Heinz Roland Weistroffer

Information Technology in Transition Economies

Abstract The break-up of the Soviet Union resulted in many formerly centrally planned and highly controlled economies to experience radical reforms that fully changed the business landscape. With these political and economic changes, many businesses and organizations in transition economies not only experienced major restructuring, but also acquired increased access to modern information technology (IT). Though much of the development in transition economies is supported by IT, there is not much published research dealing with the role of IT specifically in transition economies. The objective of this special issue is to stimulate research in this important area. In the introduction to this special issue, distinctive business and social conditions in transition economies, and the potential impacts of such conditions on IT use, as well as factors which may inhibit research of IT in transition economies are discussed.

Information and Communication Technology in Transition Economies: An Assessment of Research Trends

In this paper we assess the publication base and the research trends in information and communication technology (ICT) specifically in transition economies. We limit our analysis to work published in academic journals and dealing with ICT in countries that have abruptly abolished a centrally planned economy and one-party controlled political system in favor of a market-driven economy. We conduct a literature review and analyze the reviewed papers looking at research focus, research approach, and theoretical foundations. Based on 173 papers published between 1993 and 2012, we observe several trends and prevalent themes and identify gaps in the literature and opportunities for future research. We find that current published research is concentrated on relatively few ICT issues, such as diffusion and implementation, and is conducted primarily at the country or organization level. Furthermore, very few research studies use otherwise commonly applied theories to explain their results.

Enterprise content management research: a comprehensive review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review of enterprise content management (ECM) research, a conceptual framework of areas of concern regarding ECM, and an agenda for future ECM research, based on the review and conceptual framework.Design/methodology/approach – To gain an understanding of the ECM literature, a structured research approach is adopted, consisting of two phases. The first phase consists of identifying the relevant ECM research papers. In the second phase, the analysis phase, the current ECM research is categorized based on three structural pillars: system component dimensions, system lifecycle, and strategic managerial aspects.Findings – After a review and classification of 91 ECM publications, it is found that ECM involves several sophisticated and interacting technical, social, organizational, and business aspects. The current ECM literature can be grouped around three main pillars: the first pillar consists of the four ECM component dimensions (t...

Careful usage of pessimistic values is needed in multiple objectives optimization

Attention is drawn to the fact that so-called pessimistic values are not lower bounds for the objective function values on the efficient solution set. Two counterexamples, to stress this point, are presented.

A flexible method for nonlinear multicriteria decision-making problems

An iterative and interactive approach to formulating and solving multicriteria decision-making problems is proposed in which the modeling and the solution phases are not strictly separated but overlap. At each iteration, the decision-maker is allowed to designate criterion functions as objective functions or as constraints or as something in between. The algorithm guarantees all intermediate solutions to be efficient and the final solution to be a most preferred solution. While the algorithm does not provide information about the marginal rates of substitution among the objective functions at a solution point as given by other methods, the marginal substitution rates are obtained by comparing two objectives at a time. The algorithm can also be used to solve linear multicriteria decision-making problems. However, since the surrogate function is nonlinear, the procedure introduces nonlinearities into the problems and may not be as computationally efficient as some of the other available algorithms. The algorithm is illustrated using a specific problem in water resources management. >

An interactive goal programming method for non-linear multiple-criteria decision-making problems

Abstract A new interactive goal-programming method is presented in which the constrained multiple-objective problem is converted into a sequence of unconstrained single-objective problems. The decision-maker specifies a set of desired values for the objectives, and the deviation from these values is minimized in the least squares sense. At each iteration (i.e. after each unconstrained single-objective problem has been solved) the decision-maker is presented with the results and (if the present solution is not satisfactory) asked for which objectives he is willing to accept lower values than those specified earlier. The constraints are treated in the same way as the objectives, but their “desired values” are kept fixed. It is shown that under suitable conditions the method converges to a Pareto-optimum.

Information technology investment announcements and market value in transition economies: Evidence from Warsaw Stock Exchange

This study examines stock market reactions to announcements of information technology investments in Poland, an emerging market and transition economy. Based on 66 announcements by companies traded at the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the period 2002-2009, our study confirms some previously published results from studies conducted primarily in highly developed markets, but also shows that specific characteristics of announcements play a more important role than has been commonly assumed. Our results indicate that investors in Poland react more positively if systems are acquired from global rather than local vendors. Announcements about completed projects are more positively received than announcements about planned or in-progress projects. Furthermore, announcements in Polish, targeted at existing shareholders, are more likely to be received positively than similar announcements released in English, targeting global investors.

Evaluating Information Technology Investments in Developing Economies Using Activity-Based Costing

Many firms in emerging economies invest in information technology primarily with the objective of protecting their cost advantages. This paper presents a framework for evaluating information technology investments by integrating the value chain model with activity‐based costing. The proposed four‐step approach is illustrated with a numerical example of a hypothetical manufacturing company seeking improvements in its cost structure.

The impact of enterprise application integration on stock prices

Purpose – Enterprise application integration (EAI) technologies are critical to functionally integrate diverse corporate computer systems, and as such may be expected to have a positive effect on business value. The purpose of this paper is to examine the market reaction to announcements of EAI investments as a surrogate for investor perceived business value of such technology.Design/methodology/approach – An event study approach is used with 81 announcements of EAI investments between 1998 and 2005, taken from Lexis‐Nexis database.Findings – The results suggest that investors do not always receive EAI investments positively, especially if the announcements are from financially distressed companies and if market conditions are unfavorable.Research limitations/implications – Limitations include the possibility of confounding events, possible bias in the identified announcements, and our focus on EAI technology only. Future research may try to better account for confounding events, identify a more comprehen...

Information System Development: A Categorical Analysis of User Participation Approaches

User participation is generally considered an important aspect of information systems development and a leading factor in systems success. However, results from earlier studies are inconsistent as to the significance of user involvement to system success, and suggest that perhaps new avenues need to be explored [6,12,15]. In this study, we extend the line of inquiry on user participation by extending the descriptive model of Cavaye [6] and including ideas from the complementary but separate social process model of Newman and Robey [21]. The result is a user participation approach (UPA) framework encompassing four worldviews that emerge from the four paradigms proposed by Hirschheim and Klein [10]. Thus, the UPA framework uses meta- theoretical assumptions to describe and explain the user participation process from a new angle. This framework can be adapted and customized to fit the needs of specific organizations and thereby facilitate more successful systems development.