Mohammed Quaddus

Supply chain risk management (SCRM): a case study on the automotive and electronic industries in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify the supply chain risks in the automotive and electronic industries in Brazil, and to highlight the urgency of supply chain risk management (SCRM) implementation.Design/methodology/approach – It uses exploratory study methodology in the automotive and electronic industries, taking in consideration of the (SCRM) phase of initiation.Findings – There are significant practices to implement SCRM: better supply chain communication, SCRM and business continuity planning training program, and the creation of a chief risk officer position to manage the supply chain risks.Research limitations/implications – The limitation of this study comes from its small sample size. There are two simple reasons: many companies did not know SCRM and thus misinterpreted the information about SCRM.Practical implications – This case study promotes more preparedness for the two industries to manage the risks of supply chain.Originality/value – This study shows the risks that ...

Adoption and diffusion of knowledge management systems: field studies of factors and variables

The concept of knowledge and knowledge management is not new. Researchers identified the practice of knowledge management as early as 4000 years ago. However, knowledge management systems (KMS), which involve the application of IT systems and other organizational resources to manage knowledge strategically, are a relatively recent phenomenon. While the literature on knowledge management covers various issues, it lacks comprehensive studies of factors and variables of adoption and diffusion of KMS. This paper studies these factors and variables in the context of some Australian organizations. A qualitative field study is undertaken in this research, where six organizations of various sizes, all in various stages of KMS adoption and diffusion, are studied via interviews with key personnel. Content analysis is then performed to extract the factors and variables and a comprehensive model of KMS adoption and diffusion is developed. The results of the interviews identify four major variables affecting KMS diffusion as: organizational culture, top management support, benefits to individuals, and dream of KMS. The paper also highlights the research and managerial implications of the KMS diffusion model.

An investigation into the factors influencing the adoption of B2B trading exchanges in small businesses

Small businesses, in general, play dominant roles in terms of employment generation and share in total business activities. However, studies have shown that small businesses are also slow in their uptake of modern technologies including electronic commerce. This paper presents the result of an empirical study that investigates the adoption behaviour of small businesses in relation to business-to-business (B2B) trading exchanges in the context of Western Australia. Following extensive literature review on innovation adoption–diffusion theories and qualitative field study, a research model was developed which treated six sets of antecedents of small businesss attitude towards B2B trading exchanges. The findings revealed that external influences raise the small businesss awareness of an innovation. This awareness leads to the evaluation of the perceived direct and indirect benefits and a positive evaluation leads to a positive attitude towards the innovation. The results confirmed that a positive attitude towards B2B trading exchanges leads to the intention to adopt B2B trading exchanges in small businesses. The findings also confirm that external, belief, contextual and control factors drive the attitude towards B2B trading exchanges. Implications of the results are highlighted.

The adoption and continued usage intention of RFID: an integrated framework

– The purpose of this study is to examine the factors of radio frequency identification (RFID) adoption and its continuance intention in a mandatory and in a voluntary environment leading to developing an integrated framework., – A qualitative research approach was taken in this study. The authors conducted an extensive field study, interviewing eight organizations. Factors have been analyzed from multiple perspectives and, where possible, related with the existing literature., – The findings show that along with technological, organizational, and environmental factors RFID adoption also depends on the expectations and self‐efficacy. Moreover, the process of continued usage intention involves satisfaction from current use and the degree of self‐efficacy., – This study focuses on the state of the RFID adoption, current usage satisfaction, and the continuance intention of the adopters toward RFID use. This study would guide the countries with mandatory RFID policy in organizational applications. Policy makers could compare their experience with the findings of this study, evaluate the past, and find the future direction., – This study is the first of its kind to discuss the adoption factors (in a mixed environment; mandatory as well as voluntary) and to examine the continued usage behavior together in a single platform, for the first time.

IT takes a village: Virtual communities in support of education

Universities spend copious amounts of money for computer laboratories, for connections of dormitory rooms to campus networks, and for faculty workstations. Students who enter universities are more familiar with the Internet and World Wide Web than their predecessors. This base of sophisticated users and available technological infrastructure constitute a platform from which educators can apply leverage to reach potential students, to encourage present student learning, and to maintain connections with students subsequent to their graduations. Virtual communities offer educators the opportunity to interact with students in a more energetic manner and to encourage continued learning while doing so. This paper describes the characteristics of virtual communities and the contributions which they make toward the educational process. The reader will find guidelines for the implementation of virtual communities including considerations for design, management issues, and requirements for resources.

Modelling a nationwide crop planning problem using a multiple criteria decision making tool

Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) tools have been used in recent years to solve a wide variety of problems. In this paper we consider a nation-wide crop-planning problem and show how an MCDM tool can be used efficiently and effectively for these types of problems. A crop-planning problem is usually formulated as a single objective linear programming model. The objective is either the maximization of return from cultivated land or the minimization of cost of cultivation. This type of problem, however, normally involves more than one goal. We thus formulate a crop-planning problem as a goal program (an MCDM tool) and discuss the importance of three different goals for a case problem. We solve the goal program with a real world data set, and compare the solution with that of linear program. We argue that the goal program provides better insights to the problem and thus allows better decision support.

Adoption and diffusion of knowledge management systems: an Australian survey

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the factors influencing the adoption and diffusion of knowledge management systems (KMSs) in Australia.Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a mixed methodology approach. The research was carried out in three stages: field study, pilot survey, and national survey (top 1,500 companies). This paper reports the findings of the third phase of the study – the national survey. The data of the national survey was analyzed through structural equation modeling (LISREL).Findings – The results indicate that individual factors and task complexity are the significant factors that influence the perceived usefulness of KMSs which, in turn, significantly influence the intention to adopt a KMS and its diffusion process. Some unexpected results were also found.Originality/value – There is a scarcity of studies on the empirical perspectives of KMSs in the literature, especially in the area of adoption and diffusion. This research addresses this gap by studying the adoption and...

Management policies and the diffusion of data warehouse: a case study using system dynamics-based decision support system

This paper studies the impact of management policies on the diffusion of data warehouse (DW) in a large commercial bank in Thailand. A system dynamics (SD)-based decision support system (DSS) is developed and analysed for this purpose. System dynamics was used as the modelling tool because of its rigorous approach in capturing interrelationships among variables and in handling dynamic aspects of the system behaviour. A qualitative model is first formulated to understand the present state of the DW diffusion. The quantitative model is then formulated to simulate seven management policies. Findings unearth two dominant policies of ‘increase level of training’ and ‘decrease training delay’ that will speed up the diffusion significantly. None of the policies, however, achieve the banks target diffusion level within a specified time period. Sensitivity analyses reveal various combinations of the dominant policies that the management can adopt. The analyses act as an eye-opener for the bank executives as they understand what can be feasibly achieved given a number of constraints. With easy interfaces and supportive tools, bank executives can use the DSS to test various scenarios, which will enhance their learning process and improve their decision making.

Exploring the Factors Influencing End Users' Acceptance of Knowledge Management Systems: Development of a Research Model of Adoption and Continued Use

This chapter develops a model of adoption and continued use of knowledge management systems (KMSs), which is primarily built on Rogers’ (1995) innovation stages model along with two very important social psychology theories—Ajzen and Fishbein’s (1980) theory of reasoned action (TRA) and Davis’s (1986) technology acceptance model (TAM). It presents various factors and variables in detail. Hypotheses are developed which can be tested via empirical study. The proposed model has both theoretical and practical implications. It can be adapted for application in various organizations in national and international arena.

Expectation–Confirmation Theory in Information System Research: A Review and Analysis

Understanding the antecedents and their effects on satisfaction is crucial, especially in consumer marketing. Most investigations in marketing research have used the Expectation–Confirmation Theory (ECT) which is used by the IS researchers too, with a few modifications and have taken the name Expectation–Confirmation Model (ECM). ECM is broadly applied to examine the continuance intention of IS users rather than just to explain satisfaction. Though the name of the model still contains expectation but practically the pre-consumption expectation is replaced by post-consumption expectations, namely, perceived usefulness which is believed to contribute a more meaningful dimension to theory. In IS research, though the dependent variable, continuance usage intention, is quite consistent but the independent variables, logically, are multi-varied as they are considered from contextual perspectives. Consequently, there is no general agreement concerning the definition, relationship, and measurement methods of the constructs neither in ECT nor in ECM. This chapter, therefore, tries to provide a comprehensive and systematic review of the literature pertaining to “expectation–confirmation” issues in order to observe current trends, ascertain the current “state of play,” and to promising lines of inquiry. Findings of this study suggest that positivist and empirical research is predominantly used with most of the samples being university students. Besides, technology acceptance model (TAM) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) are also integrated with ECT and ECM to have a better understanding of consumer behavior. The trend toward integrating and/or incorporating associated variables and constructs from various theories to ECM has a better fit in related areas of applications. Moreover, active researches are highly concentrated in USA, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Finally, this study proposes research implications for the future.