Amit Mitra

Chinese cultural influences on knowledge management practice

– The purpose of this study is to explore national cultural influences on knowledge management (KM) practices within Chinese manufacturing enterprises., – A qualitative case study in four steps was conducted within a Chinese mobile phone company (referred to as Lotus). Data collection was based on observations and in‐depth interviews., – It was discovered that employees in Chinese manufacturing enterprises like to keep their knowledge implicit and are willing to share it informally. A series of factors derived from Chinese culture such as hierarchy consciousness, fear of losing face, a sense of modesty, competitiveness and a preference for face‐to‐face communication, can act as barriers to KM initiatives within Chinese manufacturing organisations. Trust in intra‐personal relationships among employees can partly mitigate the impact of the above cultural characteristics. However, at a macro organisational level there is still need to share tacit knowledge using explicit/formal KM approaches., – Though knowledge mapping is recommended as a feasible means to promote formal knowledge sharing within Chinese organisations, evidence showing the efficacy of such a method are only grounded in related literature here. Therefore, practical experimental evidence should be collected in future research., – KM strategies proposed for an organisation based in China should take revealed cultural influences into account., – Few studies have explicitly concentrated on KM within Chinese organisations. The present study provides useful information for academics interested in cultural issues in KM and impartial advice for knowledge managers within Chinese enterprises.

Factors influencing user adoption of Web 2.0 applications

As social technologies have been extensively taken up by web users, we are still unclear about the factors influencing such a high rate of adoption. Although many studies have examined factors affecting consumer adoption of commercial web applications, such as e-banking, very few studies have examined factors influencing the adoption Web 2.0 applications. To fill this gap, this study aims to explore some of the factors influencing the adoption of Web 2.0 applications. Technology acceptance model has been employed for designing and conducting an online survey. The findings indicate that usefulness and ease-of-use are significant factors for predicting users intentions to adopt Web 2.0 applications, which ultimately influence the actual usage of such applications.

Factors contributing to successful ERP implementation in locally-owned and multinational firms in India

This paper aims to explore the factors contributing to the successful implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in Indian firms. It also aims to explore the similarities and differences in ERP implementation between locally-owned and multinational companies in India. An in-depth literature review led to identifying 14 factors that contribute to the successful implementation of ERP systems. Using these factors as a basis, a survey was carried out. Data were collected from 56 project managers and business analysts who were involved in ERP implementation in both locally-owned and multinational companies. Findings suggest that business plan and vision, project management and top management support were perceived as three key factors contributing to the successful implementation of ERP systems. Surprisingly, the result revealed no significant differences between locally-owned and multinational companies. Compared to project managers, business analysts seem to give more importance to vendor selection and the appropriateness of information technology legacy systems.

Evolution of an IS development effort: An ANT interpretation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to stand back from the debate of success and failure and develop an interpretive account based on narratives of major actors to enable project managers with a rich understanding of a complex organisation.Design/methodology/approach – Actor network theory (ANT) was the method that was applied to both frame and sum narratives that were gathered from the six subjects along with anecdotal evidence and confidential documents used for this research. Findings – Success is based on the perception of both actors as well as the principal audience of the Commonwealth Games (CWG). Second information systems (IS) success is uniquely associated to an event like the CWG.Research limitations/implications – Most of the data used for the research was after the conclusion of the games. Therefore usefulness of interpretation may have a time dimension. Probably if the subjects had included spectators and other project managers during the games, the quality of conclusions could have been ...

Conversations in Search of Audiences: Prospects and Challenges of Marketing UK’s Postgraduate Higher Education Using Social Media

It is no surprise that there are serious disparities between the rhetoric of education and the realities of education. Marketing of university curricula is a challenge that is increasingly becoming a difficult proposition as advances in social media (SM) are enabling prospective students to form opinions and inform their decisions like never before. Whilst the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) plays a central role in matching undergraduate students to courses in universities yet the same does not apply to postgraduate admissions which are sought after by a large number of applicants from overseas as well. This paper looks at some of the areas where SM has been successfully used. The papers then goes onto develop taxonomy of popular SM tools that are being widely used. Using this taxonomy it explores barriers and promoters that exist in the interface between universities and their audiences.

Rays of Uniqueness – Cloud in Multinational Organisations: Challenge to Traditional Business System Alignments

Cloud computing initiatives support multinational corporations in optimizing resource utilisation and at the same time provide ubiquitous capacity to satisfy expectations of users within it. However, research carried out in the early 1990s demonstrated consequences when there were mismatches between business and IT strategies. The advent of utility computing through cloud based resource development seems to have altered both the perception of IT resources as well as the expectations of their use. In this paper by using a resource based view of cloud computing we examine the nature of unique capacity development in multinational organisations. Evidence for the research was gathered through interviews conducted in two well-known multinational companies in the oil and natural gas and the car manufacturing sectors respectively. The lessons drawn in this research is likely to be beneficial for organizations implementing Cloud based solutions.