Martin G. Curley

Introducing an IT Capability Maturity Framework

This paper presents an IT Capability Maturity FrameworkTM (IT CMFTM) which is an archetype of the levels and maturity stages an IT capability goes through as it defines, develops, controls, measures and improves its IT capability in support of value creation for the organization. This model draws upon the author’s research and existing academic research to extend firm level process theory of how IT can be managed to continuously improve the value delivered from IT. Additionally the model draws upon key constructs and concepts from the software capability maturity model [23] to propose maturity states for four inter-related macro-processes which are important for value delivery. For each macro process a maturity curve is described which provides a roadmap of improving process and outcome maturity with respect to each process. Early empirical evidence is shared which supports the hypothesis that improving IT capability and management maturity leads to improved value creation from IT.

The Knowledge Value Chain

The sustained phase of transition to economies characterized by considerable, and sometimes revolutionary, advances in science, technology, and related industries, coupled with subsequent profound changes in economy and society, has increased the importance of the knowledge-intensive phases of production for value creation. As enterprises become more reliant on technology, they will become more dependent on knowledge.

Laboratory Experiments as a Tool in the Empirical Economic Analysis of High-Expectation Entrepreneurship

Experimentation for the entrepreneur will often focus on adoption of the innovation and the value that is created for both the end consumer of the innovation and the entrepreneur and the potential ecosystem that is required to deliver the innovation. For an innovation to be sustainable the innovation has to deliver value to the end consumer, the entrepreneur, and the innovation and delivery ecosystem, otherwise the innovation and entrepreneurial activity half-life will be short.

Types of Entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is an independent agent who adopts a set of rules, consistent with a “search-and-satisfying” type of behavior, in order to reach goals such as the growth and profitability of his or her company. In doing this, curiosity and an instinct for exploration drive the entrepreneur – a combination in which intentional action and the faculty of making lucky and unexpected finds by accident sit side by side.

Entrepreneurial and Corporate Universities

Better-educated individuals raise the potential to start new businesses. Investment in tertiary education ought to be diverted toward innovative educational institutions that allow people to acquire skills they need to recognize and pursue business opportunities. The entrepreneurial universities are the most advanced forms of educational institutions embarking upon a new wave of teaching and learning methodologies in the field of entrepreneurship. Besides, these institutions harvest, in the marketplace, the fruits of university research, capitalize on business development thanks to the know how of professors, researchers, graduates and students, and provokes new company formation in the knowledge-based industries.

In Search of the Origin of an ‘Open Innovation’ Culture

Abstract In the knowledge economy, greater togetherness is the prerequisite for innovating and having more: selflessness extends scope while selfishness increases limitations. But human beings are not automatically attracted to innovation: between the two lies culture and cultural values vary widely, with the egoistic accent or the altruistic intonation setting the scene. In the representations of open innovation we submit to the reader’s attention, selfishness and selflessness are active in the cultural space. Popularized in the early 2000s, open innovation is a systematic process by which ideas pass among organizations and travel along different exploitation vectors. With the arrival of multiple digital transformative technologies and the rapid evolution of the discipline of innovation, there was a need for a new approach to change, incorporating technological, societal and policy dimensions. Open Innovation 2.0 (OI2) – the result of advances in digital technologies and the cognitive sciences – marks a shift from incremental gains to disruptions that effect a great step forward in economic and social development. OI2 seeks the unexpected and provides support for the rapid scale-up of successes. ‘Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come’ – this thought, attributed to Victor Hugo, tells us how a great deal is at stake with open innovation. Amidon and other scholars have argued that the twenty-first century is not about ‘having more’ but about ‘being more’. The promise of digital technologies and artificial intelligence is that they enable us to extend and amplify human intellect and experience. In the so-called experience economy, users buy ‘experiences’ rather than ‘services’. OI2 is a paradigm about ‘being more’ and seeking innovations that bring us all collectively on a trajectory towards sustainable intelligent living.

Enabling Dynamic Capabilities through Agile IT and beyond Budgeting Practices

This paper discusses the confluence of agile, lean and beyond budgeting approaches in the context of Enterprise IT solutions and presents a framework, which helps to achieve synergies from these approaches and avoid sub-optimizations. The paper suggests that lean and agile approaches cannot be used in a vacuum but need to be developed and considered in the context of other critical processes required to sustain and deliver enterprise IT solutions. While agile and lean methodologies certainly provide benefits they can deliver significantly more value when applied in collaboration with an overall dynamic capabilities (Teece et al, 2007) approach. The paper briefly introduces the ITCapability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF), (Curley, 2004, 2006) and considers a closed loop mechanism to enable a dynamic capability in the context of rapidly changing environments. The paper also presents a five-layer maturity model for managing the Enterprise IT budget which aligns to the principles of beyond budgeting (Hope and Fraser, 2003; Bosgnes, 2009) being considered in this conference.

Small Business and Entrepreneurial Growth Companies

The quality of entrepreneurship evokes the difference between small business ventures and entrepreneurial growth companies.

Foundation Laws of Knowledge Dynamics

The coevolution of ideas (the content) and their historical, social, organizational, and institutional forms (the context) has been the mainspring of economic growth throughout history.

Embracing Business Ecosystems to Enable Sustainable and Accelerated Innovation

In a successful business ecosystem, the level of interconnection of products is much greater than in traditional business designs. This puts the whole concept beyond the reach of the typical corporate comfort zone. Yet increasing dependence upon an ecosystem is the only way companies will be able to continue competing in the new marketplace.