Cristiane Drebes Pedron

Interpreting information security culture

When two companies merge, technical infrastructures change, formal security policies get rewritten, and normative structures clash. The resultant changes typically disrupt the prevalent security culture, thus making the new organization highly vulnerable. Literature in this area has been rather scant, and there is a lack of empirical studies. In this paper, we use Halls (1959) theory of cultural message streams to evaluate disruptions in security culture following a merger. We carry out an extensive case study of a telecom firm. Data were collected whilst the merger was taking place, which allowed us to evaluate the changing structures in real time. Findings from our analysis will be beneficial for researchers and practitioners alike. For researchers, it provides an opportunity to theorize about security culture formulation during a merger. At a practical level, decision makers will find this analysis useful for engaging in strategic security planning.

Applying EA Perspective to CRM: Developing a Competency Framework

Customer relationship management (CRM) is getting attention as a business approach for new way of dealing with customer relationships. Although information technology is an important component of CRM, technology itself is not complete as a technology. Literature reports empirical evidences that a very high percentage of CRM projects fail to meet expectations from the business perspective despite the advance of tecnology. In this study, we explore possible causes of failures in CRM projects and use the concept of enterprise architecture (EA) in explaining failures. Applying the EA concept, it is argued here that organizational competencies in unstructured decision making are very critical for CRM success. Subsequent case analysis supports the theoretical underpinnings of the argument.

Target: A collaborative model based on social media to support the management of lessons learned in projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model of adoption of social media to assist project managers in the treatment of lessons learned (LL). Target, a collaborative model to foster learning in projects, approaches the problem of LL management from nearly a new light and perspective. Design/methodology/approach – This research was conducted using a mixed methods approach with a research design denominated partially mixed concurrent equal status. In this design, both quantitative and qualitative elements were conducted concurrently in their entirety before being mixed at the data interpretation stage. These elements have approximately equal emphasis with respect to reaching the objectives of the research. Findings – The results indicate the most suitable social media that match each LL process. They show how to manage LL through processes made in any phase of the project life cycle. The LL processes most commonly used in the projects are raising awareness, collect and store. According to the questionnaire respondents, 54.5 percent of organizations make use of social media in project management, and among the interviewees, half of them use such tools in projects. In addition, 84.1 percent of the questionnaire respondents believe that social media can assist in the LL management. Research limitations/implications – This study did not get proven successful experience reports in the management of LL. Respondents and interviewees mentioned and recognized such importance, but in projects that use LL management there are no control reports of this learning in organizations in order to measure the gains from the practice of LL management, which indicates an area for future work. An empirical validation of the model proposed in this paper is one immediate research to be done. Another future work is to validate the model in projects from disparate sectors. Practical implications – The Target model could minimize the problem of knowledge drain, which is ineffective learning practices, resulting in knowledge hoarding, limited sharing and superficial LL practices. Thus, the use of processes supported by collaborative tools that promote discussion, with a familiar format for the user and with an efficient search engine, can generate greater involvement in projects. The usefulness is determined as practical and scientific. It is determined as practical use, because the model allows the selection of tools for each LL process and it can be applied to projects in organizations. Originality/value – This research proposes a new approach to the management of LL supported by social media. The Target model adds a theoretical contribution to LL processes associating them to social media. This research revisited the extant LL processes and methods in the literature, proposing a new process – raising awareness – that covers personal and interpersonal aspects for the management of LL. The theoretical contribution lies on incremental originality, since it is based on existing theories, processes, methods and tools in order to provide a solution to a known problem.

Customer relationship management adoption: using a dynamic capabilities approach

Customer relationship management (CRM) adoption is both a relevant research topic in academia and a challenge for practitioners. We understand CRM as a complex concept that includes technology, strategy and philosophy. In this research, we propose an analysis of CRM organisational dynamic capabilities. The main goal is to apply a dynamic capabilities perspective to analyse how companies can improve their CRM initiatives. In order to achieve this purpose, a qualitative, interpretative, case-based research strategy was implemented. We conducted a case study in a Portuguese telecommunication enterprise for one year. The case study was based on semi-structured interviews and document analysis. We used qualitative techniques to analyse the collected data and ground our interpretation in a dynamic capabilities theoretical approach. We propose a theoretical framework related to CRM dynamic capability that is corroborated with empirical evidence. We believe that because organisations which adopt a CRM strategy are in a competitive environment, a dynamic model needs to be used to analyse and explain how they can improve their CRM strategy in order to achieve success.

CRM Adoption in a Higher Education Institution

More and more organisations, from private to public sectors, are pursuing higher levels of customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. With this intent, higher education institutions (HEI) have adopted CRM – Customer Relationship Management. In order to analyse some of the interesting aspects of this phenomenon n, we conducted an action research in a European Institute. The main research question we answered is “how to adopt a CRM strategy in a Higher Education Institution?” Some of the main findings of this study are (1) even though HEI’s main customer is the student, there are others stakeholders that a CRM project must consider; (2) universities can use their internal resources to implement a CRM project successfully; and (3) using Agile software methodology is an effective way to define clearer, more objective and more assertive technical requirements which result in a CRM software that meet send user’s expectations and organizational strategic goals. These findings can help other HEIs planning to adopt CRM as a strategic tool to improve their relationship with the stakeholders´ community and expand their student body.

Organizational Transformation and Information Security Culture: A Telecom Case Study

When two companies merge, technical infrastructures change, formal security policies get rewritten, and normative structures clash. The resultant changes typically disrupt the prevalent security culture as well. In this paper we use ET Hall’s (1959) theory of cultural message streams to evaluate the disruptions in security culture following a merger. Findings from our analysis would be beneficial to researchers to theorize about security culture formulation during a merger. At a practical level decision makers would find the analysis useful for engaging in strategic security planning.

Knowledge Management on the implementation of a CRM Project: A Case Study

Companies face high market demand and to remain competitive they need to invest in the relationship with their customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implies not only a new use of a tool but also a changing of its strategical approach to the market. As seen in previous studies, CRM projects are very likely to fail, however, actions can be taken to help overcome these problems, such as proper knowledge management integration. With this study we are able to answer the following research question: how the company can use knowledge management in a CRM project adoption? In order to answer this question, after a literature review, a case study was conducted. Data collection was carried out through direct observation in the company, with the analysis of documents, and interviews. We can observe that there are a set of knowledge management activities that can help the adoption of CRM projects, even if there is no formal policy for knowledge management in the group or for this specific project. Knowledge sharing is seen as an enabler of better results for CRM projects.

Identifying and assessing the scales of dynamic capabilities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the existing measure instruments for dynamic capabilities (DCs) in order to understand the tendencies of quantitative studies on DCs as well as to evaluate the reliability and validity of these scales. Design/methodology/approach To accomplish this objective, the authors conducted a systematic review of literature on DCs. Findings Main findings indicate that quantitative research works on DCs have focused on the relationship between DCs, innovation, organization performance, knowledge management and absorptive capacity. Findings also show that efforts to measure DCs quantitatively are recent and lack reliable methodology. Research limitations/implications One limitation of this research is that the authors conducted the systematic review on two databases. However, the authors conducted the research on the two most used databases in management research. Practical implications Findings show that academicians have plenty of room to work on quantitative research works on DCs as well as to develop robust scales to measure this construct in diverse business sectors. Originality/value This paper is the first to analyze the existing scales that measure DCs.

What's Behind CRM Research? A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications in the CRM Research Field

ABSTRACT The diversity of approaches to customer relationship management (CRM) brings about the need for systematic reviews. The objective of this article is to identify and categorize the most used publications in the CRM field. We conducted a bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science database. To identify and categorize the subfields, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis. The most used publications were categorized into: (1) methodology in the CRM research field; (2) relationship marketing; (3) service quality and customer loyalty; (4) implications of market-oriented strategy; (5) CRM theory and its practical implications; (6) strategic management; and (7) customer value.

HOW TO GET PAPERS PUBLISHED IN LEADING IS JOURNALS

Journals are the most important vehicles for sharing research results. Some countries (such as Brazil, Chile and Portugal) are underrepresented in terms of originating papers published in top Information Systems journals. This theoretical paper aims to provide a roadmap signposting the key elements for a paper to meet the criteria for publication in the top Information Systems journals. Ten dimensions for critically reviewing Information Systems papers were identified in the literature. Considering the importance of having a paper published in a top journal, for both the author and for the institution to which he is affiliated, this paper might be used by researchers wishing to submit papers to top journals, as well as by editors and reviewers who might benefit by reflecting on the standards adopted in peer review systems.