Mahesh S. Raisinghani

An emprical study of best practices in virtual teams

Abstract There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency that which should not be done at all. –Peter Drucker This study explores the issue of effectiveness within virtual teams — groups of people who work together although they are often dispersed across space, time, and/or organizational boundaries. Due to the recent trend towards corporate restructuring, which can, in part, be attributed to an increase in corporate layoffs, mergers and acquisitions, competition, and globalization, virtual teams have become critical for companies to survive. Globalization of the marketplace alone, for that matter, makes such distributed work groups the primary operating units needed to achieve a competitive advantage in this ever-changing business environment. In an effort to determine the factors that contribute to/inhibit the success of a virtual team, a survey was distributed to a total of eight companies in the high technology, agriculture, and professional services industries. Data was then collected from 67 individuals who comprised a total of 12 virtual teams from these companies. Results indicated that several factors were positively correlated to the effectiveness of the participating teams. The teams’ processes and team members’ relations presented the strongest relationships to team performance and team member satisfaction, while the selection procedures and executive leadership styles also exhibited moderate associations to these measures of effectiveness. Analysis of predictor variables such as the design process, other internal group dynamics, and additional external support mechanisms, however, depicted weaker relations. Although the connections between the teams’ tools and technologies and communication patterns and the teams’ effectiveness measures did not prove significant, content analysis of the participants’ narrative responses to questions regarding the greatest challenges to virtual teams suggested otherwise. Beyond the traditional strategies used to enhance a team’s effectiveness, further efforts directed towards the specific technology and communication-related issues that concern dispersed team members are needed to supplement the set of best practices identified in the current study.

Wap: Transitional Technology for M-Commerce

Abstract Wireless application protocol (WAP) is the most popular Internet-enabling technology being adopted en masse by handset manufacturers and service providers alike. This article discusses the fast-growing trend for WAP tools to access the Internet versus the current predominant use of personal computers. the article also describes the importance of WAP in the fields of E-commerce and M-commerce.

Measuring Roi in E-Business: A Practical Approach

Abstract The research in this article aims to provide an overview of how to calculate the ROI for E-commerce applications so that this information, and the attached ROI Calculator Tool Template, can be used by organizations to reduce the time in preparing the ROI for a project. Although there is much written about ROI, there is not that much said about how to prepare one specifically for an E-commerce project. By reading this article and using the annexed ROI Calculator Tool, any IT group or organization that is going to deploy E-commerce applications will have a starting point for calculating ROIs.

Identifying future trends in information technology

Few information technology trends have received more attention from the industry than electronic (e‐) commerce – and considering the industry’s predisposition to hyperbole, that is saying a lot. This paper discusses the diffusion of e‐commerce in three wave‐migration phases from current computer communications. From an ontological perspective at the meta level, this paper explains why e‐commerce may have a greater impact on exchanging information and optimizing existing business processes than on generating funds flow. In evaluating the nature of e‐commerce applications, it is proposed that e‐commerce will replace the traditional inventory‐based model with an information‐based model and the basis of competition will shift from companies with strong distribution systems to those with strong information systems. This might help explain the predictions of triple‐digit e‐commerce market growth and stock valuations of Internet companies that defy fundamentals.

Collaborative commerce for non-technical industries

The main focus of this case is to provide insights as to whether it is truly necessary for a seemingly non-technical industry to adopt c-commerce. It is intended for strategic thinkers and corporate managers who question the impact of, and seek additional information on, collaborative-commerce (c-commerce). The authors targeted the home building retail industry as it has experienced much growth in the past 10 years due to home-improvement projects and does not outwardly require a strong technical presence. Although there are several indicators pointing toward the relevance of relying on technology as a means to do business, this case looks into the industries that may not have major investments in technology. Additionally, most of this case presents information derived from the people thinking of and making decisions about c-commerce. Insights from secondary research and field interviews are also provided.

Mobile Commerce: Transforming Vision into Reality

Abstract This paper investigates current developments in Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce) and proposes an integrated architecture to successfully implement M-Commerce business processes. It provides a description of mobile commerce and examines its current state-of-theart, opportunities, challenges and future trends. Based on an analysis of the current situation, an integrated architecture for M-Commerce is developed that supports both business and consumer needs in an optimal way. The architectures key components are described in detail and their integration into one another will be discussed. The key line of thought is based on the heuristic observation that customers will not want to receive M-Commerce offerings to their mobile phones. A pull as opposed to a push approach becomes a necessary requirement to conduct M-Commerce. In addition, M-Commerce has to rely on local, regional, demographic and many other variables to be truly effective. Both observations necessitate an M-Com-merce architecture that allows the coherent integration of enterprise-level systems as well as the aggregation of product and service offerings from many different and partially competing parties into a collaborative M-Commerce platform. The key software component within this integrated architecture is an event management engine to monitor, detect, store, process and measure information about outside events that are relevant to all participants in M-Commerce. Following a definition of M-Commerce will provide the starting point for our discussion of the integrated M-Commerce architecture and its components.

A review of the standards making process in the telecommunications industry: challenges and potential solutions

Although organizations such as ITO, ISO and IEEE provide for standardization, there are still many debates and problems that co-exist during the standardization process. The standards process is an ongoing war between the standards organizations and the data communication equipment providers and software companies. The problems that arise from this confrontation is that the standards organizations are trying to standardize the products that the data communications equipment and software companies produce, but the manufacturers are not standing idly by and waiting for the standard organizations to do so. Several solutions that eliminate some of the problems that exist in the standardization process are discussed including the case of wireless standards.