensure smooth implementation and user acceptance, and related processes likely to have a considerable impact on the extent to which the estimates are realized [4]. In the case of IT investments, it is always difficult to combine hard, tangible benefits (such as cost savings) with soft, intangible benefits (such as improvements in competitive position, increased customer relationship strength, changes in power in the firm’s distribution and supply channels, and more). Most senior managers of IT also recognize their invest-

Analyzing firm-level strategy for Internet-focused reintermediation

We propose a framework for understanding circumstances under which information technology (IT) innovations for electronic commerce (EC) change firm-level strategic choices, and the economic forces behind these choices, in Internet market competition. We identify a recurring pattern of intermediation, disintermediation and reintermediation: the IDR cycle. With this framework, we explain technological reintermediation, where a disenfranchised player is able to compete again, by combining technological innovation with leveragable co-specialized assets. We build this perspective with evidence from the corporate travel industry. The analysis reveals that traditional travel firms have access to a range of strategies that enable them to avoid disintermediation and become more powerful in the long run.

Handoff processes, information quality and patient safety: A trans‐disciplinary literature review

Purpose – Key findings from recent and relevant studies on patient safety and clinical handoffs are summarized and analyzed. After briefly reviewing process management and accounting control theory, the aim of this paper is to discuss how these latter two disciplines can be combined to further improve patient safety in handoffs.Design/methodology/approach – A literature review on studies of patient safety, clinical processes and clinical handoffs was conducted in leading medical, quality, and information systems journals.Findings – This paper issues a call for research using a trans‐disciplinary methodology to shed new light on information quality issues in clinical handoff processes, which in turn should improve patient safety.Research limitations/implications – The literature review employed systematic, heuristic, iterative and practical criteria for identifying and selecting papers, trading off completeness for multi‐disciplinarity. No prior empirical patient safety studies combined process management ...