Paolo Depaoli

Towards the Redesign of e-Business Maturity Models for SMEs

This paper shows the results of the conceptual part of a research aimed at redesigning e-business stage models for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). The literature review shows that these models are based mostly on a techno-centric perspective and are rather mechanistic in their approach to the development of e-business in smaller firms. Based on design science—which offers a methodology capable of understanding business needs deriving from the interplay of people, organization and technology—a non-linear stage model for the development of e-business in SMEs is proposed. Different levels of interaction in the exchange of information between a firm and its suppliers and customers characterize e-business: the model includes four levels and it outlines their main organizational implications. The model is not meant to be prescriptive, that is it is not intended to serve as an evaluation ladder for public administrations deciding to grant financial support to SMEs investing in e-business. Rather, it has an interpretive, organizational character: (i) entrepreneurs can be supported in their understanding and evaluation of the organizational needs connected with the exploitation of a given opportunity by means of different levels of digital interaction and (ii) policy makers can be guided in promoting the appropriate support (e.g.: training and advisory services) to different kinds of SMEs.

Shared Services: Maverick or Originator?

The local governments of the OECD countries have attempted a number of sourcing practices over the past decades, including corporatization and collaborative arrangements. Sharing services is one of the latest options to emerge to cast a new actor, the shared service organization (SSO), in a lead role. To deliver services to the client councils these special-purpose vehicles adopt an alternative model that has prompted Information and Communication Technology (ICT) providers to evolve into this new species of enterprise, and to discard models based on publicly funded collaboration arrangements or the usual ICT outsourcing practices. This case study analyses the route taken by an Italian public company that reengineered its approach into that of an SSO to become a reference point for its customers and their ICT strategies. The article’s general reflection on the changes under way supports the continuity of the basic organizational logics that inform the practices of public SSOs.

ICT policies, the Mediterranean tradition and the Italian diet of discontinuity

The research extends the current discussions on national ICT policies.Explains Italys ICT backwardness.Identifies the misalignment of the agency model with the administrative culture.Illustrates the negative effect of ICT policy discontinuity on the digital agency. The article investigates the ICT policies of characteristically political instable Italy in the wake of the (dis)continuous flood of government reforms that began in the early 1990s. Using the case of the Italian digital agency, the research amplifies the scope of the current discussions on national e-Government trajectories, providing evidence for the interrelated dynamics between policy outcomes, implementation mechanisms and administrative landscape. The article shows that the discontinuity of Italys Digital Agenda is attributable to the merry-go-round nature of governments with divergent views of modernization resulting in the digital agencys multiple, even conflicting mandates and to the misalignment of the original agency model with the embedded culture of the public machinery. The article provides illustration of these arguments from the historical institutionalist perspective and maintains that insights into these phenomena are essential for contextualizing and understanding ICT policies.

The Possible Evolution of the Co-operative Form in a Digitized World: An Effective Contribution to the Shared Governance of Digitization?

This conceptual paper considers the cooperative enterprise model in the light of how it can be affected by the digital world and - at the same time - of how it can positively affect both the Internet and its users. The aim of the paper is therefore twofold: (i) to consider the extent and the way in which cooperative principles are going to be affected by the transition of these firms towards ‘digital materiality’ [1]; (ii) to outline the potential implications of a diffusion of cooperative forms to Internet organizations and users. Based on the traits of this enterprise model, an emerging perspective is described whereby the ‘cooperative’(especially if considered as a ‘service system’) has an interesting potential both as a competent actor in the domain of virtual enterprises and as a possible driver for safeguarding Internet users.

Organizing e-Services Co-production in Multiple Contexts: Implications for Designers and Policymakers

The paper underscores the importance of approaching inclusion policies by leveraging co-production and by considering multiple contexts. Following Pollitt’s ‘contextual analysis’, the European policy for an ageing society is addressed and the program concerning the development of e-services for the elderly examined. Results show that this approach allows for insights and suggestions that supplement the results of the evaluation report prepared for the European Commission by a panel of experts. These suggestions, which can be used in designing future editions of the program, concern the merits of ‘service science’ and the driving roles of both ‘intermediaries’ and ‘gatekeepers’.

The IS Heritage and the Legacy of Ciborra

Ten years is a good distance at which to assess Claudio Ciborra’s legacy to Information Systems Studies and Organizational Studies. The paper compares the scholar’s seminal work, The Labyrinths of Information, with the thematic papers published in 30 special issues/sections of four top IS journals. The results show clearly that Ciborra’s concepts have now gained much wider currency, especially in the study of phenomena such as local meaningful practices (e.g. bricolage, improvisation, cultivation). They contribute to the swing toward a more praxis-oriented attitude in the IS discipline.

Shared Services: Exploring the New Frontier

The big squeeze on public spending and the need to get Italy’s small local councils fully on board the e-government agenda is forcing both the public and the private sector to think of new ways to source and deliver public services. The sharing of services is one solution that goes beyond the traditional insourcing/outsourcing model to cast the SSO in the primary role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provider. The paper illustrates a case study in which, after a few “false starts”, an Italian company made the positive transition from PPP to public SSO, building relations of trust and a flexible offer that met the councils’ need to retain their individuality. The general reflection that follows has the aim of further informing the debate on the redesign of organizational activities through service management, and supports the continuity of the basic organizational logics that inform the practices of the public SSO.

Don Ihde’s ‘Soft’ Technological Determinism and Capabilities for IS Organizational Learning. The Case of a Competence Center

There is a not yet resolved, ongoing debate concerning the character of technology. After synthesizing the main strands in this theoretical contention, the paper draws on Don Ihde’s ‘soft’ technological determinism to discuss appropriate strategies of organizational learning on the part of IS vendors. A case is presented concerning the design and evolution of the competence center of the financial division of a large Italian software house. The description and discussion show that an early, persistent, and extensive involvement of human resources in the project, the lean structure of the center, and its promotion of knowledge exchanges both within the division and with clients, suppliers, and regulatory bodies allowed for improved division capabilities. An interorganizational ‘learning ladder’ was thus established so that technologies and contexts could be more flexibly and effectively addressed and managed.